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The 5th quarter: investigating career exploration and development of Black football student-athletes

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The 5th quarter: investigating career exploration and development of Black football student-athletes

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The 5th Quarter: Investigating Career Exploration and Development of Black Football
Student-Athletes

Mahagoney Borrayo-Gilchriest

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education

May 2023

© Copyright by Mahagoney Borrayo-Gilchriest 2023
All Rights Reserved

The Committee for Mahagoney Borrayo-Gilchriest certifies the approval of this Dissertation

Marsha Boveja Riggio
Renae Myles Payne
Robert Filback, Committee Chair

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2023
iv
Abstract
Black male student-athletes comprise 2.4% of college campuses; however, Black males
comprised 55% of football teams at predominately white institutions (Harper, 2018). Slightly
higher than half, 55.2%, of Black male football student athletes graduate within six years. While
the NCAA and the Power 5 Conference institutions proudly tout the graduation rates of their
student-athletes, specifically their Black student athletes, limited research or literature has
explored the career exploration, development, or trajectory of these Black male football student-
athletes post degree completion. This phenomenological qualitative study explored the career
exploration and development experience of seven current and former Black male student-athletes
who attend or have attended an institution within the Power 5 conferences. These conferences
are Southeastern Conference (SEC), Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Pacific-12 (Pac-12)
Conference, Big Ten Conference, and Big 12 Conference. Within these conferences, there are 65
schools, this study interviewed at least one participant from each conference. Data collection for
this study included a 60-minute semi-structured interview. This study sought to understand how
their career exploration and development was navigated outside of playing collegiate football.
This study addresses outcomes to inform next practices for the National Collegiate Athletic
Association and Power 5 institutions to better support the career exploration and development of
Black male football student-athletes as they ascend from both their collegiate playing career and
academic study.
Keywords: Black male, student-athletes, career development, career exploration.

v
Dedication
To the amazing young Black men who shared their stories with me. Thank you for your honesty
and your trust in telling your stories. You are the leaders helping me change the world.

To Black student-athletes who are navigating the systems of higher education.

To Christopher Gilchriest. Thank you.

To the divine universe and my ancestors who have carried me throughout my life and placed so
many amazing people in my life journey to assist me with becoming the evolving butterfly I am.

To my mother, thank you for always supporting, loving, and holding me accountable, even when
it was not fun. Mommy, thank you for always believing in me and teaching me there is never a
box that is big enough to bind my spirit. I love you mommy.

To Papi: Gracias por cruzar a los Estados Unidos desde Guatemala con la esperanza de encontrar
una vida llena de oportunidades. Gracias por tener una hija como yo que te pudiera ayudar en
crear los sueños que nunca pensabas realizar.

To my grandma, thank you for loving me in a way only a grandma could, for holding in my
secrets, and for being my very first best friend.

vi
To Rose and Timothy Trezvant, you are the reason and thank you into infinity. Thank you for
your continued love and covering in this life.

To grandpa, Jimmy Mack, I love you, and I miss you, thank you for showing me that being me in
every room I walk in is always the best way to be.

To my uncles, I love you and miss you.

To my very first students, Christion, Dejon, Luther, Koby, London, thank you for always giving
me a reason to continue my education. Each of you has been the reason why I continue this
journey, thank you for being my first students and teachers.

To uncle Jimmy and Auntie Reeka, I love both so much; thank you for always protecting me and
loving on me.

To Tymere, K’wan, Sirie, and King thank you for being the best little cousins I could ask for. Mi
madre, gracias por amarme todo la vida y gracias por cocinar tus pupusas.

To Frank and Jojo, thank you and I love you.

To my Auntie Dr. Katherina Bell, thank you for always, always, constantly pushing me to be my
best self in the most loving way; my love for USC would never be if it were not for you.

vii
To my Eastside High family in Paterson, New Jersey, for teaching me how to be an amazing
educator, thank you for your unconditional love, and for always making me feel like I could be
anything I wanted to be.

To all of you, thanks. I would not be Dr. Mahagoney Borrayo-Gilchriest without you.

viii
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my dissertation chair and committee members, Dr. Robert Filback, Dr.
Marsha Boveja Riggio, and Dr. Renae Myles Payne. I appreciate you all so much for your time,
dedication, and support. Thank you to my homies, I love y’all and appreciate each of you. The
circle of love and support y’all have provided me is unmatched. Every leader has a strong tribe to
support their efforts. Love y’all to life.
Thank you to my two favorite human beings on earth, Christopher and Zoey Gilchriest.
Zoey, you entered my life when I knew nothing about being an adult; at 25, I was simply a
young woman figuring out what life was supposed to be, and you have gifted me with the most
important task in life, to be your mommy. Thank you for choosing me with the universe and our
ancestors as your steward in this life. I love you into infinity and beyond. Christopher, there are
simply not enough words in existence within space to express to you how much I love and
appreciate you. Thank you for always protecting my heart, having my back, and providing the
gut-busting laughs for eternity. You are my best friend. Without you, sir, none of this would have
ever felt possible. Thank you for the hugs when I felt like this doctorate was not for me. Thank
you for tough love when I got lazy and pushed this dissertation off. Thank you for being both
mommy and daddy to our baby girl while I locked in to finish this piece of my educational
puzzle. Thank you for being my best friend and love of my life. You the one baby.
Finally, in the spirit of my unc Snoop Dogg accepting his Hollywood star, I wanna thank
me! For believing in me, never giving up on me, and always betting on me. I am my ancestors’
expectations. We did that y’all.
Dr. Mahagoney Borrayo-Gilchriest (Heavy on the Doctor)

ix
Table of Contents
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... v
Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................ viii
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. xi
Chapter One: Overview of the Study .............................................................................................. 1
Background of the Problem ................................................................................................ 4
Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................... 6
Purpose of the Study and Guiding Questions ..................................................................... 7
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology .................................................... 8
Definitions........................................................................................................................... 9
Organization of the Dissertation ....................................................................................... 12
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ........................................................................................ 13
Collegiate Sports and Academia ....................................................................................... 13
University Community Perceptions of Black Male Football Student-Athletes ................ 19
Graduation Success Rate................................................................................................... 23
Academic Clustering ......................................................................................................... 25
Unpacking Who the Black Male Football Student-Athlete Is .......................................... 28
BMFSAs Career Exploration ............................................................................................ 30
Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................... 33
BMFSAs Academic and Career Peregrination ................................................................. 41
Conclusion to Chapter 2.................................................................................................... 43
Chapter Three: Methodology ........................................................................................................ 45
Qualitative Inquiry ............................................................................................................ 46
Setting ............................................................................................................................... 47
x
Sample and Participant Population ................................................................................... 47
Data Collection and Instrumentation ................................................................................ 49
Data Analysis .................................................................................................................... 51
The Researcher .................................................................................................................. 53
Trustworthiness and Credibility ........................................................................................ 54
Limitations and Delimitations........................................................................................... 55
Ethics................................................................................................................................. 57
Conclusion to Chapter 3.................................................................................................... 58
Chapter Four: Results or Findings ................................................................................................ 59
Participant Profiles ............................................................................................................ 60
Findings for Research Question 1 ..................................................................................... 63
Findings for Research Question 2 ..................................................................................... 70
Findings for Research Question 3 ..................................................................................... 75
Conclusion to Chapter 4.................................................................................................... 82
Chapter Five: Discussion .............................................................................................................. 84
Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 85
Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 94
Recommendations for Future Research ............................................................................ 98
Limitations ........................................................................................................................ 99
Conclusion to Chapter 5.................................................................................................... 99
References ................................................................................................................................... 102
Appendix A: Outreach Email ...................................................................................................... 113
Appendix B: Demographics ........................................................................................................ 115
Questions......................................................................................................................... 116
Appendix C: Theoretical Alignment Matrix ............................................................................... 119
xi
List of Tables
Table 1: Participant Overview 60
Appendix C: Theoretical Alignment Matrix 119
1

Chapter One: Overview of the Study
We have nothing to lose but our chains.
—Assata Shakur, “July 4th Address”
Black male athletes represent a significant percentage of players on many revenue-
generating collegiate sports teams, especially in football and basketball. Black male football
student-athletes (BMFSA) at Division I institutions, for example, comprise 14% of the players.
However, Black males who are not in athletics only make up 4% of students at these institutions.
This data specifically compares BMFSAs who play football within the Power 5 conference
compared to their non-athlete peers. Harper (2016, 2018) has also compared the data of Black
male student-athletes in general across the Power 5 conferences. This data also revealed that
Black male student-athletes were overly represented in athletics, compared to the lower
percentage of Black male students who did not identify as student-athletes (Harper, 2016, 2018).
The consistent overrepresentation of Black males on collegiate athletic teams, like football,
supports the assertion that Black males are primarily valuable to predominantly white institutions
(PWI) for their athletic ability that translates into revenue for the institution (Bourke, 2016;
Cunningham, 2012; Harper, 2016, 2018; Yearwood, 2018b; Yosso, 2005).
Despite BMFSAs overrepresentation within athletics at PWIs, BMFSAs are still
graduating at lower rates than their non-Black peers (Harper, 2018). Obtaining accurate data on
BMFSA graduation rates is difficult, however, the NCAA and Power 5 institutions report
graduation success rates (GSR). The NCAA GSR actively tracks the completion rates of athletes
that compete across sports programs within NCAA; however, these statistics have been argued to
be skewed and not reflective of the actual rate of successful competition of student athletes
within the NCAA (Harper, 2016, 2018). NCAA GSR tracks graduation rates of athletes who
2

have completed a degree within one of the NCAA regulated programs; but excludes the rate of
students that drop-out or those who take longer than 6 years to complete their degree (Harper,
2016, 2018; National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2021b; Roebuck et al., 2014).
Additionally, the NCAA does not disaggregate the data of GSR by race, this data is only
disaggregated by sport team affiliation (Harper, 2016, 2018). However, by 2018, studies
conducted by Shaun Harper disaggregated GSR by race and sport team, specifically focusing on
Black male student athletes to highlight the overwhelming instances of Black male athletes’
academic success compared to their white peers. The data demonstrated the growing gap
between Black male student athletes, who were found to be graduating at a rate of 55.2%,
compared to the graduation success of their non-Black student athlete peers, which is 76.3%
(Harper, 2016, 2018).
Though BMFSAs are consistently graduating at lower rates compared to their white
peers, BMFSAs are recorded to be graduating at consistent rates upward of 55% annually within
six years (Harper, 2016, 2018). However, the outcomes of BMFSAs who are graduating from
PWIs reveal they are not obtaining careers that align with their majors or career interests while
they were student-athletes (Baker & Hawkins, 2016; Beamon, 2008, 2009, 2012; Curry et al.,
2021; Daire et al., 2007; Fountain & Finley, 2009, 2011; Harrison & Lawrence, 2003; Rich et al.,
2020). Minimal research has been conducted to explore what types of careers these BMFSAs
graduates explore post-graduation (Beamon, 2012).
BMFSAs add significant value to predominantly White institutions (PWIs) monetarily
and culturally beyond their athletic abilities (Beamon, 2008; Briggs et al., 2021; Chiari, 2022;
Harper, 2018; National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2022; Suggs, 2006). However, when
BMFSAs begin recruitment to schools within the Power 5 Conferences, their athletic abilities are
3

highlighted as their most valued asset to the institution (Bateman, 2011; Beamon & Bell, 2006;
Flowers, 2009; Harper, 2009a, 2009b, 2018; Hawkins, 1995; Samad, 2021). BMFSAs’ initial
interaction with PWIs is initiated with the athletic recruitment team. These recruiting visits often
guarantee athletic development to “go pro” and the opportunity to attend a fantastic college debt-
free (Beamon & Messer, 2013; Sharp & Sheilley, 2008; Wright et al., 2014; Yearwood, 2018b).
BMFSAs make an extraordinary commitment to the collegiate football community,
which dominates their time and is not a guaranteed pathway to play professionally (Beamon,
2008; Harper, 2009a). Along with the demands of scheduled games during the season, BMFSAs
are required to dedicate considerable time to their athletic pursuits, including both practice time
and demands outside of regular practice time (Cunningham, 2012; Hawkins, 1995; Houston &
Baber, 2017; Martin et al., 2010; Yosso, 2005; Zimbalist, 1999). Additionally, in the off-season,
BMFSAs are required to remain on campus during university breaks to engage in voluntary
practices. These practice sessions are labeled voluntary so that the NCAA can remain in
alignment with regulations surrounding play outside of the season and so that players can take
summer courses that are not necessarily required for their degree completion (Bateman, 2011;
Beamon, 2009; Cooper, 2012; Cunningham, 2012; Roebuck et al., 2014; Samad, 2021).
BMFSAs require the same academic and career preparation as their non-athletic peers
(Beamon, 2014; Briggs et al., 2021; Carter-Francique et al., 2015; Goldin & Katz, 1999;
Yearwood, 2018b). In addition, their identities outside of athletics must be valued on these
campuses as they are more than abled Black bodies to earn money for PWIs (Briggs et al., 2021;
Roebuck et al., 2014; Singer, 2005; Yosso, 2005). Experiences of BMFSAs within athletic
academic units investigating majors of their interest and preparing BMFSAs for career
development and exploration post sport is necessary. Additionally, emphasizing the principle
4

that BMFSAs may or may not be bound to play professionally in the National Football League
(NFL) or BMFSAs may not actively seek to play professionally past collegiate sports, as a career
choice. Finally, their perspectives and experiences must be highlighted to assist institutions with
creating more intentional and impactful inclusive educational spaces where BMFSAs develop
holistically from an academic and career position (Demas, 2011; Hawkins, 1995; Lent, 2013;
Martin et al., 2010; Rich et al., 2020).
Background of the Problem
BMFSAs post football success is often an afterthought for PWIs, in relation to their
career development the academic success of BMFSAs is valued at their ability to continue
playing football for the institution rather than preparation for careers after football has ended
(Beamon, 2008; Harper, 2018). When comparing the revenue generated by BMFSAs
participation in sport play, to the rate in which BMFSAs graduate from Power 5 institutions, the
numbers clearly demonstrate that BMFSAs are far more valuable to institutions as athletes rather
than students (Beamon, 2008; Chiari, 2022; National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2019). By
comparison, BMFSAs generated revenue from football post COVID-19 at $578 million;
however, across 25 of the 65 schools within the Power 5, the average Graduation Success Rate
[GSR] was roughly 60% (Berkowitz, 2022; Lapchick, 2020). Additionally, the reporting of
BMFSA career transition or attainment is not practiced across Power 5 institutions to
demonstrate if those who graduate are successful with career attainment post football play.
Sparse research has been conducted regarding the career development or exploration of
BMFSAs who are graduating from NCAA Power 5 schools (Beamon, 2008, 2012; Briggs et al.,
2021). Additionally, the heavy emphasis on reporting graduation rates and not the career choices
BMFSAs obtain post-sport play, raises questions about the intention of NCAA graduation rate
5

reporting (Beamon, 2008, 2012; Briggs et al., 2021; Harper, 2009a, 2018). Black male student
athletes’ graduation rates are rising over the past decade (Harper, 2018); however, whether these
students or BMFSAs, specifically, are obtaining careers that are marketed in their majors or
interest is a question yet to be explored. The emphasis of academic success within Power 5
institutions appears performative when athletic departments and universities have little interest in
reporting how this graduation attainment has supported appropriate career attainment post
collegiate football play.
Within postsecondary institutions and structures, the ability to develop social capital is
paramount in laying the foundation for a successful student academic and career exploration
experience (Briggs et al., 2021). Empowering BMFSAs with the agency to utilize their social
capital is necessary to support their career development and exploration in preparation for life
post collegiate football play (Beamon, 2008; Harrison & Lawrence, 2003; Houston & Baber,
2017; Lent, 2013). In addition to empowering BMFSA, these students are recruited by the
postsecondary athletic departments, BMFSAs are often promised the prospect of professional
sport-play development, the opportunity to play for a successful college program, and the
prospect of removing their family from poverty (Harper, 2018); however, beyond their athletic
ability, athletic departments must be diligent in creating space for non-professional athletic
narratives for BMFSAs to explore. Recruiters and the pressures of non-collegiate community
members to play and focus on their natural athletic talent (Beamon, 2012; Briggs et al., 2021;
Yearwood, 2018b), reinforces BMFSAs’ identity as an athlete and nothing more; however,
BMFSAs are more than athletic talent, they are also students who add to the intellectual fabric of
the college community. The athletic departments and universities that recruit BMFSAs must
recognize the intelligence of BMFSAs beyond the gridiron and intentionally develop space
6

where career development and exploration is supported, encouraged, and mandated for
BMFSAs. Specifically, highlighting that BMFSAs are not a monolith in their academic and
career interest. BMFSAs may not seek to play football professionally post their collegiate career.
Additionally, should BMFSAs choose to seek playing professionally post collegiate football that
their interest outside of sport are explored to germinate career development after this career has
ended, is imperative.
Statement of the Problem
BMFSAs are overrepresented in college athletics compared to the number of Black male
non-student athletes on college campuses (Harper, 2018; Yearwood, 2018a). Black male football
student-athletes (BMFSAs) are heavily recruited and sought after to play for PWIs because of
their athletic talent and the revenue-generating ability for the institution (Flowers, 2009; Harper,
2018). During the recruitment process, BMFSAs are informed about the university’s athletic
department’s ability to elevate their visibility to professional teams; the opportunity to play for a
recognizable athletic program; possibility of going pro to them after graduation; and dependent
upon their familial status, the opportunity to uplift their family out of poverty (Harper, 2016;
Samad, 2021; Singer, 2009). For BMFSAs where poverty is not perceived, the recruitment
process for these students relies heavily on the academic success of the institution and the
opportunities available to BMFSAs post-sport play (Samad, 2021; Singer, 2009). BMFSAs are
recruited to play for PWIs because of their athletic ability with the prospect of playing
professionally. However, the reality is these students are not adequately prepared for careers
outside of playing football (Daire et al., 2007; Fountain & Finley, 2009, 2011; Harrison &
Lawrence, 2003).
7

BMFSAs generate millions of dollars for PWIs within the Power 5 Conference (Chiari,
2022); however, outside of their athletic ability, these students do not appear to be actively
encouraged to utilize the resources of the institution to thrive academically and prepare for
careers beyond sport-play. This study will focus on what Beamon (2008, 2012, 2014), Briggs et
al. (2021), Harper (2009a, 2018), and Yearwood (2018a) have identified as the
disenfranchisement and systemic practice of using BMFSAs for institutional revenue without
regard to the career development and exploration.
Purpose of the Study and Guiding Questions
The goal of this research is to investigate and examine how BMFSAs make sense of their
career development and exploration from their academic preparation. This research is aimed to
identify how BMFSAs perceive their career development and exploration at PWIs and how
BMFSAs make sense of their institutions’ role in supporting their academic exploration toward
their career development and exploration. I analyzed how their experiences and perspectives
influenced their career exploration and development during and after their athletic sport play at
PWIs. The importance of examining this problem of practice is paramount in providing space for
BMFSAs to express their perspectives and experiences of their collegiate career within
academics and career exploration and development. The lack of literature that explores the
themes of BMFSAs-autonomy, academic exploration, career development and exploration, and
the anti-Black attitudes that BMFSAs experience must be explored more in-depth to better
support the success of BMFSAs post-sport-play (Beamon, 2008, 2014; Briggs et al., 2021;
Flowers, 2009; Harper, 2009b, 2016, 2018; Suggs, 2006; Yearwood, 2018b).
The experiences of BMFSAs academic exploration and if this academic exploration
informs their career development and exploration will be highlighted in this study. Additionally,
8

highlighting BMFSAs’ experiences from the historical presence of racism in higher education
will assist in informing how covert and direct racist perspectives inform modern practices and
empowerment of BMFSAs to explore careers post play. Exploring the support systems
universities and the NCAA promote to empower BMFSAs in the utilization of their social capital
toward their own intrinsic academic exploration and career development will provide context to
the proposed problem of practice in this dissertation. Finally, I will explore the academic
experiences of BMFSAs and examine if these experiences inform their self-agency in their
career exploration and development process. This study addresses how BMFSAs are prepared
for career opportunities and supported in career pathways post their sport play.
The research questions that guided this study are as follows: How do BMFSAs at Power
5 institutions make sense of their self-efficacy and self-agency to navigate their career
development and exploration outside of football? How do BMFSAs perceive their athletic
department and university’s role in developing or obstructing their career exploration through
academic preparation? How do the experiences of BMFSAs inform their sense of belonging at
PWIs with navigating their career exploration and development aspirations?
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology
The theoretical framework utilized to guide my research investigation of this study was a
combination of Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) ecological spheres, Crenshaw’s (1989) intersectionality
theory, and Lent’s (2013) social cognitive career theory. With these three theoretical frameworks
as the guide to develop and create the conceptual framework: Black Male Football Student-
Athletes Academic and Career Peregrination. Through this conceptual framework, BMFSAs’
intersectionality is highlighted as an equally principal factor in their career development and
exploration. Within this conceptual framework, two spheres are designated through the lens of
9

