| Title IX, a federal law that was passed in 1972, ensured equitable treatment for women in any federally funded program. It affected educational institutions at every level (elementary, high school, higher education) and included areas such as admissions, facilities, financial assistance, and, most notably, athletics programs within those institutions. Today, through the enactment of Title IX, there are record numbers of women participating in athletics at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) institutions. Although increased participation by women at the athlete level has been realized, an examination of the number of female coaches for women and the number of female athletics administrators revealed a decrease in the number of women at the collegiate level employed at NCAA institutions. This mixed-method, two-phase study focused on 12 NCAA teams in the sport of women's basketball. Phase 1 was quantitative and utilized a questionnaire to gather data from study participants to identify their postgraduate career choices and the factors that affected their selections. The instrument included questions concerning each participant's opinions about the professions of collegiate coaching and athletics administration. Furthermore, it questioned the reason why they chose to enter one of these areas, or why they chose not to pursue one or both of the professions. The second phase was qualitative and involved follow-up phone interviews with a small group of self-selected participants from Phase 1. The interviews provided more in-depth data concerning the participants' feelings about collegiate coaching and athletics administration. |
