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Career development of Black male revenue generating student-athletes within an environment of anti-Black racism
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Running Head: CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE REVENUE GENERATING STUDENT-
ATHLETES WITHIN AN ENVIORNMENT OF ANTI-BLACK RACISM
by
Howard Croom
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
August 2022
Copyright 2022 Howard Croom
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES ii
Dedication
I dedicate my dissertation to Sharon Wallace and Howard Croom II. Without your
unwavering love, support, and encouragement, none of this would be possible.
I hope that, in the future, my work will inspire former student-athletes to pursue
scholarship and be a part of shaping the discourse around student-athletes’ experiences in higher
education.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES iii
Acknowledgements
Completing my doctorate has been a long journey that required love and support from
more people than I could possibly mention in a few paragraphs. Nonetheless, I want to highlight
a few key people whose presence was critically important in my doctoral journey.
I have to start by thanking my parents who’ve always believed in me, encouraged me,
and did everything in their power to ensure that I would be as successful as possible – thank you.
There’s no way for me to fully capture how important their support has been to me on this
journey, but I know that it’s because of their sacrifices and dedication that I’m able to celebrate
this accomplishment. My sisters, Ashton and Kahlelah, and my brother, Jauron, were equally
supportive and always kept me encouraged by expressing confidence in me and my abilities –
thank you.
I also have to give a special acknowledgement to Damian Lowery for the role that he’s
played in my life. Damian started off as my coach and trainer, and quickly became a good friend
and one of my biggest mentors. Damian trained me every day – both physically and mentally –
and turned me into the athlete that I became, which created opportunities for me that I’m still
benefiting from nearly 20 years later. In addition to preparing me for high school and college
football, Damian is the person that fostered my critical thinking about systems of power and
societal arrangements. The conversations that I had with Damian planted the seeds and laid the
foundation for my future research and academic pursuits. Damian was a coach, a mentor, and a
dear friend that changed my life in high school and has continued to influence everything that I
do. Thank you, Damian. I love you and miss you.
Thank you to everyone associated with USC Athletics for the support throughout my
journey, especially my friends and family in Student-Athlete Academic Services who were
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES iv
always willing to lend a helping hand and pick me up when necessary. A special thank you to Dr.
Magdi El Shahawy for giving me an opportunity at USC as well as supporting me in applying to
the doctoral program. Also, special thanks to Dr. Cory Buckner and Dr. Renee Ramos. Cory’s
first semester in the EdD program was my first semester at USC – having the vantage point of
coming behind Cory gave me a leg up because he was extremely generous with his knowledge
and did everything he could to help me navigate through the program as smoothly as possible.
Renee and I started the program together, and without her daily support and encouragement I
truly don’t know how I would have made it through my coursework – thank you.
I also have to thank my friends and mentors from Oregon State University who helped
me develop as a student and researcher. Thank you to Dr. Michelle Inderbitzin and Dr. Dwaine
Plaza for your mentorship and guidance throughout my master’s program. A special thank you to
Dr. Scott Akins for chairing my thesis committee and going above and beyond to support me
through my master’s course work and thesis. Thank you to Dr. Kate Halischak for giving me an
opportunity in Academics for Student-Athletes, writing letters of recommendation for my
master’s and doctoral programs, and being one of my biggest supporters. Thank you to Dr.
Megan O’Quin for also writing letters of recommendation, for being my first boss, and for
teaching me everything I know about student-athlete academic services. Thank you to the entire
Academics for Student-Athletes family at Oregon State for supporting my educational journey
from undergrad to my doctorate. Also, thank you to the good people in EOP and the Academic
Success Center at Oregon State, especially from the 2006 bridge program who onboarded our
freshman class (plus Lathan Wallace) into a family-like environment and continued to provide
mentorship, guidance, and love throughout our careers. Thank you to Dr. Larry Roper, Earlean
Wilson Huey, Dr. Sandy Tsuneyoshi, Moira Dempsey, Dr. Janet Nishihara, Marilyn Stewart,
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES v
Urmila Mali, Dr. Derron Coles, Dr. Larry Griggs (RIP), and everyone else who touched our lives
during that time. Also, thank you to Dr. Robert Thompson for the work you do at Oregon State
and all the support that you’ve given me over the years. And, lastly, thank you to Coach Mike
Riley for the countless ways that you’ve impacted my life. From the opportunity to play Pac-12
football, to the invaluable life lessons, you’ve had a profound impact on me and I wouldn’t be
where I am without you.
Thank you to the participants who took time out of their busy schedules to be a part of
my study – I am forever grateful for your participation and willingness to speak candidly. Also,
thank you to all the Rossier faculty that I came into contact with during my program – your role
in my success is not overlooked.
Finally, to my committee, Dr. Tracy Tambascia, Dr. Kevin Bolen, and Dr. Alan Green,
thank you all so much for everything that you’ve done for me. It goes without saying, but I truly
wouldn’t be here without the support of each and every one of you. Tracy, you’ve supported me
from the very beginning of my journey in Rossier and have provided significant feedback and
guidance throughout the dissertation process – thank you. Kevin, you’ve been an ideal colleague
since I met you back in 2014, you’ve been a sounding board to me throughout the dissertation
process, and you’ve always gone out of your way to help with anything I needed. More
importantly, though, you’ve been a great friend to me as long as I’ve known you. You always
expressed genuine support for whatever I had going and always built me up and encouraged me
for my academic and career-related potential. I cannot thank you enough for what you’ve done
for me throughout this process. And lastly, Dr. Green, it’s hard for me to articulate how big of a
role you played in me completing this degree. Next to my parents, there’s been no one more
important in my doctoral journey than you. Your ability to meet me where I was and help me get
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES vi
back on track and stay focused has changed my life. Your content knowledge, creativity,
patience, and willingness to support me through this process are why I am finally able to
complete my dissertation. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES vii
Table of Contents
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... x
Chapter One: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1
Background of the Problem......................................................................................................... 3
Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................................ 5
Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................... 6
Research Questions.................................................................................................................. 6
Significance of the Study ............................................................................................................ 7
Limitations .................................................................................................................................. 7
Definition of Terms ..................................................................................................................... 8
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ........................................................................................ 11
Anti-Blackness in Higher Education ..................................................................................... 11
Career Development .............................................................................................................. 15
Theoretical Frameworks ........................................................................................................ 16
Student-Athletes in Higher Education....................................................................................... 18
Sports Participation & Academic Success............................................................................. 21
Pressure to Win from All Sides ............................................................................................. 23
Perceived Treatment by Campus Community ....................................................................... 24
Black Males in Higher Education ............................................................................................. 26
Campus Climate and Degree Completion ............................................................................. 27
Stereotypes & Microaggressions ........................................................................................... 28
Differential Experiences of Black Males Attending HBCUs vs PWIs ................................. 29
Black Male Student-Athletes in Higher Education ................................................................... 31
College Readiness & Academic Support ............................................................................... 32
Socialization of Black Males Towards Athletics .................................................................. 33
History of Intercollegiate Athletics and Commercialization..................................................... 35
Introduction of Intercollegiate Athletics ................................................................................ 35
Creation of Regulatory Bodies .............................................................................................. 36
National Media & Commercialization .................................................................................. 36
Theoretical Frameworks ............................................................................................................ 38
Critical Race Theory .............................................................................................................. 38
Social Cognitive Career Theory ............................................................................................ 40
A Critical Race Perspective on Career Development ............................................................ 44
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 46
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES viii
Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................................... 47
Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 47
Research Design ........................................................................................................................ 48
Site Selection ............................................................................................................................. 49
Athletic Department .............................................................................................................. 49
Population and Sample .............................................................................................................. 50
Instrumentation.......................................................................................................................... 50
Data Collection .......................................................................................................................... 51
Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 52
Trustworthiness ......................................................................................................................... 53
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 54
Chapter 4: Results and Findings ................................................................................................... 55
Research Study Participants ...................................................................................................... 56
Key Findings ............................................................................................................................. 56
Key Finding 1: False hope of a meaningful education.............................................................. 56
Theme A) Promise of meaningful education is compromised with the academic major
selection process .................................................................................................................... 57
Theme B) Pervasive apathy toward Black student-athletes’ educational pursuits ................ 58
Theme C) Insufficient career development programming .................................................... 62
Key Finding 2: The attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of staff largely shape Black football
student-athletes’ educational experiences ................................................................................. 65
Theme A) Capacity for staff to impact students’ efficacy beliefs ......................................... 65
Theme B) Black football student-athletes are seen as inferior and problematic ................... 68
Key Finding 3: Football is a job not an extracurricular activity ............................................... 71
Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................ 74
Chapter 5: Discussion, Recommendations, and Conclusion ........................................................ 75
Discussion of Findings .............................................................................................................. 76
Research Question One ......................................................................................................... 77
Research Question Two ......................................................................................................... 80
Conceptual Frameworks ............................................................................................................ 82
Social Cognitive Career Theory ............................................................................................ 83
Critical Race Theory .............................................................................................................. 87
Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 88
Recommendations for Practice .............................................................................................. 88
Recommendations for Future Research ................................................................................. 92
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 94
References ................................................................................................................................. 95
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES ix
Appendix A ............................................................................................................................. 111
Appendix B ............................................................................................................................. 112
Appendix C ............................................................................................................................. 115
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES x
Abstract
This qualitative study examined the career development experiences of Black male
revenue generating student-athletes with particular emphasis on the ways that anti-Black racism
within universities and athletic departments influence career behavior. Participants were 10
Black, former football student-athletes from California Pacific University who graduated within
the last five years. Two conceptual frameworks were used to guide this study: Social Cognitive
Career Theory and Critical Race Theory. Several key findings emerged from the data, including
numerous themes and subthemes. The key findings were as follows, Key Finding 1: False hope
of a meaningful education. Themes that emerged from Key Finding 1 are a) Promise of
meaningful education is compromised with academic major selection process, b) Pervasive
apathy toward Black football student-athletes’ educational pursuits, and c) Insufficient career
development programming. Key Finding 2: The attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of coaches and
academic staff largely shape Black football student-athletes’ educational experiences. Themes
that emerged from Key Finding 2 are a) Capacity for coaches and academic staff to impact
students’ efficacy beliefs, and b) Black football student-athletes are seen as intellectually inferior
and inherently problematic in academic spaces. Key Finding 3: Football is a job not an
extracurricular activity.
Participants overwhelmingly indicated that university and athletic department
stakeholders sacrificed their academic and career wellbeing by overprioritizing football and
deemphasizing meaningful educational pursuits. Findings reveal that involvement in football
influenced participants’ career development through three primary pathways: 1) stereotyping
from coaches and academic staff about intellectual abilities and educational aspirations, 2) the
business-like environment of football dominated participants’ lives, and 3) by deeming academic
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES xi
pursuits and career goals irrelevant in the football environment. The athletic department’s apathy
and disregard for Black football student-athletes’ career wellbeing while reaping the benefits of
their athletic talent illuminates a culture of anti-Black racism that sees Black football student-
athletes exploited and rendered disposable at the conclusion of their athletic contributions.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 1
Chapter One: Introduction
The educational experiences of Black male revenue generating student-athletes are
directly and indirectly shaped by the commercialization of intercollegiate athletics, an athletic
subculture that deemphasizes education and non-athletic career development, and an
environment that’s rife with anti-Black racism (Comeaux, 2018; Comeaux & Grummert, 2020;
Dancy, Edwards, & Davis, 2018). While there are many positive benefits associated with
participation in intercollegiate athletics for Black male revenue generating student-athletes, such
as athletic scholarships serving as access points to higher education (Reynolds, Fisher, & Cavil,
2012), issues related to educational outcomes are found at the core (Adler & Adler, 1985,
Harper, 2018; Singer, 2008). Research suggests that Black male revenue generating student-
athletes face obstacles that make it more difficult for them to succeed academically and to
develop career-related competencies compared to their non-Black peers (Beamon, 2012, Beamon
& Bell, 2002; Edwards, 2000; Harper et al., 2013). Some of the challenges include “dumb jock”
stereotyping, a hostile or unwelcoming campus environment, and pressure to prioritize athletics
over educational pursuits.
Underscoring these issues is a culture of anti-Black racism within the intercollegiate
athletics environment where Black male revenue generating student-athletes are often celebrated
for their athletic prowess while simultaneously exploited by primarily white athletic stakeholders
who view them as replaceable and/or interchangeable commodities (Dancy et al., 2018).
Comeaux and Grummert (2020) describe anti-Black racism or anti-Blackness within
intercollegiate athletics as “a social construction of racial meaning and identity that manifests as
Black athletes being viewed and treated as inferior and not fully human irrespective of their level
of intelligence” (p. 58). This culture of anti-Blackness and commodification, in part, accounts for
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 2
Black male revenue generating student-athletes graduating at lower rates than their white
counterparts, as well as being steered away from opportunities to fully engage in educationally
meaningful campus activities that support school-to-career transitions (Comeaux, 2018;
Comeaux & Grummert, 2020; Riley, 2015).
Research on Black male revenue generating student-athletes tends to focus on traditional
academic measures like graduation rates and GPA. Relatively absent from the literature are their
career development experiences, especially how Black male revenue generating student-athletes
perceive the environmental conditions of major intercollegiate athletics to have influenced their
career development. It is important to consider the sociocognitive aspects of career development
like efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and goal mechanisms (Lent, Brown, & Hackett,
1994, 2002) as these are the cognitive constructs that govern career behavior and are influenced
by contextual factors like anti-Black racism. Unfortunately, no conceptual framework currently
exists that examines the interplay between intercollegiate athletics, anti-Black racism, and career
development experiences of Black male revenue generating student-athletes. However, Social
Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) helps provide a theoretical framework for understanding the
cognitive processes of career development while also considering the influence of environmental
factors. SCCT emphasizes the role of self-efficacy and outcome expectations on the formation of
career-related interests, choices, and performance outcomes. A key assumption of SCCT is that
academic development dovetails into career development because, ideally, the interests and skills
gained through academic development will translate into career selections (Lent et al.,1994).
Through qualitative research methods, Black male revenue generating student-athletes’
experiences with career development were explored to gain a better understanding of the
perceived challenges that they face when preparing for life after college. As such, this study
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 3
examined the career development experiences of Black male revenue generating student-athletes
considering the intercollegiate athletics environment that often prioritizes profits and revenue
generation above the educational and overall wellbeing of student-athletes (Comeaux &
Grummert, 2020).
Background of the Problem
Historically, the mission of colleges and universities has been education for the sake of
gaining knowledge and preparing flexible minds, as well as to prepare individuals for leadership
and to succeed as a citizen of the world (Shulman & Bowen, 2011). However, during the middle
part of the 19th century, extracurricular activities began to be accepted by both students and
faculty as an important part of the college-student experience, which helped pave the way
towards integrating athletic competition into higher education (Lewis, 1970). By 1910,
intercollegiate athletics had outgrown its original student-ran format and the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA) was created to regulate and sanction intercollegiate athletic
competitions (Baxter & Lambert, 1990; Koch & Leonard, 1978; Stern, 1979). The NCAA’s
popularity continued to grow and by the 1950s they began receiving contracts for television
rights that exceeded one million dollars (Smith, 2000). Since then, NCAA competitions have
generated billions of dollars in annual revenue and the numbers are continuing to grow year after
year (Congressional Budget Office, 2009; Hardin & McClung, 2009; Mitten et al., 2009).
The big-business interests of intercollegiate athletics come into direct conflict with the
core values of higher education, with institutional stakeholders like athletic directors, university
presidents, and other athletic department personnel, acting in ways that prioritize profits over a
student-athletes’ educational development (Adler & Adler, 1985; Donnor, 2005; Edwards, 1985;
Singer, 2008). As a result, decision-making is often driven by revenue generation which creates
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 4
and maintains an athletic subculture that stifles the academic and career development of student-
athletes (Adler & Adler, 1985; Sharp & Sheilley, 2008). The conflict between educational
development and athletic success presents itself, for example, as the pressure that a coach puts on
a student-athlete to devote a disproportionate amount of time to athletic development compared
to academic or career-related activities (Donor, 2005). Sharp and Sheilley (2008) found that
football players at ‘major-colleges’ reported spending nearly 45 hours per week participating in
football-related activities, which, in some cases, was four times more than the hours they spent in
class.
At the center of revenue generation for colleges and universities are football and men’s
basketball programs, whose student-athletes are predominantly Black (Beamon, 2008; Harper et
al., 2013; Watt & Moore, 2001). Black males approximately 50% of football and men’s
basketball student-athletes at universities with major intercollegiate athletics, while making up
less than 3% of full-time degree-seeking undergraduates (Harper, 2018). The on-court and on-
field success of these student-athletes leads to lucrative ticket sales at live events, multi-million-
dollar media contracts, and exposure that can raise an institution’s national profile and increase
overall revenue (Congressional Budget Office, 2009; Hardin & McClung, 2009; Mitten et al.,
2009). These revenues pay the salaries of coaches and athletic department administrators, and
often covers the costs of Olympic and non-revenue generating sports and other athletic
department expenses (Van Rheenen, 2013). Despite being among the most valued and celebrated
students on campus, Black males are least likely of all student-athletes to accrue the full
academic and career-related benefits of an undergraduate college experience (Beamon, 2008;
Edwards, 1985; Van Rheenen, 2012). The academic underachievement of Black male student-
athletes, which CRT views as an institutional failure, is evident from disparate graduation rates
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 5
compared to their non-Black peers (Harper, 2018). Additionally, Black football and men’s
basketball student-athletes reported feeling commodified by their institution because their
academic achievement and career maturation took a back seat to their value as a revenue
generating student-athlete (Beamon, 2008). With Black males being concentrated in revenue
generating sports compared to their gross underrepresentation in general student populations, and
Black male revenue generating student-athletes disproportionately experiencing unfavorable
academic outcomes related, in part, to environmental disadvantages, universities and athletic
departments are operating under principles of anti-Blackness by accumulating Black athletes to
exploit for athletic talent while breaking the promises they made of providing a full and
meaningful educational experience (Dancy et al., 2018).
While it is clear that Black male revenue generating student-athletes face educational
disadvantages within higher education and intercollegiate athletics, research has failed to
critically investigate the linkages between NCAA athletic participation within a context of anti-
Blackness on the one hand, and the career-related experiences and outcomes of Black male
revenue generating student-athletes on the other.
Statement of the Problem
The quality of educational experiences for Black male revenue generating student-
athletes often pales in comparison to that of their white counterparts, despite being such valuable
members of the athletic enterprise who drive revenue generation for their colleges and
universities. When Black male revenue generating student-athletes accept a scholarship to a
major athletic program, they enter a relationship with their institution and the NCAA to compete
in exchange for an education to propel personal and professional development after college.
Unfortunately, this relationship finds Black male revenue generating student-athletes, who are
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 6
especially susceptible to exploitation, at a disadvantage with limited power as they routinely fail
to reap the full educational benefits of an undergraduate education and are deemed disposable at
the conclusion of their athletic contributions (Comeaux, 2018; Singer, 2005).
This study investigated the academic and career development experiences of Black male
revenue generating student-athletes, with special attention given to the role of anti-Black racism
within a commercialized intercollegiate athletics environment. Insight into the experiences of
Black male revenue generating student-athletes illuminated examples of anti-Black racism within
higher education and intercollegiate athletics that are often hidden within practices and policies
that appear colorblind, as well as provides opportunities to effectively address the educational
needs of Black male revenue generating student-athletes.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of Black male revenue
generating student-athletes career development experiences to bring attention to structural
inequities, inform best practices and policies, and ultimately improve educational outcomes.
