An athletic director’s position constitutes many different skills and can be properly referred to as athletic director jobs.  They are found at every level of educational sports organization usually including middle schools high schools and colleges.  Their job entails many different skills including diplomacy, budget handling, selection, and a knowledge of sports in general.

Middle School

Athletic director jobs at the middle school level usually mean that you will be a full time teacher and a part time athletic director.  The responsibilities of the position include:

• Hiring coaches for various sport teams that the school may have.
• Management and allocation of the budget for coaches and equipment.
• The purchase, repair, and general upkeep of equipment
• Managing the upkeep of your athletic grounds and the management of the schedule of when the grounds are used.
• Guidance of students and communicating with their parents.
• An Understanding of legal liabilities

With all of these tasks you also have to be a full time teacher, granted coaches are also teachers at the school so their selection and salary are not really in your hands.  This is a perfect job for someone looking to start a career in athletic director jobs.

High School Level

At the high school level an athletic director’s job is more hands on and is usually a dedicated position that does not warrant a teaching position, unless teaching physical education.  They have more responsibilities as high schools often have bigger athletic programs than middle schools.  Their responsibilities often include:

• •The hiring of coaches and management of different athletic organizations.
• •Communicating with students, parents and the public.
• •Allocation of the budget for coaches salaries, field and equipment maintenance.
• •An understanding of legal liabilities.
• •Scheduling games and practices
• •Managing the shared use of facilities by different organizations.

College Level

At the college level the athletic director is a full time job that handles many different athletic organizations and activities; it’s basically the high school athletic director’s job at an even larger scale.  Being the athletic director of a major university is a very high profile job that entails a lot of public scrutiny and pressure; welcome to the big leagues.  The college level athletic director is required to fulfill the following obligations.

• Representing the entire schools athletic program.
• Athletic Recruitment
• Budget allocation, balancing and coaches salaries
• Settling disputes between coaches as well as coaches and athletes and giving guidance in general
• Public speaking skills
• Management of the athletic facilities
• Knowledge of legal liabilities
• Communicating with the public
• Managing the schedule of athletic activities
• Dealing with public scrutiny for one’s decisions

The College level is the tip of the pyramid and one of the most difficult yet rewarding positions of all athletic director jobs.