Disparities in Coaches’ Academic Incentives Raise Concerns Over Gender Equity
The first rounds of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are set to begin on Thursday and Friday, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in performance bonuses at stake for the coaches whose teams advance. Many of those coaches’ contracts also contain incentives to prioritize academics and help their players perform well in the classroom. Men’s coaches have the potential to earn far bigger academic bonuses than do women’s coaches in dozens of Division I programs, a discrepancy that legal experts say could expose colleges to employment-discrimination claims.