The West Virginia University official who authored the campus' affirmative-action policy said yesterday she was "simply astounded" and "insulted" to find that her school's search for a football coach last winter earned a failing grade from a newly released national report.

"We do care here at WVU," said Jennifer McIntosh, director of the Office of Social Justice, a day after the Black Coaches and Administrators unveiled its fifth annual Minority Hiring Report Card surveyed by University of Central Florida researchers. "This is very important. This isn't just publicity. This is how we genuinely feel.

"It's very painful because I work so hard to do what I do. You think I'd still be here if we weren't committed to this stuff? We have [athletic] coaches of diverse backgrounds. We have women in head athletic positions. I take strong objections to an F," she said yesterday.

In fact, McIntosh said she awarded the university an A in forms submitted to researchers.

West Virginia, which 18 days into its search and hours after the Fiesta Bowl named Bill Stewart as coach without a formal interview, was the only major-college football program to get an F besides Mississippi. Division I-AA Dayton got the one other failing grade among 31 programs surveyed, 16 of which received A's.

Researchers at Central Florida's Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sport each fall use a point system from compiled data to award grades individually in five categories and overall, such as the C that Pitt earned in the 2005 search that landed Dave Wannstedt. In the '08 survey, they awarded West Virginia an A in search brevity, B in communicating with the BCA or others about minority prospects, C in candidate pool and F's for a search committee without minority representation and for affirmative-action observance.

Dr. C. Keith Harrison, the author and principal investigator in the report who is the director of the Paul Robeson Research Center for Academic and Athletic Prowess, said: "They got an F. They didn't follow the process. It's not real complicated."

Through open-records laws, the Post-Gazette last spring obtained a copy of the university's coaching search report filed under federal affirmative-action and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules. Signed without being dated by athletic director Ed Pastilong and signed 11 days after Stewart's hiring by McIntosh, the document states that West Virginia had 19 applicants for the position vacated when Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan (which received an A grade), eight candidates on a short list and five finalists -- though no names were revealed.

It listed one African-American finalist, which sources said was Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley. At the request of Chuck Neinas, a consultant whom West Virginia paid $23,000 to aid in the search, Locksley interviewed with search-committee members via telephone from Pasadena, Calif., amid Rose Bowl preparations.

The other finalists, all white and interviewed face to face, were Central Michigan's Butch Jones, then-Florida assistant Doc Holliday, former Auburn coach Terry Bowden and Florida State assistant head coach Rick Trickett, an ex-Mountaineers assistant.

West Virginia released a statement late yesterday noting it had one African-American head coach and 12 African-American assistants in addition to three female head coaches and seven female assistants.

"Athletics is committed to providing employment opportunities to minorities and women," Pastilong said in the statement.