While women head coaches are still a minority at Division I schools, the trend line is continuing to move upward. The annual Women in College Coaching report card, released Wednesday by the University of Minnesota's Tucker Center, shows a 1.2% increase in the number of women head coaches at seven major Division I conferences — the largest one-year gain in the report card's 10-year history. Yet the pace of change remains slow, averaging 0.4% per year.
Some additional findings of the report, compiled by the Tucker Center and WeCOACH:
- 43.4% of women's D-I teams have a woman as head coach, up from 42.7% last year. Among the "Select 7'' conferences — AAC, ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC — the percentage rose from 42.5% to 43.7%. The percentage for all D-I teams rose for the fourth consecutive year, while the Select 7 percentage increased for the eighth year in a row.
- Among D-I schools, Rhode Island has the highest percentage of women head coaches (90%); among sports, lacrosse has the highest percentage (90.8). North Dakota State was one of four schools with no women in head coaching positions.
- At Select 7 schools, a majority of head-coaching vacancies for women's teams were filled by women in 2021-22 (51.9%), the first time that has happened in the report's 10-year history.
- Women of color hold only 7.35% of head coaching positions of women's D-I teams.
- At the U, eight of 13 women's teams have a woman as head coach (61.5%), earning a B grade. St. Thomas (five of 11, 45.5%) received a C. The Big Ten (52.7%) was among 20 conferences receiving a C grade, and the Summit League — whose 25.3% was the lowest of any D-I conference — was one of 11 to receive a D.
- At the current rate of change (0.4% per year), it will take 17 years for women to fill 50% of head coaching positions in D-I women's sports.
The full report can be viewed at http://z.umn.edu/tc-wccrc-10th
