An athletic director — a role also posted as director of athletics — is the administrator who runs a school's athletics program: the scheduling, transportation, officials and equipment behind its teams, with duties that reach into eligibility, budget, risk management and coaches' education.
This guide covers the school-level job at private and charter schools serving grades 6 through 12 — the setting the NIAAA's Certified Athletic Administrator credential addresses: what the role involves, how it differs from college athletics, what it pays, and how you move into it.
What is an athletic director?
An athletic director is the administrator who runs a school's athletics department.
The role also appears under the title director of athletics.
The profession has a national home: the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) traces its history to attempts begun in 1962 to organize a national association and was officially formed in 1977.
It offers six certifications for athletic administrators at various stages in their career, including the Registered Athletic Administrator (RAA), Registered Middle School Athletic Administrator (RMSAA), Certified Athletic Administrator (CAA) and Certified Master Athletic Administrator (CMAA).
The job's scope is wider than the scoreboard.
The NIAAA describes athletic administration as extending beyond scheduling, transportation, officials and equipment into sport law, risk management, coaches' education and policy enforcement on eligibility, tournament playoffs, certification and budget.
Independent-school leagues give the role a structure of its own.
The New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC), for instance, was established in 1942 as an organization of athletic directors from accredited New England independent schools.
NEPSAC sanctions New England championship events in many sports, and it is not a regulatory body the way a state public high school association is.
What does a high school AD do at a private or charter school?
The daily work starts with logistics: scheduling, transportation, officials and equipment.
The NIAAA's description of the job also includes sport law, risk management, coaches' education and enforcing policy on eligibility, tournament playoffs, certification and budget.
It places administrative duties beyond the school itself, too, in state, professional, conference and league cooperative efforts.
Coaching staffs are part of the picture: the Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that high schools typically hire teachers or administrators at the school for most coaching jobs — so a school's coaching staff is mostly its own faculty and staff.
Medical coverage is another program decision.
A 2016 study in the Journal of Athletic Training, using data collected from 2011 to 2014, found that 28% of U.S. private secondary schools had a full-time athletic trainer, versus 37% of public secondary schools.
The same study found athletic training services of some kind at 58% of private and 70% of public secondary schools.
Coverage tracked enrollment: 44% of private schools enrolling 100 to 199 students employed an athletic trainer, rising to 90% among private schools with 400 to 499 students.
The researchers pointed to budget, small school size and lack of awareness of the athletic trainer's role as the barriers.
At a smaller private or charter school, deciding how to cover that gap — employing a trainer of its own, or relying on coaches trained in CPR and first aid — can land with the athletic office.
The duties above are athletic administration as the NIAAA describes the field; what a charter school's athletic office adds around that core is a per-school question the posting answers.
How is the job different from a college AD?
The title travels; the job doesn't.
This page covers the school-level role: athletic administrators at schools serving grades 6 through 12.
The same job title exists at colleges, but the employer, the governing structures and the career path are different from school-level athletics.
Even the credentialing separates the two: the NIAAA's Certified Athletic Administrator requires experience in a public or private school setting serving grades 6-12 — school-level, not college.
The league layer covered here is the school one, too: NEPSAC is the organization of athletic directors from accredited New England independent schools that sanctions New England championship events in many sports.
If college athletics is your destination, this site isn't the map for it: the athletic director postings on this board are at private and charter schools.
How do you become one?
Our research found no blanket credential rule for the job — schools list their own requirements, and a posting tells you more than any general guide.
The sequence below is one workable path: coaching first, then the association's entry certification, then the CAA once you have the required years as an athletic administrator.
Build a coaching track record
The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that high schools typically hire teachers or administrators at the school for most coaching jobs — so the track record to build is coaching, ideally at a school where you would want to work.Check the coaching requirements where you are
The BLS says coaching certification often requires being at least 18 and trained in CPR and first aid, and public high school coaches may need certification or mandatory education courses. NFHS tells buyers of its Fundamentals of Coaching course to check with their state association on whether it meets state requirements.Add the entry credential
The NIAAA's Registered Athletic Administrator (RAA) is open to people seeking employment or knowledge in athletic administration, including recent graduates.Sit for the CAA once you qualify
The Certified Athletic Administrator requires two or more years of experience as an athletic administrator in a public or private school serving grades 6-12, completion of Leadership Training Courses 501, 502, 503, 504 and 506, and passing the CAA exam.
The exam can be taken through online proctoring, which the NIAAA says costs an extra $42.50 per attempt — budget for it when you plan your certification year.
Coaches who want a credential of their own can work toward the NFHS Learning Center's three-level national coaching credential for current and aspiring interscholastic coaches.
Confirm current requirements and fees
How much do athletic directors make?
The clearest published figure our research found comes from the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).
In NAIS's DASL Facts at a Glance for 2025-26, the median athletic director salary across reporting NAIS member schools was $115,000.
Scope matters: that median covers NAIS member schools — independent schools that belong to the association — so it is not a national figure, not a charter school figure and not a Catholic or diocesan system figure.
The same table reports a median low of $59,565 and a median high of $78,000 for coaches' salaries across the same reporting schools.
Our research found no federal figure beside it — no federal wage table we checked publishes a median for the athletic director title — and we didn't surface a district-side pay table for public school athletic directors either.
So treat any generic athletic director salary number you find online as unverified until you can see its source, and treat a school's own posting or published salary scale as the figure that counts for that job.
Where the career leads
There are two ways to read advancement in this field: the scope of the program you run and the credentials you hold.
On the credential side, the CMAA is the top of the NIAAA's ladder.
It requires holding the CAA first, more Leadership Training Courses — 501 through 504 and 506, plus 508 and 510 and five electives — and a graduate-level written or oral project or an approved Quality Program Assessment.
On the job side, schools post the work under related titles — athletic director, director of athletics, assistant athletic director — and each posting defines the program it covers.
So the clearest picture of what the next step looks like comes from reading postings at the kind of school you want to work at.
Find athletic director jobs
SchoolHires lists athletic director openings at private, independent, faith-based and charter schools, alongside the teaching, leadership and staff roles around them.
Browse athletic director jobs to see current openings and the requirements schools are actually asking for.
Career information, not legal advice — confirm current certification requirements with the NIAAA and with each school.