Social Cognitive Career Theory and Critical Race Theory will be used to conceptualize the
cognitive processes that regulate career behavior within an anti-Black environment of revenue
generating intercollegiate athletics.
Research Questions
1. How did involvement in intercollege athletics influence career planning and career
exploration during college for Black male revenue generating student-athletes?
2. How do Black male revenue generating student-athletes perceive their career
development experiences in exchange for participation within a revenue generating
intercollegiate athletics environment that is characterized by anti-Blackness?
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 7
Significance of the Study
An abundance of literature examines the academic experiences and outcomes of Black
male revenue generating student-athletes, but little research has been published on their career
development, especially research that explores the influence of anti-Black racism on career
behavior. This study provides insight into perceived barriers and accelerators of career
development for Black male revenue generating student-athletes and shines a light on the anti-
Black racism that is embedded within athletic department practices, policies, attitudes, and
language. Findings provide institutions, practitioners, and scholars with a deeper understanding
of the perceptions that Black male revenue generating student-athletes have about support versus
hostility from the athletic department regarding their educational and career-related endeavors.
Such information informs policies, practice, and programming, as well as builds upon the career-
related literature that exists for this population.
Limitations
There are several limitations to this study. One limitation was the paucity of literature on
the influence of anti-Black racism within higher education and intercollegiate athletics on Black
male revenue generating student-athletes’ career development. This study aims to begin filling
the gaps in the literature. Another limitation was the positionality of the researcher as a former
employee in the Athletic Department at California Pacific University. While the researcher was
transparent about their positionality and acknowledged potential biases, participants’ responses
may have been censored in an effort to protect their relationships with athletic department staff
and administrators. A self-selection bias may be present as former student-athletes who
participate may represent an extreme or outlying experience. Additionally, this study is limited to
a major Division I, four-year research institution, thus is not generalizable across all divisions or
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 8
institutions. There were also time and resource limitations that constrained the quality of the
data. Sample size is a limitation as well due to the specificity of the target population. The
sample was limited to former student-athletes, as they have a valuable vantage point having been
able to reflect on their experiences since leaving college.
Definition of Terms
Athletic identity, the degree to which one identifies with their role as an athlete, is often
characterized by committing to a single athletic role while neglecting to explore other available
identities (Lally & Kerr, 2005).
Career development is the formation of mature, realistic career plans grounded in assessing one’s
career goals, interests, and abilities, as well as an awareness of occupational opportunities and
their requirements (Lally & Kerr, 2005, p. 275).
Career maturity refers to an individual having the necessary knowledge and skills to make
reasonable and responsible career choices (Linnemeyer & Brown, 2010).
Career self-efficacy is one’s confidence in their ability to successfully navigate career-related
endeavors (Byars & Hackett, 1998).
Student-athlete refers to college students who compete in NCAA intercollegiate athletics (Wong,
2006)
Division I – is the highest level of NCAA athletics. Division I intuitions generally have the
largest student bodies, highest number of athletic scholarships, and largest athletics budgets. Of
the three NCAA divisions. Division I student-athletes have the highest likelihood of
professionalizing in their sport (NCAA Website, 2018).
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) – is the governing body that oversees and
sanctions intercollegiate athletic competitions. Established in 1906, the NCAA has 1,117
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 9
member institutions, 100 athletic conferences, and 40 affiliated sports organizations (NCAA,
2018).
Race, as defined by Critical Race Theory, is the socio-historical construction that assigns
privilege to specifically racial groups while devaluing others” (Johnson & Jackson, 2017).
Revenue-Generating Sports – refers to the high-profile sports that garner the most attention and
monetary profit for NCAA member institutions. Football and men’s basketball are traditionally
the two sports that generate the most revenue (Beamon, 2008).
Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their ability to execute a given task at a desired
performance level (Bandura, 1994).
Conclusion
This study explored the career development experiences of Black male revenue
generating student-athletes and the role that anti-Black racism played in their career
development. There is a gap in the literature where no reliable framework currently exists for
conceptualizing the intersection of major intercollegiate athletics, anti-Black racism, and career-
related behavior of Black male revenue generating student-athletes. Chapter One presented an
overview of the study, followed by background of the problem, purpose of the study, research
questions, and significance of the study. Chapter Two explores literature on Black males in
higher education, student-athletes in higher education, and Black male student-athletes in higher
education. Also included in Chapter Two is an overview of Social Cognitive Career Theory
(Lent & Brown, 1994, 2006) and Critical Race Theory (Solorzano & Yosso, 2001, 2002a,
2002b) to help frame the analysis of the study. Chapter Three will describe the research and data
analysis methodology for this study. Chapter Four will report and summarize the key findings.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 10
Lastly, Chapter Five will include a summary of the study, a detailed discussion of the findings,
implications for practice, and recommendations for future research.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 11
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
Intercollegiate athletics functions as a highly commercialized enterprise that treats Black
bodies as disposable and/or interchangeable commodities of which Athletic departments and
universities aim to extract economic value through athletic labor (Comeaux & Grummert, 2020).
Division I football and men’s basketball student-athletes generate an estimated $12 billion in
annual revenue for their universities, primarily through ticket sales and TV contracts (McArdle,
2014). Black male student-athletes are vastly overrepresented in these revenue generating sports
at all 65 schools within the Power 5 conferences – comprising 46.8% of football teams and
54.8% of men’s basketball teams (NCAA, 2018) – while Black males represent only 2.4% of the
total undergraduate populations at these same schools (Howard, 2018). In addition to the hyper-
concentration of Black males in revenue generating sports, Black male student-athletes are often
steered toward less rigorous majors which undermines their ability to accrue the full benefits of
an undergraduate experience (Fountain & Finley, 2009). Black male student-athletes also
graduate at lower rates than their peers. On average, only 55% of Black male student-athletes
graduate within six years compared to nearly 70% of student-athletes overall (Harper, 2018).
Black male student-athletes have lower graduation rates than undergraduate students overall,
student-athletes overall, and non-Black football and men’s basketball student-athletes (Harper et
al., 2013).
Anti-Blackness in Higher Education
The idea of Black bodies as the revenue generating property of white stakeholders, in the
form of Black male student-athletes, is a manifestation of anti-Blackness which traces back to
“the violence of the Middle Passage and the slave estate” (Dancy et al., 2018, p. 180), and has
reemerged as a contemporary form of structural violence. Ross (2020) describes anti-Blackness
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 12
as more than just racism towards Black people – instead, as a theoretical framework that
illuminates society’s “disdain, disregard and disgust for [Black] existence” and, ultimately,
society’s inability to recognize Black humanity. According to Dancy et al. (2013), “anti-
Blackness is reproduced through two specific institutional arrangements that enable Black
subjugation” (p. 180): 1) the ontological position of Black bodies as property, and 2) the
stereotypical narratives that are used to justify disdain toward Blackness and disregard for Black
suffering. The concept of Blackness as property includes Black fungibility, which refers to the
accumulation of Black bodies and the idea that Black bodies exist as exchangeable and
replaceable commodities (Dany et al., 2013).
Anti-Blackness manifests within higher education in policy discourse and decision
making (Dumas, 2016), as well as in the social interactions of students and student affairs
professionals (Stewart, 2019). Anti-Blackness in education is often hidden within colorblind and
meritocratic rhetoric (Stewart, 2019) and manifests in the form of microaggressions, institutional
disregard for Black suffering, and the denial of Black students’ racialized experiences (Bel et al.,
2020). Comeaux & Grummert (2020) identify that within intercollegiate athletics, Black athletes
are often treated as inferior and less than human which is another manifestation of anti-
Blackness. Comeaux (2018) argued that athletic departments operate under anti-Black logics of
fungibility by recruiting Black student-athletes to universities for the purpose of exploiting their
athletic labor while “rendering them disposable” (p. 34) in the process.
The educational lives of Black males are characterized by what Carey (2019) calls
marginal mattering – where one’s significance or value is based on selective desirable
characteristics instead of an individual’s full humanity. Mattering is a social-psychological
construct that refers to “the likelihood that institutions and others (mis)recognize [students] and
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 13
(dis)prove their relevance” (p. 376). Studies on connectedness (Chhuon & Wallace, 2014; Gray,
Hope, & Matthews, 2018; Strayhorn, 2012) reveal that Black males place a great deal of
emphasis on feelings of belonging in educational settings, as well as feeling like they are valued
and respected by their peers and educators (Carey, 2019). Unfortunately, however, Black males
are often only afforded marginal mattering in educational contexts. As Howard (2013) described:
“Loathed in various environments, applauded in others, perhaps no other group of people are
emulated yet despised simultaneously to the extent that Black men are today” (p. 55). This
captures the contradictory position of Black male revenue generating student-athletes on college
campuses who are celebrated for their athletic prowess by their universities and communities, but
rarely acknowledged as valuable or significant for capabilities they possess outside of the athletic
arena.
Marginal mattering is an example of anti-Blackness within higher education and
intercollegiate athletics (Carey, 2019). Black male revenue generating student-athletes represent
significant economic value for universities but are neglected when it comes to their educational
and non-athletic professional development. University and athletic department stakeholders
perpetuate and maintain a culture of anti-Blackness through transactional relationships with
Black male revenue generating student-athletes (Dancy et al., 2018) that are often focused on
meeting or maintaining NCAA eligibility rather than interactions that are more educationally
purposeful for the student-athlete (Carey, 2019). Mattering should be comprehensive rather than
marginal and extend beyond the athletic domain to engage the breadth of humanity of Black
male revenue generating student-athletes and ensure that they are “fully seen, understood, and
validated across all social domains” (Carey, 2019, p. 384).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 14
Given the current reality of intercollegiate athletics as a commercial enterprise that relies
on Black labor, the exploitative relationship between universities and Black male revenue
generating student-athletes is not merely a symptom of structural issues, but rather a critical
component of how major intercollegiate athletics functions. This exploitation manifests in many
forms including, but not limited to, 1) the ways in which Black male revenue generating student-
athletes are not fairly compensated (Comeaux & Grummert, 2020; Dancy et al., 2018; Gayles,
Comeaux, Ofoegbu & Grummert, 2018; Hawkins, 2013). Black male student-athletes are the
primary laborers on football and men’s basketball teams, which essentially fund entire athletic
departments, but are among the least likely to graduate of all student-athletes (Harper et al.,
2013); 2) the ways in which Black male revenue generating student-athletes are left vulnerable
and forced to navigate a psychologically taxing campus climate (Bruening, Armstrong, &
Pastore, 2005; Comeaux, 2018; Singer, 2005). Black male revenue generating student-athletes
often experience a campus environment that is alienating or racially hostile, which can deter
them from integrating into the broader academic community; and 3) the ways in which Black
male revenue generating student-athletes are not able to fully maximize educationally purposeful
opportunities (Berland, 2015; Comeaux, 2018; Comeaux & Harrison 2011; Harper, 2013). The
inordinate time demands associated with football and men’s basketball, as well as socialization
to prioritize athletics over educational pursuits reinforces the idea that Black male revenue
generating student-athletes were brought to campus primarily to fulfill their athletic duties
(Beamon, 2012). The impact of these educational challenges manifests in various ways, one of
which is in career development, or lack thereof, which has been found to be especially
problematic among student-athletes participating in revenue generating sports (Murphy, Petitpas,
& Brewer, 1996).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 15
Career Development
Student-athlete experiences with career development have been detailed in the literature
(Baillie & Danish, 1992; Good, Brewer, Petitpas, Van Raalte, & Mahar, 1993; Martens & Lee,
1998; Murphy et al., 1996; and Lally & Kerr, 2005). Notably, that student-athletes lag behind
their nonathlete peers in key measurements of career readiness (Kennedy & Dimick, 1987;
Murphy et al., 1996; Sowa & Gressard, 1983). Academic experiences are included when
examining career development because many career development theories are grounded similar
principles as academic success models since academic development has been found to be
directly related to career development (Lent et al., 1994). Like academic outcomes, issues related
to career development for student-athletes vary across a number of contextual factors such as
sport-type (i.e., revenue generating vs. nonrevenue sports) (Dimick & Kennedy, 1987)
scholarship status (Blann, 1985), and gender (Murphy, et al., 1996), among others. Though, it is
important to note that, while numerous studies have found a negative relationship between
athletic participation and career development (listed above), others have found no significant
connection (Brown and Hartley, 1998; Kornspan & Etzel, 2001), so results are generally mixed.
Despite inconsistent findings, athletic identity and the factors that influence one’s identity
development, such as socialization or intense encouragement to commit to an athletic identity,
routinely emerge as a key concepts related to the career development of student-athletes
(Beamon & Bell, 2002; Lally & Kerr, 2005; Scales, 1991). Numerous studies have found that
increased athletic identity is related to lower levels of career maturity (Chartrand & Lent, 1987;
Brown, Glastetter-Fender, & Shelton, 2000). Research also suggests that student-athletes
participating in revenue generating sports have higher levels of athletic identity and are most
susceptible to experiencing athletic identity foreclose (Adler, 1991; Beamon, 2012; Bimper &
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 16
Harrison, 2011; Brewer, Petitpas, Van Raalte, & Maher, 1993) – where they prematurely commit
to an athletic identity and neglect to explore other viable options. Given the overrepresentation of
Black males in revenue generating sports, and the principles of anti-Black racism that
characterize the intercollegiate athletics environment (Dancy et at., 2018), Black male revenue
generating student-athletes are most vulnerable to exploitation, which includes a lack of career
development.
Theoretical Frameworks
Though literature examining the educational experiences of Black male revenue
generating student-athletes is abundant, there is a need for scholarship that explores their career
development experiences that accounts for the impact anti-Black racism on the career
development process. This literature review will utilize Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT)
as a framework for exploring the underlying cognitive mechanisms that govern career
development. SCCT focuses primarily on the ways in which efficacy beliefs, outcome
expectations, and goal mechanisms influence career behavior (Lent et al.,1994). SCCT is of
particular use in this study because it creates space to consider the ways in which contextual
factors like perceived support or resistance, as well as demographic factors like race and gender
may impact the career development process.
SCCT posits that the development of academic and career-related interests gives rise to
career-related to goals and choices, that then promote engagement in career-related activities
which eventually produce career-related performance outcomes (Lent & Brown, 1996; Lent et
al., 1994). The formation of academic and career-related interests and goals arise, in part, out of
one’s efficacy and outcome beliefs, which are based on learning experiences like past personal
accomplishments and vicarious learning (watching others perform similar tasks). These cognitive
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 17
processes are undergirded by person-inputs like race, and contextual factors like environmental
support or hostility. While SCCT provides a framework for examining the cognitive processes of
career development, its application to Black male revenue generating student-athletes requires a
more thorough investigation into the role that anti-Black racism plays in these cognitive
processes.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) will be used as a theoretical and methodological framework
to intentionally account for the impact of anti-Black racism within higher education and
intercollegiate athletics. CRT foregrounds race and racism as they are central, rather than
marginal, to explaining the experiences of people of color. By placing the experiential
knowledge of people of color at the center of the analysis, CRT uncovers ways in which societal
institutions, like higher education, perpetuate and preserve oppressive practices and ideologies.
Solorzano and Yosso (2002) define CRT in education as “A framework or set of basic
insights, perspectives, methods, and pedagogy that seeks to identify, analyze, and transform
those structural and cultural aspects of education that maintain subordinate and dominant racial
position in and out of the classroom” (p. 25). CRT challenges traditional notions of neutrality,
meritocracy, and colorblind opportunity, calls out racism within higher education and
intercollegiate athletics, and illuminates how racism is inextricable from the educational
experiences and outcomes of Black male revenue generating student-athletes.
The infusion of CRT with SCCT allows for exploration of the cognitive occurrences in
SCCT that regulate career-related behavior, with the inclusion of anti-Black racism as a
mediating factor. A key assumption of CRT is that race and racism impact all aspects of social
life, in this case, the social cognitive processes of career development, thus, the analysis of career
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 18
development of Black male revenue generating student-athletes is incomplete if not examined
from a Critical Race perspective.
The following sections contain literature surrounding student-athletes in higher
education, followed by the experiences of Black males in higher education, and finally the
experiences of Black male student-athletes in higher education. Also discussed will be the
origins of intercollegiate athletics and commercialization. It will conclude with the theoretical
perspectives that inform our understanding of Black male revenue generating student-athlete’s
career development, including an overview of SCCT, CRT, and their utility examining
experiences of Black male revenue generating student-athletes.
Student-Athletes in Higher Education
Athletics serves as one of the primary lenses through which the public views higher
education (Pascarella, Truckenmiller, Nora, Terenzini, Edison, & Hagedorn, 1999). Athletic
programs are often the most visible organizations on campus, so much so, that athletic prestige
has been cited as the deciding factor in school selection for many perspective students for over a
century (Baker, 2007; Smith, 1987). Athletic competitions provide entertainment for students
and staff, but more importantly, athletics serves as the foundation for school pride and identity
(Comeaux & Harrison, 2011). Given the significant role of intercollegiate athletics within the
realm of higher education, it is important to examine the educational experiences of
intercollegiate student-athletes.
Student-athletes participating in intercollegiate athletics face many of the same
challenges as their non-athlete peers in regard to the social and academic adjustments to college,
however additional challenges related to athletic participation create a set of demands and
obstacles that are unique to student-athletes (Comeaux & Harrison, 2011; Watt & Moore, 2001).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 19
Researchers have suggested that participation in major intercollegiate athletics can undermine
the educational and personal development of student-athletes (Adler & Adler, 1991; Beamon,
2008; Donnor, 2005; Eitzen, 2001). Many studies on the academic outcomes of student-athletes
have found a negative relationship between athletics and academic performance (Adler & Adler,
1991; Beamon, 2012; Comeaux & Harrison, 2011; Harper et al., 2013). In addition to potentially
being a hurdle to academic success, research indicates that athletic participation, particularly
among males in revenue generating sports, is related to lower levels of nonathletic identity
development and career maturation (Beamon and Bell, 2002 & 2006; Lally & Kerr, 2005).
An examination of federal graduation rates (FGR), however, reveal that student-athletes
graduate at a slightly higher rate than the general undergraduate student population (NCAA,
2013), as seen below in table 1. Additionally, disaggregating FGR data can help to illuminate
how academic outcomes differ across various subpopulations within the student-athlete
community as well as the general undergraduate population. The table below reflects the FGR of
the 2006-2012 cohort.
