BREAKING THE HUDDLE: AN IN-DEPTH EXPLORATION OF THE FBS HEAD FOOTBALL COACH HIRING PROCESS

As NCAA FBS college football continues to grow at an unprecedented rate in terms of viewership, media deals, and revenue, it's clear that the popularity of the sport will only continue to grow. At no point in history has so much effort been put into researching college football, from player and coach contracts to institutional facility upgrades. However, when we look at the process for how open FBS head coaching jobs are filled, there is little research and much confusion as to how this process happens and who is in charge of it. Additionally, there is still a disproportionate representation of minority head coaches at the FBS level, even though about 50-55% of all FBS football players are of a minority race. This study aims to tackle both questions: What happens during the FBS head coach hiring process and how do we make this process more equitable for minority coaches?