A study to examine the nature and scope of school athletic administrator positions in the state of Virginia.
Case, Robert
Over 200 colleges and universities now offer professional
preparation programs in sport management at the undergraduate and/or
graduate levels (Comfort, 2008). Parks, Quarterman and Thibault (2007)
point out that several career paths exist for sport management students.
These career paths include positions with college athletic departments,
sport event management firms, sport facility management organizations,
professional sport teams, recreational sport programs, sport marketing
agencies, etc.
As sport management graduates continue to enter the workforce in
greater numbers during a period of economic recession, some experts
predict that jobs will become more difficult to find. Sport management
graduates may have to consider relocating or working for lower wages
than expected. Another option may be to explore alternative, but closely
related, career paths and options.
Positions in college athletic administration have been popular
career choices for sport management graduates in the past. However,
positions in high school athletic administration have been relatively
unexplored by sport management graduates (Stier & Schneider, 2001a).
One of the possible reasons why so few sport management graduates have
pursued careers in high school athletic administration is that they
generally do not possess teaching credentials and some of the high
school athletic administrator positions require a teaching license.
Another reason why sport management graduates do not actively seek these
positions is because of the perception that they are combined or split
positions where part of the day is spent teaching or coaching and the
other part of the day involves athletic administration duties. In other
instances, school administrator or school supervisor certifications are
required to qualify as an athletic director and sport management
graduates generally do not possess these credentials.
Literature Review
A series of studies by Stier and Schneider (2000, 2001, 2002)
explored various aspects of the high school athletic director
profession. Their studies ranged from developing recommendations for the
training of future high school athletic directors to identifying
desirable qualities and attributes of athletic directors as perceived by
principals and other athletic directors. These studies attempted to
collect data about high school athletic directors from several states.
It should be noted that the present study focused only on high school
athletic administrators in the state of Virginia. Other competency
studies have looked at intercollegiate athletic directors (Bretting, M.,
1983; Hatfield, Wrenn & Bretting, 1987; Williams & Miller, 1983)
and college recreational sport directors (Ellard, 1984; Jamieson, 1980,
1987; Jennings, 1984). Additional competency studies in sport have been
conducted in sport facility management settings (Case & Branch,
2003; Skipper, 1990). The competency studies listed above provided
excellent resources for the development of specific high school athletic
administrator job competencies for use in this study.
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study was to examine the nature and scope of
high school athletic administrator positions in the state of Virginia to
determine selected demographic and job competency information. It is
hoped that the results of this exploratory study will provide college
sport management program curricular planners with information that can
be used to refine sport management curricular offerings so that the
professional preparation and training of future interscholastic sport
administrators can be enhanced. Heretofore, most college sport
management programs have focused on preparing administrators for amateur
sport, college athletics and professional sport settings.
Methodology
An online survey instrument was developed and granted prior IRB
approval to collect selected demographic and job competency data from
high school athletic administrators in the state of Virginia. A review
of the literature provided an initial framework for developing survey
questions and content areas (Case & Branch, 2003; Stier &
Schneider, 2000, 2001, 2002). The National Interscholastic Athletic
Administrators Association has a training and certification program that
provides a number of competency areas for the professional preparation
of future high school athletic administrators. The competency listings
contained in the Certified CAA Athletic Administrator Study Guide (2007)
were reviewed when developing the survey instrument for this study.
Furthermore, a jury of experts provided feedback during the survey
development phase. A small pilot
study was conducted in order to refine the survey instrument and data
collection methodologies. The final version of the survey instrument
contained two parts. The first part focused on the collection of
background and demographic information and the second part concentrated
on identifying high school athletic director job competencies that are
considered to be essential. The second part contained 35 separate
athletic administrator job competency statements.