Figure 1: Federal Graduation Rate – 2006-12 cohort
Group Federal Graduation Rate
Undergraduate Students 64%
All D1 Student-Athletes 65%
Men’s Basketball Student-Athletes 47%
Football (FBS) Student-Athletes 59%
Men’s Gymnastics Student-Athletes 88%
Women’s Gymnastics Student-Athletes 83%
Women’s Lacrosse Student-Athletes 80%
Black male student-athletes 49%
Black male undergraduates 40%
Black female student-athletes 62%
Black female undergraduates 49%
The data in table 1 illustrates that student-athletes overall graduate at a rate that is
comparable to that of the general undergraduate student population. However, data also indicates
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 20
that despite student-athletes graduating at a slightly higher rate than their nonathlete peers,
various subgroups within the student-athlete population disproportionately experience negative
academic outcomes compared to their student-athlete peers. The graduation rates for student-
athletes from men’s and women’s gymnastics and women’s lacrosse, the three Division I sports
with the highest FGR for the 2006-12 cohort, experience far greater levels of academic success
than those who are either Black, or participate in football or men’s basketball. It is important to
note that the FGR for the general undergraduate student population includes a significant number
of part-time students who do not graduate within six years, thus bringing down the six-year
graduation rate. The FGR for student-athletes is somewhat insulated from this part-time-student
effect due to the NCAA rule that mandates full-time enrollment for participation in any required
athletic event (practice, competition, film study, travel, etc.). However, the FGR does not
account for student-athletes who leave their institution early to professionalize in their sport or to
compete athletically for their country, which brings down the FGR for student-athletes;
something that the NCAA provides immunity for when calculating their own graduation
measure: Graduation Success Rate (GSR).
Though it is critically important to examine their academic success, graduation rates
alone do not accurately capture the diverse and multi-layered experience of a Division I student-
athletes. Student-athletes at major Division I institutions face unique obstacles, such as
conflicting identities (academia vs. athletics) (Hollis, 2001), perceived discrimination from the
campus community (Comeaux, 2012; Engstrum, Sedlacek, and McEwen 1995), and pressure to
represent the institution and successfully perform in front of (up to) tens of millions of people
(Beamon, 2008; Donor, 2005).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 21
Sports Participation & Academic Success
Accepting an athletic scholarship is the beginning of a relationship between the student-
athlete and institution that is conflicted at its foundation. In most cases, a student-athlete’s
athletic ability is the primary reason that they were recruited and admitted to the institution, thus,
when athletic and academic demands conflict, student-athletes often feel pressured to meet their
athletic demands first (Beamon, 2008; Sack, A.L., Sack, A., & Stavrowsky, 1998). By agreeing
to participate in Division I athletics, student-athletes will often be mandated to prioritize athletic
obligations over academics, such as missing classes and exams for travel or practice, which is at
the core of the student-athlete experience. There are other obstacles that student-athletes must
confront that are not usually the on the forefront of one’s mind when considering the adverse
elements of the student-athlete experience, some of those include the hours of voluntary
(affectionately referred to as ‘volandatory’) film study, time spent in the athletic training room,
mandatory strength and conditioning training, and hours spent traveling for competition
(Donnor, 2005; Gateman, 2011). Hollis (2001) argues that the NCAA major college sports
environment interferes with a student-athletes ability to maximize the benefits of an
undergraduate education when you consider the time demands of athletics, which is time that
student-athletes are not spending on academics, and the pressure that they face to succeed
athletically.
Research also suggests that student-athletes often have little engagement with academic
scheduling, indicating a low-level agency in their own academic lives (Adler & Adler, 1991;
Parker, 1994). Parker (1994) found that college football players felt like their coaches and
athletic administration controlled everything from their hopes and dreams for the future to their
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 22
hour-by-hour schedules. These student-athletes reported that their academic development and
performance isn’t monitored as closely as their athletic lives.
In their 1991 study of a major NCAA men’s basketball program, Adler and Adler found
that most student-athletes entered college with an idealistic perspective on academics and degree
completion that steadily diminished as they progressed through college. Findings indicate that
athletic participation was a key factor in a student-athlete’s identity development, and that
athletic participation “dominated all facets of a student-athlete’s existence, including their
academic involvement and performance” (p. 244). Seventy-five percent of the student-athletes in
their study who entered college with a professional major ended up switching to a more
“manageable” major during their collegiate careers. Research suggests that major selection for
student-athletes, in some cases, is motivated by accommodating their athletic obligations as
opposed to pursuing educational and occupational endeavors (Adler & Adler, 1991; Hollis,
2001).
Adler and Adler (1991) also found that the athletic subculture that characterized a
student-athletes social life negatively impacted their academic and social development. In
addition to their peer group, student-athletes often find themselves geographically isolated from
the larger campus community due to the significant amount of time spent in athletic-related
facilities. Academic support for student-athletes is also housed in athletic facilities, further
limiting the amount of exposure that student-athletes get to nonathletic spaces (Donor, 2005). In
these athletically dominated environments, student-athletes develop common attitudes and
beliefs that guide their athletic, social, and academic lives. This subculture has been
characterized as being anti-academic and centered on athletic and social dimensions of an
athlete’s life (Adler & Adler, 1991). Belonging to a nonacademic-centered peer group like
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 23
athletics will likely undermine the educational development of student-athletes by devaluing
academic involvement and neutralizing failure (Adler & Adler, 1991).
Scholars suggest that the structure of intercollegiate athletics perpetuates and reinforces
the dumb jock stereotype, which marginalizes student-athletes by diminishing their legitimacy
and value as students on campus, and ultimately results in student-athletes detaching from
nonathletic endeavors within the university setting (Comeaux & Harrison, 2011; Engstrum,
Sedlacek, and McEwen, 1995; Simons et al., 2007). Many student-athletes, particularly in
revenue generating sports, report that sports participation in college takes on much more of an
occupational feeling as opposed to the recreational atmosphere that high school sports provided
in comparison (Adler & Adler, 1991; Beamon, 2008). The occupational feeling of intercollegiate
athletics for many student-athletes is tied to the ‘win at all cost’ ethos that is perpetuated by
athletic department and university stakeholders and directly tied to revenue generation (Donnor,
2005).
Pressure to Win from All Sides
The professionalization of college athletics compared to high school athletics increases
the pressure to win, which significantly increases the time demands and athletic obligations for
athletic department administrators, coaches, and student-athletes. Student-athletes in the Adler
and Adler (1991) study reported that Division I college basketball is characterized by three-hour
daily practices, two-a-days on the weekends during the preseason, film study, meetings, and
multiple-day road trips during school weeks. The significant time demands on student-athletes,
particularly in revenue-generating sports, often leads to increased fatigue and restricted time for
nonathletic endeavors. In the face of increasingly demanding athletic obligations and a rigorous
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 24
academic workload, student-athletes have reported a strong desire to maximize their leisure time
at the expense of their academic success (Adler & Adler, 1991; Parker, 1994).
Perceived Treatment by Campus Community
It is important to consider the stigmatization of student-athletes, though they are rarely
thought of as a stigmatized group, as well as their perception of the campus climate (Comeaux &
Harrison, 2011; Hollis, 2002). Stigmatization refers to possessing an attribute that is seen as
tainted or discrediting (Goffman, 1963). This attribute is associated with a social identity
characteristic that is devalued in a given context (Crocker, Major, & Steele, 1998).
Stigmatization occurs when distinguishing characteristics are recognized and subsequently
devalued (Simons et al., 2007, p. 253). Campus climate refers to the attitudes and behaviors of
employees and students in regards the inclusivity and respectfulness of the needs and abilities of
different groups and individuals (Rankin & Reason, 2008, p. 264). Research suggests that a
experiencing a positive campus climate fosters student development and leads to positive
learning outcomes (Reason, Terenzini, & Domingo, 2006). Unfortunately for student-athletes,
campus climate is often perceived as unwelcoming and/or hostile. Studies on campus climate
suggest that student-athletes, particularly in football and men’s basketball, are more susceptible
to prejudice and microaggressions regarding academic competency and special treatment from
the campus community than their non-athletic peers (Simon et al., 2007; Engstrum et al., 1995).
Engstrum et al. (1995) studied faculty attitudes towards male student-athletes and found
that faculty members held negative prejudicial attitudes regarding the academic abilities of male
student-athletes (both in revenue and non-revenue generating sports). They also expressed more
anger and disdain toward situations where student-athletes got special treatment. Stronger
feelings of disapproval and concern were expressed when asked about student-athletes receiving
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 25
scholarships and being admitted under special exceptions. Faculty also reported that they are
more surprised and more suspicious when student-athletes receive high grades. Lastly, faculty
reported more negative feelings towards student-athletes whose athletic accomplishments were
recognized by the school newspaper as opposed to the accomplishments of nonathletes
(Engstrum et al., 1995).
Unlike faculty perceptions of students, there is limited research examining student-athlete
perceptions of faculty treatment. In a 2007 study of 538 student-athletes, Simons et al. (2007)
examined how student-athletes were treated and perceived by faculty and nonathletes and found
that only 15% of the student-athletes in the study reported that their nonathlete peers and faculty
members perceived them positively. More than 60% reported that faculty members made at least
one negative comment about student-athletes in class and reported that professors pushed back or
refused to make accommodations when athletic competitions conflicted with classes or exams.
Negative comments from faculty and nonathlete peers were related a student-athlete lacking
intelligence and the proper academic credentials to be a student at the university (Simons et al.,
2007). When positive comments were made, it was usually in regard to a student-athletes ability
to navigate their athletic obligations while being a student. Perceptions from faculty were
consistent with common stereotypes of student-athletes such as lack of academic qualifications,
low motivation, and receiving unmerited favorable treatment from campus staff and faculty
(Simons et al., 2007). While these stereotypes, stigmas, and microaggressions characterize the
experience for many student-athletes, many of them are also felt by Black male undergraduates.
The unique experience of Black males in higher education will be explored in the following
section.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 26
Black Males in Higher Education
Differences exist between ethnic groups across nearly every indicator of academic
achievement in higher education (Cokley & Moore, 2007). Specifically, for Black undergraduate
men, research suggests that they are more likely to experience poor academic outcomes than any
other group (Harper, 2015; Harper & Harris, 2012). Black males are among the least represented
student populations in American higher education. They account for approximately four percent
of all undergraduate students in the United States, a number that has been virtually unchanged
for the last 40 years (Stayhorn, 2013). The history of isolation, underrepresentation, and
marginalization of Black males is thought to explain some of the inequitable outcomes that Black
males experience within the context of higher education (Harper & Harris, 2012). It is also
important to look beyond the quantifiable data (enrollment rates, graduation and retention, GPA,
etc.) and to consider their overall student experience including social and emotional factors that
affect Black males on a college campus, which are unique and highly nuanced (Fries-Britt &
Turner, 2002; Harper, 2015).
Black males are among the most “stereotyped, disengaged, and lowest performing
students on college and university campuses” (Harper & Harris, 2012, p. 2). Literature that
examines the racialized experiences of Black college students is plentiful, but most data has not
been disaggregated by sex (Harper, 2015; Harper et al., 2013). Given the somewhat limited
qualitative research that is available on the gendered experiences of Black college students at
PWIs, this section will consider the experiences of both Black male undergraduates and Black
undergraduates in general.
Despite the Black male undergraduate student population remaining relatively consistent
since the 1980s, the enrollment numbers of Black undergraduates overall have increased. Black
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 27
women have accounted for much of the increase as Black women outnumber Black males in
undergraduate student enrollment more than two to one (Cokley, 2003; Harper, 2006, Strayhorn,
2010). Moreover, Black women outperform Black men in most areas of higher education and
account for nearly two thirds of all bachelor’s degrees earned by Black students (Cokley, 2003).
The gender disparity among Black college students “represents the largest gender imbalance of
any racial-ethnic group” (Cokley & Moore, 2007, p. 125).
Campus Climate and Degree Completion
Environmental factors, such as campus climate and social interactions with campus
community members can have a significant impact on a student’s overall college experience. In a
meta-analysis examining 20 years of research on the experiences of college students, Pascarella
and Terenzini (1991) found that nonwhite students attending PWIs had vastly different
academic, social, and psychological experiences than their White peers. As such, scholars
contend that the campus climate of PWIs creates conditions that lead to inequitable academic
outcomes for Black students (Flowers, 2007; Harper, 2012; Smith et al., 2016).
The educational outcomes and experiences of Black undergraduates attending PWIs has
been studied at length. An examination of the literature illuminates the “often-adversarial
relationship between Black undergraduates and PWIs” (Harper, 2015, p. 648). Black males are
more likely than their peers to enter college academically underprepared for success, to attend a
two-year institution, to have a low GPA, and display lower rates of utilization and engagement
with campus resources and activities (Flowers, 2007; Harper et al., 2004; Strayhorn, 2013).
Among all ethnic groups and sexes, Black males have the highest attrition rate and lowest
retention rate (Harper, 2006; Harper & Harris, 2012), with two thirds of those who matriculate
into higher education never completing their degrees (Strayhorn, 2013). In a study examining the
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 28
six-year graduation rates of four cohorts of Black male undergraduates, Harper (2012) found that
Black men graduated at a 33.3% rate compared to 48.1% for students overall.
Stereotypes & Microaggressions
The history isolation and marginalization of Black students within higher education has
created an environment on many college and university campuses that often feels non-inclusive
and/or threating for Black students. Scholars point to the presence of stereotypes, stemming from
racist ideology about Black students, to explain some of the inequitable academic outcomes for
Black students. Research suggests that Black students are stereotyped more than any other group
on predominantly white college campuses (Bonner & Bailey, 2006; Cokley, 2003). Black males
are particularly at risk of being impacted by stereotypes and prejudices because they experience
unique microaggressions that are both racialized and gendered in nature (Smith et al., 2016).
Microaggressions are subtle everyday slights and insults that communicate hostile or negative
messages to an individual based on their marginalized group membership (Sue, 2010).
Microaggressions can be intentional or unintentional messages sent via verbal or nonverbal
forms of communication. Stigmatization, low expectations, hyper-surveillance (from professors
during exams, campus police, and White supervisors), racially insensitive comments, and
personal threats are all examples of microaggressions against Black males at PWIs (Smith et al.,
2016).
Smith et al. (2016) found that the racial and gendered microaggressions perpetrated by
students and employees created a ubiquitous sense of white supremacy that resulted in
discrimination for Black males at PWIs in “academic, campus-social, and public spaces” (p. 8).
Participants reported feeling out of place in the campus community because they were
incorrectly perceived as student-athletes, potential criminals, and intruders in higher education
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 29
who lack adequate qualifications for entrance. They also reported that professors, institutional
staff, and peers perceived them as intellectually inferior and less motivated than their white
peers, leaving them with the burden of constantly trying to prove and defend their intellectual
prowess. When Black males call attention to instances of perceived racial discrimination that
stifled an opportunity or reduced their success, they are often met with strong resistance. As
such, Black males were viewed as argumentative and labeled as troublemakers for highlighting
racial injustices in the context of a college or university campus (Kaiser & Miller, 2001).
Microaggressions and stereotypes pose a threat to Black students, males in particular,
because they undermine their academic achievement and persistence (Steele & Aronson, 1995).
Black students often experience a campus climate that is insensitive to their needs, thus they
avoid and resist campus interactions (i.e., engagement with faculty and participation in
extracurricular activities), which hinders their ability to accrue the same benefits of an
undergraduate education as their white peers (Flowers, 2007). Further, campus climate can be so
challenging for Black students that it can impact their academic success and persistence. Steele
(1997) found that campus climate was so hostile towards Black students that some withdrew
from school without completing their degree, despite being in good academic standing at the
institution. However, research on campus climate suggests that Black students at HBCUs
experience a far more inclusive campus climate than at PWIs, which is directly related to
favorable academic outcomes for Black students at HBCUs.
Differential Experiences of Black Males Attending HBCUs vs PWIs
It is important to consider the differential experiences of Black undergraduates who
attend institutions with a more welcoming and inclusive campus climate. Fries-Britt and Turner
(2002) compared the academic and social experiences of Black students attending a HBCU with
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 30
those at of Black students attending a PWI and found that the omnipresent existence of racial
stereotypes was the primary problem faced by students at the PWI, which the HBCU students
were generally insulated from. Participants indicated that the amount of time and energy required
for them to navigate the racial stereotypes and discrimination from the campus community took
away from their personal and academic development and left them feeling like outsiders.
Unlike their peers attending PWIs, Black students at HBCUs experience higher levels of
social and academic integration compared to their peers at PWIs (Allen, 1987; Parker & Flowers,
2003; Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002). Black students who attend PWIs have reported feeling
disconnected from campus events and activities, citing that they are geared towards the interests
of White students (Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002). They also indicate feeling like the “Black voice”
or “token” representative during interactions with majority members of the campus community.
Fries-Britt and Turner (2002) found that the “critical mass of Black peers and faculty” (p.
319) at HBCUs helped Black students feel at home and help them foster meaningful connections
with campus community members. Furthermore, Black undergraduates at PWIs have reported
that professors believe in their academic abilities and do not give up on them (Wagener &
Nettles, 1998). As a result, Fleming (1985) found that Black students at HBCUs benefit from up
to twice as much intellectual development (as measured by academic satisfaction, engagement
with career development, and occupational aspirations) as their peers at PWIs. Participants
attending the HBCU in Fries-Britt and Turner’s (2002) study reported an enhanced sense
confidence and energy as a result of interacting with peers and faculty.
It is clear when examining academic performance that there are environmental factors,
such as a high percentage of Black campus community members, associated with HBCUs that
have a positive impact on the overall college experience of Black students that are not present at
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 31
PWIs. Black students at HBCUs have higher GPAs and are more likely to aspire to attend
graduate school than their counterparts attending PWIs (Allen, 1992). This is despite HBCUs
having inferior facilities, less-credentialed faculty, and students who are more likely to come
from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and be less academically prepared for college (Allen,
1987). Nonetheless, HBCUs produce a disproportionately high number of Black graduates
compared to PWIs (Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002).
Black Male Student-Athletes in Higher Education
Intercollegiate athletics serves as an important access point to higher education for many
students, particularly Black students, who would not be able to attend a major college or
university without an athletic scholarship (Reynolds et al., 2012). Black male revenue generating
student-athletes are often the first in their family to attend college (Sellers & Damas, 2002) and
are more likely to enter college academically underprepared for success than their non-Black
peers (Eitzen, 2001; Hyatt, 2003). They are often steered away from professional degrees and
into majors where professors will have low expectations of their academic abilities, in an effort
to “protect” their athletic eligibility (Donnor, 2005). Many of these student-athletes do not
qualify for admission based on their academic credentials alone (Donnor, 2005; Eitzen, 2001;
Hodge, Harrison, Burden, & Dixson, 2008), thus, are admitted under special conditions (Donnor,
2005).
The lack of college readiness among Black male revenue generating student-athletes “is
situated in the wider socio-political inequalities that characterize access to quality education”
(Simiyu, 2012, p. 53). Furthermore, the commercial structure of intercollegiate athletics creates a
system that intentionally deemphasizes the academic achievement of Black male revenue
generating student-athletes and undermines their educational development (Beamon, 2008;
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 32
Donnor, 2005, Polite & Hawkins, 2011; Singer, 2008; Van Rheenen, 2012). Though it is clear
that intercollegiate athletics has opened the door to higher education for many Black student-
athletes, many are not being effectively served by their institutions. In studying graduation rates
among six-year cohorts, Harper et al. (2013) found that Black male student-athletes graduate at a
lower rate than student-athletes overall, and Black males overall at 96% of institutions with
major sports programs (Harper et al., 2013).
College Readiness & Academic Support
Lack of college readiness and adequate academic support services play a significant role
in the poor academic outcomes of Black male revenue generating student-athletes (Eitzen, 2001;
Hyatt, 2003; Sellers & Damas, 2002). These student-athletes are often granted admission to
colleges and universities with SAT scores that are up to 200 points lower, on average, than their
non-athletic counter parts (Eitzen, 2001). Beamon (2008) suggests that despite the academic
resources that are available for student-athletes, the ‘one size fits all’ brand of academic support
that is typically offered by athletic departments do not address the specific needs of Black male
student-athletes, who are often severely academically underprepared. Hollis (2001) and Hyatt
(2003) contend that academic support programming that intentionally addresses college
readiness are necessary for Black male revenue generating student-athletes to persistence
towards graduation.
