A.D.MINISTRATION athletic director strategies launching a COACH FEEDER PROGRAM Athletic directors should look to teachers to fill the gaps By Dr. David Hoch, columnist Many athletic administrators report that finding quality coaches is extremely difficult, and it isn't getting any easier. One solution requires that athletic directors invest more into developing a feeder program to fill in the gaps for coaching positions. Feeder programs have long been used to create a pool of athletic talent for future high school teams. Why not take a similar approach and adapt it in order to establish a pool of potential coaches? There are two groups athletic administrators should consider when creating a feeder program: teachers and community youth league coaches. It has long been an objective of most athletic directors to fill coaching positions with teachers, because teachers have a relationship and background working with students, understand the operational structure of schools, and have experience dealing with parents. This makes teacher-coaches the desired candidate. 12 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019