Racial Differences in the Occupational and Geographic Mobility of NCAA Division I College Basketball Assistant and Associate Head Coaches

Abstract

Racial/ethnic minorities, especially people racialized as Black and Latino, face disadvantages at work. Our research reaffirms and adds insight into this disadvantage, showing that compared to people racialized as White, racial minorities experience limited internal mobility and as a result greater geographic instability. Using data from a longitudinal study of the careers of NCAA Division I assistant and associate head basketball coaches, we show first that these coaches are more likely to experience internal job mobility if they are White. We also consider what this means for race differences in geographic mobility, establishing that coaches who are White move shorter distances following a job change on average because they are more likely to experience internal occupational mobility. These findings highlight yet another way restricted work opportunity culminates to disadvantage racial minorities in this profession.