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological spheres, designated as objectors or developers. The
intersectionalities of BMFSAs are at the core of these spheres and Lent’s concepts of intrinsic
career development and exploration are highlighted within these spheres to provide institutions
with stages of BMFSAs’ career development and exploration.
This research will be conducted within the parameters of a phenomenological qualitative
research design. Phenomenological qualitative research affords the opportunity to investigate the
phenomenon of the problem of practice presented in this study. Within phenomenological
qualitative research, I was able to interview and survey participants to record their perspectives
and experiences in alignment with both the research question and conceptual framework.
Additionally, I was able to develop themes and create broader codes from the results of the
interviews and surveys, to provide informed recommendations for athletic academic units and
postsecondary institutions seeking a holistic, academically informed career development and
exploration student experience for their BMFSAs.
Definitions
This study introduces several terms that novice readers may not readily identify with due
to the nature of the study. This section will guide and provide context to these terms used
interchangeably throughout this dissertation.
Academic clustering: The intentional grouping of student-athletes in educational majors
that have perceived easier curriculum and do not heavily interfere with the athletic performance
of student-athletes (Newberry, 2011).
Academic progression rate (APR): holds institutions accountable for the academic
progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and
retention of each student-athlete for each academic term. Additionally, APR will be used
10

interchangeably with academic tracking which follows the academic progression of student-
athletes (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2013a).
Anti-Black: The Council for Democratizing Education defines anti-Blackness as being a
two-part formation that both voids Blackness of value, while systematically marginalizing Black
people and their issues. The first form of anti-Blackness is overt racism. Society also associates
un-politically correct comments with the overt nature of anti-Black racism. Beneath this anti-
Black racism is the covert structural and systemic racism that categorically predetermines the
socioeconomic status of Blacks in this country. The structure is held in place by anti-Black
policies, institutions, and ideologies. The second form of anti-Blackness is the unethical
disregard for anti-Black institutions and policies. This disregard is the product of class, race,
and/or gender privilege certain individuals experience due to anti-Black institutions and policies.
This form of anti-Blackness is protected by the first form of overt racism (University of
California-Multicultural Resource Center, 2022).
Black or African American: a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of
Africa (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022).
Black male football student-athletes (BMFSAs): Collegiate student-athletes that identify
as Black and male and compete in the sport of football.
Graduation success rate (GSR): NCAA legislation required member schools to report
enrollment (of both student body and student-athletes receiving athletics aid) and student body
and student-athlete graduation rates to the NCAA each year. Additionally, the NCAA GSR
differs from the federal calculation in two important ways. First, the GSR holds colleges
accountable for those student-athletes who transfer to their school. Second, the GSR does not
11

penalize colleges whose student-athletes leave the institution in good academic standing
(National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2013b).
Name, image, and likeness (NIL): policy permitting student-athletes to be paid for their
name, image, and likeness usage by businesses and organizations or their right to publicity
(Sorbe et al., 2021).
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA): a member-led organization, was
founded in 1906 to regulate the rules of college sport and protect young athletes (National
Collegiate Athletic Association, 2022).
Predominantly White institution: an informal designation assigned to campuses that have
a majority White student population (Bourke, 2016).
Power 5 institutions: are postsecondary institutions comprised of 65 schools that compete
within the designated conferences: Southeastern Conference (SEC), Big 10, Big 12, Pacific 12
(PAC 12), and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC; Entertainment and Sports Programming
Network, 2022).
Self-agency: a sense of agency or the sense that I am the one who is the initiator or source
of the action (Gallagher, 2000).
Social capital: social capital consists of networks of people and community resources.
These peer and other social contracts can provide both instrumental and emotional support to
navigate through society’s institutions (Yosso, 2005, p. 25).
Self-efficacy: people’s judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of
action required to attain designated types of performances. A dynamic set of self-beliefs that are
linked to performance domains and activities (Lent, 2013).
12

Time poverty: lack of adequate time to complete tasks. Also defined as time poor, affects
individuals’ ability to explore interest outside of required commitments (Giurge et al., 2020).
Organization of the Dissertation
Chapter 1 highlighted the history and background of BMFSAs at Power 5 institutions.
Additionally, Chapter 1 provides context to the problem statement of this study surrounding
BMFSAs academic informed career exploration and development. Chapter 2 reviews published
literature on BMFSAs’ integration into PWIs and the attitudes toward their intellectual ability,
explores the academic and career exploration and development at Power 5 institutions for
BMFSAs and introduces the conceptual framework utilized to guide this study. Chapter 3
outlines the methodology of this study and informs how I developed broad themes for the study.
Chapter 4 details how the data produced from this study was assessed and analyzed to inform
Chapter 5. Chapter 5 will summarize the study and outline the implications of practice for
athletic departments and postsecondary institutions. Finally, Chapter 5 will add to the community
of literature that exists on the career exploration and development of BMFSAs. Additionally,
with the inception of name, image, and likeness (NIL) legislation has encouraged evaluations
about whether college athletics add value or encourage the marginalization of BMFSAs in
athletic programming within college settings.
.

13

Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
One could easily summarize their status as Niggers with a ball who enroll to advance
their sports careers and generate considerable revenue for the institution without learning
much or seriously endeavoring to earn their degrees. (Harper, 2009b, p. 701)
In this chapter, I will review the literature that is foundational to understanding the
academic and career development of BMFSA. The following topics will be addressed: collegiate
sports and academia; the identity of BMFSAs; and the process of BMFSA career exploration.
Then, I will define the theories and epistemological perspectives that inform the conceptual
framework that will guide this study. The informed academic exploration of BMFSAs in
conjunction with the expertise model of career exploration and development of BMFSAs will
provide the context in this research defining athletic academic and career success.
Collegiate Sports and Academia
Various views surrounding the merits of college athletic programs have been hotly
debated among scholars and practitioners (Beamon, 2008; Briggs et al., 2021; Flowers, 2009;
Harper, 2018). On the one hand, successful athletic programs are said to provide financial gain
for college campuses. One argument, touted as the Flutie Effect, is that competitive athletic
programs help universities attract more students, thereby increasing tuition and fee revenue
(Chiari, 2022; Eggers et al., 2021). On the other hand, the heavy emphasis on BMFSAs’ athletic
ability rather than their academic capabilities has been said to hinder their post-sport-play
preparation (Beamon, 2008, Briggs et al., 2021; Harper, 2009b). Increasing critiques about the
overall value of athletic programs have resulted in re-evaluations of collegiate sports
programming by university communities and by the National Collegiate Athletic Association
spheres (Bunner, 2021; Rich et al., 2020; Samad, 2021; Smith, 2022; Sorbe et al., 2021).
14

The origin of the relationship between college sports and college academics is complex
from the historical lens. Today, college sports and college academics are intertwined and
interdependent upon each other, offering students entertainment outside of coursework and
helping to sustain the school pride needed to continue the traditions of the university (Yearwood,
2018b). In the past, academia and college sports were not as tethered and many scholars and
educational leaders believed that rugged sport-play and intellectualization should not coincide
(Lucas, 2006; Spivey, 1983). Navigating the complex relationship between college sport and
academia, the integration of BMFSAs on college campuses did not seem to ease the concerns of
academic traditionalists who did not respect sport-play in academia or Black bodies on their
highly white campuses (Suggs, 2006).
This section of the literature review explores the rise of college sports, university
community perceptions of BMFSAs, and graduation rates and athletic academic clustering.
College sports have become pivotal focal points for universities in generating revenue
and increasing visibility, both to student audiences and national audiences. In this section of the
literature, I will provide context about the rise of college sports play in postsecondary settings.
Additionally, I will highlight the academic communities’ attitudes towards the introduction of
college sports play. Then, I will provide the foundational philosophy and development of the
NCAA. This section will also provide the context of the emerging Name, Image, and Likeness
(NIL) laws and policies recently passed across the United States. Finally, I will discuss the
implications of the successful football programs in which BMFSAs participate.
The history of college sports is said to have begun in August 1852, with a rowing event
between Harvard and Yale (Beamon, 2008; Lucas, 2006). The rowing event would become the
unlikely spark to introduce the world of academia to collegiate athletics which generates upward
15

of one billion dollars per academic year (Chiari, 2022; Lucas, 2006). Prior to 1852, the college
student experience consisted of fielding clubs and fraternal societies to engage student social
praxis (Lucas, 2006). Though these social clubs were useful in creating community among the
student community, both Yale and Harvard had active boat clubs and had only competed against
their respective teammates (Harvard University, 2010). While the Harvard and Yale regatta is
rumored to have been prompted by Yale challenging Harvard “to test the orasement of two
colleges,” (Harvard University, 2010). The competition was a local success for both colleges and
has since been regarded as the oldest collegiate sporting event and the birth of college sports
competition. However, not until 1876 did college sports play include football as a competitive
sport (Lucas, 2006; Suggs, 2006, p. 18).
Much like the inception of the collegiate rowing competition between Yale and Harvard,
Princeton and Rutgers challenged each other’s football clubs to a battle of the gridiron to
determine the strongest men in New Jersey (Suggs, 2006). Rutgers University beat Princeton
with a score of 8–0 in their first competitive game. Unlike the instant success of the Yale-
Harvard rowing competition, not until 1876 would football become a collegiate sports success
with the competition between Cornell University and the University of Michigan (Lucas, 2006;
Suggs, 2006). Since the birth of college football in New Brunswick, New Jersey at Rutgers
University in 1869 and the heightened interest in 1876 with the Cornell-Michigan competition,
collegiate sports have been utilized to promote academic programs, create proud college
communities, and influence enrollment trends for PWI campuses. After the success of Rutgers
and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) football in 1869, university clergy
and officials noticed an opportunity to capitalize on and regulate male college sports
programming (Lucas, 2006; Yost, 2010; Zimbalist, 1999). By creating a board of executives that
16

would ensure the safety of collegiate sports, ensure fairness of play, and safeguard universities
from liability with student-athlete injuries, the rough outline of the would-be NCAA was
developed (Flowers, 2009; Lucas, 2006). Though athletic programs were not funded or
monetarily supported by the university community, the community of sports participation built a
strong alumni connection to the universities that had in previous years experienced declining
enrollment trends (Lucas, 2006). University leaders tasked athletic teams with raising funding to
maintain athletic competitions. This practice quickly laid the foundation toward moving
university clergy leaders into business forward leaders seeking to capitalize on the interest in
sports competition to increase student enrollment and university revenue (Flowers, 2009; Lucas,
2006).
Postsecondary institutions quickly realized more must be done to acquire the interest of
students to encourage them to attend college. Continued and systemic decline in enrollment of
students from the early 1900s at postsecondary institutions due to the rapid growth of more
colleges than students to attend them, the growing great war occurring in Europe, and
professional careers not requiring college degrees for employment (Goldin & Katz, 1999) had
created a need for students in postsecondary institutions (Flowers, 2009; Lucas, 2006). New
interest among alumni and potential student interest in attending universities with robust
extracurricular activities became the impetus for universities to highlight their athletic programs
to potential students (Flowers, 2009). Though not all members of university communities
welcomed or appreciated the emphasis on sports play to engage student enrollment, for the fear
of cheapening the academic community, senior administration and alumni continued to move
forward with the expansion of sports programming across college campuses (Lucas, 2006;
Weight & Zullo, 2015). Respected university leaders and clergy, now arguably savvy business
17

forward leaders, suggested that collegiate sports play programs had the potential to become an
educational tool to engage students in academic study (Flowers, 2009).
The rise of athletics across postsecondary institutions created an avenue for these athletic
clubs to be regulated and monitored to protect the universities from lawsuits should a student
become injured (Flowers, 2009; Weight & Zullo, 2015). By 1906, well over 60 college
institutions united in creating the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, which
would later become known as the present-day NCAA which currently regulates intercollegiate
sports programs (Weight & Zullo, 2015). In the preliminary stages of the advancement of the
NCAA, the emphasis on amateurism within collegiate sports supported the non-payment of
student-athletes and differentiated these student-athletes from the now established professional
players in the newly developed professional sports play programs (Duderstadt, 2003). However,
presently the need for the NCAA to regulate amateurism and collegiate sports have become
points of consideration since student-athletes now have the right to be compensated through NIL
deals (Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Sports, 2020).
With the inception and introduction of the NCAA, the organization began to develop
regional sectors for sports programs across universities. The development of these designated
regions would become the Power 5 conferences. Additionally, the methodology used to create
the Power 5 conferences would inform bowl competitions and the national championship that
generate large sums of revenue for institutions and the NCAA (Flowers, 2009; Lucas, 2006).
Though bowl games are still present within the NCAA, in 2014 the NCAA reconfigured their
methodology of the national championship to include the playoff system to create equity among
competing teams (College Football Playoff, 2021; National Collegiate Athletic Association,
2021a). However, the reality of the inception of the playoff bracket has created more revenue for
18

both the NCAA and the colleges that compete in these post-season games (National Collegiate
Athletic Association, 2019)
The commercialization and strategic organizational development of the NCAA created a
platform where college football has unquestionably assisted struggling college campuses’
revenue expenditures with ticket sales, university licensed gear, increased student enrollment,
and post-regular season payouts by the NCAA (Stieber, 1991; Zimbalist, 1999). Continuing the
early traditions of their predecessors, universities regulated by the NCAA and their subsidiaries
still emphasize the importance of intercollegiate sports programs to engage student enrollment
interest. In 2019, stemming from pressures to pay revenue-generating student-athletes beyond
their scholarships for their financial contributions to universities from competing in sports
programs, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the “The Fair Pay to Play Act,” permitting
student-athletes to be paid for their name, image, and likeness usage by university athletic
departments (Sorbe et al., 2021). The signing of this act required the NCAA to rethink the
definition of amateurism, which was long held as the reason student-athletes were not able to be
endorsed or paid outside of their academic scholarship and created waves across the United
States for other state legislatures to begin signing similar acts to pay student-athletes for their
athletic image (Sorbe et al., 2021). Though the effects of such laws have yet to be seen, renewed
interest in the importance of successful athletic college programs and how these athletes are
compensated have created conversations among researchers about the massive importance of
such programs for career development and exploration and financial literacy (Bunner, 2021;
Sorbe et al., 2021).
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University Community Perceptions of Black Male Football Student-Athletes
From the 1870s until the early 1910s, BMFSAs were not participating in large numbers at
PWIs; however, after 1915 many PWIs began to experience a surge in BMFSAs’ enrollment and
visibility on sports teams, particularly football (Demas, 2011). In this section of the literature, I
will provide context about the history of BMFSAs’ integration onto PWI campuses.
Additionally, I will highlight the university community’s attitudes towards the integration of
BMFSAs on college campuses. Then, I will provide the foundational ideology of the
postsecondary academic community’s perceptions of BMFSAs. Finally, I will discuss the time
commitments BMFSAs are expected to meet as football athletes.
From 1852 to 1915 athletics, football among other sports programs were all-white apart
from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, where Black students were prominent and
welcomed on educational campuses as students (Lucas, 2006; Spivey, 1983). By 1970, few
football teams across the Power 5 conferences had been integrated in numbers with both Black
and white football athletes occupying the rosters of these sports programs (Flowers, 2009; Lucas,
2006; Spivey, 1983). Scholars and researchers have explored and discussed the importance of
racial integration within college campuses (Beamon, 2008, 2012; Briggs et al., 2021; Flowers,
2009; Harper, 2009a, 2018; Spivey, 1983; Suggs, 2006). Though Black athletes competed on
overwhelming white teams until the 1910s (Suggs, 2006), it was not until after World War I that
the more significant presence of BMFSAs began to join PWI teams in competitive numbers as
their white peers (Spivey, 1983; Suggs, 2006). In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education verdict
changed the educational platform, P-16 Black students and Black student-athletes were openly
offered the full legal opportunity to be students at both private and public institutions with the
full support of the federal jurisdiction (Spivey, 1983; Suggs, 2006).
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The perceptions about the intellectuality and commitment to academic advancement
among BMFSAs are utilized to disenfranchise the autonomy of BMFSAs academic exploration
(Beamon, 2008; Harper, 2018; Suggs, 2006). Historically, academics within college
communities did not support nor adjust to the inception of athletics within academia prior to the
integration of Black male athletes (Flowers, 2009; Lucas, 2006). Academic leadership did not
perceive sports play as necessary to the development of the intellectual man and were violently
opposed to universities absorbing collegiate sports onto their campuses (Flowers, 2009; Lucas,
2006; Spivey, 1983). With the integration of Black students into white schools not federally
backed, the number of Black students into PWIs was steadily growing at rates where once no or
very few Black students attended (Lucas, 2006; Suggs, 2006). College football teams were not
immune to the wave of integration efforts in educational settings. By the 1950s, more BMFSAs
were visible on football teams across collegiate football programs nationally (Suggs, 2006).
More Black football athletes in turn meant more Black male students in formerly all-white male
dominated classrooms.
Faculties’ pressing concerns surrounding athletic programs cheapening postsecondary
academia and the deeply rooted anti-Black perceptions of Black students on college campuses
did not change with the integration of BMFSAs on these campuses (Beamon, 2012; Flowers,
2009; Suggs, 2006; Yearwood, 2018b). The NCAA in partnership with postsecondary
institutions began to develop educational parameters to ensure students were academically on
track to be active students on these campuses (Bateman, 2011; Beamon, 2014). The academic
tracking of student-athletes was not practiced until the integration of Black male athletes.
Alongside the prejudices about collegiate sports programming embedded within faculty
perceptions of athletics, the integration of BMFSAs did not assist in creating a welcoming
21