Data Collection
A link to the online survey was e-mailed to all high school
athletic administrators in the state of Virginia who were listed on the
Virginia High School League (VHSL) database. A VHSL staff member
assisted in coordinating the survey e-mailing and distribution. A total
of 284 individuals responded to the online survey. This resulted in a
55% response rate. Over 80% of the sport administrator respondents were
either athletic directors or student activity directors. The other
respondents were high school building principals who are ultimately
responsible for the school athletic program. It should be mentioned that
in the state of Virginia the titles of "athletic director" and
"student activity director" are used interchangeably. In most
instances, the student activity director administers the athletic
program. He or she is also likely to oversee various student club
activities (e.g., drama club, debate club). High schools in the state of
Virginia generally do not have separate athletic director and student
activity director personnel in the same school. One person generally
oversees both of these responsibilities. In most Virginia high school
settings, the athletic director or student activity director reports
directly to the building principal.
Findings for Part I
Background and Demographic Information
A total of 284 individuals responded to the survey. On average,
they were 48 years old with approximately 11 years of school
administration experience. Eighty-one percent (N = 214) of the
respondents were males and 19% (N = 51) were females. Ninety-nine
percent of the respondents worked in public school settings. Forty-one
percent of the respondents reported that athletic administration duties
were generally handled by one full-time athletic administrator in every
high school within the district. The second most common arrangement was
to have a full-time athletic administrator in every high school and
every middle school (22%). Only 15% of the respondents indicated that
they had a district-wide athletic administrator as well as one athletic
administrator in each high school and middle school. Most of the
"AAA" and "AA" schools had more than one high school
in their district. In some of the larger school districts, several high
schools had up to ten full-time athletic administrators employed in the
school district.
A review of the responses showed that 41% (N = 112) of the
respondents were from large "AAA" level schools. They were
followed by 32% (N = 87) of the respondents coming from mid-sized
"AA" schools and 24% (N = 65) were associated with single
"A" schools. "Athletic director" was the official
title of 57% of the respondents followed by the title of "student
activity director" at 37%. Sixty-four percent of respondents
pointed out that the position of athletic director or student activity
director is generally considered to be an administrative position and
38% of the respondents noted that the athletic administrator position is
classified as a teaching or faculty position within the school district.
Athletic administrators in each school handle administrative duties for
both boys and girls athletic programs. The positions are not split like
some college settings where you may have separate athletic director or
associate athletic director positions for both men and women. The
athletic administrator positions, particularly at the larger
"AAA" schools, are full-time positions with 60% of the
respondents reporting that 75% to 100% of their time each day is devoted
primarily to athletic administration duties. Seventy-two percent (N =
97) of the respondents indicated that a bachelor's degree was the
minimum degree required for the position of high school athletic
administrator in their school district. Twenty-three percent indicated
that a master's degree was the minimum degree required.
An important finding from this study is that 87% (N = 232) of the
respondents stated that a teaching license was required for the position
of athletic administrator within their school. Requiring a teaching
license for the athletic administrator position is not a Virginia
Department of Education requirement; it is a requirement imposed by the
specific school district. Some school districts don't have a
teaching license requirement but individuals employed in athletic
administrator positions generally have a teaching license.
It should be noted that sport management undergraduate students
usually don't graduate with teaching certification. Depending on
the state and the type of school (e.g., public or private), it might be
to the advantage of sport management students who want to pursue careers
in high school athletic administration to obtain teaching certification
as part of a second major or minor at the undergraduate level. Some
students who majored in sport management as an undergraduate have gone
on to obtain a teaching license at the graduate level in order to pursue
jobs in high school athletic administration.
The average salary reported for high school athletic administrators
who participated in this study was approximately $50,000. Although most
of the athletic administration duties are performed during the school
year, some of the duties carry over to the summer months. Since most of
the athletic administrator positions in this study were administrative
in nature, the athletic administrators generally work under a 12-month
contract. It was interesting to note that 76% of the athletic directors
who responded to the survey mentioned that they do not handle intramural
and recreational sports at their school. These duties are generally
handled by the physical education staff. This finding is in contrast to
a number of junior college and small college settings where the athletic
director also oversees the intramural and recreational sport programs.
