Proactive Strategies for Finding Coaches [NIAAA]

By: Jon Winer, CMAA - Athletic Director at Capitol Region Education Council

One of the biggest hurdles athletic directors now face is finding quality coaches to lead interscholastic teams.

This was a difficult task before COVID, but for several reasons it has grown more difficult since. A year away from sports helped some coaches fill the many hours they were pouring into their "part-time" coaching position and realized they could live without it.

The abuse from parents continues to become worse, driving many coaches to feel that the negatives of the profession have started to outweigh the positives. We have come to rely on teachers to offer a ready supply of effective coaches, but the grind and energy demands of the school day have caused many to choose to go home when the school bell rings.

Of these three issues, the loss of teachers as coaches has hit our district the hardest, and it is difficult to find non-teacher candidates who have work schedules that allow them to arrive at our schools by 2 pm.

This situation has caused us to think "outside of the box" for ways to attract candidates that might not otherwise seek out a coaching opportunity. Here are a few strategies which have provided some relief for our district over the past year.

1. Yard Signs: We sought out a local vendor to make yard signs that read, "COACHES WANTED." They specify middle school and high school and display our logo and my office phone number. Placing these outside our schools and in green spaces around town has resulted in new coaching candidates inquiring and joining our staff.
2. Local Colleges: Being in the Greater Hartford area, we are blessed to have several local colleges and universities. I built relationships with their athletic departments, and they have assisted our search for coaches by hanging coach recruitment flyers in their athletic facilities. Their coaches also reached out to current players and alumni to see if any were interested. I made sure to emphasize candidates do not have to coach the sport they play in college, because the seasons typically overlap with ours. If they like working with kids and can connect with them, we can give them the resources to teach a new sport or one they haven't played since grade school. This is especially true when it comes to coaching at the middle school level.
3. Social Media and Message Boards: We routinely posted our vacancies on our social media accounts and asked followers to share them. We also posted to group message boards such as the local recreation departments and adult athletic leagues.
4. Local Youth Sports Groups, Little Leagues, and Clubs: We reached out to local little leagues, soccer clubs, boys and girls clubs, and more to market our vacancies. You never know if they have current or past coaches who would be interested in coaching at the interscholastic level. They may also have alumni who are looking to get into coaching.
5. Current Coaches: Your current coaches are a great resource for finding more coaches. We've found that current coaches have networks of friends and family members who may be interested in coaching. Coaches may also play in adult leagues and can mention the vacancies to other participants.
6. Alumni: We use Final Forms for our sports registration, and it makes it very easy to email a large group of student-athletes (past and current). This past spring, I emailed our seniors a list of expected fall coaching vacancies with an invitation to contact me for more information. Many of our graduates stay local after graduating high school, and some jump at the opportunity to teach the sport they love and get paid in the meantime.
7. Parents: Understandably, you may cringe at this recommendation, but when all other avenues have been exhausted, I have used Final Forms to send a mass email to parents/guardians to let them know that unless a coach is found, their child's season will not be able to begin. In the past, parents have helped us find coaches, and in some middle school cases, they have actually agreed to coach themselves or to split duties with another parent. Although this is not ideal, when used as a last resort, it is better than having to cancel a season.

As athletic directors, we are always going to face new challenges. We must do so with creativity and innovation and not hang on tightly to the ways we have always done things. These coach recruitment strategies have proven valuable and enabled our programs to continue despite the persistent post-COVID staffing challenges we have experienced. The key will now be to train these new coaches and provide them with the support they need to stay on for the long term.