Date of Defense

4-16-2025

Date of Graduation

4-2025

Department

Human Performance and Health Education

First Advisor

James Lewis

Second Advisor

Joe Wallace

Abstract

The world of athletics continues to grow at a rapid rate, athletic directors are at the forefront of the sporting world particularly in high school athletics. So, how does one begin a career in athletic directing. The traditional path has been being a teacher or coach at the school and then moving into the administration portion of athletics. However, that is not the case for everyone and that is why the findings of this study are important to the field. There are not certain paths that get you to the job quicker than others in the world of athletic directing. If there is not a straight line to becoming an athletic director, then how do you achieve this position? This study examines the similarities and differences among five of the current ten athletic directors in the Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference, as well as how they attained their positions as the athletic director. The research methods used in this study we convenience sampling and personal interviews. The interviews were structured over 20 minutes with 7 questions. Some of the questions included what they did before athletic directing, how much knowledge they had of the job prior to taking over and advice they have for aspiring high school athletic directors. This job study provides key information on the background knowledge needed to become an athletic director and how no path to the job is exactly the same. The biggest similarity between the five athletic directors was a prior coaching background. All five of them coached at some level prior to their current job. Some of them coached at the college level others at high school and one at a recreational level. This background does follow the traditional path to athletic directing however, not all of them had prior teaching experience which was the other method of attaining the job several years ago. These findings suggest that the standard way to a high school athletic directing position is changing with new paths to the job forming every day, such as overall sports directing experience vs general public school teaching and coaching knowledge. These findings will help further the knowledge of the field and how it can be improved in the future.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

Additional Files
Presentation.pdf (398 kB)
Defense Presentation
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