educational environment for Black student-athletes (Bateman, 2011; Yearwood, 2018b). The
wave of Black athletes entering historically, and overwhelming white institutions did not aid in
soothing the concerns academics held regarding athletes’ contribution to the watering-down of
intellectual spaces universities once held strongly upon (Bateman, 2011; Beamon, 2014; Cooper,
2012).
Statistically, Black male athletes across Division I programs underperform academically
when compared to their non-Black peers and are placed in academic support services within their
collegiate athletic program to assist them in meeting the qualifications to remain eligible for play
(Briggs et al., 2021; Harper, 2018). Beyond the view of academics as inferior intellectually
compared to non-student athletes, BMFSAs are moreover viewed as aggressive, brawn, and
volatile when compared to their non-Black peers (Yearwood, 2018a). Yearwood (2018b)
affirmed in their research that BMFSAs are “keenly aware of the subjectification within the
[higher education] system” (p. 18). Those not fully immersed within the field of athletics
perceive BMFSAs as overly privileged, overindulged, and valuable only athletically to the
university community (Bateman, 2011; Beamon, 2008; Briggs et al., 2021; Harper, 2009b)
would be remiss to explore the intellectual value, financial support, and notoriety BMFSAs and
their athletic peers provide to PWIs (Bateman, 2011; Briggs et al., 2021; Yearwood, 2018b).
Outside of their documented lack of academic preparedness from high school, BMFSAs are
often athletically exploited and thrusted into hostile university educational communities
(Beamon, 2008; Cooper, 2012; Hawkins, 2010 as cited in Curette, 2015; Singer, 2005).
Navigating academic isolation, racial discrimination within or outside of the athletic department,
and inadequate academic services or support have informed BMFSAs academic
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underperformance and attitudes toward exploring academic of their intrinsic interest that later
informs their career exploration (Baker & Hawkins, 2016).
BMFSAs’ experiences differ slightly when research has explored how their relationships
with their coaches, support staff, and peers on campus are formed (Beamon, 2008; Briggs et al.,
2021; Harper, 2009a). BMFSAs overwhelmingly expressed across a myriad of majors and fields
that their coaching staff is far more supportive of their athletic pursuits than their academic
success (Beamon, 2012, 2014; Briggs et al., 2021; Curry et al., 2021; Harper, 2016). BMFSAs
who engaged in conversations with researchers about their academic exploration and feeling of
isolation by university stakeholders to only engage in athletic pursuits demonstrated a cycle
where BMFSAs become comfortable with placing their value solely on their athletic talent rather
than their academic ability (Beamon, 2012, 2014; Briggs et al., 2021; Curry et al., 2021; Harper,
2016). The emphasis on athletic talent is highlighted in BMFSAs’ engagement across campus
partners, as being the focus of their experience on campus. Though their peer group admires and
creates a community of celebrity for them, BMFSAs are further isolated from engaging in
traditional college student experiences because of their high visibility as student-athletes on
Division I campuses and the need for their persona to be protected from scandal (Briggs et al.,
2021).
In conjunction with their public positionality and highlighted presence on college
campuses, BMFSAs are often treated as stock and highly prized commodities to encourage
student engagement in athletic events (Briggs et al., 2021; Lucas, 2006). With the visibility of
their athletic prowess, BMFSAs are not afforded the opportunity to exercise their social capital
in relation to their academic interest or career exploration and development (Baker & Hawkins,
2016; Beamon, 2008; Briggs et al., 2021; Yearwood, 2018a). University-wide perceptions of
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BMFSAs’ desire to engage only in their sport and not the full educational college experience
further push BMFSAs into social isolation as building community outside of athletics prove to be
taxing (Beamon, 2012; Briggs et al., 2021; Curry et al., 2021). Additionally, the documented
lack of academic autonomy and the monopolization BMFSAs’ time by their athletic department
and athletic academic offices further drives the narrative that these students are uninterested in
obtaining competitive degrees or fully engaging in university community beyond their sport-play
(Beamon, 2012; Briggs et al., 2021; Curry et al., 2021; Flowers, 2009; Harper, 2009b).
Graduation Success Rate
Graduation success rate (GSR) within athletics is a calculated demonstration by athletic
offices utilized to promote BMFSAs’ academic success. Federal graduation rates have been a
customary practice of the government to track educational institutions’ rates of success (National
Center for Education Statistics, 2020). Since 2002 the NCAA has introduced and began tracking
student-athlete graduation success rates (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2014).
Though the federal government has the formula to determine an institution’s graduation success
of their students, the NCAA created an additional tool to demonstrate the success of graduating
student-athletes (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2014). The NCAA’s reasoning for
creating an alternative and additional calculation tool was because of the transfer portal and low
rate of retention of student-athletes within Division I programs, the NCAA needed a tool to
better calculate the graduation rates of student-athletes to reflect student-athlete success
(National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2014). Calculating the GSR of student-athletes is a
complicated practice and requires a guidebook to assist athletic academic units with the
methodology of gathering GSR data (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2014). GSRs
have been utilized to purport the academic achievement of student-athletes across the NCAA.
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However, this data is not disaggregated beyond sport, nor does it demonstrate the career choices
of these graduated athletes.
Graduation rates among BMFSAs have been tracked and monitored by the NCAA since
the 1980s (Watt & Moore III, 2001); however, the NCAA did not develop a student-athletes
specific methodology for calculating GSR until 2002 (National Collegiate Athletic Association,
2014). Utilizing GSR, the NCAA has promoted successful GSR data to advocate for increased
financial support to athletic programs within their Power 5 conferences. According to two
separate studies conducted by Shaun Harper (2016, 2018), BMFSAs accounted for 40% of
graduating football athletes across the various conferences within the NCAA (Harper, 2018).
Prior to 2003 NCAA did not track student-athlete’s graduation rates aside from the already
tracked federal government tracking (Harper, 2016; National Collegiate Athletic Association,
2014). By 2003 the NCAA began to openly track student-athletes in Division I programs to
combat the negative media coverage surrounding the lack of academic emphasis purported in
athletic programs (Harper, 2018; National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2013a). The NCAA
developed a formula that calculates the Academic Progress Rate (APR) and GSR (Fountain &
Finley, 2009; Harper, 2018; Houston & Baber, 2017; National Collegiate Athletic Association,
2013b). While universities track the matriculation and graduation rate of students, athletic
programs deploy the NCAA methodology calculation to produce data informing the public about
graduation rates of student-athletes who are playing sports while in school (Harper, 2018).
These calculations do not include student-athletes who transfer to other institutions or
those who may have dropped out of school prior to their academic catalog expiring (Harper,
2018; National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2014). To combat the growing gap in graduation
rates, academic clustering has become a common and standard practice within athletic academic
25

programs. Though no academic unit will openly acknowledge or confirm the practice, in 2008
Sharp and Sheilley research asserted, “academic advisers sometimes steer athletes into specific
courses and degree programs to make it easier for them to meet the NCAA’s academic
standards” (Sharp & Sheilley, 2008, p. 106).
Academic Clustering
Academic clustering is best defined as intentionally grouping student-athletes by 25% or
more of their athletic team, in less strenuous and flexible majors to obtain a degree or remain
academically eligible for student-athletes (Beamon, 2008; Houston & Baber, 2017). According
to Fountain and Finley (2009, 2011), academic clustering is best described as the
overrepresentation of non-white athletes in one or two specific fields of study. Additionally,
Houston and Baber (2017), further described academic clustering as a strategic practice of
athletic academic units to control the academic pursuits and time of BMFSAs from becoming
distracted by rigorous coursework. Much like GSR, academic clustering is utilized to assist the
narrative of successful academic student-athletes for athletic departments and the NCAA
(Fountain & Finley, 2011; Houston & Baber, 2017). For example, 72% of BMFSAs at LSU were
academically clustered within two majors (Houston & Baber, 2017). Within Power 5 institutions
where BMFSAs’ presence is prominent, many of these BMFSAs graduated with a similar degree
with no professional experience (e.g., an internship or career training) for their degree field when
compared to team members who are white (Beamon, 2009; Beamon & Bell, 2006; Harper, 2016,
2018; Houston & Baber, 2017; Newberry, 2011; Roebuck et al., 2014).
Accompanied with the time demands of their football practices, football games, travel for
football competitions, and required media days, BMFSAs require academic plans that are
flexible to accommodate their monopolized time (Houston & Baber, 2017). Support for
26

academic clustering can be argued to be more flexible and accommodating to the demands of
BMFSAs’ competing interests (Fountain & Finley, 2011; Houston & Baber, 2017). However,
academic clustering has been argued to be harmful to BMFSAs’ career exploration, limits
BMFSAs to certain areas of study, and highlights BMFSAs’ athletic ability as their strongest
trait in an academic setting (Fountain & Finley, 2011; Houston & Baber, 2017). Programs where
academic clustering is prevalent, typically have faculty who are willing to accommodate the
academic needs of BMFSAs who may need extra time to complete assignments or may be less
present in classes (Fountain & Finley, 2009, 2011; Houston & Baber, 2017). Though the NCAA
outlines that BMFSAs’ study should not be mandated, dictated, or influenced by their sport play,
this is not the reality many of these athletes’ experience when navigating their academic careers
(Harper, 2018; Houston & Baber, 2012; National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2021b).
According to NCAA bylaw 14, student-athlete class attendance is mandatory and sport play may
not negatively interfere with student-athletes academic progress toward degree completion and
maintaining eligibility for sport play (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2021a).
Academically clustering student-athletes can be viewed as a method to support their academic
achievement and success.
Academic clustering can have positive effects on BMFSA student experience in relation
to the academic success rate and ability to graduate within 6 years (Houston & Baber, 2017).
However, institutional involvement in academically clustering BMFSAs in fields of study, not of
their educational interest is harmful to their overall cognitive development and sense of self-
efficacy as emerging adults seeking careers post-football (Beamon, 2008, 2012, 2014; Beamon
& Bell, 2006; Bronfenbrenner, 1977; Harper, 2018; Houston & Baber, 2017; Lent, 2013; Wright
et al., 2014). In 2011, Paul Newberry reported,
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Half the football players with declared majors at a dozen other universities are bunched
in two fields of study. At 22 schools, 50% or more are pursuing a degree from a group of three
majors, which means that more than half of the schools are at the core of major college
football—39 of 68 teams—have some level of clustering.
Athletic enforced structured time constraints and monopolization of BMFSAs’ time
prove a difficulty in affording the agency to engage in non-sport-related academic exploration
and career development (Beamon, 2008; Harper, 2018).
The heavy influence of the athletic departments’ emphasis on BMFSAs’ identity rooted
in their athleticism and not necessarily in their academic ability further encourages the discourse
among non-athletic faculty, staff, and academic peers to engage in stereotyping the intellectuality
of BMFSAs (Beamon, 2008, 2012). Briggs et al. (2021, pp. 28-30) argues the lack of agency to
elevate their own social capital informs BMFSAs’ ability to explore academic study choice and
career exploration.
Overwhelming in comparison to their non-student-athlete peers, BMFSAs are regulated
by the NCAA and their athletic offices to remain in their chosen major, have a lack of autonomy
in registering for courses without the athletic academic office’s clearance, and may only add or
drop courses at the discretion of their athletic academic team’s approval (Beamon, 2008;
Beamon & Bell, 2006; Wright et al., 2014). Though the initial positive results onset by academic
clustering is useful because of the convenience to BMFSAs’ current circumstances as student-
athletes, the long-standing results of lack of self-autonomy and development of a sense of self
past football (Beamon & Bell, 2006; Fountain & Finley, 2011; Houston & Baber, 2017; Wright
et al., 2014) proves to be more damaging to their career development and exploration when
football has ended. These systems of academic clustering and emphasis on unclear graduation
28

rates further drive the narrative that BMFSAs are simply part of the college community to play
football and not become fully engaged students like their peers (Briggs et al., 2021; Houston &
Baber, 2017; Spivey, 1983; Wright et al., 2014).
Unpacking Who the Black Male Football Student-Athlete Is
This section seeks to explore how and if the socioeconomic backgrounds of BMFSAs
assist in the self-autonomy of BMFSAs. Second, if familial and local community expectations of
BMFSAs inform how these student-athletes navigate their college academic experience and
career exploration beyond their sport-play. Finally, this section will explore how the desire to
play professionally informs BMFSAs’ interest in the examination of careers outside of sport-
play. Identifying several intersectionalities, BMFSAs are tasked, albeit externally or internally,
to navigate the various identities they occupy (Beamon, 2014). As Black males, college students,
college athletes, and local community leaders, among a myriad of identities, these emerging
adults are met with constant expectations to perform and deliver to several entities within the
college community and their home community.
BMFSAs are not an invariable community of students. These student-athletes occupy a
myriad of socioeconomic statuses and communities as they enter the university community.
Socioeconomic status can be described as the social class of the community one is cultivated
within and the economic background of the community which also informs a person and their
upbringing. According to Baker and Hawkins (2016), “higher education and sport have been a
means of upward social mobility for Black males, and many Black people believe that athletic
ability is more important to young men than academic accomplishment” (p. 71). However, to
simply place all BMFSAs in lower socioeconomic status communities would not be true to the
diverse community of Black Americans who attend college and engage in sport play (Martin et
29

al., 2010). Though the representation of BMFSAs who are from lower socioeconomic statuses is
prevalent within athletic programs, their socioeconomic status does not automatically disqualify
these athletes from seeking intellectual pursuits beyond influenced choices by their athletic
department (Beamon, 2014; Harper, 2009b; Houston & Baber, 2017; Martin et al., 2010).
For many BMFSAs competing athletically while obtaining a college degree is a surefire
method to uproot their families and close community members out of the grips of poverty
(Martin et al., 2010). With respect to identifying and informing the audience of BMFSAs, these
students often are from communities and households that support both their academic and
athletic pursuits (Beamon, 2012, 2014; Briggs et al., 2021; Hawkins, 1995; Martin et al., 2010).
In addition to the pressures of the university athletic department, athletic department donors and
boosters, their university peers, and their sense of familial obligation, BMFSAs are continuously
pushed to perform at the highest level athletically (Beamon, 2009, 2014; Hawkins, 1995; Martin
et al., 2010). Their ability to fully engage in the university community as students is an
afterthought to the university and its stakeholders (Martin et al., 2010; Watt & Moore III, 2001).
The overstressing importance of BMFSAs to focus on their athletic abilities by familial
entities and their local community place BMFSAs in positions of disadvantage when entering
postsecondary campuses, as these university and athletic stakeholders are often aware of the
importance for these athletes to “go pro” rather than completing their studies (Baker & Hawkins,
2016; Beamon, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014). Furthermore, this communal and societal
overemphasizing of BMFSAs’ physical stature and athletic ability, directly and indirectly,
encourages educational spaces to “neglect and uphold structural inequities” when assisting the
academic and career pursuits of BMFSAs (Baker & Hawkins, 2016, p. 72). Zimbalist (1999)
highlighted that the over-commitment of BMFSAs to their athletic prowess and the pursuit of
30

financial gain from athletics created a deeper hindrance to the overall cognitive and social
development of BMFSAs as their focus is often only aligned to their athletic identity. Due to this
overindulgent socialization by their families, community, and university, BMFSAs are more
likely to hold firmly to their athletic abilities as their only suitable career exploration and will
likely suffer from the effects of identity foreclosure once their athletic career has ended, if no
other interest is explored beyond their sport play (Beamon, 2008, 2012; Beamon & Bell, 2006;
Singer, 2019).
BMFSAs Career Exploration
BMFSAs lack the agency and autonomy to freely develop and explore both their
academic interest and career exploration if these do not align with the athletic interest of the
institution. Beamon and Messer (2013) asserted, “one of the most challenging adjustments for
retiring athletes is formulating a new career path.” This section will explore the literature
surrounding BMFSAs’ career exploration while active student-athletes engage in sport play and
post sport play. Additionally, this section will explore the literature surrounding the benefits of
career services specifically geared toward BMFSAs and how athletic departments engage
BMFSAs in career planning post sport play.
Though college graduates, athletes or not, have trouble with career plans post-graduation,
Beamon and Messer (2013) argue that the severe lack of career preparation BMFSAs endure
when preparing for post-play transitions is unmatched. The lack of academic preparation and free
academic agency or choice by the athletic department to explore their intrinsic educational
interest creates little to no encouragement to explore careers post sport play (Baker & Hawkins,
2016; Beamon, 2008; Beamon & Messer, 2013; Singer, 2019). The continued propagation
BMFSAs experience from their families, communities, peers, media, and universities that they
31

will in fact go pro and play professionally creates a damaging cycle of ill-equipped college-
educated Black males entering the workforce (Baker & Hawkins, 2016; Beamon & Messer,
2013).
BMFSAs are consistently and strategically clustered academically to ensure their
eligibility to continue sport play, creating little room for career development informed by
academic exploration. Athletic academic units moreover create barriers or encourage barriers to
discourage BMFSAs from engaging in an academic study that interferes with their athletic
commitments (Sharp & Sheilley, 2008). With the encouragement and under the direction of
athletic academic units, BMFSAs engage in less strenuous studies (e.g., liberal arts majors) that
accommodate and work in community with the athletic academic unit to pass BMFSAs
regardless of the actual academic performance of the BMFSAs (Flowers, 2009; Sharp &
Sheilley, 2008). The existing lack of self-autonomy and social capital of BMFSAs’ experience
equally informs their lack of career exploration past their respective sport play (Briggs et al.,
2021). Additionally, the overwhelming lack of Black male professionals within athletic academic
units inherently creates a visual representation of how BMFSAs belong in athletic realms and not
necessarily in the academic intellectual space (Beamon, 2009).
Aside from maintaining BMFSAs academic eligibility to play football, athletic academic
offices do not provide appropriate transition tools or workshops to assist BMFSAs into the
professional setting outside of their sport-play. As highlighted and noted by Beamon (2012),
student-athletes are better purported as athlete-students as this more accurately illustrates the role
BMFSAs are encouraged to embody while engaging in college campuses. The heavy emphasis
on their athletic positionality leaves little exploratory space for BMFSAs to investigate their
career interest past their athletic pursuits. Harrison and Lawrence (2003, p. 374) identified that
32

BMFSAs believed the opportunities in sport were more profitable leading to their distorted
perceptions about their education and other occupational prospects outside of their sport-play.
Students who do not identify as student-athletes and Black are more equally disinvested in their
career development upon their introduction into their respective institutions.
Arguably, students who are not considered student-athletes, more specifically BMFSAs,
are encouraged and supported to utilize their institution’s career services center throughout their
academic career (Daire et al., 2007; Stieber, 1991). The introduction to career services early on
within a student’s academic matriculation is paramount preparation for post-graduation career
success once separation from their institution occurs. As BMFSAs are actively academically
clustered to retain control of BMFSAs academic advancement at the convenience of athletic
departments and their respective embedded academic units, little interest is considered in their
career development or encouraging their career exploration (Bateman, 2011; Beamon, 2008;
Carter-Francique et al., 2015). Athletic departments within the NCAA Power 5 conferences have
some foundational academic units that include athletic-centered academic advisors, learning
specialists, enrollment specialists, and personal development personnel (Harrison & Lawrence,
2003; Singer, 2019; Wright et al., 2014).
However, these athletic academic units operate in silos in relation to the university as an
entity. Questions surrounding why the same fervency for their academic matriculation is not
heavily considered by athletic departments to develop sustainable career centers or pathways for
student-athletes post sport play career exploration, draw arguments that BMFSAs are great for
revenue but are not valuable enough to truly develop their holistic educational and professional
exploration beyond their athletic ability (Bateman, 2011; Beamon, 2008, 2009; Carter-Francique
et al., 2015; Hawkins, 1995; Yearwood, 2018a, 2018b).
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Conceptual Framework
In developing this research, while investigating literature surrounding the academic
survey and career exploration of BMFSAs, my goal was to create a body of work that was
informed by the myriad of intersectionalities student-athletes live in. More specifically, I wanted
to inform how Black males who were also football players from diverse socioeconomic statuses
engaged in their academic and career exploration while actively engaging in sport-play. From the
research, and the desire to be a change agent in the educational sphere centered on athletics, this
conceptual framework is informed by a three-prong lens to address the need for academic
informed career exploration in BMFSAs. BMFSAs Academic and Career Peregrination is
informed and developed from Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems (1977), Crenshaw’s
intersectionality (1989), and Lent’s social cognitive career theory (2013). Bronfenbrenner’s
(1977) ecological systems theory is utilized to explore how BMFSAs make sense of their social
and academic environments within the athletic community and their career exploration at PWIs. I
chose to include Crenshaw’s (1989) intersectionality theory to inform how BMFSAs are not a
monolith within Black culture and within educational spheres. Crenshaw’s intersectionality
theory (1989) is highlighted to define how all the identities BMFSAs hold inform how they
navigate their indirect and direct environments across academic, social, and professional
communities. Lent’s social cognitive career theory (2013) incorporates the importance of
academic and educational training accompanied with supportive self-agency measures to
encourage career exploration and development of persons who identify from marginalized
communities and spheres.
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Bronfenbrenner-Ecological Systems Theory
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory can be described as the method in which
persons navigate their lives from a myriad of vantage points. Conceptualizing the environmental
systems within and outside of the postsecondary athletic community is paramount to describing
the experiences of BMFSAs. Urie Bronfenbrenner (1977) developed and theorized the idea of
ecological systems and how these systems impact human development from a behavioral lens.
Ecological systems relied on four distinct principles to inform human development: context,
time, process, and person (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998). Human development ecology can be
described as the scientific study of “progressive, mutual accommodation, throughout the
lifespan, between a growing human organism and the changing immediate environments in
which it lives” (Bronfenbrenner, 1977, p. 514). Coupled within the immediate ecological
environment is the impact of cultural, structural, and social systems of the greater society, as well
as the indirect influence that informs the immediate ecological environment of BMFSAs.
I utilized Bronfenbrenner’s theory to inform how BMFSAs interact within the ecological
spheres within and outside of postsecondary institutions’ athletic offices to explore their
academic informed career exploration. Rather than focus on the human development of
BMFSAs, I utilized this theory to inform how self-agency and BMFSAs approaches to their
career development are encouraged or discouraged by their environment. Within the conceptual
theory informed by Bronfenbrenner’s theory, BMFSAs are the core of the developing model.
Within the model, I will highlight through the literature how BMFSAs inform their self-agency
within their different ecological systems as well as any disruptive external influences on their
academic exploration and career development from elements of the systems in which they
occupy. Additionally, I will create a model that highlights the ecological systems that support
35

