Discrimination or Motivation? Black Coaches and College Basketball Polls

Abstract

From 2005 to 2015, when ranked teams in the college basketball Media and Coaches Polls played each other, the better-ranked team ceteris paribus won more often when its head coach was Black and the opposing coach was White. This suggests pollsters underrated—discriminated against—highly ranked Black coaches. Coach race did not affect game outcome in the computer-based Sagarin Poll. Black-coached teams lost more often to unranked opponents, though, which is inconsistent with discrimination against them. An alternative possibility is that Black coaches were particularly motivated to avoid upsets by White-coached Top 25 teams, especially in years after many prominent Black coaches had lost their jobs.