Forty-three percent of the respondents stated that they have an
undergraduate degree in physical education and another 36% stated that
they have an undergraduate degree in a major other than physical
education that is linked to teaching certification (e.g., social
studies). For survey respondents who have a master's degree,
educational administration and administrative specialist degrees were
the most frequently identified graduate majors and accounted for 62% of
the responses followed by majors in specialized teaching content areas
such as social studies, math, etc. Eight percent of the respondents
identified sport management as their graduate program of study.
In terms of female and minority representation in the athletic
administration positions within the school districts, 36% (N = 89)
indicated that they had no female athletic administrators in their
district and 36% reported that they had one. Furthermore, 59% of the
respondents noted that they had no minority athletic administrators and
23% stated that they had one. It should be mentioned that most of these
districts had multiple high schools within the district.
Findings for Part II
Essential Job Competencies
Respondents were asked to rate a series of high school athletic
director job competencies on a scale that ranged from
"essential" to "not important." The 35 job
competencies were derived from a review of the literature, feedback from
a jury of experts and results from a pilot study. The findings are
listed from the highest rated "essential" competency with a
maximum score of 5.0 to job competencies rated as "not
important" and receiving a score of 1. The table below provides a
listing of results for each of the 35 athletic administrator job
competencies.
Summary and Conclusions
Positions in athletic administration at the high school level seem
to offer tremendous potential as viable career options for sport
management graduates. These positions are generally not pursued
immediately after they graduate from undergraduate programs. The rapid
expansion of middle school athletic programs throughout the state of
Virginia I and the growth in size of high school athletic programs have
changed the dynamics of athletic administrator positions in the schools.
In the past, many of the athletic administrator positions were combined
or split positions where the teacher or coach would spend part of the
day teaching and coaching and part of the day performing athletic
administration duties. Twenty years ago school districts had one
districtwide athletic administrator who would serve as athletidirector
for all the schools in the district. Today, many of the larger school
districts hire a full-time athletic administrator for each high school.
The I positions are devoted specifically to performing athletic
administration duties. On I occasion, a district-wide administrator for
athletics and student activities may be located in the school district
central office I or headquarters. Even in these situations, separate
athletic directors or activity directors are still located at each high
school. In some instances, full-time athletic administrators also reside
in the middle schools but most of these positions are part-time or split
between teaching/coaching and athletic administration.
This study revealed that the highest rated job competencies for
high school athletic administrators included sound judgment, knowledge
of league rules, ability to multi-task, ethical decision making,
leadership and budgeting skills. Although not the top rated
competencies, skills related to time management, problem solving, event
I management, event scheduling and risk management are also considered
to be essential. One surprise was that a number of the respondents did
not rate fund-raising and sponsorship procurement in the top tier of job
competencies. This is likely because booster clubs play a big role in
fund-raising activities for schools. Also, some schools place
restrictions on the amount of fund-raising I that can be conducted. The
job competency rated lowest by the respondents was the need for the
athletic administrator to have previous athletic playing experience.
Results of this study indicate that many high schools in the state
of Virginia have full-time athletic administrator positions. Job
competencies related to these positions are very similar to the
competencies being taught in approved college sport management
professional preparation programs. Many of the North American Society
for Sport Management and the National Association for Sport and Physical
Education standards relate directly to these job competencies (Stier
& Schneider, 2001c). A major issue that was identified in this study
involves the high percentage of school districts that require a teaching
license in order to be considered for athletic administrator positions.
The teaching license requirement for athletic administrator positions is
a local school district requirement and not a requirement by the
Virginia Department of Education. It is hoped that in the future school
districts will drop the teaching certification requirement for athletic
administrators as the duties of the athletic director position do not
call for teaching expertise. It was also noted that some school
districts require school administrator certification for athletic
directors similar to the certification required for building principals.