academic exploration from BMFSAs’ intrinsic interest to inform their career development and
juxtaposition this model to an ecological system that is rooted in anti-Black practices, as it relates
to BMFSAs.
Explorations of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model also included a highlighted
awareness of the characteristics of the person at the core of the model. I utilized elements of
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory in this study to inform the interrelationships
between BMFSAs and the environments created within PWI athletic academic offices which are
supported by regulation of the NCAA. Rather than focusing on the human development of
BMFSAs from Bronfenbrenner’s theory, I applied aspects of this theory to their encouraged self-
agency and self-efficacy by the athletic academic offices or NCAA to engage in intrinsic
academic studies that inform their career exploration. With BMFSAs as the core of the model, I
will use literature to inform their agency within different ecological systems and highlight
disruptive external influences on their experiences surrounding their academic and career
exploration from elements of the systems in which they navigate. Each ecological system defines
the myriad of ways in which a person navigates within these systems. Bronfenbrenner’s (1977)
original ecological systems theory consisted of four different systems of ecological
environments; however, by 1998, Bronfenbrenner and Morris expanded the original theory to
include five systems in the model: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and
chronosystem.
The microsystem consists of the continued development of an individual’s most
immediate social and physical environment (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). For my study, the
microsystem consists of the overall academic athletic departmental climate and culture of the
participants’ immediate academic and career exploration environment. This includes the duties
36

associated with their role as students, recognizable athletic figures, and the communication styles
within the athletic academic department. Additionally, the system includes the experiences of
BMFSAs identified by the literature such as racial microaggressions, the lack of academic
decision-making power, and limited career exploration in comparison to sport-play. The
mesosystem is defined as the relationships and interactions within the differentiated settings
within the microsystem. The constituents of the microsystem act interdependently to shape the
overall experience of the individual at the core of the model.
In my study of BMFSAs, their experiences with their athletic academic offices, how they
interact with their colleagues and/or the staff to engage in academic study, and their career
development will inform how I will apply this framework later in the research. The exosystem
identifies the formal and informal external elements which operate independently of the
individual at the core; however, influences the experiences and overall development of the
participant. The elements of the athletic academic offices within a PWI in relation to the diverse
climate, and the demographic characteristics of the institution’s leaders are significant
components of the exosystem this research is focused within. Bronfenbrenner (1977) described
the macrosystem as “the overarching institutional and ideological patterns of the culture or
subculture as they affect human development” (p. 527). This research acknowledges and
addresses that elements of the macrosystem are ever-changing in relation to the BMFSAs’
experiences. I have chosen to focus on the societal racial climate within academic settings, with a
heavy emphasis on BMFSAs’ athletic performance as the macrosystem in my study.
Bronfenbrenner and Morris (1998) later introduced the chronosystem as the fifth and final level
of ecological systems to inform how daily and major life transitions, historical events, and
additional contextual elements associated with the chronological period of participants’
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experiences (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998). This research will not directly highlight this.
However, the importance of identifying how the changing climate in relation to revenue-
generating sports programming and the passing of NIL deals for BMFSAs is important to note.
Applying Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory in this present study adds a
dimension to its intersectional approach by considering the impact of the environments on how
BMFSAs perceive or contextualize their experiences in relation to academically informed career
exploration. My interest in investigating how my participants may internalize aspects of their
academic athletic environments and if their athletic environments impact how they make
academic decisions, perceive their self-efficacy in these decisions, and how this impacts their
interest in career exploration beyond sport-play.
Crenshaw-Intersectionality
Surveying the experiences of Black males who attend PWIs is critical in exploring how
BMFSAs navigate their college experience. Specifically, the uniqueness of how BMFSAs’
identities intersect beyond being Black males in an anti-Black society are targeted because of
their appearance regardless of the myriad of communities they represent. The assertion that
BMFSAs are theoretically erased, and their experiences should be examined through a
multidimensional framework is supported in the conceptual framework of this research.
Crenshaw (1989) investigated the intersectionality of Black women’s experiences through the
lens of legal discourse and discrimination cases. Her theory asserted the experiences:
Black women as the starting point, it becomes more apparent how dominant conceptions
of discrimination condition us to think about subordination as disadvantage occurring along a
single categorical axis. I want to suggest further that this single-axis framework erases Black
women in the conceptualization, identification, and remediation of race and sex discrimination
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by limiting inquiry to the experiences of otherwise-privileged members of the group (Crenshaw,
1989, p. 140).
For this research exploration, Crenshaw’s (1989) intersectionality theory is modified to
identify and investigate how BMFSAs’ diverse intersectionalities inform both their academic
inquiry and their career development. In coordination with the conceptual framework,
intersectionality is defined by the socioeconomic status, race/ethnic community, gender identity,
sexual identity, age, career, and educational background a person possesses which informs the
epistemology of BMFSAs and how the world interprets BMFSAs existence within the societal
context (Crenshaw, 1989).
Lent-Social Cognitive Career Theory
Lent’s (2013) social cognitive career theory (SCCT) argues the utilization of career
development in relation to one’s academic interest and communal surroundings may either
support or hinder how individuals theoretically make sense of their career development and
exploration. According to Lent (2013),
SCCT acknowledges the important roles that interests, abilities, and values can play
within the career development process. SCCT shares with the developmental theories a focus on
how people negotiate tasks and milestones (e.g., career choice). Yet SCCT is also relatively
distinctive and designed to complement these other theories. In contrast to P-E fit approaches,
SCCT highlights relatively dynamic and domain-specific aspects of both people (e.g., self-views,
future expectations, behavior) and their environments (e.g., social support, financial barriers; p.
117).
Lent’s SSCT highlights the importance and influence personal determinants: such as self-
awareness, self-agency, academic interest, attitudes, interests, needs-values, achievements,
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biological heritage, and general or specific aptitudes inform how participants navigate their
career paths in collaboration “preparation of work (education and training)” (p. 115) assist in this
development.
The foundational concepts of Lent’s (2013) SCCT highlight four concepts which support
positive career development and exploration outcomes and often overlap. These concepts are
development of interest, ability to make choices, influence on and results of performance, and
experience of satisfaction, or well-being, in the educational and occupational sphere (Lent, 2013,
p. 120). To provide a clear understanding of each of these concepts toward positive career
development and exploration, I will outline each concept’s key points and emphasis. Self-
efficacy in this theory model is described as the belief of an individual’s ability or capability to
execute tasks (Lent, 2013). Lent (2013) best argues self-efficacy in this theory as follows:
Self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and goals—are seen as operating in concert with
other important aspects of persons (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity), their environments, and learning
experiences to help shape the contours of academic and career development (p.120); beliefs
about personal capabilities, which are subject to change based on future experiences and are
responsive to environmental conditions (e.g., How supportive is the piano teacher? How tough is
the basketball competition?), are acquired and modified via four primary informational sources
(or types of learning experience): (a) personal performance accomplishments, (b) vicarious
learning, (c) social persuasion, and (d) physiological and affective states (Bandura, 1997). The
impact that these experiential sources have on self-efficacy depends on a variety of factors, such
as how the individual attends to and interprets them. Prior performance accomplishments often
have the greatest influence on self-efficacy. Compelling success experiences with a given task or
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performance domain (e.g., math) tend to strengthen self-efficacy beliefs in relation to that task or
domain; convincing or repeated failures tend to weaken these beliefs. (p. 118)
During the career exploration and development phase, with SCCT, self-efficacy is a
major driving force in determining an emerging professional’s sense of ability to be successful in
their career interest.
Outcome expectations and personal goals within this theory refers to the outward
consequences of performing a behavior. Personal goals more specifically address the individual’s
intention to participate in designated activities to produce a desired outcome (Lent, 2013).
Outcome expectations and personal goals are informed by the individual’s self-efficacy and
support toward self-efficacy from an authority perspective or action of the individual’s ability or
lack thereof (Lent, 2013). Lent (2013) outlines,
Social cognitive theory maintains that people’s choice and performance goals are affected
by their self-efficacy and outcome expectations. For example, strong self-efficacy and positive
outcome expectations in relation to musical performance are likely to nurture music-relevant
goals, such as the intention to devote time to practice, seek performing opportunities, and
perhaps (depending on the nature and strength of one’s self-efficacy and outcome expectations in
other domains) pursue a career in music. Progress (or lack of progress) in attaining one’s goals,
in turn, has a reciprocal influence on self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Successful goal
pursuit may further strengthen self-efficacy and outcome expectations within a positive cycle (p.
119).
Lent proposes that emerging professional’s self-efficacy and the support of self-efficacy
from perceived persons of authority, have a major impact and influence on emerging
professionals’ confidence in career development and exploration (2013).
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According to Lent (2013), when these concepts are implemented and addressed
throughout the career development and exploration process the space to curate positive results of
self-concept and self-agency to engage in career exploration and development is often
successful. In conjunction with highlighting the intersectionalities of marginalized communities
these concepts provide space for growth and exploration when curiosity and failure are supported
and viewed as necessary points of development toward positive results (Lent, 2013). Lent (2013)
best addressed the measure of intertwined academic and career development and exploration:
Interests are generally a reliable predictor of educational and career choices, but they are
not the only such predictor. Especially where people need to compromise their interests in
making choices (e.g., due to family or financial considerations), self-efficacy and outcome
expectations can augment or surpass interests in directing choices. This underlines the
importance of promoting self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations that are positive yet
realistic (p. 143).
The emphasis of self-efficacy in this career development model in collaboration with
highlighting the academic interest of Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) when
exploring or developing identities related to their careers demonstrates the importance of choice
of otherwise marginalized people (Lent, 2013).
BMFSAs Academic and Career Peregrination
The conceptual framework developed to assist in this research’s design is best defined
within the theoretical frameworks of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems (1977), Crenshaw’s
intersectionality (1989), and Lent’s social cognitive career theory (2013). Bronfenbrenner,
Crenshaw, and Lent’s theoretical frames are best utilized in this study to explore how BMFSAs
interface with their various identities across their educational experience within the context of
42

the various intersectionalities they occupy. Rather than focus this study within the frame of
critical race theory, I chose to develop a framework that better described how Black males, who
are football athletes and students, interact in society. More specifically, this framework describes
how these identities inform the exploration, self-advocacy, academic choices and career choices
of these students, both current and past. This framework will serve to identify instances of
inequity and how to rectify these instances. Additionally, the framework will assist in identifying
instances of positive environments to better inform the development of BMFSAs in conjunction
with their academic and career inquiry (Bronfenbrenner, 1977; Crenshaw, 1989; Lent, 2013).
The expectation in this framework will provide contextual guidelines for postsecondary athletic
departments to develop more equitable academic and career services to support their BMFSAs
within the outlined definitions of obstructors and developers. As BMFSAs navigate across the
myriad of spheres, this framework seeks to identify the ecological spheres of obstructors to
BMFSAs academic informed career exploration and expertise and alternatively developers to
BMFSAs academic informed career exploration and expertise.
Obstructors within this framework are defined as societal, educational, and familial
structures that are rooted in anti-Black policies to police and control BMFSAs academic inquiry
and discourage their career development indirectly or directly. Obstructor-informed spheres
actively engage in anti-Black practices and behaviors that directly inhibit BMFSAs from
utilizing their social capital and autonomy to inform their academic pursuits. Obstructors
discourage self-efficacy behaviors by promoting controlling systems which inform BMFSAs to
follow the protocol of those oppressive systems and depend on the direction of authority.
Additionally, obstructors discourage the usage of BMFSAs social capital and self-agency to
make decisions surrounding BMFSAs academic and career exploration inquiry. In relation to
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BMFSAs’ career exploration and expertise, obstructing spheres discourage directly and
indirectly the opportunities for BMFSAs to engage in career-centered inquiry due to athletic
commitments. Obstructing spheres place a heavy interest in the siloed identity of athletes not
recognizing the complex identities of BMFSAs beyond sport.
Developers within this framework are defined as a societal, educational, and familial
group that recognized anti-Black practices, policies, and behaviors that inhibit BMFSA’s self-
agency and realization of their social capital within their academic development and career
development. Developers encourage positive self-efficacy behaviors by empowering BMFSAs to
make utilization of their social capital and self-agency to make academic and career exploration
decisions. Developers not only recognize these instances, but also address them, highlight
changes to policy, and create avenues where BMFSAs advocating for their academic and career
development are not weaponized against them. Developers actively indirectly and directly
facilitate equitable educational and professional spheres where BMFSAs may utilize their social
capital and self-agency to explore their intrinsic academic and career exploration interest without
the consequence of their athletic pursuits being in jeopardy. The developers sphere structure
recognizes the importance of the myriad of intersectionalities BMFSAs embody and utilize
career development theory in practice to support BMFSAs’ career exploration and expertise.
Conclusion to Chapter 2
Exploring the dynamics of athletic, university, and academic climates BMFSAs interface
within their academic and career development is an integral factor in furthering diversity, equity,
inclusion, and belonging within societal spheres. BMFSAs are required to successfully navigate
hostile spheres masked by a welcoming community within athletics and the university when
accessing their academic and career development. Addressing the intersectional approach to
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developing, understanding, and empowering BMFSAs to fully engage in intrinsic academic
interest which informs their career exploration will further inform institutional academic
objectives. Promoting a positive campus culture where BMFSAs are empowered to be self-
autonomous and to demonstrate full self-agency in their career exploration past their respective
sport is necessary to support BFMSAs beyond their athletic identity.

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Chapter Three: Methodology
You have to decide who you are and force the world to deal with you, not with its idea of
you.
—James Baldwin, The Last Interview and other Conversations
As explored and outlined in Chapter 1, this research study examined the academic and
career development experiences of BMFSAs across the Power 5 conferences institutions within
the NCAA. Within this chapter, I will define my research inquiry design, prescribe the setting of
my study, define my study sampling method, outline my data collection and instrumentation
choices, and examine the data analysis methods utilized. Then, I will outline my recruitment
methodology to assess participants. I will also define my role as the researcher, state the
trustworthiness and credibility of the study, outline the limitations and delimitations of the
research. Finally, I will define and state the ethical practices of this research study.
This chapter will highlight and focus on a phenomenological qualitative research design. The
methodologies of qualitative research will be used to investigate and explore the following
research questions:
1. How do BMFSAs at Power 5 institutions make sense of their self-efficacy and self-
agency to navigate their career development and exploration outside of football?
2. How do BMFSAs perceive their athletic department or university’s role in developing
or obstructing their career exploration through academic preparation?
3. How do the experiences of BMFSAs inform their sense of belonging at PWIs with
navigating their career exploration and development aspirations?
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Qualitative Inquiry
For this research, I have chosen to address my research questions utilizing
phenomenological qualitative methodology. The focus on phenomenological qualitative research
affords exploration and conceptualization of how the participants of this study create meaning
from their perspectives, experiences, and feelings (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Employing the
qualitative inquiry approach additionally afforded me the ability to encourage and empower
participants to elevate their experiences and illustrate their stories (Creswell & Creswell, 2013).
The primary purpose and goals of this research study were to collect robust, narratives through
qualitative interviews from participants that assisted in illustrating how participants
intellectualized, perceived, and viewed their experiences of their academic development, career
development and exploration within their collegiate athletics department.
Defining this study from the lens of a phenomenological approach, I was able to explore
the experiences of BMFSAs academic and career exploration and development to gather the rich
narrative data to later inform my recommendations. My interview questions asked that BMFSAs’
explored their perceptions and experiences about their academic exploration and career
development and exploration within their postsecondary institution, more specifically their
athletic departments. According to Creswell and Creswell (2013), the phenomenological
approach can best be described as, “the common meaning for several individuals of their lived
experiences of a concept or a phenomenon” (p. 110).
For this study, the phenomenological approach provided the necessary stage to connect
commonalities BMFSAs experience within their academic and athletic units. Specifically,
surrounding their academic spheres inform their career exploration and development interest.
Employing the conceptual framework of the three intersecting theories (Bronfenbrenner, 1977;
47

Crenshaw, 1989; Lent, 2013), highlight the epistemological spheres, intersectionality, and career
exploration defined how I interpreted the experiences of the participants’ phenomena defined in
the research questions. Unpacking the themes surrounding the perceptions from a sample of
BMFSAs lived experiences who have attended or attend a Power 5 institution will inform the
findings of this study.
Setting
The setting of my study is within the Power 5 conference institutions of the NCAA.
Within the Power 5 conference, there are 65 schools with student-athlete populations (Dodd,
2020), both graduate and undergraduate, of 25,000 or more total students. Additionally, schools
within the Power 5 conference have extensive alumni networks, robust faculty, and staff
appointments (Smith, 2022). I chose these schools within the Power 5 conference to provide
diverse BMFSAs voices to this study. Additionally, providing a wide scope to this study afforded
me the ability to disseminate the qualitative data provided and produce robust findings in this
study. The participants involved in this study were between the ages of 18–35 to offer
perspectives from both current and former BMFSAs across the Power 5 institutions. This study
explored how academic exploration informs career development and exploration of BMFSAs.
Including both current and former BMFSAs provided diverse perspectives of the phenomena
occurring within athletic departments’ development and exploration of career opportunities for
BMFSAs.
Sample and Participant Population
The sampling technique utilized in this study was non-probability sampling wherein, “the
researcher selects participants on the basis of non-random characteristics” (Lochmiller & Lester,
2017, p. 143). This study highlights the experiences and perspectives of Black male football
48

student athletes, known as BMFSA, at Division I programs within the Power 5 institutions and
perspectives of Black male football student athletes, known as BMFSA, at Power 5 institutions
and the intention of this study was to better understand their perspectives in alignment to the
research questions presented in this study. For assessing participants for this study, I utilized my
professional networks and online resources (e.g., Power 5 conference school websites, GroupMe
groups designated for BMFSAs, Slack channels designated for BMFSAs) as areas of recruitment
for my study. Additionally, I employed the snowball sampling method to utilize the vast
networking communities the participants of my study had with fellow BMFSAs across Power 5
institutions who fit the criteria for my study (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017, p. 142). In the initial
stage of outreach and recruitment (see Appendix A) of my participants, I asked if they would be
willing to provide me with names and contact information for other participants within their
networks who fit the criteria of my study.
Additionally, to create a robust and aligned study, I utilized the criterion-based sampling method.
The criterion-based method is a sampling method that affords me to determine the criteria of the
sample based on specific parameters of the study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The criterion-
based method is a sampling method that affords me to determine the criteria of the sample based
on specific parameters of the study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Criteria were based on utilizing the 65 schools within the Power 5 conferences website rosters of
their current and past BMFSAs. Participants also self-identified their racial backgrounds. The
following criterion guide was developed to mitigate a purposeful sampling of participants
utilized in this study:
Criterion 1: The participant identifies as Black or African American.
Criterion 2: The participant identifies as a man or as male.
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Criterion 3: The participant is aged between 18–35 years of age.
Criterion 4: The participant is currently or was formerly a football student-athletes at one
of the 65 schools identified by the NCAA within the Power 5. This includes only student-athletes
that played on the team and were not non-starting football athletes or walk-ons.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
Via email and social media recruitment, I was able to interview seven participants who
met the aforementioned criteria in the previous section. Initial outreach to participants included
me confirming the participant met the criteria for the study and provided their consent to
participate. Attached to the email (see Appendix A) was my introduction, scope of the study,
criteria for participation, request for participation, and consent to participate. The interview
outreach and interview protocol are listed in Appendix B and Appendix C. Once the participant
confirmed and consented to the interview protocol, I conducted individual semi-structured
interviews (see Appendix B) where I provided a general guide to present questions and topics to
the participant (see Appendix C; Lochmiller & Lester, 2017, p. 151). Interviews were scheduled
for one-hour in length and conducted via Zoom or in-person depending upon participants’
comfort level or location to my geographical location. Upon agreement via email, participates in
this study were sent a Calendly link to schedule a Zoom meeting or an in-person meeting. For
Zoom interviews, I recorded the interviews utilizing the Zoom software and uploaded this to a
double-authenticated, password-protected online drive. In-person interviews were recorded via
iPhone voice recorder which was then uploaded into a double-authenticated, password-protected
online drive. Interview data was protected in a double-password and duo-authenticated google
drive and stored on a firewall password-protected iCloud back drive. For interviews conducted
in-person, I utilized the Zoom software to record the participants responses during the interview
50

