Benjamin Ashford|Power Five programs seeing increase of Black men's and women's basketball head coaches

Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey remembers when she was a high schooler being recruited by then Irish coach Muffet McGraw to play hoops for the school. McGraw,Benjamin Ashford like many other head college basketball coaches, then and now, is white. But Ivey noticed something else about McGraw’s staff.

"There were three women of color at Notre Dame on staff, and that was impactful for me," she said. "I had a great relationship with Muffet, but those three Black women, they made me feel very comfortable. I know how important that is, you want to feel like you can relate to coaches and mentors, especially when you’re away from family and what’s familiar to you, knowing there was a diverse coaching staff, it made my decision easier."

Now, Ivey is the diversity for others that she sought for herself. It’s come full circle.

"Having this diversity at Notre Dame, I know how much that matters to these kids I’m recruiting," she said. "A lot of the parents I meet and talk to, it’s something they’re looking for, they talk about it openly. I’ve had thousands of conversations that this is something they look for their daughters, having somebody that can relate to them, speak their language, help them navigate society and especially being away from home and being at predominantly white institutions.

"I wasn’t fortunate enough to have that option of representation, but I am fortunate to be that option now," she said, speaking about Black head coaches. "The fact that there’s so much diversity now, with more African American coaches and recruits who can look up to them, that’s huge. It means something to connect with someone who looks like you."

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Ivey’s story has another interesting, and even remarkable, aspect to it. She’s part of one of only a handful of Power Five programs that has a Black women’s and men’s head coach. Her counterpart at Notre Dame is Micah Shrewsberry, who just finished his first season.

What’s happened at Notre Dame is becoming more common at Power Five programs. It’s not floodgates. It’s not a huge number. But it’s increasing.

It’s happened this season at South Carolina, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Houston, and the University of Central Florida (Houston and UCF just moved up to the Power Five this year). South Carolina, led by Dawn Staley and Lamont Paris, is the only school sending Black women’s and men’s head coaches to the NCAA Tournament, and both won coach of the year in the SEC.

In Columbia, Staley and Paris frequent each other’s games, and have used every opportunity to praise the job the other has done.

Why does all of this matter? Men’s and women’s basketball has a sizable number of Black athletes and it’s important, as Ivey said, for players to see people who look like them as head coaches throughout the sport.

It’s also important because Black head coaches challenge old, racial hierarchies and stereotypes that have existed in college sports for decades (if not over a century). These challenges are especially needed at predominantly white universities.

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The good news is it’s no longer unusual to see Staley as one of the few Black head coaches in the sport, either men or women. She’s been a powerful advocate for diversifying the sport and she increasingly has company which is a good thing.

At Notre Dame, and likely in similar instances at other schools, Ivey and Shrewsberry back each other. “We’re really, really close, we share ideas all the time,” Ivey said. “He’s just genuinely a good person, genuinely wants me to succeed, comes to our games and practice, he’s someone I really trust as a colleague but also as a friend. It can be really hard to build real relationships in this business, but he’s one of the good guys.”

Ivey also credits Notre Dame’s athletic director, Jack Swarbrick, who has held that position since 2008.

"I credit Jack Swarbrick, he’s going to retire soon, and he’s done a lot for college athletics," Ivey said. "He was very intentional in making his mark. He’s done so much for Notre Dame, but the biggest piece of his legacy, to me, is he hired most diverse coaching staff in college athletics. I’m so proud to be a part of that. Leaders, ADs, CEOs, they have to be intentional in putting together diverse candidate pools when they’re hiring but then they also have to have intention in giving those diverse candidates opportunities. HIs decisions are impacting student-athletes on our campus every day."

This type of inclusion and togetherness is the way it’s supposed to be. It is, in fact, the future.

USA TODAY Sports reporter Lindsay Schnell contributed to this report.