In some states, athletic administrator certification programs have been
developed and this is something that Virginia may eventually consider,
especially for legal liability purposes. Another concern that was
identified from the results of this study related to the low number of
minorities and females who presently work in athletic administration
positions within the schools. It is recommended that strategies be
developed in order to eventually increase these numbers. Overall, the
findings of this study suggest that with some small changes (e.g.,
eliminating the requirement in some school districts that sport
administrators possess a teaching license and/or the creation of
mentorship programs to train future minority and female athletic
directors), that high school sport administrator positions offer
promising career options for future sport management graduates in the
state of Virginia.
References
Bretting, M. (1983). A sports management personnel competency
inventory model. I Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of
Maryland.
Case, R., & Branch, J. D. (2003). A study to examine the j ob
competencies of sport facility managers. International Sports Journal,
7(2), 25-38.
Comfort, P.G. (2005). Directory of undergraduate programs in sport
management. Morgantown, WV: FIT Publishers.
Ellard, A. (1984). A competency analysis of managers of commercial
recreational sport enterprises. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
Indiana University.
Hatfield, B.D., Wrenn, J.P., & Bretting, M.M. (1987).
Comparison of responsibilities of intercollegiate athletic directors and
professional sport general managers. Journal of Sport Management, 1(2),
129-145.
Jamieson, L.M. (1980). A competency analysis of recreational sports
personnel in selected institutional settings. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Indiana University.
Jamieson, L.M. (1980). Competency-based approaches to sport
management. Journal of Sport Management, 1(1), 48-56.
Jennings, W. (1984). Entry level competencies for recreational
sports personnel as identified by chairs of preparatory institutions.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, North Texas State University.
National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
(2007). Certified CAA athletic administrator study guide. Cincinnati,
Ohio: NIAAA.
Parkhouse, B.L. (2005). The management of sport: Its foundation and
application. Hightstown, NJ: The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Parks, J., Quarterman, J., & Thibault, L. (2007). Contemporary
sport management. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers.
Skipper, W.T. (1990). Competencies for collegiate sports facility
managers: Implications of a facility management curricular model.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Arkansas.
Stier, W.F., & Schneider, R.C. (2000). What high school
principals expect of their athletic directors: A national investigation.
Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 71(8), 45-49.
Stier, W.F., & Schneider, R.C. (2001a). Desirable qualities,
attitudes and characteristics of high school athletic directors--as
expressed by principals. Applied Research in Coaching and Athletics
Annual, 16, 89-109.
Stier, W.F., & Schneider, R.C. (2001b). Essential skills,
competencies and knowledge expected of athletic directors--by their
principals. International Sports Journal, 5(2), 18-30.
Stier, W.F., & Schneider, R.C. (2001c). Recommended educational
experiences for high school athletic directors. The Physical Educator,
58, 211-222.
Stier, W.F., & Schneider, R.C. (2002). Desirable qualities,
attitudes and characteristics of future interscholastic athletic
directors--as recommended by high school athletic directors. Applied
Research in Coaching and Athletics Annual, 17, 26-42
Williams, J.M., & Miller, D.M. (1983). Intercollegiate athletic
administration: Preparation patterns. Quarterly for Exercise and Sports,
54(4), 398-406.
Robert Case, PhD, Sport Management Program, Old Dominion University
Table 1. High School Athletic Director Job Competencies
Essential Very Average Minimal
Important Importance Importance
(5) (4) (3) (2)
Sound Judgment 181 58 15 3
Knowledge of VHSL 190 54 17 7
Rules, Policies,
etc.
