The role of the teacher/coach emerged early last century, when the emphasis changed from physical education for the purpose of student health to the idea of "athletics are educational" (Figone, 1994). Teacher/coaches replaced doctors in running the programs, and the effort was advanced by the popular varsity athletics programs. The problems of dual role teacher/coaches is compounded because teacher/coaches have not organized to bring about change, and schools and colleges do not see the roles as incompatible.
Of the 750,000 school coaches today, less than 8 percent have undergone specific coaching education (Coaching, 2005). There is little interest in formal coaching education for collegiate coaches. Even at the Olympic level, coaching education is mixed, and coaching is not considered a profession in that there are no specific criteria for becoming a coach. There is no specialized knowledge needed, or taught in any organized fashion. Coaches often learn by simply "doing it." There is the feeling that if you can teach, you can coach, and if you actually played the sport, even better. This leads to uneven levels of coaching, and also leaves many teacher/coaches unprepared for what they have to cope with in these positions, which causes unnecessary stress, leading to teacher/coach burnout.
One problem in American schools is that physical education teachers are often expected to be coaches, for which they are paid a meager stipend above their salary as a physical education teacher (Lipira et al, 1999). The problem with this is that these teacher/coaches are under the same pressure as full-time coaches to win, to please the parents, to please the fans, and please the school boards. This takes a great deal of their time and energy, which is taken away from what they give to their regular physical education students. These students, who are not athletes, deserve the full attention of a physical education teacher, and ge...