Role of Selected Variables in the Burnout of High School Basketball Coaches

Sport coaching produces many demands on the men and women who enter this profession. Stressors are both internal (e.g., self-imposed) and external (e.g., winning, time demands, etc.) in nature, and are often reported to be major reasons many current coaches are leaving, or considering leaving, the coaching profession. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the role of selected job related variables to potential burnout. Four hundred male and female varsity basketball coaches were randomly selected from a purchased list of the 3A (middle size high schools) to 5A (large schools) basketball coaches in Texas. Questionnaires requesting demographic data and the Maslach Burnout Inventory Form Ed. (Maslach, Jackson, & Schwab, 1996) (modified with copyright permission) were used. A return rate of 31% included 90 male and 36 female coaches. Three multiple regression analyses using age, hours per week spent in coaching, self-report personal health status, gender, coaching (job) satisfaction, school size and career win/loss record served as the predictor variables with the three subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory instrument (depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and personal accomplishment) being the criterion variables. Results indicated that personal health status ( p=.008) and job satisfaction (p=.002) were significantly predictive of emotional exhaustion (R²=.35). Personal health status (p=.02) and job satisfaction (p=.006) were also significantly associated with depersonalization (R²=.24). Gender of coach (p=.016) and job satisfaction (p=.001)were significantly predictive of personal accomplishment (R²=.24). Inconsistent with previous research (Kelley & Gill, 1993), won/loss record, hours work per week, size of school, and gender of coach were not significant predictors. Comparison of means for the three burnout subscales showed this population of coaches to be lower in depersonalization and emotional exhaustion and higher in personal accomplishment than norms published for an educational population (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996). The results of this study suggest that a coach’s propensity for burnout may be reflective of the amount of work-related emotional exhaustion and the coach’s interactions with his/her players.