There has never been a better time than right now to have an open and honest discussion about racism in athletics, and why diversity is critical to the future we all hope to build.

Corliss Fingers, the director of strength and conditioning at Bethune-Cookman University, shares her experience as a female African-American coach in a profession where there just aren’t a lot of coaches who look like her. More importantly, she explains why that’s a problem, and how everyone can help in the fight to make athletics more inclusive.

Three Cycle Strength Episode Rundown: Corliss Fingers

Networking Via Three Cycle Strength: 4:34
A Thank You Goes a Long Way: 8:21
Why an HBCU Feels More Like Home: 9:30
Having Leaders Who Share Your Experience: 13:25
Getting Uncomfortable & Basing Hiring On Merit: 18:05
What We’ve Been Doing Isn’t Working: 22:28
Message for Those Who Would Be Allies: 31:14
Fighting the Bystander Mentality: 33:15
Strength Stories: 35:21
Tools of the Trade: 40:23
Food for Thought: 44:01
Killer Grams: 49:43

Statistics regarding the disparity between white and African-American coaches can be found on the The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) website at http://www.tidesport.org.

Here’s just one example of what you may find: In 2009, 92.5% of FBS head coaches were white, compared to 85.4% of FBS head coaches in 2018. Comparatively, 5.8% of FBS head coaches were African-American in 2009, while 11.5% of FBS head coaches were African-American in 2018.

During the same two periods, African-Americans made up 50.4% of FBS student-athletes in 2009, increasing to 54.3% in 2018.

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Audio Podcast: Corliss Fingers

About Three Cycle Strength
Three Cycle Strength offers best practices, coaching philosophy and product information from the experts in every category affecting athletic performance. This is the show for serious, career coaches who want to leave a legacy in the athletic performance profession. For those who are dedicated to both becoming the best at their craft and providing their athletes with the most cutting-edge practices, products and services available today, Three Cycle Strength brings them everything they need – all in an entertaining, engaging and easily-consumable platform. Three Cycle Strength is a production of Three Cycle Media. All rights reserved.