Hey there, first time poster. I am completing my senior year of college and want to spend some time coaching before looking at Graduate School. I went to college out of state, but am from an Arkansas high school, so I would really like to get back in the state coaching. I am young, but have good experience (assistant coach at a high school, 2 year manager for an SEC basketball program where I helped in all practices and games, excellent recommendation letters from SEC coaches). My degree is in Sport Administration with a solid GPA (3.5+). What do I need to do to hopefully find a job somewhere in Arkansas starting the 2018-2019 season? Do I need to start looking at certifications now, or can I be hired with the expectations I complete them during the year? Any help is appreciated as I am eager to get all of this started.
Get it now. Add as many things to your license as possible. Like a core subject. Around March start looking on AHSAA.org for jobs. There are other job sites.
What is the license called, is there a website or something I can go and see all of the options?
I'm assuming you have a degree in education. You can just take the praxis test for whatever you want to add to your license. ETS.org
If you don't have a degree in education you will probably have to get a MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) in order to get certified. I'm not sure what the non-traditional route is like now. I'm working with a teacher that did not have an education degree and had to go the MAT route.
I'm a sr at UCA going the traditional route, but I have a friend that went the non traditional route. She got her MAT at UCA and she had classes and in-field work for 1 year. After that she got a job @ NLRHS and finished the last year of classes at night. Go ahead and take the praxis exam and then try to pass a content area praxis exam. It'll make your life easier.
If you want to start coaching and teaching while getting paid for it right away you can go non traditional. Go to the Arkansas education website and look for the APPEL program. Send in your application and get started teaching and coaching with regular teacher pay.
Quest Academy in West Little Rock is looking for a girls basketball and track coach. Trying to fill asap.