The effects of collegiate athletic programs have been debated by educators for decades. Although academic achievement is almost always listed as a major goal of athletic departments, there seems to be a conflict between the goals of higher education and athletics. Concerns about the balance between academics and athletics in the collegiate setting have been expressed both inside and outside the educational environment. As athletics have become an increasingly prominent part of higher education in America, athletes as a student subpopulation have become more vulnerable to academic exploitation. As a result, the need for effective academic support programs for athletes presumes the need for accurate and useful information about their educational characteristics. This research is an exploratory study which seeks to identify the major variables impacting the academic achievement of student athletes. Using Glaser and Strauss' discovery of grounded theory methods of research, thirty-two interviews were conducted with student athletes spread among six institutions. Findings identify factors and conditions which contribute to student athletes' perceptions of academic assistance. The study attempts to explain the relationship among these variables and how they facilitate or impede the academic progress of student athletes. Information from the research serves as a basis to form an integrated theoretical framework to explain how various factors affect student athletes' academic achievement. / Ed. D.

Coaching education programs, both non-sport specific and sport specific, have been developed by a number of sponsoring agencies. The purpose of these coaching education programs is to develop coaching competencies leading to safe programs that foster skill development, positive social-emotional development, and enjoyment. Little research has been done to support these claims. The purpose of this study was to (1) analyze the content of one non-sport specific and one sport specific (soccer) coaching education program, (2) assess novice coaches' knowledge base and specific coaching behaviors prior to participating in a coaching education program, (3) assess novice coaches' knowledge base and specific coaching behaviors after participating in a coaching education program, and (4) contrast the differences that exist between generic and sport specific coaching education programs to determine if the coaching education programs actually influence novice youth soccer coaches to change their behaviors and does this change reflect the content that was delivered in the course they took part in. Eight novice youth soccer coaches of boys and girls aged 6-12 were assigned to one of two coaching education groups. A descriptive profile of each coach was established using videotape analysis, field notes, and interviews. The Instructional Observation System for Analyzing Coaching Performance (IOSACP) was utilized to assess pre and post coaching education practice behaviors. Results were analyzed following a pretest-posttest design. Pre-intervention analysis demonstrated the novice soccer coaches as a group possessed little soccer content knowledge, had limited pedagogical content knowledge, and had little understanding of what ought to be done in a youth soccer context. The non-sport specific coaching education course was delivered as designed and was presented in a three hour lecture/discussion format. This course provided sound philosophical and structural coaching information but no content knowledge and little pedagogical information. The content presented did not influence the participants to change their practice behavior. The five hour sport specific coaching education course, delivered in both a lecture and field based format was not delivered as designed. It provided more specific soccer content knowledge through a field based component that tied the content and the philosophy of coaching youth soccer together. This was deemed sound and this combination led to this group of coaches to change their practice structure and delivery. This change was based on the philosophy and soccer coaching content delivered in the course. The coaches’ pedagogical skills did change slightly but the changes cannot be attributed to the pedagogical content delivered in this course. The major difference between these two courses was the field based content knowledge component that was presented in the sport specific course. This component had a direct impact on the coaches that participated in the sport specific coaching education course as they completely changed the structure for conducting a youth soccer practice. This change represented the content delivered in the coaching education program. / Ed. D.

Sports coaching has struggled to gain credibility as a profession. It has previously been described as a pseudo profession, though in recent years there have been a number of attempts to rectify this view in order to formally recognize coaching as a profession. Most literature on the professions focuses on the more established professions, with very little research undertaken into the professional development of football (soccer) coaches. The research undertaken examined the ways in which Scottish football coaches learnt their ‘trade’ once they had achieved their initial certification – in other words, how they became socialised into the profession of football coach in Scotland. In order to achieve this aim a number of different samples were examined. First, a sample of aspiring, young professional players were examined, followed by a sample of full time young professionals. Further, two samples of coaches undertaking their initial accreditation courses (SFA UEFA ‘B’ Licence and SFA UEFA ‘A’ Licence - this latter award being essential to become a full time professional football coach in Scotland). Finally, a sample of senior coaches (those that had been practising for at least five years) was examined. The methodology of choice was that of Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) which enabled an idiographic analysis of each coach to be carried out. Using the Repertory Grid (Repgrid) technique all samples, which were exclusively male, completed a grid and the group of senior coaches also had their grid data further analysed using the ‘Laddering’ approach, which enabled a more detailed set of core constructs to be derived. In addition, the development of the ‘Snake’ interview approach, enabled a more detailed examination of senior, elite coaches’tract development. This format enabled the senior coaches to describe perceived critical incidents that had occurred in their professional lives and discussed what meaning such incidents had in their professional development. Results indicated that there was a mismatch between what young professional players thought that coaches should do and what coaches actually did in their daily practice. Further, differences in constructs between “B” level, coaches and “A” level coaches and senior coaches were clearly definable. There was little evidence to support idealistic notions of what should happen in learning situations with senior professional coaches and reasons for such were discussed. It was argued that much more attention should be paid by the National Governing Body, the Scottish Football Association (SFA), to ensure that courses should be better structured to be more relevant to neophyte coaches in their initial learning. Thus, once these coaches become formally qualified (certificated) more precise mechanisms, in terms of realistic Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes, mentoring of coaches at all levels and the establishment and encouragement of ongoing and accepted communities of practice, coaches will benefit and develop as professionals from such continuous life-long learning opportunities.

The purposes of the study were (a) to examine selected areas of knowledge perceived by collegiate basketball coaches as essential for inclusion within a masters degree curriculum for collegiate basketball coaches, then (b) based upon these findings, to construct a model curriculum for the masters degree preparation of collegiate basketball coaches. A survey instrument, Questionnaire on the Areas of Knowledge Essential to Collegiate Basketball Coaches, was constructed and mailed for the purpose of collecting data from NCAA coaches. There were 252 instruments returned (58%). The coaches were asked to respond to topics which they perceived to belong within a graduate curriculum for intercollegiate coaches. The areas of knowledge were extrapolated from the 1995 National Association for Sport and Physical Education National Standards for Athletic Coaches. Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests and paired t-tests were performed on the data. Major findings of the study led to the conclusion that the areas of knowledge (a) training, conditioning, and nutrition; (b) skills, tactics, and strategies; and (c) teaching and administration mean rankings were not significantly different from one another but were significantly different from mean rankings from all other areas of knowledge. The areas of knowledge (d) social/psychological aspects of coaching; and (e) professional preparation and development mean rankings were not significantly different from one another but were significantly different from mean rankings of the other areas of knowledge. The areas of knowledge (f) injuries: prevention, care, and management; and (g) growth, development, and learning mean rankings were significantly different from all other areas of knowledge mean rankings. Additional conclusions were that perceptions of collegiate coaches concerning the seven areas of knowledge were independent of coaching experience, division of NCAA affiliation, academic degree, gender, or the gender of the team they coach. A model curriculum was proposed for the masters degree preparation of collegiate basketball coaches. This curriculum, if implemented, could provide students with the academic preparation needed for a successful career in collegiate basketball coaching.