Quick Highlights
Can PE teachers, coaches and other working professionals earn a sport administration master’s while working? Yes, and Arkansas State University’s online M.S. in Sport Administration can be finished in as few as 12 months. The 6-credit internship runs in summer terms only, and a 6-credit thesis is the other route.
If you teach during the day and coach before and after, a master’s must fit around practice, games and school days. Coursework must share the week with lesson plans, practices, travel and game nights. Balancing these priorities and their competing schedules is a key part of successfully navigating a secondary degree on top of day-to-day work. Arkansas State University (A-State) offers an online Master of Science (M.S.) in Sport Administration program that makes it easier for working teachers and coaches to move into administration at a pace and convenience that accommodates the reality of earning a degree while still working full time.
Public school teachers reported working an average of 49 hours a week in 2025, about ten more than their contracts require, according to RAND. For a teacher who also coaches, practices and game days fill the same weeks, so the questions that matter most are when work is due, how the summer internship runs and which start date works best for you.
Can PE Teachers Move Into Athletic Administration With a Sport Administration Degree?
Yes, the degree is relevant preparation for the administrative side of the job, though it does not guarantee a position. The three areas it adds to a teacher-coach’s experience appear as required courses: Sport Finance and Budgeting covers fiscal and budgetary control, Sport Law covers negligence and premise liability, and Sport Governance and Operations covers governance policies and game operations.
Many school coaches already work on staff as teachers: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that high schools typically hire teachers or administrators at the school for most coaching jobs. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) counted a record 8.2 million high school athletes in 2024-25, and each of those programs involves budget, scheduling and liability decisions like the ones those courses cover.
The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) certifies athletic administrators at several levels. Its Registered Athletic Administrator credential requires a bachelor’s degree and three Leadership Training Courses, while the Certified Athletic Administrator level adds two or more years of experience as an athletic director and an exam. A teacher-coach can compare each level with a district’s athletic director posting before deciding between a certification, a master’s or both.
Important Note
Requirements for school athletic directors vary by state. Check your state department of education and your district before you enroll. The master’s adds coursework in law, finance and governance to whatever credential a state or district requires.
For example, Melanie Hosty, who successfully balanced professional and educational responsibilities on the path from teacher to athletic director, enrolled in A-State’s MS in Sport Administration program in January 2018 and graduated in May 2020 through the thesis route while teaching and coaching softball and track and field at Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis. She became co-assistant athletic director there in 2019 while enrolled. She told A-State: “I could hop on the computer and do homework at my own pace. … If I had a game or a track meet and needed to skip a night of school, I could do that, which was nice.”
How Online Coursework Fits Around Practice, Games and School Days
The M.S. in Sport Administration online program is accredited by the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) and costs $12,600 with all fees included (36 credits at $350 per credit), the same for all U.S. residents, as of 2026. You can finish in as little as 12 months, with 7-week courses in fall and spring and 5-week courses in summer; the summer internship or thesis route runs two 7-week terms. Admission requires a bachelor’s degree with a 2.75 GPA (or 3.0 over your last 60 hours); application materials include an online application, official transcripts, a current resume, one professional reference and a $30 application fee.
For a working coach, athletics experience can matter if a GPA falls below 2.75: the program admits some applicants conditionally when work experience in the field is detailed on the resume and supported by a professional reference, and those students must earn a B or better in their first 9 credits.
Kirk Louis Jr., a former A-State football player who began the program right after his 2019 bachelor’s degree, told A-State: “I spend about six hours per week on the master’s degree program.” Your load will vary by course and by season. He was not balancing a teaching schedule, so a working coach can treat his six hours as a reference point rather than a forecast.
Andrew Sachs was candid in his profile: “It would be hard to finish during the season with all of the travel.” He finished in 15 months during a year without game travel, so his timeline may be unique. Taken together, these experiences show that the program’s flexibility lets you shape your path to completion around your own timeline and other obligations, whether that means a steady six hours a week or a faster push during a quieter stretch of the year.
Can You Do the Internship While Working?
Yes, if your summers are open: the 6-credit internship runs in summer terms only, and the 6-credit thesis is the route for those who work in athletics year-round. The internship is offered in summer terms only, and permission is needed from the department’s graduate internship coordinator. It’s advised that students arrange the internship site at least a full semester ahead.
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Route
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Credits
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What it asks of you
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Fits you if
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Summer internship
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6
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Supervised participation at an approved organization during summer terms
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You can step back from other duties in summer
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Thesis
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6
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Faculty-guided original research presented to a thesis committee
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You work in athletics year-round
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Melanie Hosty took the thesis route while teaching and coaching softball and track and field at Cor Jesu Academy. A teacher-coach whose summers are already committed can ask an enrollment specialist how a thesis would fit around a season.
Christyal Holloway, who became an executive assistant at the Arkansas High School Activities Association three months before her program completion date, said in her profile: “A-State also helped me because internships are built into the degree program. I was doing internships at the Arkansas High School Activities Association every summer when I had breaks playing basketball and came home. Then, a full-time position opened up for me.” She completed those internships during summer breaks as a student-athlete, so her schedule differed from a teacher-coach’s, but the summer-only window works the same way.
Key Questions to Consider
Seasons and school schedules differ, so it helps to talk through the following with an enrollment specialist before choosing a start date. Consider:
- Which start date puts my hardest weeks outside my season?
- Can I take more than one course in a term, and how does that change the time to finish?
- Does my situation fit the summer internship, or should I plan the thesis?
- How do I find and arrange an internship site a semester ahead?
The answers to the first two questions decide whether the first 7-week course lands inside or outside a season. The next application deadlines are December 28, 2026, for the January 11, 2027 start and February 22, 2027, for the March 8, 2027 start.
Explore Arkansas State University’s online M.S. in Sport Administration for more program details and enrollment opportunities.
Frequently Asked Questions
I coach a fall sport. Which start should I pick?
Pick the start that keeps your first 7-week course out of your busiest stretch. For 2027, that might be a Spring 1 start on January 11, 2027 or a Spring 2 start on March 8, 2027.
I teach full time. Will this change my teaching license?
Teaching licensure is set by each state, so confirm with your state department of education whether any license requirement or pay schedule you follow depends on graduate coursework before you enroll. BLS reports that coaches who are also teachers must meet state licensing requirements.
I work in athletics year-round. Can I skip the summer internship?
The program offers a 6-credit thesis as an alternative route. Ask the program’s enrollment specialist how it works for your situation.
Is the thesis harder than the internship?
The internship is supervised professional participation at an approved organization, and the thesis is faculty-guided original research presented to a thesis committee. Each carries 6 credits, so the choice comes down to which kind of work fits your schedule.