Doctoral research · University of Pennsylvania
Coach Flourishing StudyThe well-being of those who lead
A study of how NCAA coaches flourish, and how their work supports or impedes their well-being.
Independent of the NCAA and your institution. This is university doctoral research. Nothing you share goes to the NCAA, your athletic department, or your administration, and findings are reported only in ways that can't identify you.
Share your experience
If you're a head coach, I'd like to hear from you
I'm looking for current NCAA head coaches, in any sport and any division, who are willing to talk honestly about their experience. You don't need to be thriving right now to have something valuable to say.
Let me know you're interested
A short form, about two minutes. I'll follow up personally.
Open the interest form- Who
- Current NCAA head coaches, any sport, any division
- What
- One conversation by video call
- Time
- About 60 minutes, scheduled around your season
- Privacy
- Your name and school are never published
Why it matters
Coaches have a uniquely challenging role
Head coaches spend their careers developing other people. They set the culture, the schedule, and the daily climate that student-athletes live inside. Yet research on coaches tends to focus on burnout and stress, and almost none asks what it looks like when a coach is truly thriving.
This project starts from a simple conviction: coach well-being matters in its own right, because coaches are people. It also matters for everyone around them. Coaches who understand and value their own flourishing are better positioned to build programs where athletes flourish too. Healthcare and education have learned, at real cost, what happens when systems burn out the people who serve. College athletics doesn't have to repeat that.
What standard well-being frameworks miss about coaching
- 01
Flow and peak moments
The intensity of competition can be deeply energizing, not only draining.
- 02
Identity and role
For many coaches, "coach" is more than a job title. It's who they are.
- 03
Win–loss pressure
Public, scoreboard-based judgment of your work that most professions never face, on a seasonal clock that rarely stops.
- 04
Stakeholder pressure
Administrators, boosters, alumni, parents, fans, and media all hold expectations, and they don't always agree.
- 05
Cultivating character
Coaches are expected to form young people's character, often in full public view.
- 06
A shifting landscape
NCAA rule changes around transfers, NIL, and eligibility can reshape a program from one season to the next.
- 07
A new generation of athletes
Gen Z and Gen Alpha athletes bring new expectations, shaped by a digital, social-media world. Meeting them well takes adaptability and real resilience.
- 08
Something else we learn from you
Coaches will name things no framework has anticipated. That's why this study starts by listening.
The organization matters
Flourishing doesn't happen in a vacuum
A coach's well-being is shaped by far more than personal habits or grit. The athletic department and institution around them can make thriving possible, or make it nearly impossible. This study pays close attention to those organizational factors, including:
- Leadership and administrative support
- Department culture and values
- Staffing, budget, and resources
- Workload, travel, and time demands
- Job security and how success is evaluated
- Room for family and life outside sport
The study
Starting with coaches' own words
Most well-being research hands people a survey built for someone else. This study begins by listening. Coaches' own descriptions of flourishing come first, and they shape what gets measured next.
How coaches define flourishing
Confidential interviews with NCAA head coaches across sports, divisions, and career stages about what thriving looks like in their work and lives, and what in their programs and departments helps or gets in the way.
Patterns across the profession
A survey informed by Phase 1, looking at levels and patterns of flourishing among head coaches and the organizational conditions that support or undermine it.
About the researcher
Why I'm asking
I teach positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where my work focuses on helping people put the science of well-being into practice. This research brings that work to a profession I know from the inside.
I'm the spouse of a longtime NCAA head coach and the parent of a former NCAA athlete. I've seen up close what coaches give to their programs, and how rarely anyone asks what sustains them. This study is my attempt to ask that question carefully, and to build tools that could help coaches and athletic departments take coach well-being seriously.
Contact
Let's talk
Questions about the study, interested in taking part, or know a coach who should be part of this conversation? Email me directly.