<p> The success of women as athletic administrators in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has not been able to be researched because very few women have held positions in athletic departments in the NCAA Division I, II and III schools. Women in athletic administration have been a major topic, but more importantly the career development of women into the position of athletic administration has limited research applied towards it. The inequitable amount of females in NCAA Division I, II and III school&rsquo;s athletic departments has continued to be an issue. The problem is that there is not an equitable amount of female athletic directors at NCAA Division I, II and III schools. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions and observations of school administrators regarding the hiring practices since women have been underrepresented in athletic administrator positions at NCAA Division I, II and III schools. A multiple-case study was considered appropriate because the benefits derived from more than one case were considerable. To gain insight into why there has been an inequitable amount of female athletic administrators at NCAA Division I, II and III schools, 10 athletic administrators from three southern states in the United States have consented to be interviewed. Interviewing was continued until data saturation was reached. Now add key findings to abstract and recommendations. The findings included: (a) the preparation to become an AD was strongly consistent among all participants including their sports backgrounds, educational achievements, and work experiences (b) the knowledge, skills, and ability to serve as AD were possible due to the preparation through education and being confident with their own decision making, and (c) participants emphasized self-confidence as important when they referenced their ability to approach confidently different scenarios while serving as AD and was part of what was needed to be successful. A future qualitative study may be required to study a complete athletic conference concerning the perceptions of female ADs on hiring practices in intercollegiate athletics.</p>

The underrepresentation of women executives in Major League Sports| A qualitative sequential phenomenological study

<p> The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the personal perceived stress levels of athletic coaches (n=731) in a large urban public school district in Florida in relation to win/loss records of the most recent athletic season; the study was performed utilizing the PSS-14 (Cohen, 1983). The responses to the survey queries were answered based on a 5-point Likert scale. Out of the 731 coaches who were approached with the survey, 97 participants completed the survey; however, there were four unusable surveys, leaving 93 useable surveys. The 93 surveys constituted a 13.3% portion of the population. The correlational analysis (p&lt; .05) of the responses for High stress scores indicated that these items for the entire group (n=93) of participants were significantly correlated with the win/loss records. Females (n=29) reported more High stress scores on Questions 1, 2, 3, 8, 12, and 14. Males (n=64) reported High Stress for Questions 1, 3, and 12. Questions 1, 3, and 12 were common to both Males and Females. The findings of the research study indicated that there is a relationship between the specific subsets of PSS-14 for two of the statements and the win/loss records for the district. This correlation showed that coaches recognize and attempt to cope with the stressors that they encounter in their day to day activities with regard to their win/loss records and attempt to minimize the effects of stress and worry about anticipated events, (e.g., possible future games, playoffs, tournaments, and other associated events in the high school athletic world). Success in managing these two components of coaching would augment the other components of the PSS-14 since emotional, physical, mental and psychological factors in coaching and playing a sport are closely tied together. Continued research into the infinite possibilities of education and coaching should provide a means to improve each district's performance in the education of youth. Athletics and fitness have existed as a concomitant of education since the earliest forms of education came into existence. The two faces of education and athletics should continue to be examined to profit the individual and the community. </p>