AFRICAN AMERICAN HEAD FOOTBALL COACHES AT DIVISION I FBS SCHOOLS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON TURNING POINTS by THADDEUS A. RIVERS B.S. University of Florida, 2001 M.A. University of Central Florida, 2008 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Child, Family and Community Sciences in the College of Education and Human Performance at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2015 Major Professor: Rosa Cintrón © 2015 Thaddeus A. Rivers ii ABSTRACT This dissertation was centered on how the theory ‘turning points’ explained African American coaches ascension to Head Football Coach at a NCAA Division I FBS school. This work (1) identified traits and characteristics coaches felt they needed in order to become a head coach and (2) described the significant events and people (turning points) in their lives that have influenced their career. This study employed a Constant Comparative method in which participants answered interview questions designed for them to elaborate on their educational and athletic careers, and those events and people who were major influences in their careers. Commonalities and discords from participant responses resulted in the discovery of five major themes. The themes identified were: Faith, Family, Graduation from college and participation in sport, Joining professional associations, and Previous coaches/administrators worked for/under. The identification and explanation of specific turning points suggest a blueprint for African American assistant coaches aspiring to become a head coach while also providing opportunities for current athletic administrators to increase their attempts at expanding their own networks to include more African Americans as strong candidates for potential open positions for Head Football Coach. iii I dedicate this project to my late mother Rosa Ann Condry Rivers. You taught me the importance of education and instilled in me that knowledge is power. Your thirst for and acquisition of knowledge has always been a motivation for me. Thank you for always protecting my family, and me and for making this project happy. I wish you were here to celebrate with us. I love you always. 8/31/55-11/20/94 iv ACKNOWLEGMENTS I’ve always been a man of faith, so it goes without question that the first acknowledgment goes to God because without him/her nothing in life is possible. I would also like to send a very special thank you to any member of the UCF Athletics Football family from the years 2004- 2015. Players, coaches, and support staff, I drew a lot of inspiration and motivation in completing this program and dissertation based on the moments that I have experienced while working for UCF Football. To Mary Vander Heiden, the first person that I told I was thinking about getting a doctoral degree, I think I have a few legitimate reasons for this degree now besides wanting people to call me Doctor! Thank you for always being there despite your oh so busy life. A special thank you to my note taker/sounding board/obtuse thinking/motivator and more Megan Masias. Thank you for your constant motivation and input. You are greatly appreciated. To Dr. Ted Kian at Oklahoma State, I never would have dreamed of beginning this journey if it was not for you. I thank you for your candor, and your often times outrageous commentary during my pursuit of my Masters degree. You showed me the lighter side of higher educational professionals and I appreciate that. To my University of Florida family, especially my pappy Timmy Sain and Ms. Nancy, thank you for unconditional love and support and for really just looking out for a naïve kid from Tallahassee. Happy Father’s Day and (expletive)! To Jena Leigh and Fryar, I love you guys to the moon and back. To the many unnamed associates and acquaintances, I thank you for your input, your support, your critiques and criticisms. Without all of that, none of this would be possible. To my committee members, Dr. Owens, the King of Logic. Thank you for subconsciously (or not) making me think of the academy, and athletics’ place in it, from a v different perspective. Prior to joining this program, I had a pretty clear vision of the relationship between athletics and academics. Boy was I wrong. I thank you for showing me the light, and helping me to shape a more realistic viewpoint of all facets of higher education. And I thank you for talking me off the ledge (unbeknownst to you) a few times! To Dr. Duke, your background in coaching and hearing you speak about why you love coaching was one of the catalysts in my study. I thank you for your expertise in coaching, leadership, and motivation and for your participation on my committee. The turning points in your career that you have communicated were definitely factored in to foundation of my study. Dr. Harrison, it has been absolutely fantastic having you on my committee. Even before I began this journey, you have been a fantastic mentor for me. Thank you for always being there for me to bounce ideas off of. Thank you for sharing your passion and expertise in sports administration with me has been tremendous in helping me to develop as a future sports administrator. I will always appreciate you and the different networks that you continue to expose me to. Words cannot express the magnitude of the gratitude that I have for my committee chairperson, Dr. Rosa Cintrón. Even before I was accepted and admitted into this program, you challenged me to become a higher education scholar. As a self-described “sports guy” I accepted your challenge, because let’s face it, I don’t back down from any challenge…ever. From what I was thought of your personality when I first met you, I could tell that you didn’t back down from many challenges either. You made it known that others in the higher education program did not share your same beliefs on my inclusion in this program. But you were in my corner. I appreciated, and still do appreciate that. That loyalty kept me going a many a night when I wanted to quit. You often told others and myself in my cohort “a good dissertation is a done dissertation”. I always thought that statement applied to everyone but me. From the inception of vi this program, you inspired me to be better, and encouraged me to continue to be different. Being different led to the creation and completion of this document. A good dissertation may be a done dissertation. But a great dissertation is one that the author can relate to. A great dissertation is one that the author can put himself into the situations and scenarios that his subjects are in. A great dissertation is one that is meaningful to him, not just because he completed it. You made me write a dissertation that made me get very personal with myself on many occasions. You made me write a dissertation that made me self-reflect…the same thing that I asked my study participants to do. You continued to challenge me, even until the end. You made me write a great dissertation. And I am so thankful for that. You took a sports guy by nature and nurtured him into becoming a higher education scholar. Thank you for your unwavering support. Thank you for the extra effort and attention that you gave me to help me achieve this goal of mine. Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for believing in me. Finally, I would like to thank my family, my foundation. The completion of this dissertation, this academic program is inspired by and dedicated to them. To Lisa, thank you for all the (free but not free) babysitting when I was at work or in class. To Chelle and the babies, I greatly appreciate you for tolerating my selfishness at times, being away from home in the library and in class. I appreciate you tolerating all the frustrations and my zoning out moments that were necessary to complete this goal of mine. It was the sacrifices that you all made that enabled this crazy dream of mine to come to fruition. I thank you for standing by me and believing in my dreams. Your unconditional love and support fueled my journey. I will forever love you Adriann, TJ, and Rochelle. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xiv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... xv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 General Background of the Problem ............................................................................. 1 Statement and Significance of the Problem .................................................................. 3 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................. 6 Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 11 Positionality ................................................................................................................ 11 Definition of Terms..................................................................................................... 13 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................