Many stories of head coaches often rise to the top of a news feed. Such is the case of Steve Kerr. Don't get me wrong. Steve Kerr is, by far, one of the best, most consistent basketball head coaches having brought multiple victories for the Golden State Warriors. But his assistant, Luke Walton, was just as competent and played a vital role in maintaining the team performance and defending the title during the period when Steve suffered a back injury. Now, Luke is the head coach of the L.A. Lakers, one of the top basketball teams behind top talents like Lebron James and Lonzo Ball.
An assistant coach is involved in activities such as organizing practice sessions, conducting student recruitments, managing training equipment, and implementing training strategies. Besides that, they help facilitate individual workouts, maintain performance records, and coordinate logistics such as accommodation and transportation.
Some employers prefer assistant coaches have a bachelor's degree, but most only require them to demonstrate at least three years of direct experience in the sport, either through coaching or participation. This role earns, on average, $19 per hour and suits someone with a strategic mindset and athletic background.
Assistant Coach Overview
Assistant Coach Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an assistant coach. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.82 an hour? That's $45,387 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 30,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does an Assistant Coach Do
There are certain skills that many assistant coaches have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, dedication and interpersonal skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an assistant coach, we found that a lot of resumes listed 18.8% of assistant coaches included prospective student-athletes, while 10.0% of resumes included cpr, and 9.0% of resumes included ncaa. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the assistant coach job title. But what industry to start with? Most assistant coaches actually find jobs in the education and hospitality industries.
How To Become an Assistant Coach
If you're interested in becoming an assistant coach, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 65.0% of assistant coaches have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 15.0% of assistant coaches have master's degrees. Even though most assistant coaches have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an assistant coach. When we researched the most common majors for an assistant coach, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on assistant coach resumes include high school diploma degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an assistant coach. In fact, many assistant coach jobs require experience in a role such as internship. Meanwhile, many assistant coaches also have previous career experience in roles such as head coach or volunteer.
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Assistant Coach Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of coach you might progress to a role such as team leader eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title program director.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for an Assistant Coach
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Bristol Community College Assistant Coach Assistant Coach | Bristol Community College Bristol Community College | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $38,40001/28/2021 $38,400 |
Platte Canyon District Cross Country Assistant Coach Cross Country Assistant Coach | Platte Canyon District Platte Canyon District | 01/15/2021 01/15/2021 | $39,91401/15/2021 $39,914 |
Cuesta College-San Luis Obispo County Community College Assistant Coach (Short-Term/Temporary Position) Assistant Coach (Short-Term/Temporary Position) | Cuesta College-San Luis Obispo County Community College Cuesta College-San Luis Obispo County Community College | 01/14/2021 01/14/2021 | $29,21801/14/2021 $29,218 |
Weld Re-4 School District Assistant Dance Team Coach Assistant Dance Team Coach | Weld Re-4 School District Weld Re-4 School District | 01/08/2021 01/08/2021 | $34,00801/08/2021 $34,008 |
Falcon School District 49 Assistant Cross Country Coach Assistant Cross Country Coach | Falcon School District 49 Falcon School District 49 | 01/07/2021 01/07/2021 | $40,03201/07/2021 $40,032 |
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Assistant Coach Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming an Assistant Coach. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write an Assistant Coach Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Assistant Coach resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Assistant Coachs
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
2. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
3. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Public
4. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Public
5. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
6. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Public
7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
8. University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA • Public
9. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL • Public
10. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
Top Skills For an Assistant Coach
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.8% of assistant coaches listed prospective student-athletes on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and dedication are important as well.
- Prospective Student-Athletes, 18.8%
- CPR, 10.0%
- Ncaa, 9.0%
- Player Development, 5.0%
- Assist Head, 4.4%
- Other Skills, 52.8% See All Assistant Coach Skills
Best States For an Assistant Coach
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an assistant coach. The best states for people in this position are New York, Wyoming, New Jersey, and Vermont. Assistant coaches make the most in New York with an average salary of $59,979. Whereas in Wyoming and New Jersey, they would average $54,329 and $53,375, respectively. While assistant coaches would only make an average of $52,834 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Wyoming
$54,329
Avg. Salary
2. Minnesota
$52,246
Avg. Salary
3. New York
$59,979
Avg. Salary
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