Coaching Resume Examples to Help You Succeed This Year

Updated August 24, 20221.1k

Do you want to break into the coaching field? Our coaching resume examples can give you a leg up and help you find the right coaching job.

Coaching Resume Example

Although directing a team is an important part of being a sports coach, it’s not the only activity that coaches have. A good coach needs to be able to motivate students to reach their full potential, not just direct everyone in practice and on game day. If you’re planning to apply as a coach for any type of sport, here are a few tips to keep in mind for your resume. Jobs That Can Use Coaching Resumes

Jobs That Can Use Coaching Resumes

Many positions handling teams of varying skill and grade levels can use a coaching resume, including:

High school coach
Assistant coach
Basketball coach
Head coach
Football coach
Middle school coach
Soccer coach
Volleyball coach
Athletic director

If you’re applying for any of these job titles, or any coaching position with another sport, here’s how to create the best coaching resume.

Important Elements for Coaching Resumes

The best way to write a professional resume is to use the right resume format for your profile. Whether you’re using the chronological format, which focuses on history, the , functional format, which focuses on skills, or the combination format, which focuses on both, here’s how to fill out your resume sections.

Resume summary or objective

The first section of your resume will include a 2-3 sentence paragraph that goes over important elements of your resume. If you are less experienced, you will start with a resume objective, which emphasizes your skills and education and indicates your career goals. If you have several years of experience, you will write a resume summary, which goes over your experience and highlights your best qualifications.

Skills

A skills section is important to highlight your top proficiencies. Here are a few bullet points to help you start your coaching skills list:

Mentoring and motivating students
First aid skills
Implementing strategies
Communication
Teaching the fundamentals of the sport
Fundraising
Interpersonal skills
Time management skills
Helping students learn about teamwork

Remember to incorporate both soft skills (intangible traits that impact how you approach work, such as collaboration and discipline) and hard skills (specific skills related to the sport you’re coaching) in your skills section. You need to show the recruiter that you not only have the technical skills to teach players how to perform, but you also have the people skills to relate to them.

Work experience

Your work experience section should include up to 10 years of experience in previous coaching positions. You can also include professional experience related to coaching experience, such as teaching physical education. Include your major job duties and achievements in each previous job (e.g., “Led team to state championships in 2019 and 2020”).

Education

Especially when it comes to coaching younger children, your job application may not need an extremely broad education section. If you’re looking into coaching college and beyond, you’ll want to include at least a bachelor’s degree in fields related to sports education. Instead of including your GPA, focus on specific honors, like a cum laude or the Dean's List.

Certifications

Many coaches can have certifications in their field, and it can be helpful to a job search for you to be able to include those. Sports coaching certifications may include certification from the NFHS, the United States Sports Academy, or the ECC.

To write the best resume, it’s a good idea to look into existing resume samples. Use ResumeNerd’s resume examples for inspiration writing your own. Once you’re ready to write your resume, the ResumeNerd resume builder can walk you through the process, and it even includes resume templates to help you create a better design.

Tips for Creating Your Coaching Resume

Here are some additional tips to help you write your coaching resume:
- Include any academic experience you have, even if it doesn’t seem to relate to coaching. These academic experiences can show that you’ve developed related hard skills.
- If you have specific experiences, such as experience coaching varsity student-athletes in specific sports, point them out. Specialized experience and accomplishments can be more impactful than general experiences that most candidates will have.
- Highlight skills both outside of games and in games. For example, you might highlight that no one on your team has ever been assigned a penalty for bad sportsmanship.

FAQ: Coaching Resume Examples

Do I need to submit a cover letter with coaching resumes?

Cover letters are a great way to showcase your knowledge and experience. Plus, you can use them to highlight specific skills that you want to point out to the hiring manager to see, and go into further details into how you’re the right fit for the position you’re applying for. If you’re looking to show off your skills and talent, use the ResumeNerd cover letter builder to create a cover letter easily.

Can I get a coaching job with no experience?

Experience can certainly be very helpful, but if you’re looking at an entry-level coaching job, you can start without much experience. In these situations, you can use other types of experience, such as internships or volunteer assistant positions, as well as emphasize your skills in the field.

Is it a good idea to change up my coaching resume for every job posting?

Every time you write a new job posting, it’s a good idea to change your resume slightly, as every job will have different requirements. You want to emphasize the skills and experiences that the hiring manager put in the job description, at least as long as you have those experiences and skills. Read through the job description, look for keywords that spell out skills and requirements the recruiter is looking for, and address those keywords to your resume.

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About The Author

Cindi Cervone Carlson

Cindi Cervone Carlson is a Senior Vice President for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Cindi is responsible for developing, delivering, and implementing a dynamic, world-class organization dedicated to delivering outplacement consulting, training, support, and executive coaching. Cindi started her career at Challenger as a client who had lost her job. Over the past nine years, she has risen from an entry-level, part-time professional to Senior Vice President.