Indianaoplis ? The way Notre Dame went about replacing Tyrone Willingham had a greater affect on its minority hiring report card grade than its decision to fire the school’s first black football coach.

The result: The Fighting Irish received a B from the Black Coaches Assn.

“We look at the documented facts, and the firing is related to the overall picture,” said Keith Harrison, who conducted the study for the BCA. “But the grade is what they earned.”

South Carolina and Utah, however, were the only Division I schools that the BCA said failed to document their search process and joined three other schools that received F’s on the report card released Wednesday.

BCA executive director Floyd Keith again was disappointed by the results.

Of the 119 Division I-A football schools only three coaches – Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom, UCLA’s Karl Dorrell and Washington’s Willingham – are black. In Division I-AA, the plight is even worse. Indiana State’s Lou West is the only black head coach at a predominantly white university.

Keith believes the report card also indicates the trend is getting worse.

While 13 of 30 schools that made coaching changes in the last year received either an A or B, more than half earned average, below average or failing grades. Among those at the bottom end were LSU, Florida and Marshall.

Schools are evaluated on categories that include the percentage of minorities involved in the hiring process, the number of minority candidates who interviewed and the schools’ contacts with either Keith or the chairman of the NCAA’s Minority Opportunity and Interests Committee.

“This is worse, in average, than last year,” Keith said. “In society, a C means average. On this report card, it represents the status quo, and in terms of diversity that is unsatisfactory.”

When the report was released last fall, there were five black coaches in the Division I-A. That number was reduced by almost half when three coaches, including Willingham, were either fired or quit. Willingham later was hired by Washington, which also received a B.

Five schools – Indiana, Illinois, Ohio University, UNLV and Western Michigan – received A’s. Ohio and Western Michigan, both of the Mid-American Conference, were the only schools to receive an A in all five categories.

But five schools, including San Jose State and Southeast Louisiana, received F’s. Five others, including LSU, Florida and The Citadel, received D’s.

Indiana State, which hired West in January, received a C. It was given an F for its search committee, a grade that Harrison said meant no minorities were included on the committee.

“It’s very important to highlight the schools that received A’s and their best practices,” said Charlotte Westerhaus, NCAA vice president for diversity and inclusion. “It’s especially important, though, to realize they are in the minority. … It is an appalling situation.”

Keith repeatedly has urged recruits to use the report card as a gauge for school choices, and said the BCA would consider future legal action against universities if there was not significant improvement in next year’s report.

“The BCA hopes all future recruits of color give consideration to the schools that give consideration to people of color because then, and only then, will there be a change in the hiring process,” he said.