Research

How Big Are College Coaching Staffs?

Coaching-staff size by sport, division, conference and gender across 23,198 college programs, from staff records as of spring 2026.

By Brandon Watson, Founder of OfferSecured · Version 1, prepared Sep 22, 2026

The short answer

Most college teams are coached by a small staff: the median program lists 3 coaches. Football is the exception, at a median of 12 (15 in NCAA D1). Every other sport with 500 or more programs has a median between 2 and 5.

Key findings

  1. A typical program lists 3 coaches

    Across 23,198 college programs with at least one coach listed, the median staff is 3 and the middle half of programs list 2 to 4. 36.7% list only one or two coaches.

  2. Football is in a class of its own

    Football's median staff is 12, against 5 for the next-largest sport, track & field. NCAA D1 football programs list a median of 15 coaches and D3 programs 10 — about 1.5 times as many; 20.3% of D1 programs list 21 or more.

  3. In most sports, division barely changes staff size

    In 11 of the 15 sports with enough programs at all four levels, the median staff differs by at most one coach between NCAA D1, D2, D3 and NAIA. The exceptions are football (D1 15, D2 11, D3 10, NAIA 10), basketball (D1 5, D2 3, D3 3, NAIA 3), swimming & diving (D1 4, D2 3, D3 3, NAIA 2) and lacrosse (D1 4, D2 3, D3 3, NAIA 2.5).

  4. Men's and women's staffs are close in size

    In 22 of the 23 sports with enough men's and women's programs to compare, the two medians are within one coach of each other. The largest gap is in wrestling: 4 for men's programs, 2 for women's.

  5. Some sports are really one staff for two teams

    Where a school has both a men's and a women's team, the two usually list exactly the same coaches in track & field (84.7% of 1,132 schools), cross country (84.8% of 1,082 schools) and swimming & diving (89% of 474 schools). Their staff sizes describe the same people twice, and are counted in both programs.

How staff sizes are distributed

Averages hide the shape. The middle half of programs list 2 to 4 coaches. Of the 379 programs listing 13 or more, 337 are football. The mean is 3.6 and the largest staff listed is 34.

Share of 23,198 programs by number of coaches listed. 36.7% list one or two; the largest group, 3–4 coaches, holds 40.8%.
Coaches listedProgramsShare
12,98312.9%
25,52923.8%
3-49,45740.8%
5-73,78816.3%
8-121,0624.6%
13-203171.4%
21+620.3%

By sport

35 sports have enough programs with a listed coach to report. n is the number of programs with at least one coach listed; coverage is that number as a share of all programs we hold in the sport.

Median staff and the middle half of programs, by sport. Football leads at a median of 12. Every other sport with 500 or more programs has a median between 2 and 5.
SportnCoverageMedianMiddle halfMeanRangeHead coach listed
Football77497.9%129.3–1512.81–3499.5%
Track & Field2,30991.2%53–75.21–2299%
Basketball2,47699.2%43–54.11–1399.3%
Soccer2,14999.6%43–43.61–1299.1%
Baseball1,08699.2%44–54.71–1699.9%
Gymnastics10296.2%43–43.71–798%
Fencing7997.5%43–53.71–6100%
Volleyball1,49597.8%32–431–898.6%
Softball1,12499.1%33–43.51–1099.6%
Swimming & Diving1,06596.3%32–43.71–1098.4%
Lacrosse99296.3%32–43.21–998.9%
Wrestling53496.6%32–53.81–1598.3%
Ice Hockey34595.6%33–43.41–897.4%
Field Hockey27298.9%32–431–797.4%
Rowing21797.7%32–43.41–898.6%
Water Polo113100%32–32.81–597.3%
Cross Country2,25999%22–32.61–1284.9%
Golf1,76498.9%21–221–898.5%
Tennis1,61598.8%22–32.31–899.1%
Cheerleading75892.6%21–21.91–696.8%
Bowling26496.7%21–32.21–697.7%
Beach Volleyball13696.5%22–32.41–695.6%
Rugby10789.2%21–32.31–697.2%
Equestrian9889.9%21–32.11–798%
Skiing79100%22–32.51–698.7%
Stunt7986.8%21–2.52.11–5100%
Squash62100%22–32.41–5100%
Rifle59100%21–21.81–596.6%
Acrobatics & Tumbling5388.3%21–32.11–5100%
Sailing52100%21–32.71–8100%
Rodeo3394.3%21–32.61–9100%
Weightlifting27100%21.5–32.21–4100%
Esports36784%11–21.81–897%
Flag Football15886.8%11–21.81–589.2%
Triathlon5278.8%11–21.71–498.1%

By division

Median staff by level, for the 15 sports with enough programs at all four levels. Sports missing a level are left out rather than shown with a gap. 1,384 programs have no level recorded and appear in no level comparison. Junior colleges are not in this data.

