Athletic directors' and head coaches' attitudes about the compensation of Division I athletes

This study examined the attitudes of athletic administrators and head coaches of division I institutions in regards to providing athletes with compensation in addition to their athletic scholarships. A secondary purpose was to determine which athletes should be paid, what type of payments they should receive, the sources of their payments and how this would affect the amateur status of intercollegiate athletics. The participants, 61 administrators and 52 head coaches from 113 randomly selected division I colleges and/or universities, completed a questionnaire which was created specifically for the purposes of this study.The majority of administrators and head coaches believed that athletes should not receive compensation in addition to their athletic scholarship. The results also showed that, if it was decided that athletes should be paid, then either all athletes or athletes on full and partial scholarship should be paid. It was the opinion of the participants that these payments should be made in the form of a monthly stipend and that the funds should come from a combination of the NCAA and individual institutions. The respondents also expressed that compensating athletes would have little or no affect on amateur status and academic integrity.The results of this study were significant in that they specifically addressed the opinions of active athletic administrators and head coaches. For the most part, this study did support the information provided in the review of literature. However, the participants in this study presented a much greater opposition to providing college athletes with compensation in addition to their athletic scholarships.School of Physical EducationThesis (M.A.