NCAA College Coaches and Athletic Administrative Support

The present study examined the perceptions of coaches to identify and assess the important areas in which athletic administrators may provide support. A total of 173 NCAA college coaches responded to a questionnaire consisting of 46 items that elicited the importance attached to each item. Principal component analysis of the importance data set yielded six components: Game Management, Decision Making, Nondiscriminatory Work Environment, Job Benefits/Salary, Program Support, and Evaluation. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the set of dependent variables (Importance of Items) with the independent variables (Gender and Division). The MANOVA showed a significant relationship for the main effects of gender and division for the importance of the components. Univariate analyses indicated a significant difference between males and females on the Decision Making component. Male coaches rated Decision Making more important than female coaches. Univariate analyses further revealed significant differences for the components Program Support and Nondiscriminatory Work Environment by division. Tukey\u27s post-hoc analyses showed that Division 111 coaches rated Program Support significantly higher than those in Division I and II. No significant difference was found between Division I and II coaches. Regarding Nondiscriminatory Work Environment, a significant difference was found between Division I and III coaches in that Division ID coaches rated this component significantly higher than their counterparts in Division I