LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- University of Louisville president Neeli Bendapudi told the school's athletics board Friday morning that she had an "outstanding" conversation with former basketball player Butch Beard about minority representation in the department, and that she expects their discussions to continue.
Beard made headlines Wednesday when he sent an e-mail to Bendapudi asking that his name be removed from all university facilities and communications over frustration with the school's failure to hire more Black head coaches and top athletics administrators. Beard also expressed frustration at the university's failure to honor former All-American Wes Unseld, and what he described as a lack of outreach to former athletes.
"The university's commitment to young, Black men is far from what it should be in 2021," Beard wrote in an e-mail.
Beard was Kentucky's Mr. Basketball at Breckinridge County High before playing at U of L from 1966 to 1969, where he earned third-team All-American honors playing beside Unseld, before being the No. 10 overall pick in the NBA Draft. He went on to be an NBA All-Star in 1972 and help Golden State to an NBA championship in 1975. He broke into head coaching at Howard University in 1990, and coached the NBA's New Jersey Nets from 1994 to '96. He last coached at Morgan State from 2001 to '06.
When Louisville needed an acting head coach following Rick Pitino's departure in 2017, he volunteered to fill in, but was not considered.
On Friday, Bendapudi updated the board on her conversation and expected follow-up with Beard.
"I'm very grateful that I had an opportunity to do that," she said. ". . . This is a legend, somebody that we love, and I was sorry that that was my first communication with him."
Bendapudi apologized for a mix-up that caused the two not to speak on the day she received Beard's email. But the two spoke on Thursday.
"We had a wonderful conversation, which I'm very grateful for," Bendapudi said. "Many of you know that I specialize in consumer behavior, customer behavior. In fact, in my bio, it says that I study what makes people loyal, either to firms, or as employees. That's my life's work. Who are people loyal to and why? So one of the reasons I wanted to reach out immediately is that the letter showed me this is someone who cares deeply about the University of Louisville."
Bendapudi added that she believes, "The issues that Mr. Beard raises are very legitimate, and not just for us. . . . I assured Mr. Beard that I know we're not perfect, but that (athletics director) Vince (Tyra) and I are completely committed to this cause, and I have 100% faith that we are trying to do our very best. It doesn't mean we are there. There's a lot to improve upon."
Of Louisville's 17 head coaches in 23 varsity sports, only one is Black. Beard and others were critical when candidates of color didn't receive more serious consideration for job openings in men's basketball and football in recent years.
After their conversation on Thursday, Beard told WDRB's Rick Bozich that he'd had a good conversation with Bendapudi, "I hope things will start to change. But it doesn't change my stance. Not until I see change."
Bendapudi said she understands Beard's concern and welcomes his input, as well as that of other former players. She said she gave Beard her cell number and expects to have ongoing conversations.
"I want to acknowledge that Mr. Beard's criticism that we don't have enough head coaches that are black or brown is fair," she said. "It's not for lack of trying, is what I tried to explain. But that was something he brought up. Our other topics we left it at: let's continue to be in touch."
One of those topics was Unseld. Bendapudi said the university has been in talks with Unseld's family for a while looking for an appropriate way to honor him.
"Jasmine Farrier, our vice president of advancement, and I have been in contact with Mrs. Unseld and the family for a number of months and are talking about it, and there are a couple of people locally that I've had conversations with, Wade Houston, Junior Bridgeman," Bendapudi said. "I want you to know that when the idea (of honoring Unseld) was first brought to me, I immediately said yes. This is a great idea, to recognize someone who has brought such credit to the University of Louisville. I won't say more, but please understand that when these recognitions happen, you want the family and friends to all feel really good, and you have to respect their wishes with how we move forward."
Louisville athletics director Vince Tyra noted that there is always room for improvement, but that the department put a wide-ranging set of initiatives in place a couple of years ago to begin to address issues of the minority experience and representation in the department.
"I certainly was unaware that Butch had some of those feelings," Tyra said. "I've not spoken to him during my time here other than when we hired Chris Mack, we had an alumni event. I know that the legacy of some of those former athletes was on their mind, and us recognizing them. They had brought it to my attention, even back to my father's teams. So I'm well aware of the legacy of U of L basketball. We brought all the former players back at that time, including Butch, and we had a conversation at the time. But I'm happy to have Butch as part of the solution here, as we have a number of initiatives that started a couple of years ago.
"When we redid the goals and values of the athletic department, one of our goals was wrapped around celebrating diversity, equity and inclusion, and making sure we had intentional efforts for improvements there. And then inside of our core values that we've shared with the board, we specifically noted diversity, equity and inclusion specifically tied to people's backgrounds and ideals, and how that plays into us winning, all together. That has been our ideals. We do have a diversity, equity and inclusion committee within our department. … We have a 'SOAR,' group … Strategically Organized Against Racism . . . they also serve as diversity advocates when we have search committees, when we're looking at new positions, to make sure that we're running an honest process and that we're posting new positions across proper networks, whether it be minority opportunities or websites, or whether it be with the NCAA, which has created a portal for minority candidates for coaching or administrative positions. We have a number of initiatives going on. Ironically, we'd had it scheduled for a couple of months, I presented yesterday to the CODER group on campus, which is our diversity and racial equality leadership group, 50 or so people in attendance, and the timing was ironic, but we went through all the initiatives that we have and shared our organizational playbook, and I think they were impressed and want to pick up with some of the things that we're doing, particularly related to search committees, training, guidelines that we follow, the diversity advocate program. I'm very proud of those steps that we've taken. And most recently we've worked with adidas on campus initiatives recognizing our legacy. Certainly the Donovan Mitchell shoe for change program is terrific, where it has availed the diversity group $200,000 worth of scholarships at the University of Louisville. There are a number of things that I know Butch and others may not be aware of, and that's one thing that came to my attention that we need to make sure that all of these initiatives are shared."
Beyond all of that, though, Bendapudi said she left Beard with a request:
"Give us a chance. Let us show you what we are made of. You will see shortly Vince’s commitment, my commitment. And I said the buck stops with me. I take full responsibility, whether it's athletics, or the hospital system. . . . We know there's a lot more we need to do. We are the first to admit it. All you can do is every day make a commitment to be better."
Copyright 2021 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