Examining the effectiveness of support resources for academically underprepared
student-athletes, Hollis (2001) found that summer school prior to freshman year was the only
statistically significant variable that positively impacted graduation rates. Comeaux and Harrison
(2007) found that interaction with faculty outside of the classroom had a positive effect on
academic success for both Black and white student-athletes. However white student-athletes
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 33
were far more likely to be engaged by faculty than Black student-athletes, thus far more likely to
benefit from meaningful student-faculty interactions. In addition to issues of college readiness, it
is important to consider the overemphasis on athletics that is common among Black male
revenue generating student-athletes.
Socialization of Black Males Towards Athletics
Research suggests that Black males are uniquely and intensely socialized to value athletic
success over success in non-athletic domains like academics or career-related endeavors
(Beamon & Bell, 2006; Beamon, 2010; Edwards, 1985). Black males receive messaging from
their families, communities, and the media that often positions athletic participation as critical to
Black success (Beamon, 2010). As a result, Black male revenue generating student-athletes are
likely to place a higher value on athletic achievement compared to most other non-athletic
domains (Beamon & Bell, 2002; Beamon, 2006; Osborne, 1997).
In a 2006 case study, Beamon and Bell examined the socialization process as an indicator
of academic success for an entire football team at a major Division I institution. Their study
focused on parental influence towards sports participation and academic engagement. They
found that socialization towards athletics differed between Black males and white males. The
largest difference that the found in mean scores were in education socialization, where whites
scored higher, suggesting that their social interactions are more likely promote academic
achievement (Beamon & Bell, 2002).
Osborne (1997) studied the correlation between academic self-esteem, academic
identification, and academic success. Academic identification refers to the extent to which one’s
academic success or failure impacts their overall self-evaluation. Simply put, it refers to how
much one cares about doing well in school. In theory, students who have high academic
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 34
identification will be more motivated to succeed because academic outcomes are more closely
related to self-esteem. Students with low academic identification do not feel the same rewards
from academic success or negative feelings from poor academic performance as their peers with
high academic identification, thus are not as motivated to succeed. Osborne (1997) found that
academic success was directly related to academic identification, and that when identification
with academics decreases, identification with nonacademic domains like athletics increases.
Also, results from the study suggest that Black boys were the only group whose identification
with academics significantly decreased over time, going from highly significant in 8th grade to
not significant in 12th grade. Osborne (1997) suggests that academic disidentification can be
related to stigmatization but doesn’t account for academic identification among all
subpopulations and academic disciplines.
Beamon and Bell (2002) examined the differential aspirations of pursuing a professional
sports career between a select group of Black and white football players at a major Division I
university. The study focused on the socializing agents that correlate to professional sports
aspirations, as well as the academic and behavioral impacts of such aspirations. The study
revealed that Black male student-athletes often have an obsessive pursuit of a professional sports
career, to the near exclusion of any other goals. Results from their qualitative study indicated that
84% of Black male student-athletes expect to have a career in professional sports, with 36%
believing that professional sports were the best way to make money (Beamon & Bell, 2002).
Conversely, 41% of white male student-athletes expected to have a career in professional sports,
with 18% believing that professional sports were the best way to make money (Beamon & Bell,
2002). Unfortunately for these student-athletes, less than 2% of them will be drafted to the
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 35
National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) each year (Martin,
2008).
History of Intercollegiate Athletics and Commercialization
Higher education and athletics have been closely linked in America for the last 160+
years (Smith, 1987; Smith, 2000; Swanson, 1995). This relationship has been characterized as
having an us-versus-them dynamic that is underpinned by fundamentally opposing ideals (Brand,
2006; Toma & Kramer, 2009). Scholars suggest that the conflict between the two sides dates
back to the 19
th
century when collegiate athletics was student-ran rather than the NCAA system
that we know today (Flowers, 2009; Polite & Hawkins, 2011; Smith, 2000). Understanding the
historical context of collegiate athletics and the academic community can help shed light on this
complex relationship (Flowers, 2009; Watt & Moore, 2001). It is with this in mind that the
history of intercollegiate athletics and its commercialization is presented.
Introduction of Intercollegiate Athletics
The first formally recognized intercollegiate athletic competition was a regatta race
between Harvard and Yale in 1852 (Lewis, 1970; Smith, 1987; Smith; 2000; Zimbalist, 1999).
Amherst College and Williams College played the first intercollegiate baseball game of record in
1859 (Flowers, 2009). Intercollegiate football, the sport that has been the most popular among
college sports fans for over a century, was first played between Rutgers and Princeton in the fall
of 1869 (Branch, 2011; Flowers, 2009). The first Black student-athletes were two brothers,
Moses and Welday Walker, who played baseball at Oberlin College in the 1870s (Crowley,
2006). It wasn’t until a basketball game between Stanford and Berkeley in 1896 that the first
recorded intercollegiate athletic competition for women took place (Crowley, 2006).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 36
Creation of Regulatory Bodies
Intercollegiate athletics underwent major reform in 1905 with the formation of the
Intercollegiate Athletic Association (IAA), a regulatory body that to oversaw rulemaking and the
health and safety of college football players (Rosenthal, 2003; Schott, 1996). The first formal set
of eligibility standards were adopted in 1906, which were highlighted by regulations on both
student and amateur/professional status. In 1910, the IAA was renamed to the NCAA (Smith,
1987; Smith, 2000) and its focus turned from simply protecting the safety of athletes to creating
standards of amateurism, educating student-athletes, and regulating all parts of intercollegiate
athletic competition (Smith, 1987; Smith, 2000). Regulation was localized through athletic
conferences and member institutions, which increased uniformity and helped to further
legitimize intercollegiate athletics as a major part of higher education (Carter, 2006).
The increased visibility of intercollegiate athletics in the 1920s brought about scrutiny
and criticism from outside organizations such as the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Education. The Carnegie Foundation conducted a three-year study examining the relationship
between athletics and university administration (Smith, 1987). The findings from the study
suggested that commercialization, professionalism, and exploitation were rampant in college
athletics due to a lack of institutional oversight and regulation (Cowley, 1999; Smith, 1987;
Smith, 2000). No significant reform efforts came as a result of the Carnegie Report.
National Media & Commercialization
It is clear by the 21st century that the once student-organized competitions of the mid
1800s had evolved into a highly organized and lucrative commercial enterprise. A historical
analysis of intercollegiate athletics suggests that the integration of athletics into higher education
was driven by the economic opportunity that intercollegiate athletics provided to colleges and
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 37
universities, rather than an attempt to preserve the educational endeavors of participants which is
often cited as a key motivating factor for university administrators (Cowley, 1999; Flowers,
2009; Mitten et al., 2009; Smith, 1987; Smith, 2000). The social and economic conditions of
higher education in the mid-1800s created an environment where athletics benefited from the
structure and legitimacy that university-affiliation and regulation provided (Toma & Kramer,
2009). However, the formal organization of intercollegiate athletics revolutionized higher
education by turning colleges and universities into athletic agencies (Lewis, 1970).
For much of the last 60 years, intercollegiate athletics has been characterized by continual
growth in popularity and rise in revenue generation, as well as high-profile recruiting scandals
and issues of “amateurism”. Despite the imperfections, intercollegiate athletics has grown into a
multi-billion-dollar industry in the 21
st
century (Congressional Budget Office, 2009 as cited by
Mitten et al., 2009). The meteoric rise in revenue spans across multiple elements of
intercollegiate athletics including allocation of university resources towards athletics, increased
media coverage, and subsequently media-rights contracts entering the hundreds of millions.
At the end of the 19th century, Yale’s annual athletic budget was approximately
$100,000 (Smith, 1988). In 1904, Harvard became the first institution to construct a permanent
football stadium, which cost a reported $300,000 (Flowers, 2009). In comparison, the University
of Washington spent $250 million on stadium renovations in 2011 (Polite & Hawkins, 2011).
That same year, the University of Texas agreed to a $300 million dollar deal with ESPN to create
and distribute an exclusive 24-hour sports channel (Rosenberg, 2011).
Under the banner of “amateurism”, which suggests that athletes play for the love of the
game instead of monetary compensation, the NCAA has become the largest sports organization
in America that prohibits its participants from profiting (Schott, 1996). Primarily responsible for
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 38
the enormous growth of intercollegiate athletics are football and men’s basketball programs,
whose participants are predominantly Black (Lapchick & Baker, 2016). As such, the NCAA and
the business of intercollegiate athletics was built on the backs of Black male revenue generating
student-athletes who were promised an education in exchange of their athletic participation
(Beamon, 2008; Edwards, 1985; Smith, 2000; Van Rheenen, 2012). Unfortunately, there is
overwhelming evidence to suggest that universities are not living up to their end of the deal to
adequately educate their Black male revenue generating student-athletes, and even worse, that
they intentionally exploit Black male student-athletes for economic gain.
Theoretical Frameworks
The current study will explore how contextual and cognitive factors affect the career
development of Black male revenue generating student-athletes. Social Cognitive Career Theory
(SCCT) will provide a framework for understanding the cognitive processes associated with
career development. Critical Race Theory (CRT) will serve as the theoretical tool that accounts
for the centrality of racism and its impact on Black male revenue generating student-athletes’
career development.
Critical Race Theory
CRT emerged from critical legal studies (CLS) which sought to examine how the
American legal system helped to legitimize systemic oppression. CLS was limited in its capacity
to promote social justice because it failed to incorporate the lived experiences of people who are
impacted by racism and other forms of discrimination in their analysis (Yosso, 2005). CRT
evolved as a more comprehensive tool of analysis that broadened the understanding of the role
that race plays in legal matters by emphasizing the experiences of people of color. Solorzano and
Yosso (2001, 2002a, 2002b) reference Matsuda’s (1991) views on CRT as the work of
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 39
progressive legal scholars of color who sought to eliminate racism and all other forms of
subordination by developing a theoretical framework that foregrounds race and racism and
directly accounts for institutionalized subordination. Hawkins et al. (2017) describes CRT as an
explanatory tool that allows scholars to focus on the ways in which race and racism arise in and
are facilitated by institutions.
CRT has five core tenets (Solorzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000; Solorzano & Yosso, 2001;
Yosso, Villalpando, Delgado Bernal, & Solorzano, 2001):
(1) The centrality of race and racism and their intersectionality with other forms of
subordination. CRT begins with premise that race and racism are permanent, endemic,
and central to explaining the experiences of people of color, including educational
experiences and outcomes (Yosso, 2005, p. 73).
(2) The challenge to dominant ideology. CRT challenges traditional rhetoric surrounding
objectivity, neutrality, and color-blindness (Tate, 1997). CRT refutes meritocratic
theories of education and exposes deficit-informed research and pedagogy that often
silence and ignore the experiences of students of color (Yosso, 2005).
(3) The commitment to social justice. CRT is committed to, not only exposing the ways
that racism and other forms of subordination account for inequitable experiences, but also
offering liberatory responses to empower marginalized groups (Yosso, 2005).
(4) The centrality of experiential knowledge. CRT recognizes that the experiential
knowledge of people of color is legitimate and is central to understanding and teaching
about subordination in education (Yosso et al., 2001). CRT places the “voice” of people
of color at the center of the analysis by employing methodologies such as storytelling,
family histories, and biographies.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 40
(5) The transdisciplinary perspective. CRT considers the historical and contemporary
context of race and racism and extends the analysis to other fields such as history, law,
ethnic studies, women’s studies, sociology, psychology, and others (Solorzano & Yosso,
2001).
Yosso (2005) speaks to the contradictory position of education, highlighting that schools
often act as agents that maintain and perpetuate systems of oppression and marginalization, while
they simultaneously have the ability to emancipate and empower marginalized people. CRT in
education seeks to validate the experiences of students of color in an effort to challenge the
dominant ideologies of education which historically has distorted their experiences or left them
out altogether.
Social Cognitive Career Theory
SCCT emphasizes the interplay between cognitive-person variables and contextual
variables, and how they shape the development of career-related interest, choice, and
performance (Lent & Brown, 2002; Lent et al., 2002; Leung, 2008). Key to the framework is the
idea that individuals have the capacity to influence their own career development (personal
agency). The inclusion of, and emphasis on, contextual conditions that hinder or strengthen one’s
educational and career development are central to the application of SCCT to diverse populations
(Lent & Brown, 2002). Olsen (2014, p. 203) notes that SCCT is particularly useful “for
addressing career concerns related to persistence when facing obstacles” which can be useful
with Black male revenue generating student-athletes who experience environmental barriers and
resistance to their career development.
SCCT conceptualizes the underlying social cognitive mechanisms of career development
as three inter-related models that explain how career interests develop, career choices are made
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 41
and revised, and career performance levels are attained. The theory considers self-efficacy,
outcome expectations, and goals as three social cognitive constructs that are central to career
development. SCCT posits that self-efficacy and outcome expectations give rise to interests,
which leads to the formation of goals to engage in or pursue a particular activity, and ultimately
produces to performance outcomes. Contextual factors, like race and gender, are seen as distal
contextual factors that inform efficacy and outcome beliefs throughout one’s life, while proximal
factors like social support or perceived barriers, effect how career-related interests form and
subsequently develop into career-related goals and behaviors.
Social Cognitive Variables that Regulate Career Development
SCCT utilizes Bandura’s (1986) triadic reciprocal model of causality which “holds that
person attributes, external environmental factors, and overt behavior each operate as interactive
sets of variables that mutually influence one another” (Lent & Brown, 1996, p. 312). In SCCT,
the three reciprocal variables, self-efficacy, outcomes expectations, and personal goals, explain
how individuals regulate their career-related behavior (Lent & Brown, 1996; Lent et al., 1994).
Of these variables, self-efficacy has the greatest impact on personal agency and is the most
important predictor of career behavior.
Self-Efficacy. Self-efficacy is defined as “a dynamic set of beliefs that are linked to
particular performance domains and activities” (Lent, 2005, p. 104). Self-efficacy is not seen as a
static trait but more as a dynamic set of beliefs attached to performance domains like academic
and career-related tasks (Lent & Brown, 1996, p. 312). Self-efficacy expectations influence the
initiation of specific behavior and willingness to persist in the face of adversity (Leung, 2008).
For revenue generating student-athletes, this includes the belief in one’s ability to successfully
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 42
purse non-athletic career fields, as well as the confidence to engage in career development
actions.
Self-efficacy information is acquired through four primary sources (or learning
experiences): personal performance accomplishments, vicarious learning, social persuasion, and
physiological states (Lent & Brown, 1996; Lent et al., 1994). Personal accomplishments have
been found to have the greatest impact on self-efficacy, as succeeding at a given task tends to
raise one’s beliefs in their ability to perform the task (Lent, 2005; Lent & Brown, 1996).
Outcome Expectations. Outcome expectations are the perceived consequences or
outcomes of performing given tasks or engaging in certain behaviors (Lent & Brown, 1996).
Outcome expectations are acquired through the same sources of information (or learning
experiences) that shape efficacy beliefs (Leung, 2005). Both outcome expectations and self-
efficacy beliefs affect behavior, but Bandura (1986) contends that self-efficacy is more
influential in determining behavior, noting that people often avoid performing a task or behavior,
despite having positive outcome expectations, because they doubt they possess the requisite
capabilities to be successful (Lent & Brown, 1996). Outcome expectations in the context of
career development for Black male revenue generating student-athletes refers to 1) the belief that
engaging in career development activities is beneficial to attaining career-related goals, and 2)
their expectations of feeling efficacious and eventually successful in their engagement with
career development actions.
Personal Goals. Personal goals refer to an individual’s intention to engage in a particular
activity or to produce a given outcome (Lent & Brown, 1996). For the current study, it is the
intentions that Black male revenue generating student-athletes have to pursue a career outside of
athletic competition. Goal setting is an important means through which individuals exercise
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 43
personal agency because research suggests that goal setting helps individuals persist in tasks and
sustain behavior over time in the absence of reinforcements (Lent & Brown, 1996, p. 313;
Leung, 2008). Personal goal setting is influenced by self-efficacy and outcome expectations
because if one holds positive beliefs about their ability to perform a given task and/or accomplish
a particular outcome then they are likely to develop personal goals that are in line with their
beliefs (Lent & Brown, 1996).
Interest, Choice, and Performance Models of Career Development
Interest Development Model. Lent et al. (2002) suggests that vocational interests, which
are people’s patterns of like, dislike, and indifference regarding career-related activities, have a
significant impact on career choice. SCCT holds that individuals are likely to develop interest in
tasks in which they feel competent and have positive expectations about the outcome of
performing such task (Lent & Brown, 1996; Lent et al., 2002). The interaction between career-
related interests, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations is hypothesized to promote career-
related goal setting, which promotes sustained interest and engagement over time (Lent &
Brown, 1996). Career-related interest development for in the current study refers to the level of
interest students have in academic or career-related domains outside of football.
Choice Development Model. SCCT holds that career choice is a function of the
interaction between interests, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations. Career choice is
conceptually divided into three parts: the expression of a primary career choice or goal, actions
designed to achieve the goal, and performance experiences that provide feedback (via successes
and failures) on the suitability of the goal (Lent & Brown, 1996; Leung, 2008). Lent and Brown
(1996) contend that “people are likely to adopt and implement particular career goals for which
they view themselves to be efficacious and that they perceive as leading to desirable outcomes,
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 44
such as adequate pay and working conditions” (p. 316). In the choice model, being a revenue
generating student-athlete is a contextual factor that works as a mediator between one’s interests,
efficacy beliefs, and career-related choices because, for example, inordinate time demands as an
athlete might make it impossible to pursue particular major or attend academic info sessions,
which stifles interest development and subsequent choices to pursue a particular career-related
field and engage in career-related actions in that field. Finally, in the choice model, performance
accomplishments are seen as learning experiences that directly inform efficacy and outcome
beliefs which, in turn, inform one’s choice to continue to engage in given career-related domains.
Performance Model. The performance model is primarily concerned with one’s level of
past performance in a given career-related task, and the persistence of career-related tasks and
behaviors in the face of obstacles (Lent & Brown, 2002; Leung, 2008). SCCT holds that ability,
which refers to one’s achievements, aptitude, and past performance, informs self-efficacy and
outcome expectation, which subsequently influence performance goals and ultimately
performance accomplishments. Lent and Brown (1996) highlight that sociocultural factors such
as access, opportunity, socialization, and community norms have significant impact on the
development of career-related performance processes.
A Critical Race Perspective on Career Development
CRT illuminates that racism is embedded in all aspects of social life, which include the
cognitive processes conceptualized in SCCT that regulate career development like self-efficacy,
outcome expectations, and personal goals. Lent et al., (2002) examined how biased access to
efficacy-information for women, as a result of gender-role socialization, influenced their career-
related self-efficacy. They found that the environmental barriers associated with gender roles
were internalized and negatively impacted academic and career-related self-efficacy, especially
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 45
in male dominated fields (Lent et al., 2002). Hackett and Byars (1996) examined the career
development of African American women from a social cognitive perspective and found that
culturally based learning experiences differentially influence the cognitive variables related to
their career progress. Cultural mistrust, perceived racism, and limited access to career
development resources were found to be related to low career maturation for adolescents of color
from low socioeconomic backgrounds (Diemer & Hsieh, 2008; Whaley, 2001). Though literature
from a cognitive and racialized perspective is limited, it does suggest that academic and career-
related self-efficacy are strongly correlated to academic achievement and career choice for
people of color (Byars & Hackett, 1998; Hackett & Lent, 1992) and that the self-efficacy
construct is at the root of understanding the career behaviors of people of color (Byars &
Hackett, 1998).
