A Systems Approach to Exploring Belonging and Successful College Outcomes of Black Student-Athletes at Predominantly White Division I Institutions

Abstract

The U.S. college sports system is a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than a century, higher education institutions and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have found ways to financially capitalize on the commercial appeal of college sports while preventing the student-athletes from sharing in the profits. Although the amateurism policies that restricted athletes from earning money have recently changed, the culture that prioritizes their athletic successes over academic goals has not. This pressure to win at all costs leads to exploitation of the Black student-athletes (BSAs) who comprise most of the revenue-producing teams at predominantly White schools (PWIs). Understanding BSAs’ academic and athletic experiences at PWIs requires a systems approach that examines how different systems influence their academic outcomes and sense of belonging.Using Bronfenbrenner and Morris’s (2007) Bioecological Model of Human Development as the overarching framework, this 3-paper qualitative dissertation explores how precollege experiences and intersecting identities shape interactions in BSAs’ microsystems and their sense of belonging at PWIs. The purpose of paper 1 is to understand how agency from precollege experiences influences Black football student-athletes’ (BFSAs) perception of the racial climate and sense of belonging at PWIs. Paper 2 explores how Black female basketball student-athletes’ (BFBSAs) intersectional identities impacts their academic experiences, self-efficacy and belonging. Paper 3 seeks to understand how current Division I (DI) policies influence football and women’s basketball coaches’ ability to provide holistic education to their student-athletes. Phenomenological interviews with Black former football players in paper 1 revealed that precollege experiences and attitudes influenced their decisions to attend PWIs over historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), shaped their perception of the racial climate at PWIs, and helped them develop agency to succeed, but finding belonging often depended on holistic experiences. In paper 2, phenomenological interviews with Black former women’s basketball players revealed how precollege academic identity, intersectionality, and coaching ethos impacted academic self-efficacy and belonging. In paper 3, in-depth interviews with football and women’s basketball coaches generated a theory of holistic coaching and revealed the challenges coaches face in providing a holistic education, including the changing student-athlete population and the transactional nature of college sports, and how they support the student-athletes of color on their teams. College athletics is a time-honored tradition that will continue to become more transactional as the financial stakes increase. Head coaches depend on the BSAs they recruit to elevate their athletic programs by delivering national championships to their institutions. The college sports system’s expectations that coaches prioritize athletic achievement over academic success are detrimental to BSAs’ academic experiences and belonging at PWIs. It is time for institutions to appreciate BSAs’ contributions beyond their athletic talents and provide the necessary resources to ensure their holistic development and successful outcomes. This 3-paper dissertation fills an essential gap in the literature on BSAs and makes recommendations to PWIs looking to improve their experiences.