SportNCAA D1NCAA D2NCAA D3NAIA
Football15 (n 266)11 (n 169)10 (n 248)10 (n 87)
Basketball5 (n 705)3 (n 565)3 (n 799)3 (n 360)
Swimming & Diving4 (n 328)3 (n 178)3 (n 476)2 (n 69)
Lacrosse4 (n 203)3 (n 203)3 (n 505)2.5 (n 62)
Track & Field5 (n 679)4 (n 531)5 (n 726)4 (n 373)
Baseball4 (n 301)4 (n 242)5 (n 373)4 (n 152)
Soccer4 (n 547)3 (n 449)3 (n 800)3 (n 317)
Softball4 (n 299)3 (n 262)3 (n 387)3 (n 154)
Wrestling4 (n 84)3 (n 111)4 (n 206)3 (n 109)
Cross Country3 (n 567)2 (n 479)2 (n 707)2 (n 273)
Bowling2 (n 35)1 (n 55)2 (n 41)2 (n 103)
Cheerleading2 (n 115)2 (n 182)1 (n 155)2 (n 163)
Volleyball3 (n 550)3 (n 281)3 (n 438)3 (n 192)
Golf2 (n 514)2 (n 358)2 (n 513)2 (n 219)
Tennis2 (n 466)2 (n 291)2 (n 561)2 (n 129)

Men's and women's programs

Median staff for the 23sports with enough of both. “Same staff” is the share of schools with both teams where the two list exactly the same coaches; where it is high, the two medians describe one staff counted twice.

SportMen'sWomen'sSame staff
Wrestling4 (n 358)2 (n 176)12.4%
Soccer4 (n 974)3 (n 1,175)1.2%
Lacrosse4 (n 427)3 (n 565)0.3%
Squash3 (n 33)2 (n 29)81.5%
Basketball4 (n 1,235)4 (n 1,241)0%
Track & Field5 (n 1,141)5 (n 1,168)84.7%
Cross Country2 (n 1,110)2 (n 1,149)84.8%
Golf2 (n 919)2 (n 845)43.9%
Tennis2 (n 738)2 (n 877)49.2%
Volleyball3 (n 279)3 (n 1,216)8.4%
Swimming & Diving3 (n 483)3 (n 582)89%
Cheerleading2 (n 317)2 (n 441)97.1%
Esports1 (n 195)1 (n 172)98.2%
Ice Hockey3 (n 203)3 (n 142)1.5%
Bowling2 (n 90)2 (n 174)78.4%
Rowing3 (n 72)3 (n 145)29.4%
Water Polo3 (n 52)3 (n 61)27.3%
Rugby2 (n 53)2 (n 54)18.2%
Equestrian2 (n 28)2 (n 70)92.6%
Fencing4 (n 37)4 (n 42)88.6%
Skiing2 (n 40)2 (n 39)84.6%
Rifle2 (n 32)2 (n 27)100%
Sailing2 (n 28)2 (n 24)100%

Conferences: football

Conference comparisons are shown here for football only, where staff size varies most. A conference is listed when at least 8 of its programs have a coach listed; across all sports, 1,148 conference slices in 20 sports meet that bar, and 2,599 smaller ones do not. 3,783 programs have no conference recorded.