CRT reveals that race and racism are inextricable from society, thus the cognitive
mechanisms of career development, like efficacy and outcome beliefs, happen within the context
of racialized subordination. Looking at career development from a CRT lens will illuminate and
center the “voices” of the people impacted by racism and allow Black male revenue generating
student-athletes’ firsthand experiences with career development to be included in the literature.
Yosso (2005) says that “when the ideology of racism is examined and racist injuries are named,
victims of racism can often find their voice” (pp. 4-5). For Black male revenue generating
student-athletes, this may be their feelings surrounding the exploitation and/or commodification
of Black male student-athletes, or their experiences dealing with an unwelcoming campus
climate. When people of color and other marginalized groups hear their stories represented
accurately in scholarship, it can be empowering to those similarly impacted by racism and other
forms of subordination, which is consistent with CRT’s commitment to social justice. According
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 46
to CRT, race and racism are embedded within the educational outcomes and career development
experiences of Black male student-athletes. An infusion of CRT and SCCT provides a theoretical
perspective and framework for examining the cognitive factors that influence career
development, while keeping race and racism as central explanatory factors in the analysis.
Summary
The literature surrounding experiences and educational outcomes of Black male revenue
generating student-athletes goes beyond simply uncovering structural issues within
intercollegiate athletics and reveals a culture of anti-Blackness within universities and athletic
departments in which Black male student-athletes are exploited for their athletic labor and
rendered disposable in the process (Commeaux, 2018; Comeaux & Grummert, 2020; Dancy et
al., 2018). It is clear that the capitalistic interests of intercollegiate athletics take priority over
educational and career development, which results in disproportionately poor academic
outcomes for Black male revenue generating student-athletes compared to their peers (Dancy et
al., 2018; Harper et al., 2013; Sharp & Sheilley, 2008). SCCT provides a framework for
examining how one’s environment interacts with person-variables to influence their career
development. CRT serves as an explanatory tool that acknowledges the centrality of racism and
its impact on people of color. SCCT and CRT together provide a framework for understanding
the cognitive processes of career development within an environment that is characterized by
anti-Black racism (Polite & Santiago, 2017).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 47
Chapter 3: Methodology
This section will detail the research design and data collection choices for the current
study which examines the career development experiences of Black male revenue generating
student-athletes as well as the influence of anti-Black racism on their career development. To
frame the study, the research questions and a review of the study’s purpose will be provided.
Next, the research design and rationale for site selection will be presented. Lastly,
instrumentation and data collection will be discussed, followed by how the data will be analyzed.
Research Questions
Research questions have the largest influence on the other aspects of a study and form the
foundation for the research design (Maxwell, 2013). Research questions describe specifically
what a researcher wants to understand by conducting their study. For the purposes of this study,
the research questions are:
1. How did involvement in intercollege athletics influence career planning and career
exploration during college for Black male revenue generating student-athletes?
2. How do Black male revenue generating student-athletes perceive their career
development experiences in exchange for participation within a revenue generating
intercollegiate athletics environment that is characterized by anti-Blackness?
Black male student-athletes participating in football and men’s basketball are among the
most valuable students at NCAA Division 1 institutions because of the enormous revenues
generated by their athletic programs. Despite the value that they bring to their institutions, Black
male revenue generating student-athletes disproportionately experience unfavorable educational
outcomes compared to their peers (Beamon, 2012; Harper et al., 2013). Quantitative data on
academic outcomes like graduation rates suggest that Black male revenue generating student-
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 48
athletes are not being a served by their institutions (Harper, 2018). However, literature that
explains these inequitable outcomes from the student-athlete perspective is scarce. As such, there
is a need for qualitative studies on this topic that add to the current body of literature which
consists primarily of quantitative studies based on traditional academic measures.
Research Design
A qualitative research design was utilized in this study as the purpose is to gain an
understanding of how participants make sense of their environment and experiences. Qualitative
research goes beyond statistical relationships and includes methods such as interviews and
observations which allow researchers to uncover the meaning that individuals ascribe to the
world around them (Merriam, 2009). A qualitative design is appropriate given the proposed
research questions that seek to explore the career development experiences of Black male
revenue generating student-athletes, with special consideration given to the environmental
conditions of major intercollegiate athletics like commercialization and anti-Black racism.
In-depth semi-structured Zoom interviews were used as the primary investigative
method. Human beings have the capacity to uniquely construct and interpret the world around
them, so semi-structured interviews involve a constructivist approach which accounts for the
existence of individuals experiencing varying realities (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
Interviews are among the most effective data collection tools when a subject is the main
source or the only source of information on a given topic (Wentland, 2012). Interviews are an
attempt to understand the world and the meaning of an individuals’ experiences prior to
uncovering scientific explanations (Kvale, 2006). Interviewing is especially effective in
qualitative research because it allows the researcher to go beyond what can be interpreted
through observations or suggested through statistical analysis and provides insight into what is in
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 49
and on a subjects’ mind (Patton, 2002). Well-constructed interview questions are open-ended,
providing a framework for which subjects can respond accurately and thoroughly (Kvale, 2006),
that yield rich descriptive data that lends itself to the research question (Creswell, 2014;
Maxwell, 2013).
Site Selection
This study took place at California Pacific University (CPU), a large, 4-year, research
institution in California. CPU enrolls less than 50,000 students, including 19,000 undergraduates
and close to 25,000 graduate and professional students (CPU, 2017). Of these 19,000
undergraduates, 50% are men and 50% are women. The distribution of race within the
undergraduate student population at CPU is as follows: 37.4% white, 22.7% Asian, 13.4%
Hispanic, 4.3% Black, 0.2% Native American, 12.7% international, 4.7% multi-ethnic, and 4.6%
unknown (CPU, 2013). CPU’s six-year graduation rate was 91% or better from 2011 to 2017,
consistent with historic trends at the university (CPU, 2017). CPU has more than 20
schools/academic units that offer a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees in
business, public administration, arts and humanities, engineering, natural sciences, social
sciences, and non-governmental organizations, among others (CPU, 2017).
Athletic Department
The Athletic department is a central element to the study-site. The CPU Athletic
Department is a highly visible and prestigious athletic department. CPU sponsors more than 20
varsity sports for nearly 600 student-athletes. There are over 200 CPU Athletic Department
employees, close to 20 of whom work in the office of Academics for Student-Athletes (ASA). It
is critical to consider the influence of ASA when examining the perceptions and career
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 50
development experiences of Black male student-athletes at CPU because of the role that ASA
plays in providing career development programming for student-athletes.
ASA operates as an office within the athletic department that offers a robust academic
support program for all 600 student-athletes. In addition to academic support, ASA develops and
administers all personal and career development programming for CPU’s student-athletes.
Career development is thought to be pillar of ASA as it is included in the department’s mission
statement: “The CPU Academics for Student-Athletes (ASA) office is committed to providing
the necessary support to assist all student-athletes in reaching their full potential academically,
personally, and professionally” (CPU ASA, 2016).
Population and Sample
The population for this study included 10 Black, former football student-athletes as they
have the experiential knowledge of the central phenomena being examined (Creswell, 2007).
Purposeful sampling was utilized as it allows the researcher to select participants who share
common characteristics which are particularly relevant to the goals of the study (Maxwell,
2013). To be included in this study, participants had to have graduated from CPU within the last
five years.
Instrumentation
The researcher served as the primary instrument in the data collection process. An
interview protocol with open-ended questions was developed to ensure that interviews remained
focused on the phenomena of investigation, and to maximize consistency between interviews
(Patton, 2002). Questions began with “how” and “what” to capture the experiences and
perceptions of students in their own words (Brenner, 2006). Several broad themes were
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 51
identified to guide the interview protocol and elicit information-rich responses regarding
participants’ perceptions and experiences with career development at CPU. Themes include:
1. Black male student-athletes’ perceptions of support for career development within CPU
Athletics
2. Navigating athletic and academic roles simultaneously
3. The interconnectedness of athletic identity and race
4. The influence of coaches and academic staff on career development
An informed consent form was also created and presented to all participants. The consent
form described the nature and the purpose of the study, informed participants that their
participation is voluntary, and included a request for permission to audio record.
Data Collection
Prior to data collection, the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB)
at the University of Southern California. Data collection started with sending a recruitment email
to potential participants. The recruitment email included information regarding the role of the
interviewer, the purpose of the research, and the time commitment involved in participating.
Once participants agreed to take part in the study, the interviewer communicated with each
participant to identify an appropriate time to conduct the interviews. Qualitative interviews took
place via Zoom over a four-week period. Interviews were guided by an interview protocol to
ensure that interviews remain focused on the phenomena of investigation and to maximize
consistency (Patton, 2002). Interviews were approximately 60-minutes in length and open-ended
questions were utilized with the goal of producing descriptive data about participants’
knowledge, feelings, and experiences (Patton, 2002).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 52
At the start of each interview, participants were provided an informed consent form and
notified that participation was voluntary, that no compensation would be provided for their
participation, and that participants may stop the interview at any time or chose to not answer any
questions. After reviewing the informed consent form, participants signed the form indicating
their willingness to participate in the study. Additionally, the interviewer obtained verbal consent
to record the interviews.
Memoing took place at the conclusion of each interview. In qualitative data collection,
memoing involves recording details and observations immediately following an interview that
may not manifest as clearly in the audio/video recording such as demeanor, body langue, and
level of comfort (Patton, 2002). Interviews were transcribed by a third-party transcriber.
Pseudonyms were used in place of real names to protect participants’ anonymity (Creswell,
2014). Data from interviews, including interview transcriptions, recordings, and codebook, were
kept in a password secured laptop that only the interviewer has access to.
Data Analysis
Data were processed utilizing the constant comparative method, which will allow the
perceptions and experiences of the participants to be reduced into meaningful constructs (Ortiz,
2003). The researcher is key in the constant comparative method because they are the primary
instrument for data collection which promotes meaning making on the part of both the researcher
and the participant (Brenner, 2006; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). However, for themes to emerge as
unbiased as possible, it is important that the researcher approach the study free from
preconceived ideas that may influence data collection. Themes will be categorized as either
constructed, what the researcher expects to find, or emerged, which develop from participants’
experiences. Emerged themes are most critical to this study as they will allow for in-depth
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 53
exploration of the perceptions and experiences with career development for Black male revenue
generating student-athletes.
Analysis began with open coding, a process by which pieces of data are assigned
meaning at their most authentic level to capture a response as accurately as possible (Strauss,
1987). Once the open codes were exhausted, they were defined and accompanied by an example
from the data and put into a codebook. Following the open coding process, axial coding began,
which consists of examining the data to identify larger categories of themes of connected open
codes (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Finally, to narrow the focus and make meaning of the data, the
axial codes were translated into larger themes through the process of selective coding (Strauss,
1987).
Trustworthiness
After completing the data collection and beginning the open coding process, member
checking was used to confirm that meaning making was consistent with the narrative that
participants were attempting to convey (Creswell, 2013). Member checking involves “having
the people described in the analysis react to what is described” (Patton, 2002, p. 560). This
integrates participants into the data analysis process, allowing them to feel more secure about
the interpretation of the data that they provided. Additionally, for the purposes of transparency,
my positionality, and subsequent biases, were disclosed upfront. This allowed for the
utilization of experiential knowledge of the population and the factors that influence their
unique student-experiences, from my perspective, to guide questions and elicit information-rich
responses. Lastly, I scrutinized the results of the study to determine whether they are credible
based on the data (Merriam, 2009).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 54
Summary
This study explored the career development experiences of Black male revenue
generating student-athletes and how anti-Black racism within intercollegiate athletics influenced
their career behavior. Chapter Three discussed the qualitative methodology that was used for this
study. The sample and population are also described along with the instrumentation and data
collection method. Finally, data analysis was described as well as a description of the steps that
were taken to increase trustworthiness and insure validity. In Chapter Four, the results of this
study will be presented.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 55
Chapter 4: Results and Findings
Chapter four details the findings from qualitative research conducted with former Black
male revenue generating student-athletes at California Pacific University. This chapter includes a
brief description of participant information, Key findings and themes that emerged during data
analysis, and a summary of the findings. The research questions that guided this study are: 1)
How did involvement in intercollegiate athletics impact career planning and career exploration
during college for Black male revenue generating student-athletes? 2) How do Black male
revenue generating student-athletes perceive their career development experiences in exchange
for participation within a revenue generating intercollegiate athletics environment that is
characterized by anti-Blackness?
Several key findings emerged from the analysis of interview data related to the career
development experiences of Black male revenue generating student-athletes. Numerous themes
and subthemes emerged within key findings. The key findings were as follows, Key Finding 1:
False hope of a meaningful education. Themes that emerged from Key Finding 1 are a) Promise
of meaningful education is compromised with academic major selection process, b) Pervasive
apathy toward Black football student-athletes’ educational pursuits, and c) Insufficient career
development programming. Key Finding 2: The attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of coaches and
academic staff largely shape Black football student-athletes’ educational experiences. Themes
that emerged from Key Finding 2 are a) Capacity for coaches and academic staff to impact
students’ efficacy beliefs, and b) Black football student-athletes are seen as intellectually inferior
and inherently problematic in academic spaces. Key Finding 3: Football is a job not an
extracurricular activity.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 56
Research Study Participants
Ten former student-athletes participated in qualitative interviews for this study. To
maintain confidentiality, participants were assigned pseudonyms. All 10 interview participants
graduated from CPU, identify as Black, and participated in football at CPU within the last five
years.
Interview Participants Major Year Graduated
Adam Communications 2018
Dan Communications 2019
Chad Communications 2019
Henry Sociology 2018
Jake Non-Governmental Organizations &
Social Change
2019
Jalen Non-Governmental Organizations &
Social Change
2018
Jeremy International Relations 2018
Michael Communications 2018
Phil Real Estate Development 2018
Will International Relations 2019
Key Findings
Key Finding 1: False hope of a meaningful education
Universities and athletic departments publicly espouse ideals of educational attainment
and career preparation, yet the reality for many football student-athletes, especially those who
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 57
are Black, is that they struggle to reap the full benefits of an undergraduate education due, in
part, to systemic issues related to the practices, attitudes, and behaviors of university and athletic
department personnel.
Theme A) Promise of meaningful education is compromised with the academic major
selection process
Interview data suggests that the academic major selection process served as somewhat of
a starting point for the systemic devaluing and deprioritizing of Black football student-athletes’
academic pursuits. Participants indicated that choosing a major was one of the first things that
academic staff helped them do upon arriving to campus. Most participants expressed that the
major selection process was centered around finding an “easy major” or one that “doesn’t
interfere with football” instead of focusing on their academic strengths or majors that supported
their career-related interests. For example, Michael described his experience choosing a major
and said: “They convinced me and told me that it will be the easiest route and it will match up
with our football schedule and, you know, it was a good major.” Participants expressed that this
kind of guidance during major selection is an example of academic staff promoting that Black
football student-athletes take “the path of least resistance” rather than encouraging them to
challenge themselves and/or pursue an academic program of their desire.
All but one participant reported that their major was suggested to them by academic staff.
Many participants reported entering college with a desired major but were either steered away or
directly told that they could not pursue their major of choice because it was perceived by
academic staff as too demanding. Henry felt that he was pushed towards an “easy major” even
though he entered college knowing exactly what he wanted to study. Henry said, “I actually
came in wanting to do engineering and that was shot down every single time I ever uttered it.”
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 58
Jeremy also entered college wanting to pursue a rigorous academic program but quickly realized
that the demands of football, especially travel and outside-of-practice activities, made it nearly
impossible to perform at a high level in both his major and football. Jeremy stated: “I realized
once I was in a Bio-200 class, I mean, with the rigorous schedule of practice and all this stuff
alone, it wasn't going to work. As much as I wanted it to, it wasn't going to work.”
Similarly, Will was unable to fulfill his desire of studying architecture because it might
have required him to periodically miss football-related activities which he did not see as a viable
option. Will said:
And that was when I realized, you know, football comes first. Because football pays your
school fees, it’s basically like a job. And understanding that – there is no book that
explains that to you. But you just understand because it's common knowledge.
These statements illustrate how the major selection process contributes to the devaluing of Black
football student-athletes’ educational pursuits.
Theme B) Pervasive apathy toward Black student-athletes’ educational pursuits
A major theme that emerged throughout the interviews was that participants felt a
pervasive apathy from coaches and academic staff about the educational pursuits of Black
football student-athletes. Participants indicated that coaches and academic staff were
unconcerned about Black football student-athletes having meaningful academic experiences and
completely apathetic when it came to their career development. Participants expressed that
coaches and academic staff tried to “push them through” to graduation as quickly as possible,
almost always promoted the “the path of least resistance”, and were largely uninterested in
students’ educational experiences as long as they maintained academic eligibility. Chad talked
about his relationship with his athletic academic advisor and said: “I don't think they really cared
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 59
too much about my direction. I mean, he was just a guy that checked in and moved on.” Michael
indicated that, on one hand, he believes that his coaches and academic staff genuinely wanted
him to succeed, but on the other hand, they may have just been doing their part to “keep up
appearances”. Michael said:
They want you to go to school and want you to do good. I believe they truly do. But
there's also a point in me where I just kind of think it’s what they have to say…‘we've got
to make it look good for the brand’ and, you know, it's just the politically correct thing to
do.
It is important to note that, while most participants indicated that staff were generally
apathetic about their educational pursuits, some participants did report having a coach or
academic support person during at least a portion of their career who genuinely cared about their
academic and career-related wellbeing. Michael pointed to a position-coach that he had towards
the end of his career who went out of his way to check-in with players about grades and even
extended his network to them for career development opportunities. He noted that this coach was
Black and a CPU football alumnus which made him feel more invested in his players academic
and career success. Henry mentioned an athletic academic advisor from early in his career and
said that this individual respected his academic capabilities and supported his goals rather than
steering him towards an easier path, which he experienced with other academic staff. Henry
indicated that this advisor was a Black male who saw him as more than just an athlete and
connected with him on a personal level. Dan talked about two position coaches that he had at
different times during his career, both of whom were Black. He said that they were “the most
impactful coaches [he] ever had” because they showed interest in his life outside of football
which let him know that they cared about him as a person not just a football player.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 60
Participants expressed that, like their academic pursuits, career development was
downplayed and minimized so it wouldn’t be a “distraction” and take time away from football.
Jake said, “Your main aspect is to focus on football. I was told to focus on football, so the big
question [of what you want to do] is never answered.” While both academics and career
development were deemphasized compared to football, of the two, career development was
significantly overshadowed by the athletic department’s hyper-focus on academic eligibility and
graduation. Jake suggested that academic measurables like graduation success rate (GSR) and
academic performance rate (APR – which captures NCAA academic eligibility and retention)
were prioritized ahead of career development because they were connected to the athletic
department’s revenue. Jake said: “[Career development] was put on the backburner. Like I said,
they preach graduation…looking back at it, they get paid the more people they graduate. So, they
preach what they can benefit off of.” Participants felt like the athletic department sacrificed their
career-related wellbeing by prioritizing what benefited the organization which was APR and
GSR.
