AthleticDirectorU surveyed thousands of Division I college athletics administrators across the nation for the first time since the spring of 2022 to get an overall sense of professional burnout, exhaustion and disengagement in the industry. Using the publicly available Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, ADU found that DI administrators’ average exhaustion and disengagement scores both fall in the high-risk range. Meanwhile, overall burnout, though still in the moderate-risk range, is inching closer to the high-risk range. Read Part I for more quantitative details here. The full survey results can be viewed here.
— —
While the exhaustion, disengagement and burnout scores calculated using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory in Part 1 are instructive and actionable, they paint more of a black and white picture of the industry. This week we’re adding some color. With over 200 quotes from practitioners who responded to the survey, fully encompassing all comments was impractical; however, as was the case in 2022, it didn’t take long for certain themes to emerge and provide the critical context needed to complete this snapshot of the industry.
The biggest and perhaps least surprising change from 2022 is the omission of COVID, but it’s notable that, from a burnout standpoint, the other stressors remain largely unchanged, particularly as they relate to compensation, respect from leadership, workload, work-life balance and the direction of the industry. Essentially, what has changed is the root cause. Rather than a pandemic, burnout accelerants are stemming from unprecedented upheaval. Given the fundamental changes that have occurred over the past three-plus years, administrators frequently used words like “overworked,” “undervalued,” and “unappreciated” to describe their current frame of mind in the workplace.
That said, several respondents maintain a positive outlook on both their roles and the industry. For instance, one FCS AD said, “College athletics these days is certainly different. The NIL space can be a total burnout, but all other aspects of working with our teams and student athletes is incredibly rewarding.”
A Power 4 AD adds: “I enjoy the work I do and who I work with. I have noticed over time that I do feel more tired, but that is because I continue to take on more tasks. Especially now that people are leaving, someone has to take the workload because we still have students to support. So, yes, I love what I get to do, feel challenged, but also tired after the day is over.”
For ease of organization, we’ve compiled your feedback into four main categories: Respect, Compensation, Workload and a more general Miscellaneous; however, as you’ll notice, there is significant overlap in each. Here are your quotes.
RESPECT
“I am overworked and undervalued. I don’t feel appreciated and often taken advantage of because of my high performance. The industry needs to reevaluate work hours if they want to sustain interest and quality candidates/employees. Many people I grew up working in this industry with are leaving because they are burnt out. It’s sad to see happen. The cost of living is increasing, so salaries need to match that same rate.” – Power 4 Assistant AD
“It may be somewhat nihilistic, but it feels like it just doesn’t really matter anymore. I work in academics with student-athletes who almost entirely come from high SES backgrounds, and they are such a challenge because of their unwillingness to reflect on themselves and their potential to need to change in order to improve. That, coupled with an athletic department where I am the only one who does what I do (surrounded by and supervised by staff who have literally never done what I do) is wildly frustrating, because no matter how hard I try, I can never be seen as a priority to support for staffing or resourcing or anything that would allow me to do anything other than stay in my current maintenance mode. It mostly just feels like I’m screaming into an endless void whenever I say anything, let alone when I try to ask for anything. It’s so defeating. And that doesn’t even consider how unsupportive the school is of student-athletes writ large. That really is enough to make me consider quitting most days, because there’s no refuge anywhere. The problem is, with the state of higher ed and athletics in its entirety, where am I really going to go where it could be better?” – Multidivisional Assistant AD
“Pay and progression in the industry do not equate to the amount of work, pressure and stress that come with the job, especially when working with larger and more challenging programs at a lower title, which leads to more challenges with managing my mental health and well-being. Progression, more money, and more freedom would make me feel much better about the amount of work and time I put in. With sports moving to almost year-round responsibilities, it’s challenging to stay engaged and keep up.” – Group of 5 Assistant AD
“Academic advisors, athletic trainers, facility and ops, and sports info people all need to unionize for better pay and more reasonable amount of days worked. Players and coaches are making all the money and the people in the middle get nothing and are just cycled in and out and the ADs just don’t care.” – FCS Associate AD
“It seems the discontent among support staff in college athletics is growing larger day by day. We are often overworked and underpaid. At my university, our marquee sport has not been successful for decades, and it is visible from the moment you walk in the door. Morale is at an all-time low, budgets are being cut, and staff are being asked to do more work outside of their job description. Despite the lack of success, said marquee sport continues to have money dumped into it with no substantial ROI. Meanwhile, teams that are finding success despite the lack of support are not appropriately being acknowledged or rewarded. NIL is also leading to discontent across the board. The shift in college athletics is aggressively exposing universities who have no idea what they are doing. Unfortunately, the blind are leading the blind at mine.” – Basketball-centric Facilities Director
“I left college athletics in 2023 after 30+ years, not due to fatigue or lack of energy. I grew tired of a business model that calls for spending more money than we have and churning, burning and underpaying our critical frontline workers. As an industry, we have also managed to devalue education. Like corporate America, college athletics has adopted a ‘Leaders Eat First’ mentality. I had a great career and loved the work and relationships. Don’t like what we’ve become.” – Group of 5 Deputy AD
COMPENSATION
