Women and minorities are losing ground with jobs in professional and college sports, reversing a trend toward greater diversity, according to a study released Monday.

Every professional sport had lower averages for employing women compared with the last Racial and Gender Report Card two years ago, and minority hiring slipped in pro and college sports, the study found.

“While we are creeping toward fair play, we still have a long road ahead,” said sports sociologist Richard Lapchick, author of the report published by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

Only baseball, the NBA and NHL improved their grades for minority hiring compared with the 2001 report. The 12th issue of the report card studied players, coaches and front office/athletic department employees of major league baseball, the NFL, NBA, NHL, WNBA, Major League Soccer and college sports. It found:

• Minorities lost ground in most of the top management positions in college and professional sports, including general managers, team vice presidents and college athletic directors.
• The percentage of black men playing college and pro sports continued its decade-long decline in all sports except college and pro basketball and college baseball.
• The percentage of international players continued to grow in major league baseball, the NBA, NFL and soccer.
• Women held less than 45 percent of the head-coaching positions for women’s college teams in all NCAA divisions.

The report covered the 2001-02 seasons in the NBA and NHL; 2001 in the NFL; 2002 in major league baseball, soccer, and the WNBA; and the 2000-01 academic year for colleges.

Two of the most noteworthy highlights from the report, Lapchick said, were that:

• Black Entertainment Television founder and CEO Robert Johnson was awarded the right to purchase the NBA’s new Charlotte franchise, which made him the first black majority team owner in pro sports.
• There was an all-time high of 24 head coaches/managers who were minorities in the three biggest pro leagues.

The best news for minority coaches was in the NBA, where blacks held a record 14 head coaching jobs in 2001-02.

The report issued grades in relation to patterns in society. For example, with minorities accounting for 24 percent of the population, an A was achieved if 24 percent of the positions were held by minorities.

The WNBA got the highest combined grade for race and gender at A-minus, the NBA got a B-plus, and the NCAA a B. Major league baseball, the NFL, NHL and Major League Soccer all received combined grades of C on the report card.

On race, the NBA led with an A; the WNBA, baseball and soccer each got a B-plus; the NCAA got a B; the NFL a B-minus; and the NHL a C.

On gender, the WNBA led with an A, followed by the NCAA with a B.