The minimizing and downplaying of career development from coaches and academic
staff was mostly subtle. Participants indicated that essentially no culture of non-football related
career development existed within the football environment and that coaches and academic staff
had “zero concern” for career development especially when it came Black football student-
athletes. Jeremy described how coaches and academic staff valued eligibility compared to career
development and stated: “If eligibility was the first on the list, I think career development might
have been like five, six, somewhere down there.” Participants expressed that coaches and
academic staff rarely, if ever, sought out their career-related goals and interests. Jeremy said: “I
never had my coach, not even a handful of times, or anybody, even ask me what I wanted to do
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 61
after [college].” In like manner, Jake said, “I don't even think they look at the employment
possibilities. I think they just saw me as an asset to them.” Participants expressed that career
development was seen as unimportant in the football environment due to the overvaluing of
football and academic eligibility, which then allowed them to feel justified in not engaging in it.
Additionally, participants expressed that career development was to be done at students’
own discretion. Dan said: “They only encouraged it as much as the athlete expressed [an interest
in] it.” Which means that, if student-athletes didn’t see the value in career development or chose
to not engage in it for whatever reason, they could go through their entire career with virtually no
career-related activity involvement. This was vastly different than with academic support, which
was mandated for up to 10 hours per week, and football-related activities that could range from
20 to 40 hours per week. Henry described how coaches and academic staff disregarded career
development and stated:
Their whole career planning was about just getting guys through. And who cares, you
know what I mean? Maybe if he wants a career preview, he'll go and do that, and do it on
his own. Make the effort to go do it on his own. That's literally what it was. It wasn't a
vibe, that's literally what it was.
Participants suggested that coaches and academic staff were so nonchalant with their approach to
career development that, even when it was considered mandatory, it still felt largely optional.
This was in stark contrast to the attitudes surrounding academic support and football-related
activities where there were consequences if student-athletes did not attend. Dan described what it
was like when football student-athletes missed an academic or football appointment and said:
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 62
If somebody misses practice or if somebody misses a tutor, [coach says] ‘get on the bike
and give me 100 calories.’ There's a direct cause and effect when you don't go to
something. There's an effect…the effect is the punishment.
This is juxtaposed against Dan’s description of what happened when football student-athletes
failed to attend a mandatory career development event. He stated:
People turned a blind eye. Like, ‘Oh, he didn't go, okay well it's a new day tomorrow,
you know, better luck next semester or next year when we do that again.’ There’s not as
much emphasis. The approach is more like, ‘Dang…we can save face by saying we
presented this to him, and it was up to him to go.’ But that's not the same energy – you
don't have that same approach when we miss a weight room session. Like, ‘Oh, I
provided a weight room for you. It was up to him to go.’ It's like, no, that's actually
mandatory.
Theme C) Insufficient career development programming
A theme that emerged repeatedly throughout the interviews was that career development
programming was lackluster, insufficient, and, at times, done “for show”. Participants indicated
that career development programming consisted of three main components: a networking dinner,
a student-athlete career fair, and occasional guest speakers (mostly in the summer). Football
student-athletes were mandated to attend one or two career-related events per year, which were
typically the networking dinner and/or the student-athlete career fair. While all participants
acknowledged that career resources were made available, they repeatedly indicated that career
development efforts by the athletic department were minimal, surface level, and failed to make a
meaningful impact in their career maturation.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 63
When asked about the career development resources available to football student-
athletes, Henry said, “I guess just career fairs. You know, career fairs and bringing in speakers,
that's it. Career fairs and bringing in guest speakers. But other than that, your career was football
or nothing.” Participants expressed that career fairs and networking events, for the most part, felt
pointless because they never had a tangible element attached them. Michael stated:
I don't really remember anything that was super tangible for us to really have a mapped-
out plan. Like, it was just kind of always the bullshit networking events like, ‘Oh we're
going to have this guy come speak, just come tap in.’ And you have 1000 people trying to
talk to one rich guy.
Many participants expressed that career development events often felt like they were
“done for show.” Will stated: “It’s like this placebo feel. Like, ‘Oh, we’re bringing in this person
to come talk to you in the summer.’ And you have all these mixers, and you take all those
people's emails, and you talk to them, and it’s really, you know, you just saw them as a fan, that's
all.” It was noted that individuals who were brought in for networking events were often not in a
position to offer internships, employment, or even mentorship opportunities. Instead, they were
usually supporters and friends of the football program. Will described the dynamics of a
networking event and said: “It’s more like a like a football event; that's what it felt. Like, it felt
more like a football event than a career development program.” Participants repeatedly expressed
that this kind of programming was half-hearted and made career development feel empty. Jake
expressed his frustration for surface level, informational career programming and said:
You do that in elementary school just to get familiar with different companies and what
they do. But it didn't really go further than these introductions, and when there's no
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 64
substance underneath that, you only get that first layer. I'm trying to get to the bone of it
so I know where I gotta go or at least get a good idea of the range of where I could go.
Recommendations from Participants. Each participant gave suggestions for how the athletic
department could improve its career programming to make it more effective for Black football
student-athletes’ career maturation. At the core of nearly every recommendation was the idea
that, if the athletic department simply cared more and genuinely invested in football student-
athletes’ career success, they could make a tremendous impact. Many participants suggested that
career programming should resemble the high frequency academic support that is mandated to
help student-athletes maintain academic eligibility. Chad said:
We needed more hands on [support as] opposed to just that one time networking event in
January. At least once a week, twice a week check in if you ask me…I feel like we
should have been pretty much forcing ourselves, as a staff, to make these kids go to
career events once a week.
This idea of weekly career support often included adding full-time staff who could serve as
“career specialists,” similar to academic learning specialists, and work one-on-one with a
caseload of football student-athletes to ensure that they’re making appropriate progress in their
career maturation.
Participants also expressed a need for career programming that is intentional about
helping Black football student-athletes identify and develop career interests. They indicated that
most football student-athletes, especially the Black-scholarship players, have not developed
strong career interests outside of football. To that end, Jake expressed that a career-strengths and
interests assessment could be an important and natural starting place for targeted career support
from the athletic department. Jake said: “For me, the biggest thing that they could have done
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 65
was, and it sounds basic when I think about it, just a career assessment going over the basic jobs
and trying to figure out the basics.” By connecting career development to student-athletes’
strengths and interests, Jake believed it would help focus their efforts and guide their career-
related activity involvement.
Key Finding 2: The attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of coaches and academic staff largely
shape Black football student-athletes ’ educational experiences
Interview data highlight that participants’ academic and career-related experiences were
significantly influenced by the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of coaches and academic staff.
Theme A) Capacity for coaches and academic staff to impact students’ efficacy beliefs
Another theme that emerged was that coaches and academic staff had the capacity to
impact participants’ academic and career-related efficacy beliefs. Some participants expressed
that their academic confidence increased when staff expressed positive beliefs about their
academic abilities. In some cases, participants indicated that staff believing in them gave them
enough confidence to enter academic spaces that they previously avoided, and subsequently
exposed them to learning opportunities that they would have otherwise missed. Jalen stated: “It
was some days where, you know, I didn't have that confidence going into a classroom, taking a
test, even raising my hand and answering questions…but I feel like the tutors and learning
specialists really made me confident enough to do that.”
In addition to increased confidence, affirmation from academic staff also had a positive
impact on motivation. Some participants expressed that academic staff helped them “dig deeper”
and get more out of themselves academically, as well as persist in the face of obstacles. To that
end, Will stated, “When there was need for motivation, they did motivate…sometimes you need
someone to hold you accountable and say, you know, you can do better, you can finish that paper
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 66
you can turn it on time.” Jalen echoed these sentiments, stating: “I keep saying it over and over,
I’m not a school guy so, you know, having them believe in me really made me push myself.”
These instances represented the capacity that coaches and academic staff had to positively
impact a student’s social cognitive development by simply expressing belief in their abilities.
Negative Impact. On the other hand, some participants indicated that they received
negative messaging about their academic and career-related abilities that was harmful to their
academic and career confidence. Negative messaging from coaches and academic staff was both
direct and indirect. Michael described indirect messaging as microaggressions about intelligence
and academic expectations. He stated: “[I] always kind of got them slick comments like, ‘oh my
God! I didn’t know you were so well spoken.’ Or ‘wow! you can write really well,’ stuff like
that.” He also described how academic staff would steer Black football student-athletes away
from certain academic pursuits if they believed they were “too difficult” for the student. He said
that academic staff would tell students directly that, “You don't want to take that class because
you might not pass it.”
Other participants reported hearing academic staff and coaches make disparaging remarks
about the academic capabilities of their Black teammates – this was considered somewhat
commonplace. For example, Jeremy said, “In passing I’ve heard people talk about ‘oh this kid
can't do this or that’…and I'm like damn man that's cold.” When participants heard how staff felt
about their teammates, in their minds, it provided a glimpse into how staff more-than-likely felt
about them. Jeremy went on to talk about how, when staff holds and expresses negative beliefs
about a students’ potential, it not only impacts their academic confidence but also how they view
themselves overall. He said:
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 67
That stuff is heavy right there. And I would say, too, that stuff affects people down the
line in life, you know, especially for those ones who weren't able to graduate from the
program. You know, they might still be wandering and stuff like that. So that stuff takes a
toll on your mental for a minute.
A subtheme emerged around the ways that participants processed microaggressions and
negative messaging from staff. Participants expressed that, when coaches and academic staff
expressed doubt or lack of belief in their abilities, whether directly or indirectly, rather than
internalize the messages and allow them to negatively impact their academic and career-related
confidence, participants tried to use it as motivation to work harder and prove people wrong.
Michael referred to this approach as a “me against the world, prove everybody wrong type of
mentality.” Jeremy also talked about blocking out microaggressions about his academic and
career potential and said:
A person like me, I use that stuff as a fuel to the fire, you know what I’m saying. Like,
‘oh, you don't think I can do this? Okay well, let me show you’…So you can kind of go
[one of] two ways. But it still kind of sucks, though, that somebody would do that.
Missed Opportunities. Lastly, some participants reported that coaches and academic
staff did not give them feedback either way that would impact their academic or career-related
confidence. These were seen as missed opportunities because, in hindsight, participants believed
that positive messaging about their academic abilities and career-related potential could’ve had a
profound impact on their approach to school and career development. Some participants
struggled to recall a single instance where a coach or academic staff gave them positive
affirmation, support, or encouragement regarding career-related endeavors. Michael stated, “I
can't really think of a time where it was like, ‘you need to go do this’ or ‘I think you'd be great at
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 68
this.’ Like, I just felt like it wasn't really there.” Like Michael, Dan reflected on missed
opportunities by coaches and academic staff and said: “I guess it's not their job to encourage
[career development]…but had they, you know, done that, I think it would have went a long way
for sure.”
Theme B) Black football student-athletes are seen as intellectually inferior and inherently
problematic in academic spaces
Another theme that emerged was that Black football student-athletes were treated like
they were unworthy of occupying the same academic spaces as white athletes who were seen as
legitimate students. This manifested in two specific ways, the first were the low expectations that
coaches and academic staff had about the academic and intellectual capabilities of Black football
student-athletes. The second was the hyper-monitoring of Black football student-athletes in
academic spaces.
Low Expectations from Coaches and Academic Staff. Participants reported that
coaches and academic staff had low expectations about their academic and career-related
potential. Numerous participants indicated that, in general, coaches and academic staff had low
expectations about Black football student-athletes abilities, especially compared to their white
teammates. Participants expressed that coaches and academic staff expected them to shoot for
minimum academic standards and rarely, if ever, pushed Black football student-athletes to aspire
for more than the minimum like they did with white football student-athletes. Chad stated: “I felt
like their goal for me was just to be done. And I think the goal for somebody else was probably
to achieve higher if that makes sense.”
Henry talked about career-related expectations and how Black football student-athletes
were expected to struggle after college while their white teammates were expected to thrive. He
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 69
said, “This person over here, your motivation is for them to go be a professional in the [business
world]. This one, your motivation is to barely make it. It doesn't make sense. It’s not right.”
Participants indicated that judgements about their academic and career potential began as soon as
they got to campus, and in some cases, prior to arriving to campus. Michael stated:
Before you even meet with the staff or before you even get a chance to really know them,
they already kind of got this preconceived perception of what you can achieve.
Intellectually, I mean, they don’t think that you’re capable of doing and achieving certain
things.
A subtheme that emerged around ‘low expectations’ was that there were clear differences
in the way that coaches and academic staff talked to Black football student-athletes compared to
their white teammates. Specifically, participants expressed that Black football student-athletes
were talked down to and, as Michael and Will stated, “talked to like they were stupid.”
Participants indicated that it was clear based on the way that coaches and academic staff talked to
Black football student-athletes that they held low opinions about their academic and career-
related potential. Henry said:
I truly, truly, truly know that anybody, you know, a blind man, Ray Charles, anybody,
could go in there and clearly see and feel the difference and hear the difference. You can
literally hear the difference in how white athletes were talked to and how Black athletes
were talked to. You can hear how Black athletes were motivated and how white athletes
were motivated.
These statements reflect the experiences of numerous participants who felt like coaches and
academic staff put limitations on what they could achieve without ever giving them a chance.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 70
Hyper-Monitoring of Black Football Student-Athletes. Many participants indicated
that Black football student-athletes were subjected to significantly more academic oversight and
monitoring than their white teammates. Participants said that white football student-athletes were
hardly ever mandated to attend academic support, and when they were mandated, they were
given much more leeway and agency over their academic experience. Jake said: “they'll get a lot
more leniency and less monitoring than we will. We will get monitored and checked on
regularly.” Participants indicated that their academic lives were constantly under surveillance –
this was interpreted by many participants as a microaggression about the behavior and academic
abilities of Black football student-athletes.
While all participants expressed that academic support was beneficial to them at some
point during college, many expressed that academic support for Black football student-athletes
was often over-mandated and turned into unnecessary monitoring. Will talked about how
academic support, for him, consisted of sitting at a desk while academic staff watched him do
homework. He said: “It felt like I wasn't getting help, I was just getting babysitting. I can do this
by myself, I don't need you to babysit me.” These statements were echoed by other participants
who felt like they were mandated to attend academic support even after demonstrating that they
were self-sufficient enough to “graduate out” of mandatory support.
Some participants mentioned that, embedded within hyper-monitoring was the idea that
Black football student-athletes are inherently problematic in academic spaces. Participants
indicated that those beliefs allowed academic staff to feel not only justified in their approach, but
that it was necessary to constantly watch Black football student-athletes in academic spaces.
Chad and Jeremy both mentioned that academic staff treated Black football student-athletes like
they had already done or were going to do something wrong. Jeremy said:
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 71
Being Black, I’d say, I think they’re on you and look at you as a problem. I mean, even
me. I don't think I’ve ever really got in trouble or had real issues like that. But I mean,
especially, compared to the majority…they weren't on white kids like that. But they were
on us.
Chad added that Black football student-athletes were often given messages about cheating and
academic integrity that white football student-athletes didn’t get. He stated:
I know white kids had a much, much easier experience. I mean, I don't think that they
were looked at as much as we were looked at. I don't know if it's because, like I said, we
had to be more watched and told not to do things such as, like, ‘make sure you don't
plagiarize,’ you know I mean. I think that [messaging] was more returning to the Black
community than it was to the white community.
Hyper-monitoring of Black football student-athletes was one of the areas that continued to stand
out as one where participants felt there was a clear difference in how they were treated compared
to their white teammates.
Key Finding 3: Football is a job not an extracurricular activity
The relationship between Black football student-athletes and CPU Athletics, particularly
football coaches, was described by participants as a business relationship where players were
recruited and brought to campus to fulfill the specific job-like duties of a football student-athlete.
Participants expressed that, despite publicly espoused ideals of educational attainment, coaches
and most athletic department personnel are not concerned about education or career
development, the only thing that mattered was how they could contribute to the football program.
Will described the dynamic between him and his coaches and said: “It was just like, straight up
like a professional relationship. There's no difference between my coaches and my job, the only
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 72
difference is my coaches can scream at me and talk shit.” Jake said the relationship between him
and his coach was based on his on-field production. He indicated that if he did not perform well
in a game, his Head Coach would have a “weird attitude” and treat him differently than he would
after a strong performance.
It came up repeatedly that coaches ignored academics and career development, and only
cared about players’ on-field contributions. Michael talked about how some coaches were more
subtle with their disregard for academics than others. He said that some coaches would “at least
try to play the game” and act like they cared a little bit. However, he also described how other
coaches would tell student-athletes directly that they were not at CPU for school but rather for
football. Michael stated: “You have some coaches that literally would say, and this is word for
word, ‘you're not here to play school, you’re here to play ball.’ So, you had them type of coaches
too that really didn't care about your school, just wanted you to be ready for Saturday.”
Despite this dynamic, participants expressed that there were certain times when coaches
would intervene and discuss academics with their players. This only happened, however, when
coaches were made aware of academic eligibility concerns that could jeopardize a student-
athletes’ ability to play football. Jake said:
Rarely, would you hear about academic problems unless you were failing and might be
ineligible for game…so they had to reinforce it and try to make sure that you can get the
grades so you can produce on the field.
There were other times, usually once per semester, where coaches would highlight various
players’ academic achievements in front of the team. Participants indicated that, when this
happened, coaches always celebrated the accomplishments of prominent white players while
ignoring Black players with similar academic achievements. Chad stated, “They were able to
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 73
always keep [white players] honored in team meetings. They always made sure, somehow,
someway, it was a white captain or white quarterback.” Michael, who earned a bachelor’s and
master’s degree while playing football at CPU, said he never got acknowledged publicly for his
academic achievements despite outperforming many of his white teammates who were routinely
publicized for academic success. Michael said:
At one point, graduating early was the biggest thing you could do in the [football]
building. And when I did it, nobody was talking about it. But if my white teammates did
it, it was ‘oh my God he's so smart. He's gonna be so great. He's doing this and doing
that.’ Putting them on the wall and the screens and the monitors [in academic spaces].
But when I did it, it was kind of like ‘oh yeah, congrats.’ So, I just quickly learned that I
couldn't take nothing personal, it was just all a business.
Michael believes that his academic achievements were overlooked because, as he put it, he’s a
Black kid from the inner city who coaches looked at as nothing more than a football player that
should be happy to have “made it to college.”
Most participants agreed that coaches rarely expressed interest in a student-athletes’
wellbeing outside of football. Michael stated that, as long as players weren’t getting in trouble or
doing something that would jeopardize their ability to play, coaches weren’t concerned.
Participants noted that, in the rare times that coaches did show interest in their wellbeing outside
of football, it was usually motivated by something that related back to their on-field
performance. For example, Jeremy talked about coaches expressing interest in his personal
wellbeing and said: “It was minimal, but some of them would, you know, check on you and see
how you’re doing. [The] sad thing is, guys don't realize that [coaches] might just be checking on
you just to make sure you're good enough to do what you came here to do.”
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 74
The disregard for academic pursuits, career development, and student-athletes’ personal
wellbeing, as well as on-field production determining the way coaches treat student-athletes, is
why participants expressed that their relationships with coaches were strictly about “business.”