Ability to 172 53 21 5
Multi-Task
Ethical Decision 167 59 26 5
Making
Leadership & 154 36 23 5
Delegation
Budgeting 153 19 18 5
Time Management 143 92 27 4
Problem Solving 138 102 24 3
Event Management 144 82 37 6
Event Scheduling 141 93 27 5
Risk Management 144 80 39 5
Personnel 138 90 33 4
Supervision
Planning/ 139 92 32 6
Organization
Legal Liability 145 75 36 9
Public Relations 133 96 35 5
Oral/Written 126 102 36 5
Communication
Staffing/Hiring 118 99 37 9
Crowd Control 111 101 47 7
Performance 103 105 50 5
Evaluation of
Staff
Transportation 116 89 51 10
Scheduling
Facility 107 101 49 9
Management
Goal-Setting/ 97 116 49 5
Strategic
Planning
Customer Service 106 98 56 7
Equipment 100 97 58 13
Maintenance
Employee 89 11 56 10
Motivation
Coaching 34 102 58 10
Experience
Knowledge of 90 102 63 12
Sports
Computer 70 127 58 11
Applications
Knowledge of 74 102 73 15
Contracts/
Leases for
Athletic Events
Sales, Ticket 71 88 86 18
Office
Operations
First Aid/ 72 88 82 20
Emergency
Proeedures
Fund-Raising/ 60 101 85 14
Sponsorship
Procurement
Marketing/ 53 98 91 18
Advertising
Athletic 50 72 93 23
Experience
Crowd Control 111 101 47 7
Performance 103 105 50 5
Evaluation of
Staff
Transportation 116 89 51 10
Scheduling
Facility 107 101 49 9
Management
Goal-Setting/ 97 116 49 5
Strategic
Planning
Customer Service 106 98 56 7
Equipment 100 97 58 13
Maintenance
Employee 89 11 56 10
Motivation
Coaching 34 102 58 10
Experience
Knowledge of 90 102 63 12
Sports
Computer 70 127 58 11
Applications
Knowledge of 74 102 73 15
Contracts/
Leases for
Athletic Events
Sales, Ticket 71 88 86 18
Office
Operations
First Aid/ 72 88 82 20
Emergency
Proeedures
Fund-Raising/ 60 101 85 14
Sponsorship
Procurement
Marketing/ 53 98 91 18
Advertising
Athletic 50 72 93 23
Experience
Not Mean or
Important Average
(1)
Sound Judgment 3 4.60
Knowledge of VHSL 2 4.57
Rules, Policies,
etc.
Ability to 2 4.50
Multi-Task
Ethical Decision 3 4.49
Making
Leadership & 1 4.44
Delegation
Budgeting 1 4.42
Time Management 1 4.39
Problem Solving 2 4.38
Event Management 0 4.35
Event Scheduling 3 4.35
Risk Management 1 4.34
Personnel 2 4.34
Supervision
Planning/ 1 4.34
Organization
Legal Liability 3 4.31
Public Relations 1 4.31
Oral/Written 1 4.29
Communication
Staffing/Hiring 2 4.22
Crowd Control 0 4.19
Performance 3 4.13
Evaluation of
Staff
Transportation 3 4.13
Scheduling
Facility 3 4.12
Management
Goal-Setting/ 2 4.12
Strategic
Planning
Customer Service 3 4.10
Equipment 2 4.04
Maintenance
Employee 2 4.03
Motivation
Coaching 5 4.00
Experience
Knowledge of 2 3.99
Sports
Computer 3 3.93
Applications
Knowledge of 6 3.83
Contracts/
Leases for
Athletic Events
Sales, Ticket 4 3.76
Office
Operations
First Aid/ 7 3.74
Emergency
Procedures
Fund-Raising/ 8 3.71
Sponsorship
Procurement
Marketing/ 10 3.61
Advertising
Athletic 31 3.32
Experience
Crowd Control 0 4.19
Performance 3 4.13
Evaluation of
Staff
Transportation 3 4.13
Scheduling
Facility 3 4.12
Management
Goal-Setting/ 2 4.12
Strategic
Planning
Customer Service 3 4.10
Equipment 2 4.04
Maintenance
Employee 2 4.03
Motivation
Coaching 5 4.00
Experience
Knowledge of 2 3.99
Sports
Computer 3 3.93
Applications
Knowledge of 6 3.83
Contracts/
Leases for
Athletic Events
Sales, Ticket 4 3.76
Office
Operations
First Aid/ 7 3.74
Emergency
Proeedures
Fund-Raising/ 8 3.71
Sponsorship
Procurement
Marketing/ 10 3.61
Advertising
Athletic 31 3.32
Experience
