Students can start this 15-hour Coaching the Intercollegiate Scholar Athlete Graduate Certificate in the fall, spring or summer. Applicants do not need to have earned a degree in kinesiology.The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Education now is offering a new graduate certificate for those in athletic coaching or looking to enter the field.
The graduate certificate in Coaching the Intercollegiate Scholar Athlete will provide current or aspiring athletic coaches throughout our state and the region with access to a strategically designed practitioner-focused credential to support their career competencies and advancement. The certificate will be offered to undergraduate or graduate students majoring in exercise science or related fields (nutrition, biomedical science, biology, community health, and health education) or used as part of the Graduate School’s Master’s Degree of Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies.
“We designed our program to meet the different combinations of skills needed to successfully coach college athletes, which, as we know, includes academics and athletics,” said Samuel Coffman, instructor and program director in the Department of Human Studies. “As an institution that continues to expand, this area was extremely important to provide academic options and experiences for individuals working on becoming coaches at the college level. Our goal with this certificate is to help foster the development of practitioner-focused career competencies and advancement for those interested in collegiate-level coaching.”
Students will take four required courses and a seminar course with a coaching internship for this 15-hour certificate-granting program. Courses will be offered online.