Summary of Findings
This chapter presented an overview of the data collected from interviews with 10 former
Black male revenue general student-athletes regarding their career development experiences and
how anti-Black racism influenced their career development. Findings indicate that involvement
in football compromised participants’ academic pursuits and career development almost
immediately upon arriving to campus and continued to be barrier to their educational success and
career maturation throughout their careers. For some participants, coaches and academic staff
were found to be influential in the development of efficacy beliefs. Participants reported being
both positively and negatively affected by coaches and academic staff’s perception of the
academic and career potential. Additionally, Career development efforts by the athletic
department were found to be insufficient, which was primarily driven by what participants
described as a pervasive apathy toward the educational development of Black male revenue
generating student-athletes.
The final chapter is an overview of the significant findings which will be connected to the
two theoretical frameworks. Also, recommendations for practice and future research will be
presented.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 75
Chapter 5: Discussion, Recommendations, and Conclusion
As illustrated in Chapter’s One and Two, the educational experiences of Black male
revenue generating student-athletes have garnered significant academic inquiry. Literature
uncovers that Black male revenue generating student-athletes are routinely subjected to
unfavorable academic outcomes compared to their peers (Harper, 2018). This is reflected in
graduation data as Black male revenue generating student-athletes graduate at lower rates than
undergraduate students overall, student-athletes overall, and their white teammates at nearly
every institution with major intercollegiate athletics (Harper et al., 2013). While the academic
underachievement of Black male revenue generating student-athletes has been widely
investigated, there’s a need for studies that critically examine their career development
experiences.
As such, this qualitative study examined the career development experiences of former
Black male revenue generating student-athletes and the ways that anti-Black racism influenced
their career behavior. Their narratives are important to better understand the educational
experiences of this population and how they perceive racism within a commercialized
intercollegiate athletics environment. It also gives insight into ways that coaches and academic
staff shape Black male revenue generating student-athletes’ educational experiences, both
directly and indirectly, through practices and interactions that often seem meaningless but exert
significant influence over academic and career development. The purpose of this chapter is to
answer the research questions and review the data and their connection to the conceptual
frameworks. The chapter will end with recommendations and concluding remarks.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 76
Discussion of Findings
This section contains a discussion of the data that assist with answering the research
questions. This study sought to understand the career development experiences of former Black
male revenue generating student-athletes at California Pacific University and how anti-Black
racism within the revenue generating environment of major intercollegiate athletics influences
their career behavior. The 10 participants all participated in football at CPU, graduated within the
last five years, and identify as Black. Data were collected through semi-structured Zoom
interviews. Several key findings emerged from interview data was well as numerous themes and
subthemes. The key findings were as follows, Key Finding 1: False hope of a meaningful
education. Themes that emerged from Key Finding 1 are a) Promise of meaningful education is
compromised with academic major selection process, b) Pervasive apathy toward Black football
student-athletes’ educational pursuits, and c) Insufficient career development programming. Key
Finding 2: The attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of coaches and academic staff largely shape
Black football student-athletes’ educational experiences. Themes that emerged from Key Finding
2 are a) Capacity for coaches and academic staff to impact students’ efficacy beliefs, and b)
Black football student-athletes are seen as intellectually inferior and inherently problematic in
academic spaces. Key Finding 3: Football is a job not an extracurricular activity.
This research illuminates that anti-Black racism is embedded within the fabric of
universities and athletic departments through policies and practices that contribute to the
perpetual exploitation of Black male revenue generating student-athletes. This study will add to
the literature and should provide insight for policy makers, university administrators, athletic
directors, and student-affairs practitioners that work with Black male revenue generating student-
athletes.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 77
Research Question One: How did involvement in intercollegiate athletics impact career
planning and career exploration during college for Black male revenue generating student-
athletes?
Interview data are clear that involvement in football shaped the educational experiences,
especially career development, of former Black football student-athletes at CPU. Football
influenced participants’ career development in three primary ways: 1) through stereotyping from
coaches and academic staff about intellectual abilities and educational aspirations, 2) the
business-like environment of football dominated participants’ lives, and 3) by rendering
academic pursuits and career goals unimportant.
Stereotyping from Coaches and Academic Staff
Nearly every participant indicated that they experienced stereotyping based on their
status as a football student-athlete, as a Black man, or as a combination of both. Participants
reported being stereotyped as intellectually inferior, illegitimate students, and/or as being
uninterested in and unqualified for career-related activity involvement. These views about Black
football student-athletes are a reflection of anti-Black racism which Ross (2020) referred to as
society’s disdain and disregard for Black existence. These stereotypical narratives about Black
football student-athletes’ abilities and aspirations perpetuate anti-Blackness as they’re used by
athletic departments and university personnel to justify their disregard for Black football student-
athletes’ academic and career-related underachievement (Dancy et al., 2013). The presence of
anti-Black racism within their educational environment is detrimental Black football student-
athletes’ career development as it's likely to weaken their efficacy beliefs and stifle the
development of career-related interests and goals. This will be discussed further in subsequent
sections that connect interview data to the theoretical frameworks.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 78
Business-like Football Environment Dominated Participants Lives
Throughout the interviews, most participants said something like: “it’s just a business” or
“coaches only care about what you can do for them” or “they brought me here to play football.”
These statements reflect participants’ keen awareness of their position as recruited athletes who
were brought to campus because coaches believed that their athletic talent would benefit the
football program. This created a relationship between participants and their environment
(coaches, academic staff, and athletic administrators) where they were more like employees in a
commercial enterprise than students participating in an extracurricular activity. Given this
arrangement, participants indicated that football dominated nearly every part of their lives and
left them with little to no time or energy for career-related activity involvement.
With football positioned as their main priority, participants felt like being a football
student-athlete put them at an inherent career development disadvantage compared to nonathletes
despite them being among the most well-known and highly celebrated members of the CPU
student body. Will stated: “Even though you're an athlete, when it comes to [career
development], most normal students have a better chance because they tend to have more access
because you're so busy working out.” The dominance that football had over nearly every part of
participants’ lives represented both structural and cognized barriers to career development. This
will also be discussed in a subsequent section.
Academic Pursuits and Career Goals are Unimportant in Football Environment
With Black football student-athletes finding themselves in an educational environment
characterized by commercialization and anti-Black racism, participants’ academic and career
aspirations were essentially disregarded by coaches and academic staff. This was evident in the
academic major selection process where nine out of ten participants’ majors were recommended
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 79
to them by academic staff, with many being steered away from their desired major because it
was perceived by staff as too difficult while being pushed towards the “easiest” majors and
“quickest route” to graduation.
Henry talked about having long-held goals of getting an engineering degree, but coaches
and academic staff repeatedly discouraged it by minimizing his academic abilities and urging
him to pick a different major. He expressed frustration over his lack of academic autonomy and
for staff not supporting his educational goals, saying:
They would try to down me. They couldn't just give me the credit for being who I was,
being a smart intuitive young man. They tried overly hard to make it seem as if they
knew what was best for me to the point to where they tried to down who I was because I
stood so strongly on what I knew and what I wanted.
Henry went on to say that, with academic staff relentlessly pushing back and dissuading him
from taking engineering classes, he eventually gave in to their requests and found an easier
major. He stated:
When it came to trying to get in those classes, they always made it seem like I didn't
qualify or [there were] excuses made for me not to be able to take those classes. So, I
honestly just made a reality decision and said, ‘Sociology is going to be the one that I can
finish the quickest.’
Unfortunately, this was a common experience amongst participants. These practices basically
stripped participants of their educational autonomy and rendered their career aspirations
irrelevant.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 80
Research Question Two: How do Black male revenue generating student-athletes perceive
their career development experiences in exchange for participation within a revenue
generating intercollegiate athletics environment that is characterized by anti-Blackness?
Participants overwhelmingly indicated that the athletic department sacrificed their
academic and career wellbeing by overprioritizing football and deemphasizing meaningful
educational pursuits. Participants expressed that academic staff were hyper-focused on NCAA
academic eligibility rather than promoting educational experiences that supported their academic
interests or career goals. Most participants felt like the athletic department’s career development
efforts were minimal and ineffective, especially when compared to the time and resources that
were put into football and academic eligibility. Participants indicated that career development
was only mandated two times per year which paled in comparison to football activities and
academic support that were often mandated up to six days per week. Some participants expressed
believing that robust academic resources were only in place because athletic departments, as well
as individual coaches, are financially incentivized to produce high eligibility and graduation
rates, which are closely monitored by the NCAA and can result in formal sanctions if not
appropriately maintained. Career development, on the other hand, isn’t measured by the NCAA
and cannot feasibly impact a coach or athletic department’s money, thus, there’s no way to
formally hold an athletic department accountable for failing to adequately prepare their student-
athletes for successful school-to-career transitions. With no formal incentive or accountability
structure in place to motivate athletic departments to meaningfully invest in career development,
participants found themselves in an educational environment where their most prominent
influences simply didn’t care about their career development.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 81
Participants described a pervasive apathy amongst athletic department personnel
regarding Black football student-athletes’ career development. Coaches and academic staff were
perceived as having “zero concern” for career development and only caring about football and
academic eligibility. Jeremy lamented the idea that coaches and academic staff seemingly always
ignored opportunities to make a positive impact in their students’ career development. He said:
It didn’t really benefit [us], not engaging in those conversations and helping people figure
out what they want to do. It honestly is not that hard. I could go have a conversation right
now with somebody [for] maybe like 30 minutes and I can see what they want to do and
find out their interests. You know, ‘if money wasn't an object, what would you like to
do?’ And it's not like it took anything away from the program to do it, they just didn't do
it.
Michael talked about how, with football dominating nearly every aspect of his life and limiting
his exposure to career relevant learning experiences in the process, he was left vulnerable and
significantly underprepared for career entry. He said:
When I graduated from [CPU] and I had my time in the [NFL] and it didn't work out, at
the time, it was like a huge reality check. It was like, ‘Damn, this is the real world now.
I’m not really prepared for it but I’m gonna have to get prepared.’ Because I didn't have
no guidance, I’d never done an interview for a job, or you know, done them type of
things and put myself out there. That knowledge has been as a ballplayer and everything
else was kind of taken care of for us.
As noted above, many participants indicated that their career development was impeded
by racist stereotyping about the Black football student-athletes’ intellectual abilities and career
potential. Henry indicated that, while Black football student-athletes’ career development was
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 82
under attack, staff were simultaneously facilitating meaningful career development opportunities
for their white teammates. He stated:
They think they're helping you by trying to just get you through things, but they're telling
you ‘Football, football, football!’ So, for the ones that don't make it in football, at the end
of day, they have no [career] development because everyone was so focused on just
football. And I’m telling you, this is the Black kids. The Black kids [are] the one’s they
tell ‘Football, football, football, football!’ They don't tell them white kids that. White kids
get that [business] card and they start developing them, they start working with them.
You see them start having internships and phone calls with these people. [With] Black
kids, it’s ‘No, focus on football, you focus on football.’ Literally this is what it was.
The athletic department’s apathy and disregard for Black football student-athletes’ career
wellbeing while reaping the benefits of their athletic talent uncovers a culture of anti-Black
racism that sees Black football student-athletes exploited and rendered disposable at the
conclusion of their athletic contributions.
Conceptual Frameworks
Two conceptual frameworks were used to guide the study of former Black male revenue
generating student-athletes’ experiences with career development and the impact of anti-Black
racism on career behavior: (a) Social Cognitive Career Theory and (b) Critical Race Theory.
SCCT was utilized to explain the sociocognitive determinants of career behavior. Critical Race
Theory was used to examine the ways that racism is facilitated by institutions (like universities
and athletic departments) and to foreground racism as it is key to explaining the educational
experiences of Black male revenue generating student-athletes. Interest convergence, an
analytical component of CRT, was also utilized to explain the athletic department’s lack of
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 83
commitment to improving the career development of Black male revenue generating student-
athletes.
Social Cognitive Career Theory
SCCT provides a conceptual framework for understanding how career-related interests
develop, career choices are made and implemented, and performance levels are attained. It
conceptualizes interest development, choice behavior, and performance as three interconnected
models related to efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and goal mechanisms (Lent & Brown,
2002). While the core of SCCT emphasizes the cognitive factors that regulate career behavior, it
also provides a “second layer of theoretical analysis” by considering the additional components
of career-related learning experiences, one’s social and cultural environment, and person inputs
like race and gender (Lent et al., 1994). Learning experiences, which are influenced by race (and
racism), shape skills and abilities and serve as the foundation upon which efficacy beliefs and
outcome expectations are formed. SCCT envisions race as a precursor of sociocognitive
variables as it impacts type and quality of one’s learning experiences. Environmental factors are
believed to moderate key theoretical relations of career choice (Lent et al., 1994).
Race and Interest Development
SCCT hypothesizes that career interests arise out of efficacy and outcome beliefs which
are preceded by race (and racism) through differential learning experiences that bias access to
efficacy information (Lent et al., 1994). In the current study, racism and its relation to
differential learning experiences are clear throughout the data. For example, participants reported
experiencing microaggressions from coaches and academic staff about their academic and
career-related potential. These microaggressions manifested as low expectations about
intellectual abilities, hyper-monitoring in academic spaces, apathy toward meaningful
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 84
educational experiences, and invisibility of Black student-athletes’ academic achievements.
Messages about skills and abilities, also known as social persuasion, are key sources of efficacy
information. For Black football student-athletes, these messages are often microaggressions that
can threaten efficacy beliefs and stifle interest development.
Participants reported being limited in their academic major selection, with many
expressing that academic staff steered them away from rigorous majors and STEM-related fields
while pushing them towards “easy” social science degrees. These practices limit Black football
student-athletes’ opportunities to for vicarious learning from professors and classmates as well as
opportunities for skill development in their desired field of study. Learning from vicarious others
and activity involvement represent two primary sources of efficacy information and are critically
important to the development of career-related interests.
Participants also reported being excluded from certain career development opportunities
with donors and powerful alumni that were afforded to their white teammates. This further
limited Black football student-athletes’ opportunities for skill development, vicarious learning,
and positive social persuasion. Michael talked about coaches and academic staff facilitating
career development opportunities for his white teammates that always seemed unavailable to
Black football student-athletes. He said:
They had them little secret meetings. We always wondered how they keep meeting in the
building and getting these different internships that’ll take off when they get done. Where
[were] we? I'm one of the guys who’s always in a building and putting up [good]
numbers in terms of my academic success…I'm worthy of meeting with someone.
Black male revenue generating student-athletes are situated within an environment of
anti-Black racism where they are seen as unfit for meaningful educational pursuits and career-
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 85
related activity involvement. With negative messaging about their intellectual abilities, limited
exposure to career relevant learning experiences, and minimal opportunities for skill
development, Black male revenue generating student-athletes are significantly disadvantaged
when it comes to accessing “sources of information necessary for developing strong efficacy
percepts” (Lent et. al, 1994, p. 105). This leaves Black football student-athletes extremely
susceptible to weak efficacy and outcome beliefs, which limits interest development,
compromises goal-mechanisms, and lowers the likelihood of sustained career-related activity
involvement.
Contextual Influences and Career Choice
SCCT hypothesizes that (choice) goals arise out of career interests. Career goal setting is
believed to promote activity involvement and increase the likelihood of implementing career
plans (Lent & Brown, 1996). Contextual influences are believed to moderate the theoretical
relations of interests to career goals and career goals to actions. Lent et al. (1994, p. 107) assert
that “interest-goal and goal-action relations will tend to be stronger among persons who perceive
beneficial environmental conditions (e.g., presence of ample support, few barriers) and weaker
when environmental conditions are perceived as less favorable.” This view highlights an
individual’s active role in interpreting environmental inputs. Interview data reveals that
participants overwhelmingly perceived their environment as unfavorable, which, according to
SCCT, is detrimental to career goal setting and hinders career-related action.
As noted above, participants experienced microaggressions from coaches and academic
staff who viewed them as unqualified college students that were unconcerned with their own
education and career development. These microaggressions undermine the career development
of Black football student-athletes because, if internalized, they can dissuade individuals from
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 86
expressing career goals and acting on career plans. Participants also indicated having business-
like relationships with coaches that more closely resembled boss-employee relations than
mentor-mentee. This meant that coaches only cared about grades as they related to academic
eligibility because they were almost singularly focused on participants’ on-field contributions
and disregarded their educational experiences. Illustrating this point, Jeremy said: “I don't think
anybody that I met, their first thought was, ‘Dang, I wonder what this kid wants to do when he
gets out of school.’ [Coaches] want to see [that] you're doing well enough to play and benefit
them in their liking for the program.” This kind of stereotyping and commodification represents
significant environmental impediments to career development for Black male revenue generating
student-athletes because they stifle key sociocognitive career choice processes.
In addition to perceiving environmental conditions as unfavorable, participants expressed
that their daily schedule was a major obstacle to career development because it left virtually no
time to engage in career relevant learning experiences. Most participants indicated that they were
required to be at the athletic facility multiple times per day for football activities, as well as
attend daily academic support, which then made it nearly impossible to find a job or internship
that lined up with their availability. To that end, Henry said: “You kind of had to pick and choose
between football and actually choosing a career to start developing yourself.”
The combination of microaggressions about capabilities, disregard for educational
pursuits, feelings of commodification, and scheduling obstacles created an extremely
unfavorable environment for Black football student-athletes’ career development. Under these
conditions, SCCT makes it clear that the theoretical relations of career choice are greatly
compromised which lessens the likelihood that Black male revenue generating student-athletes
will translate career interests to goals and career goals to actions.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 87
Critical Race Theory
CRT was used in this study to foreground racism and highlight ways that anti-Blackness
is perpetuated in higher education and intercollegiate athletics. CRT emphasizes the experiential
knowledge of people of color and employs methodologies like storytelling to place their voice at
the center of the analysis (Yosso et al., 2001). CRT challenges deficit-informed ideologies in
education and seeks to validate the experiences of students of color (Yosso, 2005). Donnor
(2005) asserts that CRT provides a lens through which scholars can “better recognize and more
fully understand the forces that have constructed a system in which African American male
athletes are cheered on the field by wealthy alumni and powerful fans while at the same time
denied opportunities to earn the degree that could lead to wealth and power of their own” (p. 63).
Interest Convergence
A component of CRT that is particularly useful in this analysis is the interest convergence
construct. Interest convergence “articulates how race is an underwriting factor in most political,
social and educational decisions” (Donnor, 2005, p. 59). Scholars contend that those in the
majority rarely advocate for the advancement of people of color if it does not serve their own
self-interests (Delgado, 1995; Harper, 2009). Harper (2009) suggested that many white
university and athletic stakeholders “must be made aware of the overall benefit to the institution
(and in some instances, to themselves) before moving forward a serious strategic agenda to
improve educational outcomes for [B]lack male student-athletes” (p. 31).
