College Athletic Director
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A College Athletic Director manages the sports and athletic programs and departments for a college or university. Supervises coordination of various athletic events and manages athletic department budgets. Serves as a liaison with sports conference or division administrators. Oversees hiring of athletic department staff.
Job Outlook
There were 192 College Athletic Director job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 4893 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Higher Education Administrator industry, which includes the College Athletic Director career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new College Athletic Director jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $84,480.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $80,375.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for College Athletic Director postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $61,734.
Education and Experience
Posted College Athletic Director jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 54.08% |
| Master's Degree | 29.65% |
| Doctoral Degree | 2.86% |
| Other | 10.91% |
Posted College Athletic Director jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 32.48% |
| 3 to 5 years | 54.44% |
| 6 to 8 years | 9.65% |
| 9+ years | 3.43% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills College Athletic Director positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (50.5%)
- Management (41.67%)
- Coaching (39.81%)
- Leadership (39.04%)
- Operations (34.07%)
- Planning (24.1%)
- Scheduling (20.97%)
- Coordinating (20.07%)
- Writing (15.76%)
- Interpersonal Communications (15.29%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Athletic Administration (17.85%)
- Fundraising (36.96%)
- Intercollegiate Athletics (24.37%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Budget Management (5.83%)
- Athletic Training (10.56%)
- Sports Management (8.5%)
- Physical Education (9.24%)
- Program Development (4.54%)
- Public Relations (15.59%)
- Event Management (8.22%)
- Marketing (24.64%)
- Statistics (10.04%)
- Sales Prospecting (16.2%)
- Effective Communication (4.87%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with College Athletic Director skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Athletic Director
- Director of Athletics Marketing
- Director of Athletic Development
- Athletics Director
- Athletic Equipment Manager
- Assistant Director of Athletics Marketing
- Athletic Coach
- Director of Athletic Performance
- Athletics Intern
- Athletics Operations Assistant
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- School Athletic Director
- Alumni Relations Manager
- Fundraising Manager
- Fundraising / Development Specialist
- Director of Community Relations
- Campus Director
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most College Athletic Director jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- National Collegiate Athletic Association (242)
- Phoenix Union High School District (161)
- Brevard Public Schools (75)
- LA Fitness (43)
- Southeast Polk Community School District (24)
- University of North Florida (22)
- University of North Carolina (21)
- Pennsylvania State University (20)
- Firstpoint (19)
- North Central College (19)
North Carolina
- University of North Carolina (21)
- Gardner-Webb University (14)
- University of North Carolina Wilmington (13)
- East Carolina University (13)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (10)
- Western Carolina University (10)
- National Collegiate Athletic Association (8)
- Appalachian State University (8)
- North Carolina State University (8)
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte (5)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.