College sports bench women.

When it comes to college sports, white men continue to have a choke hold on most of the leadership positions, reported the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

A new 51-page report called "The 2005 Racial and Gender Report Card: College Sports" noted that only a tiny fraction of conference commissioners, ADs and school presidents were women or minorities in 2005.

"We've seen slow progress in college sports, but we still have a long way to go," said Professor Richard Lapchick, the report's author. "The main problem I see is that the top few positions continue to be held by white men."

Among the least diverse groups is conference commissioners, who wield a great deal of power in college sports. In Division 1-A, all commissioners were white males, while 25% of associate commissioners were women.

Women are making slight gains as athletics directors, increasing by 0.5% of the AD positions from 2004 to 2005. In 2005, women made up 7.8% of Division I ADs, 18.7% of Division II and 27.3% of Division III. They include six women Division I ADs who oversaw football programs and three who oversaw separate women's athletics departments.

Fewer than two-thirds of big-time women's basketball teams have women as head coaches. From 2004 to 2005, women actually lost jobs as head coaches of women's teams, dropping in Division I from 67.5% to 64.3%.

Women's track and cross-country also saw a 1.1% decrease in female coaches during the same time. ...