The Coach Credentialing Program

Managing Yourself is our foundational curriculum for coaches to understand the skills needed to be a professional coach. It is based on the concept that before you can manage and lead others, you first must learn to manage and lead yourself.

Sample Content

• Know Thyself 1 – Internal and external self-awareness
• Identifying Your Values and Strengths 
• Developing Self-Regard
• Developing or clarifying a Coaching Mission Statement
• Professionalism
• Mindfulness and Emotional Control
• Time Management & Organizational Skills
• The Well-Integrated Life – Self Care
• Coaching Philosophy Development

The Managing Your Program pillar is designed to help coaches create the organizational structure of their program in a way that supports the overall team mission and vision. Managing Your Program provides tools and ideas on how to organize all the tasks that need to be done along with how to manage and lead the people who are completing those tasks.

Sample Content

• Connecting with and Managing the “Modern Athlete.”
• Recognizing and Managing Mental Health Issues
• Developing Team Leadership
• Emotional Intelligence 101
• Conflict and Communication Skills 
• Managing Your Staff and Support Staff
• Managing Your Team
• Developing a Recruiting System

There is no formal coach’s training program in the United States. Coaches enter the profession in a variety of ways and are responsible for training themselves — regardless of their salary range, level they coach or access to resources. Initial training should be required followed by continuing education as an individual moves through their career. All the support staff around an athlete (nutritionist, strength & conditioning, sport psychologist, mental health providers) has to be certified but the coach does not. 

While this credentialing model will be a shift in mindset and culture for the coaches, in the end, it will help them feel more empowered and prepared for the rigors of managing and leading a team at the collegiate level.

Supporting and training coaches as the landscape continues to shift and change has never been more important. Understanding how to connect and lead the “modern athlete”, the rise in mental health issues, adjusting to a new understanding of diversity and inclusion and the correct language to use in this space, NIL, Black Lives Matter, the transfer portal etc. Preparing coaches to lead from a person and relationship-centered approach is at the heart of the credentialing program.

Where does a coach find a safe space to get credible, constructive, non-punitive feedback to improve each year? Many athletics administrators have not coached at the level they are supervising and do not have the time nor the experience to truly observe a coach and give them an evaluation designed to help them improve and grow. So how DO coaches get feedback? Mostly through senior student-athlete exit interviews, their win-loss record, graduation rates and how happy their athletes seem to be in their program.

Quality feedback is a core element for a long and fulfilling coaching career. Our credentialing program will include teaching coaches the value of quality feedback, how and when to seek it and the value it can bring to their relationships and their personal and professional growth.

In the current modern era of athletics, the athletes have a stronger voice which shines an even brighter light on the need for coaches to have an advocate in their athletic department and within their sport associations.The voice of the coach has been seemingly lost in recent years at both the national level and within their individual athletic departments.

The United Soccer Coaches views this program as a way to create the relationships with their members coaching at the NCAA levels so they can provide support and advocacy when a coach may need it the most. One of the main goals of this credentialing program is to be proactive in our training and support of coaches and less reactive which is not productive for anyone.

How does someone become a coach on the college level? The answer should be an easy one but it is not. People find their way or stumble into coaching in a variety of ways and this can be confusing for the young people we are hoping to attract into the profession. United Soccer Coaches views the credentialing program as a viable path or pipeline for coaches interested in working at the NCAA level. The United Soccer Coaches College Coach Credentialing Program creates a database of coaches who have graduated making United Soccer Coaches a reliable source for athletic administrators who may be looking for quality candidates to recruit to their open soccer positions. It also provides a way for the coaches involved in the program to network for jobs within the United Soccer Coaches credentialed coach community.