for audio transcription. In-person interview data was stored with double-authenticated password-
protected duo-authenticated google online drive. Participants were given pseudo-names, their
institutions were described by region, and their institutions were given pseudo-names to protect
their confidentiality.
Via email and social media recruitment, I was able to interview seven participants who
met the aforementioned criteria in the previous section. Initial outreach to participants included
me confirming the participant met the criteria for the study and provided their consent to
participate. Attached to the email (see Appendix A) was my introduction, scope of the study,
criteria for participation, request for participation, and consent to participate. The interview
outreach and interview protocol are listed in Appendix B and Appendix C. Once the participant
confirmed and consented to the interview protocol, I conducted individual semi-structured
interviews (see Appendix B) where I provided a general guide to present questions and topics to
the participant (see Appendix C; Lochmiller & Lester, 2017, p. 151). Interviews were scheduled
for one-hour in length and conducted via Zoom or in-person depending upon participants’
comfort level or location to my geographical location. Upon agreement via email, participates in
this study were sent a Calendly link to schedule a Zoom meeting or an in-person meeting. For
Zoom interviews, I recorded the interviews utilizing the Zoom software and uploaded this to a
double-authenticated, password-protected online drive. In-person interviews were recorded via
iPhone voice recorder which was then uploaded into a double-authenticated, password-protected
online drive. Interview data was protected in a double-password and duo-authenticated google
drive and stored on a firewall password-protected iCloud back drive. For interviews conducted
in-person, I utilized the Zoom software to record the participants responses during the interview
for audio transcription. In-person interview data was stored with double-authenticated password-
51

protected duo-authenticated google online drive. Participants were given pseudo-names, their
institutions were described by region, and their institutions were given pseudo-names to protect
their confidentiality.
Interviews were conducted and guided with a semi-structured interview protocol that
addressed the background of the study, questions about the participants’ academic and
professional histories, then followed by a series of open-ended questions. Additionally, the open-
ended questions explored BMFSAs’ reflections on their positionality in PWIs and the
perceptions of their Blackness in white spaces at PWIs. According to Merriam and Tisdell
(2016), semi-structured interviews afford the space for me to probe questions and encourage
participants to elaborate on their experiences to provide a robust data collection for research
analysis. I utilized apriori coded themes from the literature review and emerging themes that
were presented from the qualitative interviews according to themes highlighted from the
interviews previously conducted (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017). I utilized apriori coded themes
from the literature review and emerging themes that were presented from the qualitative
interviews according to themes highlighted from the interviews previously conducted
(Lochmiller & Lester, 2017). I coded the interview questions according to themes highlighted
(see Appendix C) by the apriori themes developed from the literature explored for this study
(Lochmiller & Lester, 2017).
Data Analysis
To initially analyze and triangulate the data from my interviews, I kept detailed short-
hand notes of participants’ responses to assist in gathering real-time data from their responses to
compare to later review of the interview transcripts. These short-hand notes provided context to
body language, vocal tone changes, and hand gestures, as participants shared their experiences. I
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recorded the interviews via the Zoom software and utilized the Zoom transcription software to
transcribe participants responses. My data analysis was a continued practice that combined my
field notes, reflective memos, and review of audio transcription and visual recordings during and
after the interviews were conducted. According to Creswell and Creswell’s (2013) six-step data
analysis process of organizing data collected, reviewing data collected, coding data collected,
using these codes to generate themes, identifying which themes the data represents, and
identifying the relevance to the research questions (Creswell & Creswell, 2013, pp. 197–200).
This practice afforded me the opportunity to preliminarily conduct data analysis of significant
quotes or spaces where I needed clarification from the responses of participants. By triangulating
(Lochmiller & Lester, 2017) the data collection with interview field notes, recording the visual
and audio of interviews, and transcription of the interviews, I was able to code responses to begin
to begin categorizing participants’ responses within the apriori themes developed.
I utilized the apriori themes established from the literature review utilized to frame this
study. Additionally, during the data analysis, I developed themes that became prevalent from the
participants responses during the interview process. in alignment with my interview questions to
gather shorthand data to analyze their responses in correlation to their interview responses. The
voice transcription from Zoom and the Zoom video recording software afforded me the
opportunity to review the participants’ experiences accurately when reviewing the apriori codes
developed prior to the interview. The data from the Zoom transcription and Zoom video were
saved to a double-authenticated password protected google drive. The transcribe interviews also
assisted in developing additional themes not noted in the apriori themes to discuss.
Processing the data analysis of the interviews allowed me to identify significant quotes
and aligned themes that highlighted the conceptual framework outlined in Chapter 2. Employing
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the a priori coding method, whereby the codes for this study were previously developed from the
literature review (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017), the data was sorted and configured into themes
that aligned with the foundations of my conceptual framework: identifying developing systems,
identifying obstructing systems, and BMFSAs experiences navigating their career exploration
and development. These themes informed the thematic analysis apriori coding (see Appendix C)
used to identify and record BMFSAs’ experiences as community members on campus in relation
to their academic interest and career exploration and development (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017).
Finally, rooting my study in grounded theory whereby I applied the combination of three theories
to demonstrate the career exploration and development through the lens of theory to guide this
study’s analysis of the data collected from the participants (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017).
The Researcher
In my phenomenological qualitative study, I acknowledge my role as both the researcher
and the research instrument used to conduct this study. I understand that identifying as a Black
woman navigating anti-Black structures and having worked with student-athletes throughout my
professional career enable my subjectivity to the experiences of BMFSAs. However, I am new to
the higher education sphere within a PWI setting, which was explored in this study. I do not
support, supervise, lead, or work professionally with any of the participants in this study. The
power dynamics between me and the participants solely reside in how I choose to interpret,
understand, and record BMFSAs’ experiences in relation to the study. I have the authority to
decide how the participants of this study are represented and how their story is constructed and
represented. My identities as both a Black woman and former educator of BMFSAs require that I
attentively reflect beyond the commonalities of the participants in this study and myself. Beyond
the fact that our racial/ethnic identities align, I must remain impartial to the findings of this study
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and only report the experiences expressed to me by the participants truthfully and honestly. As
indicated by Milner (2007), the framework of the researcher’s racial and cultural positionality
must be reflected upon. To recognize my own positionality within this study in connection to my
own political, contextual, and socioeconomic status as it related to the applied methodology, I
utilize to interpret the data. In addition, reflecting upon my positionality, I must also
acknowledge and address that while I share characteristics and identities with the participants of
this study, I have impartially decided to investigate this topic. Throughout the duration of the
research study and data analysis, I kept a personal journal to explore my personal feelings about
the responses from the participants to better reflect on how to remain impartial and ethical. After
the completion of the interviews, I reviewed the interviews immediately after their completion
and waited 30-days before rewatching and reviewing the transcripts of the interviews to provide
myself space to process my own feelings and reflections of the responses provided. Finally, I
carefully reviewed my field notes, inclusive of observations of participants body language, hand
gestures, voice changes, and the interview recordings to begin the data analysis process to
complete Chapter 4. I am required to consciously be aware of my own biases or generalizations I
may directly or indirectly impose on the participants in this study.
Trustworthiness and Credibility
By implementing qualitative research strategies and being aware of my potential biases to
the study, I was able to ensure my study is trustworthy and credible. Qualitative research
methodology relies heavily on assumptions and perceptions of participants and me, as the
researcher (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016); therefore, it is important that I am clear in my neutrality
with participants throughout the research process. Additionally, when developing my interview
protocol, I emphasized the importance of not asking participants leading questions or double-
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barreled questions to seek a response that was neither positive nor negative in relation to my
study. To maximize trustworthiness and credibility of my study, I framed research questions (see
Appendix B) that are objective, utilizing daily researcher memo notes and reflection into the data
collection and analysis process, and engaging participant checking throughout the duration of the
process (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Utilization of participant checking or respondent validation,
when reviewing interview responses afforded me the opportunity to better engage participants
and engage with the data collection process for disaggregation later in my study (Lochmiller &
Lester, 2017; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016)
This practice required the participants of my study to actively participate in the analysis
section of my study to shape and clearly articulate how their stories were represented.
Additionally, this practice added trustworthiness and credibility to my study to ensure participant
data I collected was represented clearly and accurately to their experiences or perspectives as
they wished for it to be recorded. Finally, I triangulated my interviews, qualitative survey, and
the literature reviewed to ensure my data is established in evidence rather than opinion
(Lochmiller & Lester, 2017).
Limitations and Delimitations
I chose to focus and highlight the experiences or perspectives of BMFSAs career
exploration informed through their academic interest. I openly acknowledge that their
experiences may not represent the large body of BMFSAs who engage in football play at Power
5 institutions. However, qualitative studies are not meant to generalize the experiences or
perspectives of entire communities but rather inform and make meaning for participants of this
study to inform larger communities of academia. Additionally, the limitation of
phenomenological qualitative research is it often cannot be duplicated to garner exact results as
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the previous study conducted therefore in 5 years the findings of this study may look and read
differently than my conducted study. BMFSAs are widely studied and engage in several
qualitative research (Beamon, 2008, 2012; Briggs et al., 2021; Flowers. 2009; Harper, 2009b,
2018; Yearwood, 2018b); however, little research has been conducted surrounding their career
development post football play. Due to the lack of data surrounding this niche area of study, I
was limited in the available peer reviewed data to incorporate in this study. I was able to
construct ideas from studies that mentioned career development and exploration; however, the
lack of explicit research surrounding BMFSAs career development and exploration afforded me
the ability to utilize information about BMFSAs academic preparation.
When exploring the delimitations to highlight in this, I chose to amplify the experiences
of BMFSAs which are not heavily represented in literature in relation to their career exploration
and development. My qualitative design to utilize open-ended interview questions and conduct a
qualitative survey was selected to provide BMFSAs the space to express their experiences and
develop their narrative without the pressure of needing to present themselves as athletes solely. I
will construct and organize my study with the assumption, from the literature, that BMFSAs who
participated in this study believe their athletic identity, academic identity, career interest, and
race are all salient components that help design their experiences and perspectives. I have
decided to study BMFSAs, and their career exploration being informed by their academic
development because of the extensive research surrounding BMFSAs academic success; but
minimal research about their career exploration during sport play, post sport play, and
graduation.
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Ethics
The ethical acknowledgement of this study is equally important as the findings presented
for further consideration. As a researcher, the responsibility to uphold the ethical considerations
outlined for qualitative study are equally as important as the credibility and trustworthiness of the
study (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017). My role as the researcher is to remain impartial and to create
clear professional boundaries between myself and the participants (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017).
Additionally, parameters of ethics must be followed to ensure no harm is intentionally or
unintentionally created for participants of this study. For this reason, I developed a study that
clearly outline for participants the nature of my study, the need for their consent, the ability for
them to withdraw all or parts of their participation at any time, and the approval of the
institutional review board prior to conducting my research (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017).
The privacy and confidentiality of the participants is paramount in conducting research, therefore
within this study to avoid ethical dilemmas, I used pseudo-names for participants and descriptors
of their postsecondary institution to ensure confidentiality (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017). For extra
confidentiality and consideration, I reiterated throughout the study that their participation was
fully voluntary, and they held no professional or personal obligation to participate, at any point
they may disengage from the study without penalty (Lochmiller & Lester, 2017). Finally, I
maintained boundaries with participants outside of the study to ensure their anonymity was clear
and their experiences alone was the data my study chose to collect. I did not discuss their
interview with peers, other participants, or professional colleagues as their experiences recorded
in this study are confidential and protected by the research ethics board (Lochmiller & Lester,
2017).
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Conclusion to Chapter 3
This chapter demonstrates the need for a phenomenological qualitative methodological
approach when surveying and studying the experiences of BMFSAs. The data collection and
subsequent analysis strategy chronicled in the chapter will inform Chapters 4 and 5. In the
following chapters, I will present and analyze the qualitative data collected to conduct this study.

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Chapter Four: Results or Findings
Every time I speak, I want the truth to come out!
—Tupac Shakur, 2Pac MTV Interview
The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore and understand
the complex experiences of Black male football student-athletes and their career exploration and
development within Power 5 institutions. This study was guided by a conceptual framework that
utilized the work Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, Crenshaw’s intersectionality
theory, and Lent’s social cognitive career theory to analyze the impact of participants’ athletic
and campus environments surrounding their configuration of academic study informing their
career exploration and development while engaging in sport play. This framework relied on how
Black male football student-athletes engaged in their formal and informal academic and career
environments, the unique intersections of Black male football student-athletes compared to their
non-athletic peers, and how their identities informed their experiences at predominately white
institutions. Through semi-structured series of qualitative interviews with seven participants, I
sought to answer the following questions:
1. How do BMFSAs at Power 5 institutions make sense of their self-efficacy and self-
agency to navigate their career development and exploration outside of football?
2. How do BMFSAs perceive their athletic department or university’s role in developing
or obstructing their career exploration through academic preparation?
3. How do the experiences of BMFSAs inform their sense of belonging at PWIs with
navigating their career exploration and development aspirations?
This chapter will provide an overview of the participants’ descriptive profiles to inform
and provide context of the themes presented in the following sections.
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Participant Profiles
For the purpose of answering the research questions of this study, I interviewed seven
participants who self-identified as Black, male, current or former student-athlete from a Power 5
institution, and between the age of 18–35. This section provided an overview of the background
and institution of each participant. Additionally, outlined in Table 1. I will refer to each
participant according to their assigned pseudonym as listed in Table 1.

Table 1
Participant Overview
Participant pseudonym Conference Major
Pharrell BIG 12 Communications and journalism
Terrace PAC-12 Communications management
Calvin PAC-12 Sociology
Chad SEC Business administration
Rihmeek BIG 12 Sports broadcasting
Terry Jr. BIG 10 Advertising management
Jermaine ACC Sport administration

