Possible to get job as an NCAA coach without having been on NCAA team?

Absolutely.

My college coach never ran in college. He started coaching high school for many years...then became pretty well known with some state titles. After that, he was able to break into NCAA as an assistant. This led to a 30 year coaching career. A successful one at that.

You need to show some experience in coaching though. Do you coach high school or club? What can you show that will separate yourself from the rest. It isn't just about being an NCAA athlete. You are competing for a job. You to share how much you are devoted, how hard you work, and your knowledge of the sport.

I say, start coaching high school or club, get your USATF certifications in coaching, and learn as much as you can in the sport.

Some other things that will separate you...volunteer or work for roach races, start your own road race, get involved with a timing company and learn that side, get involved with local USATF, volunteer at track meets, etc.

There is also a business side of this. What is your current job? Have you ever been involved in budgeting, management, marketing, etc? If you can show that you can managed a budget, fundraise, and recruit athletes...that is a huge part of it.

Good question. I think you would need some other qualifications like a MS in a related field such as exercise physiology, etc. and/or you would need to get started coaching at the HS or JC level first.

Holocene wrote:

The thread title says it all: would it be possible for me to get a job coaching at an NCAA school (DI, DII, or DIII - doesn't matter) if I were never an NCAA athlete?

If I were to try to break into the field, would I have any chance of being taken seriously on the strength of other coaching/running-related qualifications?

Gone are the days where you could do that, in my opinion. You should have at least been an athlete even if it's a walk on D3.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but the window is closing on that career path. It's a shame because you won't have the Mark Wetmore's anymore...

Paul Johnson Head Football Coach at Georgia Tech never played college football. He is one of the better coaches in the nation - top 25% IMO - Yes it can be done but like the others said - you need to have something on your resume -

Examples:

Completed 13 marathons - 4 Boston Marathons

Ran on a Track Club's team

Private Distance Coach

Race Director of the Firecracker 5000 in downtown _______

On the Board of a local running club

Volunteer Asst. at a local - very good - HS

* Then you could maybe get a really small HC job at a D3 or NAIA that was not very good - work your tail off and make that team really good - move onto a D2 - do the same - etc.

Very doable but there are A LOT more easy ways to make money than coaching -

My college coach, who is still active for my DI alma mater never ran distance in college but has coached XC for nearly 30 years.

But it is tough and things have changed. In order to get a decent paid position, without coaching experience, you usually have to be a former elite with name recognition.

For the rest of us in order to get a DI, DII or DIII job you have to volunteer at that level for a few years and work up to an entry level $25-35K position. It is tough to be taken seriously as a volunteer without having personal experience to draw back on.

The other route would be high school or JUCO coaching and trying to work up. You have to really stand out at those levels to move up though. For the most part a school will fill a vacant position with a DI volunteer rather than take a chance on a high school or JUCO coach, or even a lower division coach.

A recent example from my region fo the country, Missouri Kansas City lost James Butler to New Mexico this past summer. Since I have not seen a posting for the position my guess is they tabbed their current distance volunteer for what is probably a $35k job in Kansas City. It does not pay great, but if they had opened it up they would have gotten some good young Jayhawk conference coaches or some young KC high school coaches to apply. Instead they went with what they knew. I do not know Brent Gummer, or whatever his name is, and I am not saying that UMKC made a bad hire, time will tell. But the above scenario is the way a lot of schools go with track coaching positions.

Regardless of competitive experience the best way to land a coaching job is volunteer at a competitive DI school. After a few years it does not matter what you did as an athlete, your record speaks for itself. A lot of great coaches were mediocre athletes. But if you are 25 years old, and are a passionate about track, but you never broke 15 minutes in a 5k you will have a tough time getting athletes or other coaches to take you seriously.

A guy from my college, who was not an NCAA athlete, coached at a high school for a year, then took a volunteer assistant job at a top-3 program, and now he is a paid assistant coach at a D3 school. Who knows, he may keep moving up in the world.

You have to be willing to work for nothing or next to it for a while as you build a network of connections, but once you have a couple year experience under your belt, and are willing to move where the work is, you can do it.

Wetmore is a good example. He did not walk in the CU athletic department and try to get a job. He spent some time in the trenches and came out a better coach because of it.

Talk to Rojo