Stress among NCAA Division II Head Coaches

Abstract

This study examined the unique experiences of Division II coaches as they relate to the occurrence of stress and burnout. Coaches from 10 Div. II male and females sports responded to a survey concerning their coaching and non-coaching duties, dual-sport roles, support staff, scholarship funding, and family life, as well as to a coaching stress survey. While the subscale of Program-Success showed the highest amount of stress among the 4 subscales for all Div. II coaches, this was especially true for coaches who lacked scholarship funding. In addition, coaches who had additional duties also had higher Time-Role subscale stress scores than coaches without those duties. Good administrators should keep lines of communication with coaches open so that a discussion of specific factors creating stress within various programs can be heard and addressed.