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Pharrell
Pharrell was a former-student athlete. He majored in communications and journalism at
an institution in the Big 12 conference. He was a starting tight end. He described himself as one
of many Black football players who is majoring in communications and journalism at his
university. Pharrell aims to become a director in film. He is currently unemployed. He took a
brief break after graduating from undergrad and recently enrolled in a master’s program studying
cinematography. He has played football since he was roughly 8 years old; however, his first
sport of interest was basketball. Pharrell is a first-generation student.
Terrace
Terrace is currently enrolled as a transfer graduate student within the Pac-12 Conference.
He identifies as Black and male. He is a second-string defensive back. He is currently studying
communications management and noted her is one of several Black football athletes who is
enrolled in communication at his school. He desires to play football professionally; however, he
also has interest in owning a construction contracting business once his playing career ends.
Terrace is a first-generation student.
Calvin
Calvin is a former student-athlete from the Pac-12 conference. Calvin was a starting tight
end. He did not play professionally and majored in sociology while in school. He currently
serves as the associate athletic director at an institution within the Power 5 Conference. Prior to
working in athletics, he obtained a master’s degree and worked at a local gym upon completion
of that degree. Currently he desires to create avenues of career exploration and development
programming for current student-athletes to support their interest while playing sport. Calvin
identifies as a first-generation student.
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Chad
Chad is currently enrolled at an institution within the SEC. He is majoring in business
administration. He is a starting inside linebacker. He has played football since he was 5 years
old. He was introduced to athletics to keep him busy as a child. Chad desires to explore a career
in real estate like his father in his home state. Both of his parents attended and completed
college.
Rihmeek
Rihmeek is a currently a starting offensive lineman within the Big 12 conference. He is
majoring in sports broadcasting. He has played football and basketball since he was a young
child. Rihmeek desires to play football professionally and expressed interest becoming a sports
broadcaster after his professional playing career. He is a first-generation student.
Terry Jr.
Terry is currently a junior advertising major and starting wide receiver within the Big 10
conference. Terry desires to play professionally and has majored in advertising with the hopes to
become a sports broadcaster after ending his professional playing career. He is a first-generation
student. Football has been his main sport since he was 7 years old.
Jermaine
Jermaine is a current starting running back within the ACC conference. He is currently
majoring in sports administration. Jermaine aims to own a business in trucking if he does not
play professionally and is open to opening a trucking business after his professional career
depending on the opportunities available to him post-potential football play. He has played
football since he was around 8 years old; however, his first sport of interest was basketball.
Jermaine is a first-generation student.
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Findings for Research Question 1
The first research question was intended to explore BMFSAs sense of self-efficacy and
self-agency when navigating their career exploration and development. As noted in the
conceptual framework designed in Chapter 2, I utilized an adapted version of three frameworks
to understand the experiences of BMFSAs in relation to their positionality within their academic
institutional environments. I utilized key concepts from my conceptual framework and themes
prevalent in the literature analysis to organize the data provided to me by the participants in the
semi-structured interviews.
Highlighting Bronfenbrenner’s ecological spheres, Crenshaw’s intersectionality, and
Lent’s social cognitive career theory I was attentive to the developers and obstructors within
academic settings that BMFSAs interface with. Developers within university athletic units as
professionals, policies, structures, practices that assist with the exploration and development of
BMFSAs career inquiry. Conversely, obstructors are categorized as university athletic
professionals, policies, structures, and practices that are unhelpful, unsupportive, or disobliging
to the exploration and development of BMFSAs career inquiry. The following section describes
three main themes that emerged from the lived experiences and perceptions of the participants in
this study in the context of the first research question in the context of the first research question.
The first surrounds how the participants’ identity in relation to athletics was hype-fixated among
their peers, university staff, local community members, and the athletic department. The second
theme concerns the participants perceived ability to advocate for their own academic and career
exploration and development, outside of their football pursuits, within the athletic department
and broader university setting. Finally, the third theme pertains to the participants’ experiences
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of and feeling about their preparedness toward their exploring their career inquiry post-football
play.
Perception of Being Valued Only for Athletic Pursuits
Exploring the experiences of BMFSAs in this study the emphasis on their identity as
athletes was prevalent throughout the interview process. When asked about their experiences as
students, each participant pointed out that their experience was more influenced by their
positionality as an athlete than a student. Of the seven participants, only one felt like their
identity as a student was recognized among their professors and peers. The remaining six felt that
their physical size, identity as Black men on a white campus, and lack of racial diversity on their
campuses, made them easily identifiable as student-athletes. Calvin indicated that at the time of
his enrollment the campus was “less than 1% Black.” He further discussed,
You just felt like you stand out. It’s like everywhere you go. People are looking at you,
and you don’t know if they’re looking at you because you’re Black or are they looking at
you because they think you’re an athlete that’s like famous because they love the football
team. They love the football winners there, you know. I mean, if you are one, they
assume you play football. That’s another thing that that non-football student athletes hate.
Just because I’m black. I’m not a football player. But so, if you don’t play football,
they’re going to assume that you do.
Rihmeek, for example, reported he “was always stopped and asked what sport do you
play?” as he walked to classes on his campus. Terrace expressed the constant conversations with
professors concerning their “athletic performance on Saturdays,” were main focuses of
conversation when asking about his grades.
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Jermaine’s experience highlighted the constant need to be “on” when he desired to just be
a student on campus. He identified that because he was a starting athlete in a small town
everyone was aware of who he was and did not have the ability to be a true student because he
was an athlete first. When speaking to Terry, he identified that there were a lot of opportunities
that he was able to benefit from because of his status as an athlete. Chad described how he felt
like a walking target for some of his professors because not only was he Black, but he was a
football player in the business school which was an uncommon instance. He expressed how
some of his professors would be purposely difficult to work with because they refused to
accommodate his competing priorities as an athlete and full-time student. However, Terry
expressed how helpful his professor where in the communications school but expressed how
several student-athletes, primary football players, were in the communication program. Terry
expressed his appreciation for the ability to use his athletic visibility to economically advance
with “NIL deals but sometimes I just want to be [Terry] without the pressure.” Chad noted that
people always assume Black men on white campuses are athletes, “so when they ask me it
doesn’t bother me, but it is kind of ya know weird that because I’m Black they assume I am
football player.” While each participant expressed some degree of frustration and benefit from
being viewed as an athlete, each noted to varying degrees that their identity as an athlete is why
they were on these campuses. Calvin synthesized his experience stating,
There’s definitely more value placed on that (football). You just look at the structure of
college football, you know. It’s big time. It’s raw like that’s what you celebrate. You
know what I’m saying, and like we were brought to campus to play football. You know
what I mean. They put football players on banners and all posters, not usually for their
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academic success. It’s usually for their football success, and I think that was reflected on
the campus when I was there.
Calvin’s observation from both his personal and professional experience in college
athletics clearly described the overarching attitude of the other participants in this study’s
experiences. Each of the seven participants stated they believed they were intellectually apt to
attend college but did not believe those at the institution necessarily believed they were valued
beyond their athletic pursuits.
Understanding Their Decision Making As Their Own
The participants were asked about their perception of their self-efficacy in their ability to
pursue a variety of career paths. Each participant requested a definition of the concept of self-
efficacy. For this study, self-efficacy was defined as the participants’ ability to explore diverse
academic and career exploration and development opportunities with minimal influence from
their athletic offices. Additionally, the participants were asked to explore their perception of their
ability to make both academic and career choices as part of their college experience. Pharrell
expressed his belief that his intellectual aptness to make decisions for himself was instilled in
him by his parents. Pharrell expressed, “my parents made sure to teach me to think for myself
and make the best decisions.” However, he further discussed that with his athletic academic
offices, inclusive of academic advisors, tutors, and learning specialists, he was often “pressured”
to take course that were less “stressful during the season so I could focus on my sport and not
worry about my eligibility.”
In alignment with Pharrell’s experience, Jermaine expressed that his academic advisor
“discouraged me from seeking a business degree because she said it had a lot of math.” When
probed about his ability in mathematics, Jermaine stated he “has never had issues in math in high
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school but I did not argue with her because she was the pro, ya know.” Chad expressed his
athletic academic advisor was “surprised I wanted to study business and tried to discourage me,
but my parents pushed for me, so they let [emphasis added] me do it.” Chad further expressed
feeling like he was “doing something wrong advocating for myself,” he described how the
athletic academic advisor, tutor and learning specialist, would not be immensely helpful with his
course selection like they were with his athletic peers, and he could sense they were not “happy”
he did not pursue what they wanted him to. Terrace described feeling able to make his own
academic decisions, but he would have chosen a different major had he had the “real ability to.”
Terrace explained that while football players can choose to do whatever they want academically,
“the truth is we are heavily encouraged to seek specific majors and deterred from working jobs
like other students.” Terry’s perception and experience of his self-efficacy mirrored closely to his
peers in this study. However, Terry expressed having the ability to explore some aspects of his
academic and career choices but only because, “I am athlete, I mean like anytime I have done
anything and received praise it is to make the school look good.” Terry reported feeling safe and
supported by his academic unit and stated one of his advisors is like “my second mom.”
Rihmeek reported that he really did not feel “confident to make academic or career decisions for
myself.”
Rihmeek highlighted that he, “is the only one in my family to ever go to college so I have
always trusted the professionals in the office to guide me. They have been good to me so, yeah, I
trust them.” Calvin reported he did not feel empowered to make any academic or career choices
when he was actively a student-athlete. He highlighted how “surprised everyone was that I chose
the major I did because it was a major where I was encouraged to think.” Of the seven
participants, only 1 felt as though they were supported by their athletic academic unit, inclusive
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of their athletic academic advisor, tutor, and learning specialist, supported or encouraged their
inquiry about both their academic and career questions. Finally, participants expressed moments
of frustration when trying to understand why the majors that were suggested to them did not
seem to consider their interest outside of athletics.
Career Preparation
The participants were asked about their career preparation in conjunction with the
academic pursuits. Career preparations include internship preparation, interview coaching, cover
letter development, and resume building. Of the seven participants, each described how they did
not feel like they were prepared for a career after college football. Chad described having ample
academic support to “keep me eligible but there is nothing to support me with finding a job in the
athletic office.” Calvin described career preparation as an absent thought within athletic units. He
further described his experience post football,
I mean I had a whole bachelor’s degree. I didn’t go pro and ended up working as a gym
receptionist until someone from my athletic department gave me a chance in athletic
academics. I worked at gym (emphasis added) for a while before anyone took me in for a
role suitable for someone with a BA.
Each participant discussed having little to no work experience outside of being a student-athlete.
Terrace described his experience as,
They [athletics] do not really encourage or facilitate opportunities for us to have jobs
outside of things we are doing for athletics. Like volunteering or something for NIL.
Outside of that looking for internships and stuff like that nah. I mean I have a job now
with a campus office and they make it really hard for me to do that. My grades are good,
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and my supervisor really works with me and my football schedule but nah they were not
feeling me having a job. It is a distraction they said.
Six of the seven participants indicated they did not have a cover letter or resume. Each
reported having to take a course or workshop in their athletic office about transitioning onto
college campuses and careers were briefly mentioned but no workshops with career services
were offered. Jermaine expressed, “I don’t feel prepared to look for a job after football ends,
honestly.” When asked about his major and what he career he would explore, Jermaine
responded,
For real, for real, I chose that major because my academic advisor said it was less
stressful and I could do a lot with it like become a sports broadcaster or whatever. But
honestly, if I don’t go pro, I’ll probably drive a truck or open a truck business. I don’t
know. … I don’t really have a plan after football.
Terry expressed his ability to work with a local real estate office for a NIL deal and really
enjoyed working with the office. He indicated,
I really enjoyed working in that office. I did not learn about real estate or anything like
that when I was working there. They really just wanted me to promote their business for
customers, but I did enjoy the interior design aspect I learned about it from a lady in the
office. If I had known that I coulda got a degree to do that I probably would’ve chosen
that instead of what I am studying now. But I did not know that was like a career. Like
people get paid to design other people houses. It’s really dope!
Collectively, all participants indicated that career preparation was not prioritized at their
respective institution. Additionally, all expressed their academic major choices were not
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necessarily tied to their career interest but utilized to ensure they were able to play and remain
eligible for football.
Findings for Research Question 2
Research Question 2 sought to explore the experience of BMFSAs perception of their
university and athletic departments responsibility to supporting their career exploration and
development inquiry. I employed the conceptual framework from Bronfenbrenner, Crenshaw,
and Lent to further describe the expressed experiences of this study’s participants. I explored the
participants perceived understanding of their institution’s responsibility to their academic and
career exploration and development as expressed to them during their recruitment processes. I
investigated how BMFSAs experienced time poverty, their understanding of their academic
major choices informing post-football play careers, and how their university athletic departments
demonstrated responsibility to their success outside of sport-play.
Three themes arose from this research question. First, participants emphasized the lack of
time to explore interests outside of football. Additionally, the participants described the practice
of declaring majors that were often heavily suggested by athletic staff for their apparent ease and
flexibility in connection with their football schedule demands. Finally, participants described
their university athletic department’s responsibility to their career exploration and development
inquiry during their current and post-football playing career.
Time Poverty Limits Exploration Outside of Football
All seven participants indicated their lack of time to explore any interest outside of
football, both in-season and off-season. Time poverty was described as not having the time
outside of academic and athletic responsibilities to begin career exploration and development
interest. Chad expressed his experience in how difficult obtaining internships where for his major
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because, “honestly, every internship is during my season on in the summer during our voluntary
practices.” When asked to further build upon their expression of “voluntary practices,” Chad
described his emphasis on voluntary practices as,
Listen, yes, these practices are voluntary, but the reality is they aren’t. If we don’t show
up it shows the coaches, we aren’t dedicated to playing. It’s a sure way to be cut from the
team or push back from starting. Unless the reason you’re missing summer training
makes the team look good they don’t give a damn about you taking internships or jobs for
your major.
He further expressed that this instance was different for non-starters. He continued
To be fair if you ain’t starting they don’t care if you come to summer training because if
you’re third or fourth string you probably ain’t going to start because you’re trash. So,
they understand you needing to do something outside of football. But the ones they
recruit and bring in who start we have to be there. But it’s voluntary. So, they say be we
all know.
Like Chad, the remaining six participants echoed his experience and understanding of
voluntary practices and expectations of starting athletes on the football team. Rihmeek’s
experience and description of his lack of time to explore his career interest were evident;
however, he expressed that his institution is working toward building a career services program.
This was the first-year athletics started their [after football] program. It was really nice
they had a dinner and introduced us to powerful people who attended our school. I
actually met a CEO of a [fitness center] who offered me a job working in a store once I
graduate.
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Rihmeek was asked if the CEO inquired about his major or career interest prior to offering him a
job in his store, he indicated the CEO had not but did continue to highlight how great he was on
the field the previous season.
Participants emphasized their experience of not feeling like they had enough time or
flexibility to explore their interest in relation to their careers because of time constraints. All
seven participants described early morning meetings beginning between 7 to 8 a.m., mid-
morning practice from 10 to 11 a.m., classes beginning from 12 to 3 p.m., scheduled tutoring or
athletic academic advisor meetings from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., and evening meetings ending at 7 p.m.
Each expressed feeling unable to be active students with their current athletic schedules.
Academic Clustering
An emergent theme among the participants centered on how they explored the academic
programs to major in. Academic clustering emphasizes the systemic practice of attempting to
encourage and place student-athletes in academic majors not of their interest but to advance
better academic results for student athletic eligibility. Calvin spoke about his desire to learn how
people made choices and sought a major that would support that interest. Terrace expressed that
he was advised by his athletic academic office for his major choice because of the ease in being
accepted into the program. Terry expressed his desire to major in business but was discouraged
because of the extensive math. He commented,
I really wanted to major in business because I want to own my own business one day. But
I was told that the math for that major was really hard. Math for me wasn’t something I
was strong at, so they suggested communications.
Terry expressed that he noticed several of his teammates in similar types of majors and course
choices.
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Jermaine expressed his experience with his major choice as being chosen for him. He
indicated his academic advisor told him,
Communications was a great major because it was so versatile, and I could do anything
with it after football. She said I may be able to become a news broadcaster after playing.
The classes are pretty easy. I plan on playing in the league, so I am not that concerned
about it.
Chad and Calvin were the only participants who felt they had full autonomy to choose
their major without their athletic academic influence. Chad stated,
My dad is in real estate in my hometown so I always knew I would study something in
real estate or business like him. I start and my academic advisor was like you know there
is a lot of math or whatever. I was adamant about studying business and she had a lot of
stuff to say about it like my grades and the major being hard, but my parents supported
my decision to major in business because I could do it.
Chad continued about his academic advisor trying to encourage other major choices. He
continued,
I mean she tried to suggest comm and what she said were more marketable majors that
accommodate my football schedule with less math. I was confused though because the
athletic department has a whole tutoring center, so like if math was a concern, I can just
get a tutor. Anyway, it wasn’t that bad, and I am still doing good in my classes.
Like Chad, Calvin expressed his athletic department offering other majors than the one he
was interested in but not pressuring him to choose those majors. Calvin stated, “I didn’t know
what I wanted to do career wise, but I wanted to study something I found interesting.”
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University Athletic Responsibility to BMFSAs
An emergent theme that arose centered in the university and athletic department’s
responsibility to BMFSAs in their career exploration and development interest. All seven
participants were clear about their responsibility to their athletic department to perform well as
athletes. However, outside of earning a college degree, many of the participants expressed being
unclear of their university or athletic department’s responsibility to them as student-athletes.
Jermaine stated,
When I was recruited, I remember the coaches telling my moms that I was good and how
they would help get me to the next level. She was more concerned about me getting a
degree and they were also promoting that but outside of me graduating and going to the
league they didn’t really talk about helping me find a career outside of football.
Jermaine indicated he was first-generation student, and his family was excited about him being
recruited but “never remember anybody talking about what types of careers I can have outside of
football.”
Pharrell expressed that he was clear on the expectations of him as a student-athlete to
“perform and get the team titles” but was unsure what he should expect from his university or
athletic department. He said,
Straight up, I didn’t know what to really expect from them, they came to my house and
school to recruit me. They talked about helping me with my skills to get to the next level
and graduating from a school that’s well respected. But honestly, the way they act is like
this is a job and I am an athlete so do I feel like they have responsibility. My career after
football is not something they focused on or seemed to care about.
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Career exploration and career development was not a focal point at their university for
them and each participant described that the university should be responsible for their
development but understood they were brought to these institutions to be athletes and win
championships. Terrace explained,
Are they [university] required or responsible to ensure I explore a career outside of
football? Hell, if I really know, you know what I mean. They didn’t come get me because
they expected me to be Elon Musk, I am here to be an athlete. That’s it. Yeah, they say
they care but we aren’t required to attend career fairs or visit the career center, like do we
really even have time for that with our schedules? No. I remember somebody saying once
a university is only as good as the jobs their graduates get. For us, athletics is only as
good as where we play professionally straight up. We are athlete-students.
Each participant expressed their lack of clarity on what the responsibility the university
and athletic department had to them as students and their career exploration and development.
However, each participant expressed their understanding and responsibility to their respective
university and athletic departments. The participants all expressed they were responsible to
perform and engage in athletic at their universities.
Findings for Research Question 3
This final section will investigate the participants’ perceptions and experiences
surrounding their sense of belonging at Power 5 institutions, that are predominately white
institutions. Additionally, participants were invited to discuss how their sense of belonging
supported or detracted from their desire to navigate their inquiry in career exploration and
development. Participants were asked about what recommendations they had about what their
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institutions should do to eradicate their negative career exploration experiences and provide
examples of positive experiences their institution have employed to create a sense of belonging
and safety for them as BMFSAs on campus. Two prevalent themes emerged in response to this
research question, including BMFSAs feelings of differentiated treatment as evidenced in
microaggressions and their experience of assumptions directed toward them on campus, both
positive and negative.
Microaggression Rooted in Anti-Black Rhetoric
When asked about their experiences at PWIs, several participants reflected on aspects of
their identities as Black male student athletes and how they were treated and perceived on their
college campuses. Of the seven participants, six reflected on their inability to be their honest and
authentic selves in predominately white spaces. Participants expressed the lack of confidence and
comfort in being able to be students on their campuses without solidifying perceptions about
Black students, Black males, and Black athletes. Calvin expressed,
My campus was mostly white with the exception of the athletic teams, so people almost
always assumed anybody Black was an athlete. Like the assumption that Black students
didn’t just attend college without being an athlete was always evident.
Calvin is currently employed by his alma mater, he expressed that there are still instances of
assumptions and microaggressions toward Black students. However, he explained “unlike my
experience when I was a student at [university] is actively taking action to be intentional in
recruiting non-athlete Black students.”
Jermaine expressed similar experiences of highlighted visibility on his campus. He
explained,
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I am one of few Black men in my classes that aren’t part of my major. Like my general
education classes I am the only Black person. So, when topics about Black people or
Black experiences I do feel like the room looks to me to have the answer for Black
people (laughs). I mean they ain’t literally looking at me, but you can feel that the
expectation is I am the spokesperson for Black people. Man, hell I can’t speak for nobody
but Jermaine, but it is tiring because I don’t feel like my white classmates ever feel like
they speakin for all white people. I would like to just be me and speak for me without the
pressure of being everything else.
Jermaine expressed his feeling of being overwhelmed with having to be always “damn near”
perfect because of his status as an athlete on a white campus. Additionally, he expressed the
pressure of being one of few Black males on campus and the first to attend college in his
household. Jermaine explained,
The pressure never stops. There are so many assumptions made about me from all
corners. In class I must be the dumb athlete because that is how I got into school. No one
ever realizes the hard work I put in day-in and day-out to maintain grades, take care of
my family, focus on the next move. I do not have the typical college experience. I can’t
go to parties and act an ass; can I curse in this? Ok, act an ass because I would be on the
news, kicked-off the team, and lose everything I have fought for. Imagine not being able
to just be. But this is the life I chose so I am grateful, but the pressure is a lot. So, no
lookin at careers outside of football ain’t happening, I’m tryna get it, get to it [NFL].
Jermaine indicated the constant need to remind his peers and professors he is a student first and
an athlete second often is met with “confused eyes, because they don’t expect me to care about
my grades, but I do.”
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Terry expressed his appreciation for his athletic department and his athletic academic
advisor. Highlighting that his university has provided him with an “out” to provide for his family
and earn a college degree for free. He continued,
I am hella appreciative to [university] for this opportunity. Am I treated differently? Yes,
all the time I get perks like NIL deals with local businesses because I play football.
People want me in their circles because of who I am. But is being treated differently not
always positive? Absolutely. We all hear the whispers about how we’re just here because
of football. We take the easiest classes and have everything handed to us. But for real, for
real, I have to work for this degree more than anybody else. Up at 5 a.m. for lift, practice
at 7 [a.m.], class after that, then film at 3 [p.m.], then team dinner, study hall at 7 p.m., I
am constantly working. Somebody recently made a joke in my class about my experience
being like a slave, they were white. The class thought that shit was funny, but I didn’t. I
laughed because I’m Terry, but … I don’t know man [sighs]. They say and do stupid shit
all the time and we are expected to keep it pushing because this is what we sign up for.
Right?
Terry again expressed his appreciation for the opportunity afforded to him to play football at
such a recognizable school but also indicated his feelings of frustration surrounding the lack of
conversations of race and positionality on his campus to educate the community.
Each participant expressed experiencing an instance where they have been stopped on
campus by peers, university police, professors, and people on campus asking them what sport
they play while they were enroute to class or practice. All seven participants expressed having
negative experiences with university police on and off campus but once they were identified as
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student-athlete football players, the experience would turn positive or “fan like.” Terrace
explained,
Hell yeah, the campus security guards or police whatever they are called have stopped me
at night hella times on campus while I was leaving class. I wear (university name) gear
and I mean I am big so once they realize, or ask if I am an athlete, they usually leave me
alone but the questions they ask are unbelievable. Like what business do I have on
campus at such and such time, where am I coming from, where my student id is. From
my experience only the Black athletes, the male athletes, get treated and stopped like this.
It’s ridiculous honestly. I did have one ask me for football tickets after they held me up
for like an hour while they checked my id to see if I was a student (laughs).
All seven participants expressed similar experiences when interacting with university
police. Each participant expressed to varying degrees their frustration with these interactions but
as Chad expressed, “That shit is just part of life.” Coupled with their experiences of comments
about being “well-paid slaves” by White peers in a joking manner to being perceived as threats
by university police until they are identified as football players has added to their experience of
feeling accepted on campus as athletes and nothing more.
Assumptions About the Black Male on White Campuses
The participants described the constant feeling of needing to dispel assumptions about
them as Black men on campus and as football players. Each participant expressed the constant
notion perpetuated on campus about them as helpless, fatherless, misguided student-athletes that
needed football to remove their families from poverty. Again, participants described the feeling
of needing to be perfect examples of Black men for fear of confirming university members,
peers, and community members assumptions about Black athletes and men. Pharrell commented
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he experiences “microaggressions and hella assumptions about who I am, all the time.” He
expressed his exhaustion with having to remain perfect on campus and not being afforded the
same freedom as his peers to experience college. He continued,
Man, I wish I was able to just walk to class and people not try to talk to me because they
saw me on tv on Saturday. These phones man, like there is nothing really around here so
college football is the big sport in the fall. We in a small town with hella White folks, so,
for real, I think I have been the first Black person some of these kids have even seen in
person. I swear the way they be acting and the questions they ask me [laughs] it be some
outlandish shit miss. Like if my dad is home or if I know who he is. Bruh, I was so
confused the first time someone asked me that in real life, like y’all gotta stop watchin
those lifetime movies. Not every Black boy needs a dad. Or the assumption my family is
so poor I need to play football to get out the hood. This shit be crazy.
Pharrell emphasized his responsibility to continuously dispel assumptions and generalizations
made about Black people and Black male athletes in social and academic circles at his university.
Rihmeek described his experience as the nature of being a Black man on a White campus
as “typical of misconceptions about what I represent.” He expressed his need to laugh at his
experience with “uneducated assumptions” about him and his community. He expressed,
Sometimes you just have to have tough skin and laugh at the crazy, mostly stupid stuff
people say and assume ‘bout you. Not everyone is racist they are just not cultured. They
only watch the news and never actually have an interaction with a Black person. So, I just
have to laugh to keep from being an angry Black man because they just dumb. When I
feel like it, I educate them but mostly I just let them keep being stupid.
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Rihmeek continued by expressing his parents had instilled a strong mindset and not allowing the
assumptions others have about him to inform how he reacts. He continued,
I was raised to always be my best self in every space. The pressure can be overwhelming
to be perfect, but my parents instilled in me to never be what people expect me to be.
Football means a lot to my community and my family; but my people are more concerned
with me graduating and getting this degree. Playin football is just a plus to the end goal.
But most people here assume I need football to get my family out of poverty. Little do
they know my family owns a business in our town. Yes, I am the first to go to college but
that don’t mean my family is poor or have to live without.
Rihmeek’s experience echo similar assertions Chad expressed in his experience.
Chad described the assumption his athletic office, peers, and professors assume he
requires tutoring or extra help to pass his business classes. He stated,
When these White people see me in these classes, man I swear they look at me like I am
in the wrong class or something. I have had classmates ask me if I am really a business
student. One actually asked me why I wasn’t in the comm school with my teammates.
They swear I need a tutor or extra help. When I was a freshman, not gon lie, I would play
dumb because I wanted to see how far they would go to help me and half the time,
especially in math they would be tutoring me and be big wrong [laughs]. Sometimes you
just gotta let people feel like they know better.
Chad continued by stating his father owns a successful commercial real estate business and
residential real estate business in his hometown. He described,
My parents are both college graduates. My dad owns several real estate businesses. I
majored in business to help out with the family business after football, like if I don’t go to
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the league or when I am done in the league, options. I wish these people would stop with
the narrative that Black athletes need father figures and stability [emphasis added]. Yeah,
some of my teammate’s dads weren’t like, really there, but, for real, most of us have
really present parents. We all aren’t fatherless, helpless, misguided dudes. We lazy and
silly [laughs] but aren’t all college students like that at times. We are just students like
everybody else. The problem is we are grown men when it’s convenient and little
misguided boys who need daddies when it fits the narrative.
He continued,
Instead of judging us from what you see, ask us about our lives. Like ask me bout my
upbringing. Don’t just assume because I’m Black I need you to fix me or support me
through my academics. Treat me the same way you would any other student that ain’t
Black.
Describing their experiences of being perceived and the assumptions of being
unintelligent athletes, fatherless children, and poverty-stricken members in society created a need
to dispel these assumptions. The participants expressed their need to constantly prove their
university community wrong about their assumptions and perceptions about the Black male and
not feeling fully part of the university community like their White football playing peers or
fellow student community.
Conclusion to Chapter 4
The first research question sought to explore how participants made sense of their
identity as students, athletes, and Black males at Power 5 institutions, PWI campuses. Within this
lens question one explored participants sense of their ability to explore academic and career
interest of their choices with the support of their athletic units. Finally, question one explored
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what career preparation participants engaged in with the support and guidance of their athletic
departments. The second research question addressed how participants made sense of their time
availability to explore career opportunities and their interest outside of athletics. Research
question two also sought to inform how participants chose their majors and if these choices
assisted in their career exploration and development interest. Finally, question two explored how
participants made sense of their university and athletic department’s responsibility to them as
students. The third research question gauged participants perceptions and experiences as Black
males football student-athletes on predominately White campuses. Additionally, research
question three sought to explore how the experiences of the participants informed their
navigation of their career exploration and development at Power 5 institutions.

