THE PERCEPTIONS OF WRESTLING COACHES AND COLLEGE ADMINISTRATORS ABOUT THE IMPACT OF TITLE IX

Abstract

Title IX establishes in law equal opportunity for women in educational programs that receive financial support from the federal government. In higher education in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the misapplication of Title IX in college athletics is believed to have caused the termination of college wrestling programs that were otherwise successful programs. A review of the literature suggests an absence of research on Title IX and men’s varsity wrestling. This novel study included the perceptions of wrestling coaches and athletic administrators on Title IX in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which is nationally known for its participation in the sport of wrestling. A quantitative approach was selected because it afforded the opportunity to include a greater number of subjects than a qualitative study, and the opportunity to generalize the results to other states. The descriptive survey approach allowed subjects to respond to questions administered through an online survey, using the SurveyMonkey® platform and a new instrument called the Title IX Inventory (TIXI). The subjects for this study included college wrestling coaches, institution presidents, and athletic administrators. The data from 49 electronic SurveyMonkey® surveys completed by participants were analyzed. Findings from Pearson correlations revealed that coaches with more years of experience with wrestling are more negative in their perceptions of the impact of Title IX. A one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey tests showed that athletic administrators have a consistently more supportive attitude about the impact of Title IX. Suggestions for future research include studies on institutional presidents’ perceptions; college athletes’ perceptions; and various forms of Title IX compliance pursued by U.S. colleges and universities, specifically as it is applied to varsity athletics.