Sociology Department

Jay Coakley,

Professor Emeritus Sociology Department

CURRENT INFORMATION

After 33 years in the Sociology Department at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, I’ve retired from full-time teaching. I continue to write, conduct research, lecture, travel, and spend time with Nancy Coakley and our three granddaughters here in Fort Collins, Colorado (60 miles north of Denver).

The focus of my professional life continues to be sociology and the sociology of sport. In addition to various writing projects, I regularly revise Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies, now in its 9th edition (2007, McGraw-Hill). The next revision is well underwayl

With Peter Donnelly (University of Toronto) as a co-author, we’ve published a Canadian version of Sports in Society, and will soon have a second edition. With Elizabeth Pike (University of Chichester) as a coauthor, we plan to publish in 2009 a UK version of Sports in Society, and with Chris Hallinan, Peter Mewitt, and Steve Jackson we will There’s also a publish a version for courses in Australia and New Zealand.

Sports in Society has been translated into Japanese and Chinese giving the text widespread distribution. One of my interests now is to develop a website at which students and instructors from different regions of the world can access information about global issues, meet and work with peers worldwide who share similar interests in sports as social phenomena, and contribute relevant videos, photographs, and other materials to the site.

To schedule a lecture or request information about teaching short courses in the sociology of sport, contact me at jcoakley@uccs.edu or 970-416-1325 (home, land phone) or 970-231-6420 (cell). Additional information about Sports in Society and resources for instructors teaching related courses is at www.mhhe.com/coakley9e.

BIOGRAPHY

Jay Coakley is the author of Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies (9th edition; McGraw-Hill, 2007), a widely used text in the sociology of sport. This book is translated into Japanese and Chinese and has been revised (by Peter Donnelly, University of Toronto) for students in Canada. Coakley has co-authored Making Decisions with Anita White from Sport England. He co-edited Inside Sports (Routledge, 1999) with Peter Donnelly, and the Handbook of Sports Studies (Sage, Ltd., 2000) with Eric Dunning. Currently, he and Joy Honea (Montana State University at Billings) are writing Studying Social Worlds, an introductory sociology text.

Coakley has authored over 160 articles and book chapters, primarily on sport, society, and culture. Much of this work focuses on youth sports and socialization issues, race and ethnicity, gender, deviance and violence. He has lectured at universities worldwide, and often speaks to groups of coaches and sport administrators. He also has lectured on issues of race and cultural diversity in sports and academic institutions.

Coakley was the founding editor of the Sociology of Sport Journal (1983-1989) and serves on the editorial boards of scholarly journals in sociology and kinesiology/physical education. He is past president of the Sport Sociology Academy of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and Dance, and of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport; he was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Kinesiology & Physical Education, and served on Executive Committee of the Youth Sport Coalition of the National Association of Sport and Physical Education. In 2004 the Citizenship Through Sport Alliance presented him with a national Citizenship Through Sport Award for his work to make sports and physical activities more inclusive; and in 2007 the Institute for International Sport selected him as one of the 100 Most Influential Sports Educators, and the University of Chichester in West Sussex, England awarded him an Honorary Fellowship in recognition of his outstanding leadership in the sociology of sport.  

A former intercollegiate athlete, Colorado.Coakley received his M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1972) degrees from the University of Notre Dame. Since the 1960s he has used concepts, research, and theories in sociology to critically examine social phenomena and promote changes that will make social worlds more democratic and humane. He currently lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. .


SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS

“Socialization and sports.” In George Ritzer, ed., 2007. Encyclopedia of Sociology. London: Blackwell.
“Positive Deviance.” In Dominic E. Malcolm, ed. 2007. Dictionary of Sport Studies. London: Sage Publications.
“The Sport Ethic.” In Dominic E. Malcolm, ed. 2007. Dictionary of Sport Studies. London: Sage Publications.
Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies (9th edition). New York: McGraw-Hill (completely rewritten).
“Sport questions raciales et ethnicité.” Pp. 89-104 in Fabien Ohl, ed., 2006. Sociologie du sport: Perspectives internationales et mondialisation. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
“The Good Father: Parental Expectations and Youth Sports.” Leisure Studies 25, 2 (2006): 153–163.
“Organized Sports for Young People: Organized Sports for Young People: A 20th-Century Invention.” Pp. 3-14 in Sandra Spickard Prettyman and Brian Lampman, eds. 2006. Learning Culture Through Sports: Exploring the Role of Sport in Society. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education.
Reading Sport Sociology: Explorations of Qualitative Research (co-edited with Peter Donnelly) 2005. Seoul, Korea: Mujigae Publishers [a version of Inside Sports (1999, Routledge), translated by Hong-goo Lee and Tae-ryong Han]
“Youth Sports.” Pp. 1744-1749 in David Levinson and Karen Christensen, eds. 2005. Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group LLC.
“Recreation and youth development: What we know.” (Peter Donnelly with Jay Coakley) in Bruce Kidd and Jim Phillips, eds. 2005. From enforcement and prevention to civic engagement: Research on community safety. Toronto, Ontario: Centre for Criminology, University of Toronto.
Chinese language translation (by Yuanzhen Lu) of Sport in Society: issues and Controversies (6th edition). 2004. Beijing, China: H&J - Wen Jie Publishing Studio.
Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies (First Canadian Edition; with Peter Donnelly). 2004. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
The role of recreation in promoting social inclusion (with Peter Donnelly). 2003. Monograph in the Working Paper Series on Social Inclusion published by the Laidlaw Foundation, Toronto, Ontario
“Using sports to control deviance and violence among youths: Let’s be critical and cautious.” Pp. 13-30 in M. Gatz, M. A. Messner, and S. J. Ball-Rokeach, eds. 2002. Paradoxes of Youth and Sport. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Parental Commitment to competitive swimming. Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology 30, 2: 185-197 (with R.L. Dukes)
Handbook of Sports Studies (co-edited with Eric Dunning). 2000. Sage Publications, London.
“Youth sports.” Pp. 1298-1302 in K. Christensen, A. Guttmann, and G. Pfister, eds. 2000. International Encyclopedia of Women & Sport. Macmillan Reference, New York.
“Sports.” (co-authored with Janet Lever). Pp. 2985-2991 in E.F. Borgatta & J.V. Montgomery, eds. 2000. Encyclodedia of Sociology (Revised Edition). New York: Macmillan Reference.