ConferencenCoverageMedianMiddle halfRange
Big Ten Conference18100%2416.3–26.811–33
Big 12 Conference16100%2319–2413–27
American Athletic Conference14100%2017–21.512–28
Mountain West Conference12100%1816–2211–27
Southeastern Conference16100%16.513.8–23.311–31
Big Sky Conference13100%1614–1712–24
Southern Conference8100%1615–16.513–18
Atlantic Coast Conference18100%1513–20.810–32
Mid-American Conference12100%1512.8–16.311–18
Conference USA11100%1512.5–1610–23
Sun Belt Conference14100%14.512–16.811–21
Southwestern Athletic Conference12100%14.511–208–34
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference8100%14.513–17.310–23
Missouri Valley Conference10100%1413–1611–18
Northwest Conference9100%1311–1411–18
Southland Conference9100%1312–1511–23
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association8100%1311.5–159–23
Pioneer Football League8100%1311–13.89–28
Middle Atlantic Conference10100%12.510.5–16.39–20
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference13100%129–166–18
Great American Conference12100%1210–13.37–19
Mountain East Conference10100%129–12.87–16
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin9100%1210–147–26
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference8100%1210.3–14.57–20
Ivy League8100%1210.8–1410–14
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association10100%11.510–128–14
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association10100%11.511–13.89–20
Lone Star Conference8100%11.58.5–12.86–15
Great Midwest Athletic Conference11100%119–129–13
South Atlantic Conference11100%119.5–14.56–24
Mid-States Football Association10100%118.8–12.52–14
Midwest Conference10100%10.57.3–126–15
Ohio Athletic Conference10100%10.59–14.38–19
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference10100%10.510–11.87–14
Southern Athletic Association8100%10.58.5–127–15
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference13100%1010–118–13
Presidents Athletic Conference11100%108.5–10.56–17
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference10100%109–12.86–15
American Rivers Conference9100%109–137–15
Frontier Conference9100%108–115–12
North Coast Athletic Conference9100%109–138–13
Great Plains Athletic Conference888.9%107–10.87–14
Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference8100%109.8–138–19
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference15100%97.5–10.56–15
Heart of America Athletic Conference12100%96.8–11.33–15
New England Small College Athletic Conference10100%98.3–10.87–11
Great Lakes Valley Conference9100%98–116–15
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference9100%98–107–12
Northeast-10 Conference9100%98–127–24
Old Dominion Athletic Conference9100%98–135–13

What this means if you are being recruited

  • On a staff of one or two — 36.7% of programs — the head coach is likely the person who reads recruiting email, so write to that coach directly.
  • On a large staff, recruiting is often divided up. The position coach or a listed recruiting coordinator can be a better first contact than the head coach.
  • Judge a staff against its own sport. Outside football, every sport with 500 or more programs has a median staff of 2 to 5, so a small staff mainly tells you how many people have time to answer you.
  • Staffs turn over, and these records are months old. Check the school's own staff page before you write. Coaches on the Move lists the departures and moves our crawl records each month.

How we counted

Unit.A program is one school's team in one sport and gender (for example, a school's women's soccer). We hold 23,936 programs; 23,198 (96.9%) have at least one coach listed.

Staff size is the number of different people listed as coaches for a program. A program with no coach listed is treated as unknown — it lowers coverage and is left out of every statistic. It is never counted as a staff of zero.

Shared coaches count once in each program they coach. 18.9% of the 66,764coaches counted are attached to more than one program, most often because one staff coaches a school's men's and women's teams.

Duplicates. People are matched by name within a program, so a coach collected twice counts once; 242 duplicate listings were collapsed this way.

Head coach listed is the share of programs where at least one listed coach carries a head coach title. The title belongs to the person, not the team, so a head cross-country coach who assists in track shows as a head coach in both — one reason cross country scores lower here. It is shown as a quality signal, never used to drop programs; 608 programs with coaches have no head coach listed.

Statistics. The median is the headline; the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile (interpolated, so a quartile can fall between whole numbers). The mean is shown for comparison. These definitions and the thresholds below were written down before any result was looked at.

Publication thresholds. A sport, sport-and-division or sport-and-gender group is shown only if at least 20 programs have a coach listed (8 for a conference), at least 50% of its programs have one, and at least 60% of those list a head coach. Two groups are compared as a ratio only when both pass and their coverage is within 20 points.