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Chapter Five: Discussion
I’m not saying that I’m gonna rule the world or change the world, but I guarantee that I
will spark the brain that will change the world and that’s our job to spark somebody else
watching us.
—Tupac Shakur, 2Pac. MTV Interview
During the development and completion of this research, significant historical changes
began to take shape at Power 5 institutions. The conclusion of this encapsulated the growing
development of name, image, and likeness campaigns for college athletics. Additionally, across
several Power 5 institutions newly developed personal (career) development and services roles
began to be advertised within these athletic departments to support the advancement of career
exploration for student-athletes. Chapter 4 presented the findings from the phenomenological
qualitative research, which included interviews from seven participants across all Power 5
conferences within the NCAA. Chapter 4 sought to answer and explore three research questions
about BMFSAs sense of identity, self-efficacy, career exploration, and overall experience as
college students on PWI campuses with multiple intersecting identities. Several themes were
defined in the three research questions to help understand and further inform the systems
BMFSAs interact with at Power 5 institutions.
In in this chapter, I will first discuss the significant themes that emerge from the findings
as presented in Chapter 4, using the lens of my conceptual framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1977;
Crenshaw, 1989; Lent, 2013) and other relevant literature. Next, I will present recommendations
and future research recommendations to continue advancing effort to center career exploration
and development of BMFSAs. I will end the chapter with a brief conclusion.

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Discussion
The purpose of this study was to explore how BMFSAs engage in career exploration and
development inquiry. By employing my conceptual framework, informed by Bronfenbrenner’s
ecological systems (1977), Crenshaw’s intersectionality model (1989), and Lent’s social
cognitive career theory (2013), I identified eight major themes emerging from the findings and
pertaining to the research questions guiding this study. Each will be discussed in turn here.
Athletes First
Researchers have explored how primarily highlighting the athletic identity of Black male
student-athletes can have detrimental impact on their psychosocial development, academic
exploration, and career development when navigating PWI environments (Beamon, 2014; Briggs
et al., 2021; Carter-Francique et al., 2015; Curry et al., 2021). The practice of highlighting
achievements and recognition of Black men as athletes on college campuses does not create an
environment to celebrate these Black students beyond their athletic ability. Throughout the
interview process all seven participants expressed their visibility as athletes on their college
campuses. Each indicated their frustration of being valued by their university community as
athletes on their campuses. The implications of being perceived as an athlete on campus
appeared to inform how the participants were treated by their peers, academic staff, and faculty.
Participants demonstrated frustration with the perception by university community members
solely viewing them as athletes. Each described wanted to be considered as more than athletic
entities on campus. However, they all described the overwhelming benefits of being football
athletes on their campuses and enjoyed having some of those privileges of being highly
recognizable people.
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Though, each all described how this differential treatment had both positive and negative
results depending on who the audience was. For example, some professors were enthralled with
their identity as athletes and could be very accommodating to their schedules and academic
needs. However, some professors could be unaccommodating and hard to work with when they
were traveling or needing extensions of projects because of competing priorities relating to their
football schedules. Hawkins (1995) and Curry et al. (2021) describe how BMFSAs will place
heavier emphasis on their athletic identity to navigate their college careers, which may provide
positive outcomes but also can inform inherent biases of non-student-athlete peers and academic
staff. Though positive outcomes and benefits have been documented to improve the educational
experiences of BMFSAs (Beamon, 2008; 2014; Yearwood, 2018b; Yosso, 2005), the long-term
psychosocial impact of not exploring identities beyond athletics can cause harm in how BMFSAs
engage outside of football. Overarchingly, all seven participants described how their athletic
identity was like a gift and curse dependent on what the audience they were engaging with.
Academic Exploration to Assist in Exploring Future Career Interest
When discussing their self-efficacy and confidence in their academic decision-making
each participant described a version of feeling like if they went with the academic suggestions of
their athletic academic team’s (advisors, tutors, learning specialist) interest there was less
resistance in their choices. Martin et al. (2010) discussed how participants felt they needed to
prove their academic worthiness to feel empowered about exploring their academic interest. In
Chapter 4, it was reported how some participants found it difficult to navigate their athletic
academic advising appointments when they chose academic paths did not align with the
recommendations of the athletic academic advising team. BMFSAs’ experiences within athletic
academic settings provide context about social expectations, underlying racially driven
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experiences, and biased assumptions about Black intellectualism (Singer, 2005). The presence of
parental support of their academic pursuits also appeared to inform how confident each
participant was in their ability to explore the types of academic majors they chose to enroll in. Of
the seven participants, six identified as first-generation college students and relied heavily on
their athletic academic departments for guidance on how to navigate their academic interest. In
Chapter 4, several participants emphasized how difficult their experiences were when they chose
to explore their own academic interest that aligned with their future career interest when
compared to their perception of their peers’ experiences.
Exploring Career Planning and Career Discussion
Beamon (2008, 2009, 2012) discussed how emphasis on their athletic identity informs
athletic identity foreclosure which impairs Black student-athletes ability see value in their
abilities after athletic ends. Beamon’s (2008, 2009, 2012) assertation rang true with each of the
participants of this study who did not explore their career interest outside of football. The
findings of this study assert Beamon’s research that emphasis on athletic pursuit hinders the
exploration of career pursuits post athletics. Every participant described their lack of career
exploration or development within their athletic department. Of the seven participants, only one
confirmed they had a functional cover letter and resume. Each described to varying degrees their
anxiety about the types of careers they could obtain if playing professional football was not a
possibility. Additionally, if each participant did successfully play professionally, four indicated
they had no clear ideas about what career they would explore post their professional football
career. Chad, whose parents were both college graduates and successful business owners, would
work for his family. Rihmeek’s family also owns a family business where he assumed he could
work for. Terry indicated he would potentially own a trucking company if playing professionally
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did not occur. None of the participants indicated how their academic training and major would
inform their career planning. Each described how their major was simply a way for them to play
football, remain eligible and earn a college degree if playing professionally did not appear
successful. While three of the participants engaged in some type of career workshop, be that
working an on-campus job, NIL deal, or volunteering at a local community center, none
indicated feeling like they were appropriately prepared compared to their non-student-athletes
peers for careers upon their graduation. Jermaine, Terrace, and Pharrell all indicated their lack of
ability to think about their interest outside of football due to their limited free time outside of
their athletic and academic priorities.
When Do I Have Time
In consideration of the extensive responsibilities BMFSAs have as student-athletes,
exploring their physical ability to explore interest outside of football was explored. The central
theme of not having enough time outside of class, tutoring sessions, academic advising session,
practice, film review, and weigh lifts did not allow or afford for anytime during regular business
hours to visit career centers, attend career fairs or explore interest beyond football (Giurge et al.,
2020). Each participant indicated having detailed schedules that allocated their time down to the
minute. The only day the participants expressed having as a free day where they were not
occupied with athlete centered activities was Sundays and that was contingent on whether
Sunday practices were put on their schedules. The constant tracking of their time asserts research
findings that student Black student athletes are viewed as incapable of decision-making authority
unless it is structured for them by their athletic departments (Beamon, 2012; Brigs et al., 2021;
Carter et al., 2015; Cooper, 2012; Harper, 2009a, 2009b; Roebuck et al., 2014). Giurge et al.
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(2020) and Singer (2009) assert that the practice of extensive programming for students from
marginalized communities informs how they develop their own self-agency, or lack thereof.
Additionally, time poverty, or the practice of extremely structured schedules for
developing college students, does not provide opportunities for necessary failures and
exploration needed for positive psychosocial development (Giurge et al., 2020; Singer, 2009;
Yosso, 2005). The experience of having every minute of their academic and athletic experience
being accounted for left little room to engage in non-athletic extracurricular experiences.
Specifically, for those who were starting players, their ability in utilizing their time as they
wished felt impossible because of their strictly structured schedules that were coordinated by
their athletic departments with little or no input from the participants.
We Are All in the Same Classes
Similar to the participants’ experience with their lack of agency in how their time was
allocated, the same sentiment was expressed with their academic major selection and course
selection processes. Five of the seven participants described being coached or coaxed into
choosing majors that supported their athletic schedules rather than those that intrigued their
intellectual and future career interest. Beamon (2012), Briggs et al. (2021), Fountain and Finley
(2009), Martin et al. (2010) and Miller (2021) have explored the practice of academic clustering
of Black student-athletes and the impact this practice has on the academic and career inquiry of
Black male student-athletes. Each of the participants described being discouraged from choosing
a major of their interest because of the difficulty of the courses, specifically math, or the course
load in their ability to remain eligible for play. Harper (2009b), Hawkins (1995), Miller (2021),
Roebuck et al. (2014), and Singer (2005) have all noted, that such practices are rooted in anti-
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Black ideologies of Black intellectualism and anti-Black behaviors of controlling academic
experiences of Black bodies at PWIs.
All seven participants expressed their frustration with not feeling empowered to explore
academic courses of their interest to assist them in exploring their future career interest but
described how they trusted the intentions of their athletic academic advisors to help them
navigate their university experience. Several participants expressed explicitly their frustration
with athletic academic advisors attempting to have them reconsider their major interest in
business administration because of the difficult math component. Houston and Baber (2017)
assert that the practice of academic clustering is not a tool used to support Black student-athletes
but a matrix to control the success and graduation outcomes of Black student-athletes that do not
directly seek to expand the academic and career inquiry of Black student-athletes.
Understanding the University’s Responsibility to Them
Unlike PWIs, HBCUs are not heavily reliant on the revenue-generated from college
athletics and must create avenues of success for their student population through proper career
preparation and academic rigor (Rich et al., 2020; Samad, 2021; Sharp & Sheilley, 2008).
Therefore, the emphasis on BMFSAs athletic identities is considered secondary to their student
status because of the lack of national media coverage with HBCU athletic programming.
BMFSAs who attend PWIs within the Power 5 Conference, has extensive exposure to media
outlets nationally that garner the attention of high-profile football athletic teams who recruit
them professionally. Within PWIs, BMFSAs are unclear and unsure what their institution or
athletic departments responsibility to them as students and athletes entails (Beamon, 2008, 2012;
Watt & Moore III, 2001; Yearwood, 2018b). While the mission and values of the National
Collegiate Athletic Association (2022) describes the goals of the NCAA and the institutions
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within the Power 5 seek to support college student-athletes graduate from college and obtain
careers with these earned college degrees. Participants in this study described being unsure what
the responsibilities of their university of athletic department was to them as students or athletes.
Participants expressed their experiences when being recruited did not reflect their experiences
once on campus, where they were subject to assumptions about them as Black men and how their
responsibility to the athletic department relied on their ability to perform positively athletically to
support their visibility of being recruited professionally. At PWIs, BMFSAs are clear about their
obligations to both their university and athletic departments to successfully perform athletically
to win championships; however, Black student-athletes are often unclear or unsure if their
institution has any responsibly to them as students (Martin et al., 2010; Rich et al., 2020; Yost,
2010; Zimbalist, 1999). Rich et al. (2020) argued that Historically Black Colleges (HBCUs)
identified and generated successful student-athlete outcomes related to their academic and career
inquiry because of their ability to support positive college experiences for Black student-athletes
across campus dynamics. Documented expectations and responsibilities between the university
and athletic department to student-athletes’ academic and career development must be clearly
outlined for BMFSAs to hold their institutions accountable to their responsibilities to them as
students (Duderstadt, 2003; Flowers, 2009; Harper, 2009a, 2009b; Kendi, 2012; Martin et al.,
2010)
Understanding the Relationship Between Microaggressions and Anti-Black Behavior
Black male student-athletes at PWIs have more negative experiences in their academic
and career inquiry than their White peers (Beamon & Bell, 2006). The direct emphasis on
BMFSAs identity as athletes from primarily low-socioeconomic communities is often rooted in
ant-Black attitudes about Black folx across social structures and not a true depiction of the
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diverse communities BMFSAs come from (Baker & Hawkins, 2016; Beamon, 2014; Beamon &
Bell, 2006). While none of the participants directly noted their experience being rooted in anti-
Black attitudes, descriptions of their direct experiences align with definitive behaviors rooted in
anti-Black attitudes. According to Kendi (2012) practices and behaviors associated in anti-
Blackness include respectability politics, tokenization of Black students, notions to prove
academic worthiness of Black students, and lack of representation in academic settings where
Black students are heavily concentrated populations. Each of the seven participants described the
lack of representation of Black professionals in their athletic departments and university courses.
Lack of visibility of Black intellectualism not only informed how university and athletic
departments interfaced with Black men and Black student-athletes (Baker & Hawkins, 2016;
Bateman, 2011; Harper, 2009a, 2009b; Yearwood, 2018b) but also provided platforms where
comments about how the participants dressed, their hair styles, lack of father figures, or rough
neighborhoods they must come from were normalized in university classrooms, athletic offices,
and community interactions (Kendi, 2012; Mustaffa, 2017). Participants detailed how the lack of
Black people and Black authoritative staff on his campus afforded for inappropriate behaviors
and comments to continue occurring unchecked.
Kendi (2012) and Mustaffa (2017) describe how the lack of social diversity on PWI
campuses inform the ignorance of non-Black peers and athletic departments behaviors and
practices when interacting with BMFSA. The lack of university actions to combat anti-Black
behaviors and practices within the community appear to support or allow the continued harm of
these behaviors at the expense of their Black student population (Mustaffa, 2017). Instances of
anti-Black behaviors, practices and attitudes informed microaggressions that often-supported
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assumptions about the participants as factual and true assertions about who the participants were
to their non-Black community members (Beamon & Messer, 2013; Harper, 2009b; Kendi, 2012).
Combating Assumptions About Black Men in Academia
Briggs et al. (2021) asserted that Black male student-athletes are often subject to realties
that they are viewed by their peers, professors, and athletic department leaders as simply athletes
who do not care about anything outside of athletics. In Chapter 4, participants expressed
demonstrating grace and patience with their university community members misconceptions and
assumptions about them as Black men and student-athletes. However, BMFSAs offer
forgiveness to others about their attitudes regarding who they are and what they represent as
BMFSAs because of their desire to want to be accepted and welcomed on their college campuses
(Beamon, 2014; Bourke, 2016; Briggs et al., 2021; Cooper, 2012; Dancy et al., 2018; Harper,
2009b; Kendi, 2012). All the participants emphasized their practice of not holding perpetrators
accountable for negative assumptions about their intersectionalities as BMFSAs, asserts their
desires to be accepted and welcomed in their university community. Each participant reflected on
negative assumptions, comments, and behaviors as White people being White (Kendi, 2012).
Though these assumptions can be harmful and create environments where BMFSAs feel
unwelcomed and negatively perceived (Beamon, 2014; Briggs et al., 2021; Kendi, 2012;
Mustaffa, 2017), each participant emphasized the importance of finding community with other
BMFSAs to process instances of stupidity or unfair characterization. Like microaggressions,
negative assumptions about BMFSAs are rooted in anti-Black ideologies, philosophies, and
behaviors often informed by conscious and unconscious biases deeply held about Black people
(Beamon, 2014; Harper, 2009a, 2009b; Kendi, 2012; Mustaffa, 2017).
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Recommendations
Based on the results of this study, the following recommendations are offered in order to
optimize the effectiveness of policy and practice toward supporting the career exploration and
development of Black male football student-athletes. The proposed recommendations seek to
enhance current departmental structures, develop strategic planning for building for career
exploratory programs, and provide suggestions for implementation and assessment of proposed
career development programs for BMFSAs. Together, the recommendations are intended to
provide an avenue to remove barriers of career exploration and development of BMFSAs.
Campus-Wide Investment of BMFSAs
Career Exploration and Development
This study findings demonstrate the need to better remove barriers for BMFSAs
navigating their career exploration and development. The first recommendation seeks to
encourage Power 5 institutions to analyze career development programs in practice at individual
institutions and access their effectiveness in supporting career inquiry of BMFSAs (Harper,
2018; Samad, 2021; Wright et al., 2014). Exploring best practices of other institutions can serve
as blueprints in the development of their career exploration and development departments to
better support BMFSAs employability (Sharp & Sheilley, 2008). In coordination with this
exploratory phase of departmental development, university athletic units need to ask and
incorporate the voices and suggestions of BMFSAs in how to create programs to support
BMFSA career exploration. Supporting these initiatives presented by BMFSAs, in collaboration
with athletic department leadership, the creation of relationships between the athletic department
and university career centers to support a pipeline for BMFSAs usage.
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Fostering relationships with already embedded university career centers will remove the
barrier for BMFSAs in building professional relationships with career services office without the
stigma of being a student-athlete. In collaboration from the developed relationship with career
services office, athletic offices should construct a designated career services officer who tailors
career exploration and development opportunities for BMFSAs in alignment with their time-
constrained schedules. Aligning the construction of career explorations maps that integrate
BMFSAs major study and embodied the tenets of career exploration development theory to
inform these efforts (Curry et al., 2021; Daire et al., 2007). Finally, hosting monthly career-fairs
specifically for the athletic department with employers who support the complex schedules of
student-athletes and that offer internships around student-athletes off seasons. These
recommendations serve as a starting point to generate the conversation and assembling of career
exploration units within athletic departments at Power 5 institutions.
NCAA Leading Career Exploration and Development Initiatives
The lack of integrated programming to support career exploration and development for
BMFSAs who have little time outside of their structured scheduled contribute to their lack of
exposure with career exploration (Beamon, 2008; Briggs et al., 2021; Flowers, 2009). To better
support the efforts of engaging BMFSAs beyond sport play, the NCAA will need to address the
employability and career success of their student-athletes. As presented in the conceptual
framework of this study, creating environments that contribute to developers who support the
exploration of BMFSAs. Addressing the concerns of employability of BMFSAs the NCAA will
need to revise their mission statement to include career attainment of student-athletes and
matrices to measure student-athletes careers success, like the Graduation Success Rate.
Supporting this initiative include instituting mandated funding and development of career centers
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within athletic units. Instituting a career exploration and development office at the NCAA
offices, would support the development of policy toward career development of student-athletes,
that have little discretionary time to explore careers outside of their academic and athletic
commitments.
Conversely, the NCAA will need to develop guided frameworks and learning outcomes
for Power 5 institutions to employ in the development of career services units regulated by the
NCAA policy, similar to those utilize to regulate the academic offices for Power 5 institutions
(National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2018, 2021b). Instituting implementation models and
career maps for Power 5 institutions to support the career programming initiatives of BMFSAs at
Power 5 institutions will create a baseline for Power 5 institutions to begin creating career
development office or units within their athletic departments. To ensure the success of these
career development initiatives the NCAA will need earmark, reallocate, and distribute specific
funding from revenue generated from media contracts to create the development of career
exploration offices within these universities. Harper (2018) emphasizes the need for the NCAA
to lead Power 5 institutions and financially support Power 5 institutions, along with the
university, athletic departments with developing career exploratory and development offices for
the advancement of BMFSAs. Finally, creating disaggregated data-tracking (race, sex, sport,
major) of student-athlete employment post-graduation to demonstrate the success of career
exploration and development initiatives set-forth by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic
Association, 2014).
Addressing Assumptions and Microaggressions Rooted in Anti-Black Attitudes
The continued instances of being victim to psychological assaults become cumbersome
and normalized for Black students at PWIs (Beamon, 2014; Gallagher, 2000; Harrison &
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Lawrence, 2003) who subconsciously internalize these behaviors and practices as normal and
acceptable (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). Utilization of creating a structured curriculum centered with
workshops to inform student-athletes about name, image and likeness to preface and address
career exploration and development initiatives can be an appropriate measure in exploring
preliminary avenues of career development inquiry for BMFSAs. To construct an environment
of inclusion, belonging and justice, Power 5 institutions must do more than reimagining their
mission statements and values. Moving from performative measures Power 5 institutions must
assemble accountable protocol to educate their community about racialized assumptions and
microaggressions rooted in anti-Black rhetoric. Emphasizing the importance of addressing anti-
Black behaviors, practices, and attitudes must be addressed unambiguously and intentionally to
foster belonging for Black students. Athletic departments can support the effort of addressing
BMFSAs concerns of racial aggression toward them by employing a more racially diverse
professional staff. Additionally, athletic departments should practice having intentional
conversations about Black student-athletes’ experiences.
In order for athletic departments to move from objector environments, as indicated by
this study’s conceptual framework, addressing both the overt and covert anti-Black assumptions
of BMFSAs will need to be addressed by the athletic department. Creating spaces where
BMFSAs and Black staff within Power 5 institutions are able to express their experiences of
microaggressions and anti-Black informed assumptions will assist in naming, addressing, and
resolving misinformed behaviors and attitudes about Black folx in athletics. From these
conversations with Black student-athletes, athletic departments should construct workshops to
assist student-athletes with the lexicon to address racialized assumptions and microaggressions
as they occur. Additionally, inviting the university Title IX office into the athletic department’s
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offices to destigmatize the process of filing complaints student-athletes may have. Finally at the
national offices, the NCAA must institute anti-Black curriculum, workshops, trainings to
conversations, attention, and reform in athletic departments when interfacing with Black student-
athletes, for both staff, faculty, and student-athletes.
To appropriately address the findings in this study the recommendations are action-driven
suggestions to begin the immediate reform of the practices and behaviors listed. While this list is
not entirely inclusive of the actions needed to reform career inquiry of BMFSAs, the present
recommendations provide the avenue to begin the process of developing measurable outcomes of
BMFSAs success with career exploration and development.
Recommendations for Future Research
To further the amplification the voices of Black male football student-athletes, I
recommend three areas for future research. First, though this research employs an adapted model
of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (1977) to develop the conceptual framework of
this study, I did not include the chronosystem. The chronosystem is informed by the social,
historical, and chronological time period in conjunction to an individual’s development
(Bronfenbrenner, 1977). Additional research or replications of this study should explore and
include analysis of substantial exhibitions of anti-Blackness within society, for example the
murders of Tyre Nichols, George Floyd, Keenan Anderson, or the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, or the impact of name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals. Second, the participants of
this study all identified as pre-COVID-19 current and former BMFSAs, further research could
compare how BMFSAs entering college athletics post-COVID-19 are being engaged with career
development programs with the legalization of NIL deals and the development career
development units within university athletic departments. I would also offer to explore the
99