SELECTED RECENT PRESENTATIONS

“Lacrosse Doesn’t Just Happen: Taking Charge of the Future.” Opening keynote address, US Lacrosse Annual Convention (Philadelphia, January, 2007).
“Specialization in Youth Sports.” Teleconference sponsored by the Kinesiology and Sports Studies Department, Ball State University (March 29, 2006)
“Sports and Society.” Presentation at 50 for Colorado sponsored by the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado (Boulder, April 7, 2006)
"Youth Sports Today: Developing `One-Trick Ponies'." Presentation to the Graduate School in Sports Studies at the University of Chichester, England (June 9, 2006)
“Racial Ideology and Sports.” Lecture at the Kinesiology Department, Sacramento State University (March 8, 2005)
“Race and Sports: Issues and Controversies.” Lecture at the Department of Sports Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton (March 10, 2005)
“Title IX: From Exclusion to Inclusion.” Presentation at the NCAA Women’s Coaches Conference (Denver, July 9, 2005)
“How Good Coaches Make Tough Choices: Hazing in Interscholastic Sports.” Presentation at the annual conference of the American alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, New Orleans (March, 2004)
“Girls and Women in Sports: Playing Fair?” Address given in connection with Women’s history Month, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (March, 2004)
“Sport Stories: Giving Meaning to the Games We Play.” The 2004 Mackin-Mailander Lecture at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa (October 26, 2004).
“Sport and Social Responsibility” Keynote presentation at the Sport and Social Responsibility Conference sponsored by the Irish Football Association, Belfast, Northern Ireland (April 11, 2003).
“Gender and Race in Sports: Ideology in Action” Speech given to the Sports Industry Operations Department at Metropolitan State University (October 15, 2003).
“Sport and Citizenship: Imagining Possibilities.” Keynote presentation at The Mendelson Center for Sports, Character and Community conference on Sports, Character and Responsible Citizenship, University of Notre Dame (March 14, 2003).
“What is Going on with Youth Sport Parents?” Keynote presentation at the International Youth Sport Congress (San Antonio, September 14, 2002).
“Identity Theft: Using Native American Names and Logos.” Presentation at University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, April 26
“Service and Social Justice.” Presentation and workshop conducted for deacons in the Colorado Springs Catholic Diocese (May 15, 2002)
“Sociological Issues.” Presentation in a roundtable Discussion on “Exercise and Health: Motivating the Public to Act.” Sixth International Olympics Committee Congress on Sports Sciences (Salt Lake City, September)
“Problems and parents.” Presentation given in the Colloquium on Talented Children in Sport, Music and Dance, University of Toronto Centre for Sport Policy Studies (September, 2000).
“The Character of Youth Sports and the New Culture of Childhood.” Keynote presentation at a conference on Promoting Social and Moral Development through Sport sponsored by the Mendelson Center for Sport, Character, and Culture at the University of Notre Dame (May, 2000).
“Playing to Win: Ethics in Sports Today.” The Ninth Annual Lecture sponsored by the Saint Francis University Institute for Ethics (Loretto, PA, April, 2000).
“Writing, observing, and making sense of socialization in sports.” Presentation in the Teaching Sociology of Sport session at the annual conference of the American Sociological Association, Washington, DC (August, 2000)
“Sports and cultural diversity.” Presentation made to the staff and managers at TIAA/CREF, Denver (September, 2000).
“Dealing with recruitment and retention issues in community-based sport programs.” Presentation made at the annual conference of the Community Olympic development Program, United States Olympic Committee, Colorado Springs (September, 2000)
“Parental Commitment to Youth Swimming.” Paper presented (with R.L. Dukes) at the annual conference of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. Colorado Springs (November, 2000).

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Executive Committee and Chair, Youth Sport Coalition, National Association for Sport and Physical Education, (2003-2006).
Advisor, Citizenship Through Sport Alliance (2004-2006).
Executive Board of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Colorado Springs (1997-2000; led workshops for people newly diagnosed with MS)
Executive Board for Colorado Springs Special Olympics (1974-1983; helped to organize local, national, and international events
Presentations and workshops for over one hundred local, state, national, and international sport, governmental, and non-profit organizations focusing primarily on coaching and youth sports.
Served as a source for over 200 journalists, mostly with US-based media, who were writing stories on sport-related topics.
Worked on documentaries and news specials for PBS, NBC, ESPN, ABC; featured in news programs, documentaries, and educational videos.