College coaching staff structures

At a mid major with four full time coaches. Head track is Sprints/hurdles, there is a throws assistant, and an assistant for pole vault, high jump and horizontal jumps, though the head coach works closely with horizontal jumpers as well. I do distance. I think most conference oriented schools have a coach for each area. A school with a full 6 coaches that is trying to be well rounded may have a throws/long distance/long sprints (400 and 800)/short sprints/vaults and multi/long and triple jump. Other ways to do it without overlap, but that is an example.

If there is multiple coaches for an event group there is still plenty of work to do. If a school is distance focused with three distance coaches they likely have 40ish (20 per gender) distance runners. Likely the head coach is writing workouts, but the others probaby watch workouts when the head coach can't be there, and give the athletes someone else to go to with problems/issues or just to talk. I feel it is more enjoyable as a coach to have autonomy, and thus the second and third distance coach is unideal, but just about everyone starts there.

You will likely need to volunteer to break into the field. My advice would be to volunteer at the level you hope to work at one day. Work for a coach who is respected, and do not go anywhere where there is already two paid coaches in your event (a third coach who.is a volunteer will not gain any worthwhile experience or have any real responsibility.

I got my start volunteering for an old mid major distance coach who was mid distance focused. He directed XC, but allowed me to direct the 5k/10k and in my third year the steeplechase in the spring. He did oversee everything I did for awhile, and in the first year he would change up my plans from time to time (but always behind closed doors).

That was an ideal situation in terms of the staff I worked with as a volunteer coach. Tough to find guys who will give you that much autonomy. In my case I think the fact that the guy I worked for was within 5 years or retirement helped. It also helped that I earned his trust over time, never publicly disagreed within, and yielded to his authority even when we did disagree.

Sorry about the lack paragraphs. Should have double tapped the enter key.

There is no set formula other than what the focus of the school may be. Just remember that most of these coaches are volunteers and are paid little or nothing.

As for your coaching career you are setting your goals far too high. Why would a college hire you as a coach or even a volunteer when you have no experience or credentials?

You need to start working towards getting some coaching credentials through USATF. Attend seminars and as many track related programs as possible to build your CV (Curriculum Vitae) At the same time you should start by volunteering as a club level coach or in the school system.

Get a real job because you parents paid a ton of money sending you to school and start by making coaching a hobby.

I'm at a program set up a little differently than what you brought up, but still will provide some insight.

Men's head - 400/Hurdles/LJ/TJ/HJ/PV/Multi

Women's head - Admin and recruiting

Full time Assistant - Sprints/Strength and Conditioning

Part time Assistant - 800-10k and XC

Part time Assistant - LJ/TJ

Part time Assistant - HJ/Multi

Part time Assistant - Throws

Volunteer - Throws

Volunteer - Sprints

Volunteer - Distance

All of the part times/volunteers work a side job. They're around to get their feet wet in coaching and the assistants above them act as mentors/boss. Everyone on staff is an alum of this school, so we like to keep everything in house and try to hand pick who will be kept on staff after graduation. There is some overlap, but the way it is structured plays into the athletes hands. Have a more sprint based 400m athlete? He falls with the full time assistant. Have a freshman multi who needs a lot of technical work? He'll work with the men's head most of the time while the kids that just need reps will go with the assistant. Eventually as you start to develop your own system, your own group will form. I was lucky enough to jump right into that as a volunteer, but from seeing everyone else on staff progress over time, it does take a year or two to get something solid going.

Someone in your conference is probably looking for an assistant, even if it's just running the stopwatch for someone's workouts. Get in the door somewhere and build upward. You'd be very fortunate to walk into something paid in your first year, but if you do, it will be for peanuts. Staying somewhere familiar helps as you know the area somewhat and can maybe leverage your network to get something else for work at the same time.

Schools that load coaches on one event section usually dump all of their resources in these events, so they need a few more hands on deck to manage the larger crew. This usually means: 1-2 people writing workouts, 1-2 people running stopwatches and working with the more developmental kids. That's not always the case, but is what I've seen myself and heard from other coaches around the country. The other scenario is that each coach has a different event group they coach (400-800, 800-1500, 3k-10k). I've seen that done at a few mid majors and a lot of D3's.

Another thing I've seen is that two of the coaches will do the actual coaching and the youngest and newest assistant will do the recruiting and paperwork. Worst case scenario unless you like office work, but it does give you some type of hands on experience.

Coach G wrote:

You need to start working towards getting some coaching credentials through USATF. Attend seminars and as many track related programs as possible to build your CV (Curriculum Vitae) At the same time you should start by volunteering as a club level coach or in the school system.

I'd just add, check out both the USATF and USTFCCCA coaching education programs. Each has their pros and cons, but as someone who's been through lvl and 2 of the USATF programs, if I were doing it again, I would have done the USTFCCCA ones.

Go with USTFCCCA. Better education in my opinion and better for networking among college coaches.

You need to strongly consider graduate school and becoming a GA or volunteer assistant. I suggest grad school while you are doing it because you can at least use the loans to live off of and get some additional education while you are pursuing your true passion.

Try to go to a program where the head coach has connections in the area and division you want to be in.

Do not coach HS for a year hoping to get experience. The two professions are very different and they are two separate career paths.