Coach Joel Beard invited by NCAA Coaches Academy

The NCAA has invited 26 football coaches who one day hope to be head coaches at NCAA colleges and universities to its NCAA Football Coaches Academy, May 27-29, in Indianapolis.  The Academy will be held in conjunction with the Black Coaches and Administrators Convention in downtown Indianapolis.

The Academy is designed to reinforce various aspects of securing, managing and excelling in head football coaching positions at the intercollegiate level.   The participants are current football coaches at NCAA colleges and universities who have up to eight years of experience coaching football.

The NCAA Diversity and Inclusion department administers the program, which prepares coaches for many of the situations and issues they will experience at the head coaching level through targeted program sessions and networking opportunities with current head coaches and athletics administrators.   The NCAA National Office does not have the authority to mandate hiring decisions at its member colleges and universities, but it provides the coaches with opportunities to further enhance their skills and exposes them to key decision makers at NCAA colleges and universities.

“We’re bringing 26 coaches to Indianapolis to reinforce specific areas of expertise that we know athletics directors and head coaches believe are critical when advancing through the coaching ranks,” said Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for Diversity and Inclusion.    “The coaches already have the Xs and Os under their belt and they are familiar with many of the skill sets we place emphasis on during the program.   We’re simply going to enhance their skills by providing them with information and feedback from some of the most successful coaches and athletics administrators from around the nation during the various program sessions.”

The following are the football coaches invited to the 2009 NCAA Football Coaches Academy:

***Joel Beard, offensive coordinator, Minnesota State University Moorhead 

NCAA staff, administrators in their respective fields of expertise and guest coaches lead all Academy sessions.   The Academy sessions focus on media training, networking, professional conduct skills and the academic landscape.   The Academy also links the coaches with athletics directors, current head coaches, athletics conference administrators, university officials and faculty, and business leaders, all of whom interact with head coaches at the university level.  

The NCAA began its Football Coaches Academy Program in 2004.  Of the current 119 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) head football coaches, seven are African-American, one is Pacific Islander, and one is Latino.  Out of a total of 582 football programs in Divisions I, II and III, only 3.9 percent are coaches are of color, excluding the historically black coaches and universities.