Question on Graduate Assistants in Athletics

Cougar Football
1

Are the graduate assistant coaches all supposed to be graduate students at the university or at some university? It seems like some of the graduate assistant coaches may be a graduate assistant at different colleges over a few years. I just wasn’t sure how this differs from a GA or a TA or Research Assistant in more academic departments.

I assume the GA’s in sports medicine or trainers are all grad students at UH, but wasn’t sure if that’s what happens at the coaching level.

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They do have to be enrolled in the college they are working at.

Good article on what GA’s do and what they make:
http://footballscoop.com/news/lets-talk-about-ga-pay/

For those not familiar, when referring to grad assistants, I’m referring to young coaches, typically in the very early part of their careers (often right out of college), who work very long hours while receiving very little compensation. Grad assistants are required to be accepted into school, and must attend graduate level classes, working towards an advanced degree, all while working 60-plus hours per week for the football team. While their scholarships do cover the tuition costs associated with their pursuit of an advanced degree, the “stipend” portion of their scholarship amounts to very, very little per month.

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Thanks, it seems like some graduate assistants (from looking at bios and coaching changes) have bounced around to different schools so it is confusing. Like 1 year here, one year at another school, etc.

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I believe they just transfer programs at that point and find what degree program they can.

I’d be interested to find out how many GAs actually finish their grad degree.

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