Lauren C. Hindman, Nefertiti A. Walker, Courtney Paulson, David Berri

Abstract: Unlike North American men’s professional sport leagues, where the majority of head coaches are white men, less than a third of Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) head coaches have been white men during the league’s history. Drawing from literature on racial and gender discrimination, we examined whether the race and gender of a head coach impacted firing decisions at the conclusion of WNBA seasons. Using data from 1997-2021, results suggest that Black women, Black men, and white women are all more likely to be fired than a white man coach after controlling for on-court performance. This demonstrates that even as sport organizations decrease access discrimination in their hiring practices, firing discrimination can still persist.

Keywords: Diversity, discrimination, coaching, women’s sports

Citation: Hindman, L. C., Walker, N. A., Paulson, C., & Berri, D. (2022). Firing discrimination of coaches in the most ‘inclusive’ league?: Evidence from the Women’s National Basketball Association. International Journal of Sport Management, 24(4), 256-265.

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