The application of interest convergence to this study illustrates that the university and
athletic department failed to deliberately engage in efforts to improve the career maturation of
Black football student-athletes because there is no tangible financial incentive tied to career
development. As previously noted in this paper, academic eligibility and graduation are
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 88
monitored by the NCAA, through APR and GSR, and coaches and athletic programs are subject
to sanctions if ratings fall below a certain level. Additionally, many coaches have APR and GSR
bonuses included in their contracts, meaning they receive direct financial compensation for
student-athletes’ academic achievements. As such, athletic departments invest millions of dollars
into academic resources that support student-athletes through NCAA academic eligibility and
graduation. However, given that no accountability or incentive structures exist for career
development, universities and athletic departments turn a blind eye when Black male revenue
generating student-athletes exhaust their athletic eligibility and leave campus completely
unprepared for a successful school-to-career transition. Unfortunately, according in the interest
convergence construct, university and athletic department leadership will likely not make an
authentic commitment to improving the career development of Black male revenue generating
student-athletes until it is clear that they will receive a tangible return on their investment.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Practice
This section offers recommendations to address the lack of career development among
Black male revenue generating student-athletes. Recommendations are for university leadership,
athletic directors, heads of Student-Athlete Academic Support and Student-Athlete Development
departments, and student affairs practitioners working directly with Black male revenue
generating student-athletes.
Recommendation 1 – Acknowledge the positionality of Black male revenue generating
student-athletes and eliminate transactional practices
Effectively addressing issues of career development among Black male revenue
generating student-athletes requires acknowledging the contradictions between the espoused
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 89
values and intentions of athletic departments and the educational realities that exist for Black
male revenue generating student-athletes. It has been established in this study as well as in the
literature (Comeaux, 2018; Dancy et al., 2018) that principles of anti-Blackness are woven
through the fabric of universities and athletic departments. For example, the significant
overrepresentation of Black males in revenue generating sports compared to the general
undergraduate student population (Harper, 2018) reflects an accumulation of Black bodies by
athletic departments for financial gain. When combined with disparate academic outcomes and
lack of meaningful career development for Black male revenue generating student-athletes, it
becomes clear that Black males are positioned as replaceable commodities within major
intercollegiate athletics and exploited for their athletic talent. As such, recommendations must be
accompanied by an understanding and acknowledgement of Black male revenue generating
student-athletes’ positionality within intercollegiate athletics and a commitment to eliminating
the transactional, exploitative nature of this relationship.
Recommendation 2 – Earmark funds specifically to improve the career development of Black
male revenue generating student-athletes
Athletic departments must be intentional about improving the career preparation of Black
male revenue generating student-athletes. This requires making additional funds available for
higher frequency, individualized, research-based career development programming.
It has been established numerous times throughout this paper that Black male revenue
generating student-athletes are the financial backbone of athletic departments, yet they struggle
to accrue the full benefits of an undergraduate education. Research is clear that this population
faces obstacles and disadvantages that undermine their academic experiences and stifle career
development. Outcome-data like GPA and graduation rates illustrate that Black male revenue
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 90
generating student-athletes disproportionately experience unfavorable academic outcomes.
Qualitative data from interviews and personal narratives highlight that Black male revenue
generating student-athletes face environmental conditions that are unfavorable for educational
success. Given these circumstances, it is imperative that athletic departments and universities
authentically commit to improving the career development of Black male revenue generating
student-athletes to get closer to delivering on the promise of a meaningful education in exchange
for their athletic talent. Failing to prioritize the post-college outcomes and career wellbeing of
Black male revenue generating student-athletes reflects a manifestation of anti-Blackness that
Carey (2019) referred to as marginal mattering, where Black students are only valued to the
extent that they can benefit the institution. Allocating additional resources toward the career
success of this population would be a way to demonstrate that the university and athletic
department recognizes the full humanity of Black male revenue generating student-athletes
rather than viewing them as disposable commodities and only valuing them for their athletic
contributions to the institution.
Recommendation 3 – Utilize research and data to guide career programming
Athletic departments should utilize a theory-to-practice model where career theories like
Social Cognitive Career Theory are used to inform career development programming. Too often
athletic departments rely on anecdotal information to inform career development programming
while ignoring the wide body of career-research that should be used to guide practitioners in
their work. While the typical career programming found in athletic departments, such as
informational sessions, guest speakers, and career fairs, have a place in career development, it is
clear that more thorough efforts, that are grounded in research, are needed to effectively address
the career development needs of Black male revenue generating student-athletes.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 91
Athletic departments should also utilize data to support their career development efforts.
Data that allow athletic departments to assess the effectiveness of their career programming and
track student outcomes as they relate to career programming are important and should inform
future career development efforts. Additionally, athletic departments should strive to keep
current data on student-athletes’ career interests and goals, work and internship history, and
where student-athletes are in their career maturation (which can be assessed via survey data or
annual/bi-annual interview data). Other data that can support career development programming
are data on student-athletes’ levels of engagement and frequency of attendance at athletic
department-administered career development programming. It is also important to collect career-
related data on student-athlete alumni so that athletic departments can track the post-college
career outcomes of their former student-athletes and include them when assessing the
effectiveness of athletic department career programming.
Recommendation 4 – Cultivate the “critical voice of the student-athlete”
Universities and athletic departments should create space for student-athletes, particularly
non-majority student-athletes like Black males in revenue sports, to articulate their experiences
within the athletics environment as well as the general campus community. Actively cultivating
their critical voice will help non-majority student-athletes feel like the athletic department is
invested in their wellbeing beyond sports, as well as gives athletic department leadership an
opportunity to include student-athletes’ perspectives when making decisions and carrying out
administrative actions like resource allocation. This is particularly important for Black male
revenue generating student-athletes as data illustrates that they’re among the most educationally
underserved student-athletes on college campuses (Harper et al., 2013; Harper, 2018).
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 92
Recommendations for Future Research
There is dearth of literature examining the career development experiences of Black male
revenue generating student-athletes, especially research that considers the impact of anti-
Blackness within higher education and intercollegiate athletics on career behavior. This study
provides a platform for future research as more investigation is required to formulate a clearer
picture about the influence of major intercollegiate athletics and anti-Black racism on Black male
revenue generating student-athletes’ career development.
Similar studies should be conducted at other institutions to allow researchers an
opportunity to compare data and uncover common themes and discrepant findings. It will be
helpful to understand similarities and differences between institutions, across athletic
conferences, and if institution-type, like public versus private, or rural versus urban, plays a
significant role. Future studies should aim to expand the sample population to increase
generalizability among Black male revenue generating student-athletes. To that end, Black men’s
basketball student-athletes should be included in future studies. While their experiences are
expected to be similar to those of Black football student-athletes, their unique experiences within
a major intercollegiate basketball environment are critically important to gain a thorough
understanding of Black male revenue generating student-athletes’ career development
experiences.
The academic major selection process emerged as an area that merits further
investigation. This study highlights how the promises of universities and athletic departments to
propel student-athletes to educational achievement and career preparation is broken almost
immediately through the academic major selection process. Future studies should thoroughly
explore Black male revenue generating student-athletes’ experiences with academic major
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 93
selection, including ways that major selection is used by athletic departments to deemphasize
education and perpetuate the exploitation of Black male revenue generating student-athletes.
Another area that calls for additional research is the role that coaches and academic staff
play in the formation of efficacy and outcomes beliefs. It emerged that, for some participants,
when academic staff expressed positive beliefs about their abilities, it gave them a sense of
confidence that allowed them to enter new academic spaces and persist in the face of adversity.
Other participants described experiencing microaggressions from coaches and academic staff and
talked about employing different strategies to neutralize negative messaging about their
potential. Further exploration into the ways in which Black male revenue generating student-
athletes make sense of messaging about their academic and career potential will provide deeper
insight into sociocognitive processes that determine academic and career behavior.
While Black male revenue generating student-athletes were the focus of this study,
additional research is needed that includes Black male student-athletes competing in non-revenue
sports, as well as Black female student-athletes. Both groups are situated within universities and
athletic departments that are characterized by anti-Blackness, thus, it’s extremely important to
examine the ways that anti-Black racism also impacts their educational experiences. This
research may uncover manifestations of anti-Blackness that football and men’s basketball
student-athletes are typically insulated from due to their high-profile status and close connection
to revenue generation.
Finally, this study produced recommendations for practice that included athletic
departments adopting a high frequency, individualized, research-based approach to career
development in order to more effectively address the career needs of Black male revenue
generating student-athletes. Additional studies should be done at sites where these
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 94
recommendations have been implemented, allowing researchers an opportunity to evaluate the
effectiveness of research-based interventions compared to generic, infrequent career support.
Conclusion
Universities and athletic departments need to better understand the career development
experiences of Black male revenue generating student-athletes in order to realize their missions
and more effectively support the actualization of all students’ aspirations. This study addresses a
gap in the literature regarding the career development of Black male revenue generating student-
athletes and how the environmental conditions of major intercollegiate athletics shapes their
career behavior. The use of CRT in this study as a theoretical framework helped to illuminate
how race is often a deciding factor in educational experiences and how racism is perpetuated
within intercollegiate athletics. CRT as a methodological approach allowed former Black male
revenue generating student-athletes to describe, in their own words, how the environment of
major intercollegiate athletics impacted their career behavior. Findings from this study should
inform practices and policies for athletic department administrators and student affairs
practitioners, as well as provide a platform for future research on the ways that anti-Black racism
within universities and athletic departments impact the educational experiences of Black student-
athletes. This research exposes higher education and intercollegiate athletics as transactional
spaces for Black male revenue generating student-athletes and illuminates the critical importance
of recognizing these students’ full humanity and valuing their educational potential.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 95
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Appendix A
Recruitment Email
Dear (Name),
My name is Howard Croom and I am a doctoral candidate in the Rossier School of Education at
the University of Southern California. I am conducting a research study as part of my
dissertation, which examines former Black Male Revenue Generating Student-Athletes and
their experiences with career development and preparing for life after college. You are cordially
invited to participate in the study.
If you agree, I will contact you to schedule a date and time for your individual interview. The
interview will be about 45-60 minutes long and will be audio-taped, with your permission.
Participation in this study is completely voluntary and your identity will remain confidential at
all times during and after the study.
If you have questions, please contact me at hcroom@usc.edu or (541) 908-2022.
Thank you for your participation,
Howard Croom
Doctoral Candidate – Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 112
Appendix B
Informed Consent Form
University of Southern California
Howard Croom; 3470 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles, CA 90089
INFORMED CONSENT FOR RESEARCH
Study Title: Career Development of Black Male Revenue Generating Student-Athletes
within an Environment of Anti-Black Racism
Principal Investigator: Howard Croom
Department: Rossier School of Education
INTRODUCTION
We invite you to take part in a research study. Please take as much time as you need to
read the consent form. You may want to discuss it with your family or friends. If you find
any of the language difficult to understand, please ask questions. If you decide to
participate, you will be asked to sign this form. A copy of the signed form will be
provided to you for your records.
DETAILED INFORMATION
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to explore the career development experiences of Black
male revenue generating student-athletes as well as how they perceive anti-Black
racism to have impacted their career development. Our main objective is to gain a
deeper understanding of the educational experiences of Black male revenue generating
student-athletes, to inform best practices and policies, and ultimately improve
educational outcomes for this population. You are invited as a possible participant
because you are a former revenue generating student-athlete who identifies as Black
and has firsthand experience with the phenomena being examined. About 12
participants will take part in the study.
PROCEDURES
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 113
• Participant interviews will be semi-structured virtual interviews
• An interview protocol will be used to ensure that interviews remain focused on the
phenomena of investigation, and to maximize consistency between interviews. •
Interviews will be approximately 60 minutes in length, and open-ended questions will be
utilized with the goal of producing rich, descriptive data about participants’ knowledge,
feelings, and experiences
• Interviews will be audio recorded with permission
• After a preliminary analysis of the data, participants will have an opportunity to
review the researcher’s notes to ensure that participants’ point of views were
captured accurately.
RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
Possible risks and discomforts you could experience during this study include possible
negative feelings or resentment towards your college or university.
BENEFITS
There are no direct benefits to you from taking part in this study. However, your
participation in this study may help us learn more about the educational experiences of
Black male revenue generating student-athletes.
PRIVACY/CONFIDENTIALITY
We will keep your records for this study confidential as far as permitted by law.
However, if we are required to do so by law, we will disclose confidential information
about you. Efforts will be made to limit the use and disclosure of your personal
information, including this research study to people who are required to review this
information. We may publish the information from this study in journals or present it at
meetings. If we do, we will not use your name.
The University of Southern California’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and
Human Subject’s Protections Program (HSPP) may review your records.
Your responses, which are also called “data’, and will be destroyed once the interviews
are complete. Participant responses will be coded with a false name (pseudonym) and
maintained separately. The audiotapes will be destroyed once they have been
transcribed.
Your data and/or specimens collected as part of this research will not be used or
distributed for future research studies, even if all your identifiers are removed.
ALTERNATIVES
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 114
An alternative would be to not participate in this study.
PAYMENTS / COMPENSATION
You will not be compensated for your participation in this research.
VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION
It is your choice whether to participate. If you choose to participate, you may change
your mind and leave the study at any time. If you decide not to participate, or choose
to end your participation in this study, you will not be penalized or lose any benefits
that you are otherwise entitled to.
CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, complaints, or think the research has hurt you,
please reach out to the researcher, Howard Croom hcroom@usc.edu, or the faculty
advisor, Alan Green, at alangree@rossier.usc.edu
This research has been reviewed by the USC Institutional Review Board (IRB). The
IRB is a research review board that reviews and monitors research studies to protect
the rights and welfare of research participants. Contact the IRB if you have questions
about your rights as a research participant or you have complaints about the
research. You may contact the IRB at (323) 442-0114 or by email at irb@usc.edu.
STATEMENT OF CONSENT
I have read (or someone has read to me) the information provided above. I have been
given a chance to ask questions. All my questions have been answered. By signing this
form, I am agreeing to take part in this study.
Name of Research Participant Signature Date Signed (and Time*)
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 115
Appendix C
Interview Protocol
Introductory Protocol:
I’d like to thank you once again for being willing to participate in the interview aspect of my
study. My role is to serve as the interviewer for this study. I am a doctoral student at the
University of Southern California conducting research in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctorate in Educational Leadership.
Essentially, this document states that: (1) data collected will be held confidential and will not be
shared with other students on campus or with faculty/staff, (2) you are free to withdraw from the
study and discontinue participation at any time without penalty. Answering these questions
should not take longer than an hour.
Before we get started, I would like to provide you a general overview of my study and give you
the chance to ask any questions you might have about participating in this interview. The topic of
my study will focus on the career development experiences of former Black male revenue
generating student-athletes while in college as well as their perceptions of how racism may have
impacted their career development. The research questions in this study will focus on the
experiences and perceptions of individuals, therefore, to guide this study from a qualitative
approach, the following research questions were developed:
1. How did involvement in intercollegiate athletics impact career planning and career
exploration during college for Black male revenue generating student-athletes?
2. How do Black male revenue generating student-athletes perceive their career
development experiences in exchange for participation within a revenue generating
intercollegiate athletics environment that is characterized by anti-Blackness?
Interview Questions:
Context
1. What was your major at CPU?
2. Explain how you decided on your major and who helped you make that decision.
3. Describe your initial perceptions about attending CPU?
4. What were your initial perceptions about career development and preparing for life after
CPU?
Experience with Academic Support as a student-athlete
1. Describe your experience with academic support through ASA (Academics for Student
Athletes)
2. What academic services were available through ASA?
a. How much were you required to utilize these services?
3. What were your perceptions of the academic support staff?
4. How do you believe the academic staff perceived you and your academic capabilities?
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF BLACK MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES 116
5. How, if at all, did this impact your academic confidence while at CPU?
Experience with Career-Related Support as a Student-Athlete
1. Describe your experience with career exploration and career planning at CPU. 2. How
did being a student-athlete influence your career exploration and career planning? 3. What
career services were available to support your career development at CPU? a. What did
you use, why didn’t you or did you utilize support?
b. How much were you required to you utilize career services?
c. How much did coaches and academic support staff encourage you to utilize career
services?
4. How do you believe coaches and academic support personnel perceived your career-related
skills and abilities?
a. What kinds of jobs or careers did coaches and academic staff think were aligned with
your skill set?
5. How, if at all, did these perceptions impact your career-related confidence while at CPU?
Exploitation
1. Describe the ways in which your coaches supported or cared for your personal wellbeing
outside of football
2. Describe the ways in which your coaches were involved with your career development at
CPU
a. How, if at all, did your coaches support or encourage your career exploration while at
CPU?
b. In your opinion, how important was ‘preparing for life after football’ to your
coaches?
c. What did your coaches do to support your school-to-career transition or help propel
you to a successful post-college career?
3. Describe the academic staff’s involvement with your career development at CPU. a. How,
if at all, did the academic staff support or encourage your career exploration while at
CPU?
b. In your opinion, how important was ‘preparing for life after football’ to the academic
staff?
c. How was career development prioritized compared to athletic eligibility?
4. In your opinion, how did your career development experiences compare to that of your
teammates?
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
This qualitative study examined the career development experiences of Black male revenue generating student-athletes with particular emphasis on the ways that anti-Black racism within universities and athletic departments influence career behavior. Participants were 10 Black, former football student-athletes from California Pacific University who graduated within the last five years. Two conceptual frameworks were used to guide this study: Social Cognitive Career Theory and Critical Race Theory. Several key findings emerged from the data, including numerous themes and subthemes. The key findings were as follows, Key Finding 1: False hope of a meaningful education. Themes that emerged from Key Finding 1 are a) Promise of meaningful education is compromised with academic major selection process, b) Pervasive apathy toward Black football student-athletes’ educational pursuits, and c) Insufficient career development programming. Key Finding 2: The attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of coaches and academic staff largely shape Black football student-athletes’ educational experiences. Themes that emerged from Key Finding 2 are a) Capacity for coaches and academic staff to impact students’ efficacy beliefs, and b) Black football student-athletes are seen as intellectually inferior and inherently problematic in academic spaces. Key Finding 3: Football is a job not an extracurricular activity.
Participants overwhelmingly indicated that university and athletic department stakeholders sacrificed their academic and career wellbeing by overprioritizing football and deemphasizing meaningful educational pursuits. Findings reveal that involvement in football influenced participants’ career development through three primary pathways: 1) stereotyping from coaches and academic staff about intellectual abilities and educational aspirations, 2) the business-like environment of football dominated participants’ lives, and 3) by deeming academic pursuits and career goals irrelevant in the football environment. The athletic department’s apathy and disregard for Black football student-athletes’ career wellbeing while reaping the benefits of their athletic talent illuminates a culture of anti-Black racism that sees Black football student-athletes exploited and rendered disposable at the conclusion of their athletic contributions.
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Croom, Howard III
(author)
Core Title
Career development of Black male revenue generating student-athletes within an environment of anti-Black racism
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Educational Leadership
Degree Conferral Date
2022-08
Publication Date
08/09/2022
Defense Date
08/09/2022
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
anti-Black racism,anti-Blackness,Black fungibility,Black male student-athletes,career development,college athletics,commodification,exploitation,Higher education,intercollegiate athletics' Division I,interest convergence,OAI-PMH Harvest,student-athletes
Format
application/pdf
(imt)
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Green, Alan (
committee chair
), Bolen, Kevin (
committee member
), Poon Tambascia, Tracy (
committee member
)
Creator Email
hcroom@usc.edu,hcroom88@gmail.com
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111376636
Unique identifier
UC111376636
Legacy Identifier
etd-CroomHowar-11131
Document Type
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application/pdf (imt)
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Croom, Howard III
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Source
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(batch),
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
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The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.
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Tags
anti-Black racism
anti-Blackness
Black fungibility
Black male student-athletes
career development
college athletics
commodification
exploitation
intercollegiate athletics' Division I
interest convergence
student-athletes