For West Coast Conference,‘Russell Rule’ Shows Early Promise In Diversifying Athletic Departments

Two years ago, America was embroiled in racial and social justice protests, kicked off by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer. Higher education, like so many other industries, took the opportunity to look inward and ask, “how are we doing when it comes to racial and gender equity”?

For the Presidents of the West Coast Conference and Commissioner Gloria Nevarez, this was a time that needed more than hand wringing and platitudes. It required the resolve to do better. One area they chose to hold themselves to a higher standard was diversifying the hiring of coaches, staff and administrators.

The Russell Rule was born.

I invited Nevarez and University of San Diego President James T. Harris to join me on my podcast to talk about the recently released data, measuring how effective they’ve been in matching the method to the message.

What is the Russell Rule?

“The Russell Rule, named after WCC and NBA legend Bill Russell, requires the athletic department at each member institution and the Conference office to include a member of a traditionally underrepresented community in the pool of final candidates for every athletic director, senior administrator, head coach and full-time assistant coach position.”

Harris and Nevarez both explained that it is now a rule in the Conference Handbook, not just a “guideline” or “best practice” (as so many rules around racial and gender equity have been over the last 30 years).

How does it work?

Every year, each athletic director’s office produces a report of their search processes, identifying the candidates that advanced to the final pool by their race and gender for every open, full time position. That data is shared with the WCC Presidents at their regular meetings.

As Nevarez described it, “It was no small task because it was new space for us. However, it’s just like monitoring compliance in our organization (for all of our rules) by following our handbook. There are two exceptions: one, if you don’t do a search (if you just elevate somebody internally) the hire is not subject to the ‘Russell Rule’. Second, if you have a candidate who meets the ‘Russell Rule’ make it to the final (round) but then (the candidate) pulls themselves out, all other hires are subject to the hiring requirement.”

What happens if a school bypasses (or ignores) the requirement and makes a hire without diversifying the final candidate pool? How will the WCC’s Council of Presidents hold institutions accountable? USD’s Harris explained, “we had that conversation candidly with the Presidents, and it wasn’t a matter of the ‘old school accident’ and I promise to follow the rule (in the future); (instead) it was what were the impediments, and can we learn from this”.

Harris continued “we really wanted to spend our first year or two figuring out how do we measure this and how do we hold each other accountable”. At this point there is “not a prescribed penalty”. He alluded to a penalty structure that could include a “private warning”, to a “public reprimand”, but that has not yet been implemented, as they have just one year of data from which to draw.

Did it work?

It’s too early to tell.

The WCC commissioned the 2021 TIDES Racial and Gender Equity Report Card. Upon its release, USD’s Harris said “The Report Card is intended to track the impact of the Russell Rule and progress towards creating a more diverse community to support WCC student-athletes. The WCC champions this important effort as an integral part of providing a holistic and inclusive educational experience for student-athletes”. The survey measured searches from August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021.

The conference reported the greatest success when it came to hiring assistant coaches. Fully half of the candidates across the member institutions who advanced to the final rounds came from underrepresented communities. Overall, 135 candidates from underrepresented communities were included in the final candidate pools of the conference’s 84 searches.

The trend on these campuses is towards more diverse teams, not fewer. President Harris spoke specifically to that point, saying “it just makes for a better learning environment when you have people that have all these different backgrounds… we really are serious about diversifying and changing the faces of our athletic departments”.

NBA legend Bill Russell added his support to the commitment embraced by the Division I conference, saying “It is my hope the West Coast Conference initiative will encourage other leagues and schools to make similar commitments. We need to be intentional if we’re going to make real change for people of color in leadership positions in college athletics.”

Nevarez, Harris and the other presidents are asking additional questions focusing on the pipeline for hires into Division I athletic departments. They want to know: where do the usual applicants come from? How do they broaden the pool to include non-traditional candidates?

What’s particularly unique is their parallel focus on women coaching men’s teams, as the WCC is attempting to address both gender and race at the same time. They are asking: how can more women be in the mix for coaching men’s teams? How can more people of color be included in sports that have traditionally attracted predominently white males?

These are important questions for all of higher education. More data needs to be collected; more education and accountability must be offered around how a final candidate pool is selected. The biggest question will come when the time comes to hold an institution accountable for not abiding by the rule-what will they do?

In January, I wrote about mid-major Division I conferences “differentiating” themselves: “Take a deeper look into the definition of equity. Whether it be gender or race, many athletics programs prioritze one or two teams who get the bulk of the resources and the marketing attention, known as “tiering”. Can your conference lead when it comes to creating equitable experiences and opportunities for all coaches and student-athletes? If so, what could that look like? Conferences who create distinctive cultures will attract and retain great people, and that’s a major key to long-term, success.”

The West Coast Conference is placing a stake in the ground that could send a powerful signal to employees and athletes who want to be a part of an environment that embraces that ethos, one that says “we ALL matter.”

Happy Juneteenth!