West Virginia University received a failing grade -- the only other major-college program besides Mississippi to merit an F -- in the Black Coaches and Administrators report released today about minority hiring practices amid major-college football coaching searches in 2007-08.

Dayton, in Division I-AA, also received an F.

West Virginia athletic department officials declined to comment on the report.

Houston, Indiana State and Richmond received A's while hiring minority head coaches, but the BCA evaluated the search process overall as well as the hiring of coordinators, evidenced in part by the C it gave Navy, which hired a Pacific Islander. Other schools that interviewed minority candidates but hired white head coaches also earned A's, such as Colorado State, Duke, Georgia Tech and Michigan, which hired Rich Rodriguez along with offensive coordinator Calvin Magee, an African American, from West Virginia.

According to a minority-candidate form obtained from West Virginia under open-records laws, only one of its five finalists for head coach was a minority. Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley also was the only Mountaineers finalist interviewed by telephone; the rest had meetings with search-committee members before Bill Stewart was named coach Jan. 3.

"College football hiring is out of sync with the current landscape and attitude of our country," BCA executive director Floyd Keith said in the prepared report. "Statistics reveal a cold truth: It is easier to become a head football coach in the NFL, a head basketball coach in the NCAA and a general or commissioned officer in the United States Army than it is to become a head football coach [in Divisions I-A or I-AA]. That, America, is just not right."