The perceptions of coaches of the role of athletic directors

A survey instrument, Coaches' Survey, was constructed for the purpose of collecting data for this study. Subjects were selected from the 1989-1990 National Directory of College Athletics. The survey instrument was mailed to 411 coaches; 273 usable instruments were returned. The coaches were asked to indicate their agreement or disagreement with 36 statements in both the Real situation and the Ideal situation. Major findings of the study led to the conclusions that (a) better communication between athletic directors and coaches resulted in better understanding and acceptance of limitations which may be beyond the athletic directors' control, (b) coaching stress was a real concern for the coaches surveyed, (c) the coaches believed that athletic directors should be strong leaders, (d) men have better access to community leaders than do women, (e) coaches generally believe that athletic directors perform adequately even though there are some weaknesses, and (f) the area of concern for most coaches is financial support for their programs. Even when seen as a fact, it was viewed as restricting the strength and growth of programs.