experiences of Black female student-athletes in future research to explore their experiences with
their career inquiry. Finally, participants of this study described and identified initiatives that
would increase their sense of belonging on their campuses beyond their athletic identity.
Conducting an action-research study employing the recommendations of the participants and the
recommendations presented in this study could generate further literature on practices that
support inclusive environments of PWIs and how to develop a career exploratory model for
student-athletes in revenue-generating sport programs.
Limitations
The limitations of this study are evident and require being addressed. This study included
a small sample size of participants compared to the large community of BMFSAs actively
competing in the 65 schools within the Power 5 conferences. Due to the reduced sample size
further exploration with diverse voices across the 65 institutions should be conducted over one
academic class to scale their career exploration. Additionally, this study focuses primarily on
Black male football players and does not address the experiences of Black non-football student-
athletes. This study is also limited in it does not include the voices of Black female athletes
across Power 5 conference institutions. The study does not explicitly consider the social
movements within the context of the chronosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s theory (1977) or the
effects on college athletes post COVID-19. In consideration of these limitations, I will address
recommendations for further research to generate robust studies in the future.
Conclusion to Chapter 5
Black male football student-athletes add value to university campuses beyond their
athletic pursuits. Exploration surrounding the exploitation of BMFSAs at Power 5 institutions to
generate profits for universities has been well researched and critiqued (Beamon, 2009; Harper,
100

2009a, 2009b, 2016, 2018; Hawkins, 1995). However, navigating the types of behaviors that
inform the practices of exploitation of BMFSAs, specifically focusing on their career exploration
and development inquiry (Harrison & Lawrence, 2003), has been underrepresented in the
research of scholars. The purpose of this study was to explore how career exploration and
development inquiry was informed by the types of majors BMFSAs declared, if programming
efforts were attempted to develop BMFSAs career trajectory beyond their athletic interest, and to
what extent these athletic systems supported the career exploration of BMFSAs outside of
football. This study revealed the experiences and perceptions of BMFSAs exploration of their
career trajectory while actively navigating the complex spheres of higher education. With the
introduction of NIL deals, diversity and inclusion workshops, impact of COVID-19 and newly
developing career services offices in the athlete department at Power 5 institutions, BMFSAs still
expressed the need and pressure to prove the negative assumptions of Black male student-
athletes on their campuses. Beyond their academic pursuits BMFSAs need to be engaged in
career exploratory conversations outside of their sport play (Beamon, 2008, 2009, 2012).
Reflecting on their identities and abilities to thrive when separated from their athletic identity
proved to be difficult realization for many of them. This study sought to understand how and if
athletic departments at Power 5 institutions held true to the mission of the NCAA to “provide
opportunities to learn, compete, and grow on and off the field” specifically targeting their career
exploration and development (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2022). This study
revealed that despite the NCAA’s attempts to transition public attitudes about BMFSAs identities
being hyper fixated as athletes first and students second, BMFSAs still experience being viewed
and treated as athletic entities on their campuses and as students secondary. Additionally,
creating a career exploratory model (Bronfenbrenner, 1977; Crenshaw, 1989; Lent, 2013) that
101

recognizes the lived experiences of Black folx in academic and athletic settings in necessary to
address the assumptions and microaggressions Black student-athletes are subject to in mostly
White athletic department settings when navigating their career inquiry. This research further
emphasized the need for both Power 5 institution and the NCAA to implement policy, funding,
and strategic planning over the next 5 years to develop and build career development units within
athletic departments to better support the career transitions of student-athletes after their
collegiate athletic career.

102

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Appendix A: Outreach Email
Hello and Good Afternoon,
You have been identified as a potential candidate to assist with my study. My study
explores Black Male Football Student-Athletes, current and former, career development and
exploration in relation to their academic interest.
Thank you for the opportunity to document your experiences and perspectives. If you are
available and able to share your experiences and perspectives in a 60-minute interview, I would
sincerely appreciate your time!
If you have the availability, I would be honored to schedule a 60-minute Zoom interview
with you (you may also opt for an in-person interview in Calendly).
Here is a link to my Calendly https://calendly.com/mahagoneybg/60min, which identifies
my availability. To be as flexible, I included dates and times that were during the workday and
after hours and during weekends to try to accommodate your availability preference. If none of
these times work for you, please email me at borrayog@usc.edu and I will work on some
alternative times.
Some things to note prior to our interview meeting:
This interview will be completely confidential. You are welcome to do your Zoom in
whichever space feels comfortable and private for you. You will have the ability to create a
pseudonym or fake name to protect your identity and the things you share during the interview.
The interview may take the full 60 minutes, but it could also be less than that. However, I
will never go over the 60-minute mark to make sure I am respecting your time.
114

The Zoom and in-person interview will be recorded, in order for me to capture your
experiences and perspectives accurately. This recording will be kept safe in a double encrypted
password protected drive.
Please review the attached informed consent sheet to learn more about the study,
confidentiality protocols, and about your right to withdraw from the study at any time.
Please review the document prior to our scheduled interview. Please note I will review
this information with you again during our interview. You do not need to sign it, a verbal
confirmation during our meeting will work just fine.
Thank you again and feel free to email me and ask me any questions!
Be Well,
Mahagoney Borrayo-Gilchriest
EdD Candidate 2023, USC Rossier School of Education

115

Appendix B: Demographics
Thank you sincerely for your participation in my study. Prior to beginning, I want to
provide you with an overview of the study and how this interview will go. Please feel free to ask
any questions before we begin the interview.
I am a doctoral candidate at USC currently in the final phases of completing my
dissertation to become Dr. MBG. I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me and discuss
your experience as a Black male football student-athlete, as it relates to my study of career
development and exploration in connection to your academic interest. Have you received and
signed the consent form sent to you before we begin? We will interview for 60 minutes to assist
me in getting to know you and hearing your story.
My study explores how academic exploration informs career development for Black male
football student-athletes at Power 5 Conference schools, The purpose of my study is to determine
whether BMFSAs are prepared to enter the workforce upon graduation completion and if
Division I programs are actively preparing BMFSAs for careers of their interest post football-
play.
I have asked you to participate because you have indicated you play or once played
football for a Power 5 Conference school within the NCAA. You identify as a Black male and
want to share your experience as a BMFSAs.
If you are comfortable and ready to begin, I will begin asking my questions. Please feel
free to answer these questions as honestly as you would like. I want to remind you your identity
will remain confidential and will not be shared with your (former) university or your athletic
program. You will be provided an alias and your personal information will not be shared with
anyone outside of you and I, even if you request for your identity to be shared, I will not. Please
116

note that at any time in the participation process you may opt out of this study without providing
a reason or justification for your choice. Your participation is fully optional, and you may seek to
opt-out at any point.
Finally, I will not speak much aside from asking you questions and clarifying questions
from responses, if necessary. Though I may want to agree or disagree with you, I will not openly
do so as I want you to feel safe to share your honest experience and perspective. Please do not
take my instances of pausing or lack of conversation as a point to become uncomfortable;
however, I am deeply passionate about this topic and want to remain neutral and non-influencing
on how you choose to respond. I will also take notes in addition to recording the interview to
ensure I am accurate with your responses. Finally, after our interview, I may circle-back with
you with follow-up questions if in the data analysis phase I am unclear or unsure I captured your
response accurately and clearly. Are you still interested in participating?
Questions
I will begin this interview with some general questions about your background.
In what ways did you feel you were valued as a Black male student at your institution?
Walk me through a regular day in your student schedule. Describe the duties associated with
being a BMFSA
1. In what ways did you feel respected or valued specifically surrounding your
intellectual abilities within your athletic department and university community?
2. Can you describe how you made the decision to major in your field of study?
3. How would you describe your confidence level in having the ability to make
decisions for yourself, specifically with your academic and career choices at your
institution?
117

4. How did being a black male and a student athlete help or hinder your experience with
your career exploration and development?
5. Can you describe your experience with feeling supported by your athletic department
to explore your career interest outside of football?
6. What were some tools you learned in your athletic department or your university that
assisted you with your career exploration and development?
7. How would you describe the ways you utilized your self-agency to engage in career
planning outside of football?
8. What do you think your athletic department’s obligation is to you and your career
exploration and development?
9. Can you describe your experience with your institution and athletic department in
supporting your navigation career development outside of football?
10. Can you describe if you feel and felt major aligns with your career aspirations?
11. If you were the athletic director of your college what career-centered initiatives would
you develop to support BMFSAs’ career exploration and development?
This concludes our interview. Thank you sincerely for your time, honesty, and trust. My
desire is to express the stories of the people I interview, clearly and vividly with care, and respect
to your experience. Just reminder your responses and information will remain confidential. Do
you have further questions or last points you would like to express?
Please feel free to follow-up with anything regarding this interview to my email
borrayog@usc.edu.
118

Finally, I have a few more interviews to construct and once I complete this and write up
these interactions, I will happily share your responses with you so you may be part of this
adventure with me. Thank you again and see you soon.

119

Appendix C: Theoretical Alignment Matrix
Research question Theoretical framework Interview questions
How do BMFSAs at Power 5
institutions make sense of their
self-efficacy and self-agency to
navigate their career
development and exploration
outside of football?
Social cognitive career
theory: self-efficacy
expectations, learning
experiences, and
outcome expectations
(Lent, 2013)
Intersectionality:
experience of Black
male navigating within a
White setting
(Crenshaw, 1989)
In what ways were you
able to utilize your
agency with your time
to participate in
activities (visiting
cultural identity centers,
career fairs,
informational
interviews, etc.) outside
of football on campus?
If you were the athletic
director of your college
what career-centered
initiatives would you
develop to support
BMFSAs’ career
exploration and
development?
How would you describe
your confidence level in
having the ability to
make decisions for
yourself, specifically
with your academic and
career choices at your
institution?
What were some tools you
learned in your athletic
department or your
university that assisted
you with your career
exploration and
development?
Can you describe your
experience with feeling
supported by your
athletic department to
explore your career
interest outside of
football?
120

Research question Theoretical framework Interview questions
How do BMFSAs perceive their
athletic department and
university’s role in developing
or obstructing their career
exploration through academic
preparation?
Ecological systems theory:
microsystem and
mesosystem informing
experience of BMFSAs
(Bronfenbrenner, 1977)
Social cognitive career
theory: self-efficacy and
agency, choice goals,
interest, and
performance domains
and attainments (Lent,
2013)
Intersectionality:
experience of Black
male navigating within a
White setting
(Crenshaw, 1989)
Can you describe how you
made the decision to
major in your field of
study?
In what ways did you feel
respected or valued
specifically surrounding
your intellectual
abilities within your
athletic department and
university community?
In what ways were you
able to utilize your
agency with your time
to participate in
activities (visiting
cultural identity centers,
career fairs,
informational
interviews, etc.) outside
of football on campus?
How would you describe
the ways you utilized
your self-agency to
engage in career
planning outside of
football?
What do you think your
athletic department’s
obligation is to you and
your career exploration
and development?
Can you describe your
experience with your
institution and athletic
department in
supporting your
navigation career
development outside of
football?
Can you describe if you
feel and felt major
aligns with your career
aspirations?
121

Research question Theoretical framework Interview questions
How do the experiences of
BMFSAs inform their sense of
belonging at PWIs with
navigating their career
exploration and development
aspirations?

Ecological systems theory:
microsystem,
mesosystem, and
exosystem informing
experience of BMFSAs
(Bronfenbrenner, 1977)
Social cognitive career
theory: self-efficacy and
agency, choice goals,
interest, and
performance domains
and attainments (Lent,
2013)
Intersectionality:
experience of Black
male navigating within a
White setting
(Crenshaw, 1989)

In what ways did you feel
you were valued as a
Black male student at
your institution and
community?
Walk me through a regular
day in your student
schedule. Describe the
duties associated with
being a BMFSA
In what ways did you feel
respected or valued
specifically surrounding
your intellectual
abilities within your
athletic department and
university community?
How did being a black
male and a student
athlete help or hinder
your experience with
your career exploration
and development?

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Black male student-athletes comprise 2.4% of college campuses; however, Black males comprised 55% of football teams at predominately white institutions (Harper, 2018). Slightly higher than half, 55.2%, of Black male football student athletes graduate within six years. While the NCAA and the Power 5 Conference institutions proudly tout the graduation rates of their student-athletes, specifically their Black student athletes, limited research or literature has explored the career exploration, development, or trajectory of these Black male football student-athletes post degree completion. This phenomenological qualitative study explored the career exploration and development experience of seven current and former Black male student-athletes who attend or have attended an institution within the Power 5 conferences. These conferences are Southeastern Conference (SEC), Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Pacific-12 (Pac-12) Conference, Big Ten Conference, and Big 12 Conference. Within these conferences, there are 65 schools, this study interviewed at least one participant from each conference. Data collection for this study included a 60-minute semi-structured interview. This study sought to understand how their career exploration and development was navigated outside of playing collegiate football. This study addresses outcomes to inform next practices for the National Collegiate Athletic Association and Power 5 institutions to better support the career exploration and development of Black male football student-athletes as they ascend from both their collegiate playing career and academic study.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Borrayo-Gilchriest, Mahagoney L. (author)

Core Title The 5th quarter: investigating career exploration and development of Black football student-athletes

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Educational Leadership

Degree Conferral Date 2023-05

Publication Date 05/17/2023

Defense Date 03/23/2023

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Black male,career development,career exploration,OAI-PMH Harvest,student-athletes

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Advisor Fillback, Robert (committee chair), Boveja Riggio, Marsha (committee member), Myles Payne, Renae (committee member)

Creator Email borrayog@usc.edu,mahagoney.gilchriest@icloud.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC113131532

Unique identifier UC113131532

Identifier etd-BorrayoGil-11862.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-BorrayoGil-11862

Document Type Dissertation

Format theses (aat)

Rights Borrayo-Gilchriest, Mahagoney L.

Internet Media Type application/pdf

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Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

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