How to get into coaching? either the high school or college level

High School: have a resume that would make them want to hire you, like you ran in college, etc. and then apply.

College: volunteer assistant coach

Someone who knows wrote:

High School: Be a warm body. Don't molest kids

College: volunteer assistant coach

Fixed, at least for my area

High School is fairly easy depending where you want to coach. At some school with no record or name and no big academic record either (where I went to high school), just like running and they'll give you the job. But at a school like say Loudoun Valley in VA, at this point, if they lost their coach, I'm sure they'd want someone who really knew what they were doing. It always helps if you have a degree in a base subject or in education because in that case they could hire you as a teacher and coach.

College is where the struggle is. You wont get a coaching job worth having without 1. multiple years of experience and 2. knowing successful coaches. Obviously if you can't get a job without experience, that means years of volunteering. We're talking 20+ hours per week, on top of whatever job you have to work to handle your cost of living. I make this sound worse than it is. Most coaches are okay with you missing a day here and there because they understand that you aren't paid and can often be caught up with other things. The trick is finding a job that allows you to put forth that 20 hours per week. I mention knowing successful, big name coaches because if they vouch for you, it'll help a lot. If I have Colorado Coach Wetmore write me a recommendation it's a much more powerful statement of what I have to offer if he is impressed than say some random unsuccessful D3 Coach (some D3 coaches are incredible and build some really amazing teams).

A lot of stuff goes in to deciding what level you want to coach at and it'll go beyond just HS and College.

The traditional route for getting into college coaching is usually start out as a volunteer coach, most tend to do this at their Alma Matter. During this time they usually get a few USTFCCCA or USATF certifications, typically as a formality. Then most look to get a GA position, ideally in the division they want to coach at. For better or worse these positions are becoming more and more common as basically full time coaches without pay (stipend if you're lucky) and needing to handle a full class load. Ideally you'll get a job offer out of the GA position but most need to either do another stint of volunteering or even coaching at high school. There are varying opinions on how easy it is to move back up to the collegiate level after this, but I don't think it's impossible if you are decent at networking or have had some success. From here it's an assistant coaching position in college and then trying to leverage yourself to get closer and closer to the job that you're looking for.

Ideally you get to skip some of these steps.

Honestly, 90% of coaches will tell you the same thing when you ask them how they got into coaching, "I got kind of lucky, I was at X, and then Y just happened to open up and through Z I just kind of fell into the position." Sure X, Y, and Z change up a bit, but it amazes me how many coaches seem to think that they found a special way into college coaching. You can follow the traditional plan to a T and just get stuck somewhere even though you've done good things with your program. You can be the most qualified resume on the desk but still lose out to 1 different person at each school because they got a great recommendation from the Head Coaches old buddy.

It sucks but it happens all the time.

I hate playing "the game" of coaching, but I strongly recommend young coaches reach out to different programs around the country and just pick their brains. You might not get an answer from 95% of people, but that one coach who can say, "hey, so-and-so and I have talked a few times and I think he'd work hard for your program," goes such a long way in this business. My first job was at a D1 where I could get a recommendation from a coach I met at a conference and kept in touch with enough so he could recognize my name and know that I wanted to learn more. I was fortunate that things worked out there well enough to make it a full-time position, but even then I was only the second guy to get offered the job initially.

This business is tough, but realize that every time you hear a coach say that some special situation happened to get them there all they are saying is that they did the traditional stuff and had a good enough network to jump a step or two.

All that being said, if you didn't compete in college then I doubt you can get to coach there without going through hell. If you weren't a good athlete in college, good luck again, that one is easier to overcome, but head coaches are usually once good athletes so it can by a subconscious deal breaker for them unless you have proven your coaching chops somewhere else. If you aren't flexible about the position, location, or division, then you chose the wrong business; most of us have to move a thousand miles away for a low pay or no pay job once or twice if not more.

If you can't recruit then ignore everything I said and coach at high school.

If you make it into collegiate coaching you'll be amazed how many poor coaches were able to move up to a more prestegious position year after year.