74 groups below the thresholds, left out
  • Acrobatics & Tumbling · NCAA D1 — 11 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Acrobatics & Tumbling · NCAA D3 — 9 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Acrobatics & Tumbling · NAIA — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Acrobatics & Tumbling · Men's — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20); coverage 25% (needs 50%)
  • Beach Volleyball · NCAA D3 — 15 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Beach Volleyball · Men's — 5 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Cricket · NCAA D3 — 1 program with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Cricket · Men's — 1 program with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Cricket — 1 program with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Equestrian · NCAA D2 — 10 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Equestrian · NAIA — 4 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Esports · NCAA D1 — 10 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Fencing · NCAA D2 — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Flag Football · NCAA D1 — 9 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Gymnastics · NCAA D2 — 6 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Gymnastics · NAIA — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Gymnastics · Men's — 15 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Ice Hockey · NAIA — 15 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Football · NCAA D1 — 5 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Football · NCAA D2 — 4 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Football · NAIA — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Football · Men's — 13 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Football — 13 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Rowing · NCAA D1 — 12 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Rowing · NCAA D3 — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Rowing · Men's — 10 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Rowing · Women's — 4 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Lightweight Rowing — 14 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Pistol · NCAA D1 — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Pistol · NAIA — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Pistol · Men's — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Pistol · Women's — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Pistol — 4 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Polo · NCAA D1 — 4 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Polo · Men's — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Polo · Women's — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Polo — 4 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rifle · NCAA D2 — 7 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rifle · NCAA D3 — 9 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rifle · NAIA — 5 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rodeo · NCAA D1 — 6 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rodeo · NCAA D2 — 19 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rodeo · NAIA — 4 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rodeo · Men's — 17 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rodeo · Women's — 16 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rowing · NCAA D2 — 16 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rowing · NAIA — 5 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rugby · NCAA D1 — 17 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Rugby · NAIA — 8 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Sailing · NCAA D2 — 6 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Sailing · NCAA D3 — 18 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Skiing · NAIA — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Squash · NCAA D1 — 19 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Stunt · NCAA D1 — 12 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Stunt · NAIA — 8 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Stunt · Men's — 12 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Synchronized Swimming · NCAA D1 — 3 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Synchronized Swimming · NCAA D2 — 1 program with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Synchronized Swimming · Women's — 5 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Synchronized Swimming — 5 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Triathlon · NCAA D1 — 15 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Triathlon · NCAA D2 — 13 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Triathlon · NCAA D3 — 15 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Triathlon · Men's — 11 programs with a coach listed (needs 20); coverage 47.8% (needs 50%)
  • Water Polo · NCAA D2 — 16 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Water Polo · NAIA — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Water Skiing · NCAA D2 — 3 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Water Skiing · Men's — 1 program with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Water Skiing · Women's — 2 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Water Skiing — 3 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Weightlifting · NCAA D2 — 7 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Weightlifting · NAIA — 5 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Weightlifting · Men's — 14 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)
  • Weightlifting · Women's — 13 programs with a coach listed (needs 20)

Limitations

  • Age. Every listing was last checked between Feb 13, 2026 and Jun 20, 2026. Coaches hired or gone since then are not reflected; in a spot check of programs against their schools' sites, one had added an assistant after our last check.
  • What schools publish. We count the people a school lists as coaches. Schools differ in whether graduate assistants, volunteers or operations staff appear in that list, so part of any difference between programs is a difference in how they publish.
  • Name variants. The same coach listed under two spellings is counted twice. It is rare and only pushes counts up, but it was not measured.
  • Coverage. The report describes the programs in our database, which covers NCAA and NAIA schools but not junior colleges.

Citing this report

To cite: OfferSecured, “How Big Are College Coaching Staffs?” version 1, September 2026, offersecured.com/research/coaching-staff-size.

How this was made

OfferSecuredcollects college coaching staffs from each school's official athletics website. An automated collector opens the team's page and uses an AI model to read the staff listing; each coach record keeps the date it was last checked.

A read-only script computed every figure on this page from a single snapshot of that data. The same snapshot always produces the same file, and a second, independently written query reproduced the core counts before publication. No AI model calculated, estimated or rounded any number here. An AI writing assistant helped draft the prose, which the author checked against the tables.

Author. Brandon Watson, founder of OfferSecured. Coaching experience: Assistant track & field coach (field events), Peak to Peak Charter School; Assistant football coach, Monarch High School.

Next review: no earlier than December 2026, and only once new staff data has been collected. Corrections: offersecuredapp@gmail.com.

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