“I left college athletics after a decade of making it my career. I aspired to change things for the better. Attempting to stop the toxic thoughts and behaviors related to ‘doing it because we love it, not for the money’ and unpaid internships because ‘that’s what we (the older admin) had to do’ or ‘that’s just the way it is.’ Life is more expensive than it has ever been. Not every family can afford to support their post-college grad who took a $12K assistant role because that’s what’s required to break into the business. There’s also enormous pressure within conference realignment for schools to match what the bigger schools are doing in content and marketing despite the budgets remaining the same for those departments. And few things hurt worse than entire staffs going five years without a raise while your coaches and AD continue to get raises and bonuses. I haven’t looked back once with sadness or regret since leaving.” – Group of 5 Marketing Director
“The state of the industry is exhausting and I continue to wonder if it’s time to ensure the financial safety my family needs by pivoting industries on the whole. Even if the House settlement comes through, higher education is under attack federally and at many state levels. I have high concerns about which institutions survive at all, and even more concerns about what happens at the G5 level.” – Group of 5 Academics/Student-Athlete Services Staffer
“This industry often rewards hard work and dedication with more work and responsibility as if that is appropriate compensation. Too often those jumping school to school are rewarded with higher salaries, than those working up through the ranks. This is especially true if you’re an alumni of the University you are working at.” – Group of 5 Assistant AD
“Some areas constantly are being given more work/responsibilities/expectations but have not seen an increase in pay to even meet the cost of living/inflation, except we are required to be available 24/7 and often have athletes making more in a month than we make in an entire year. … Often the folks who do the most day to day for student-athletes aren’t even making $60K and in a metro area, you cannot afford bills.” – Power 4 Staffer
“College athletics has turned into an all-around miserable environment. It used to be the case that you felt excited to be part of the team and working for the greater good of your institution. Now you are working harder than ever to make your athletic director, head coaches, and now the athletes multi-millionaires, all while your pay has not increased at all.” – Power 4 Marketing Director
WORKLOAD
“The demands to be all things to all people seem to do nothing but increase. I understand the desire for student-athletes to be paid, but the unregulated market and unrealistic expectations are challenging. We have sports that lose millions of dollars annually because of how we support the young people in our programs and the expectation is to lose even more money or else you aren’t all in on the sport. Our young people are losing out on so many valuable experiences (lifelong relationships, best academic path, learning resiliency, etc.) because of the transfer portal and the lack of continuity. I remind myself that this is a heck of a challenge to operate within and let’s work hard to get through this.” – Power 4 Athletic Director
“The kids are great, but the environment in which we live – cutting nickels to raise millions – is a tremendous stress. We have not replaced employees who have left, and we’re supposed to have pride in doing more with increasingly less resources – both human and otherwise. The coaches also have rising levels of discomfort and stress with the portal, NIL and rev-share. And their expectations are rising as we have fewer and fewer resources.” – P4 Communications Staffer
“Athletic Directors and senior leadership need to understand that although our jobs are very important in terms of generating revenue and supporting our student-athletes, at the end of the day, we are not curing cancer. Whether it be a hybrid work schedule during the season or allowing for extra time off during the summer, we need to take care of our employees for working nights, weekends, etc. (and not getting paid extra) so they don’t get burned out and leave the industry (which is unfortunately happening more and more).” – Group of 5 Senior Associate AD
MISCELLANEOUS
“Athletics has always presented new challenges, which over the years has made the job interesting and rewarding. However, the quantity and magnitude of today’s challenges are relentless and overwhelming. Conference transition, funding revenue sharing, and creating a payment system for revenue sharing are all first-time challenges for me on my current to-do list. Given the parameters of maintaining full sports sponsorship and paying max revenue sharing, it’s a math problem that does not have a solution. It is an extremely heavy and overwhelming burden that has affected my personal health.” – Power 4 Deputy AD
“Some days I can come home and feel great after work, others I’m just exhausted. Some working weeks I feel horrible because there are not many food options, so it’s either McDonald’s or Taco Bell at 10 or 11 at night when I haven’t eaten since 4. I wish schools were better about keeping us healthy (gym memberships, more options for snacks instead of just a concession stand).” – Group of 5 Facilities Staffer
“No one will tell coaches no. As schools prepare for revenue sharing, they are cutting positions without cutting any expectations, so a smaller staff is asked to do more and more without any of the needed resources to accomplish those requests.” – Power 4 Communications Staffer
“My motivation for my work frankly has fluctuated more lately than ever before. I love my institution and am motivated to help us be successful, but the silliness of college athletics at the moment and the unsustainability and uncertainty of the new structure makes me question my ‘why’ more than it has in the past. This isn’t a ‘players shouldn’t be paid’ rant but a ‘this isn’t set up for success’ gripe.” – Basketball-centric Senior Assoc. AD
“It’s a rollercoaster, let’s face it. In reflection, it’s great to have a job that is different every day. Simultaneously, it’s challenging to operate in a fast-paced, constantly evolving environment. I find I enjoy the ‘work’ itself, but some of the people you have to work with have been behaving in a self-preservation mode due to the chaos. That erodes the team environment, creates distrust and honestly creates contempt.” – Power 4 Senior Associate AD
CONCLUSION
While some administrators maintain optimism about their roles and the rewarding aspects of working with student-athletes, the overwhelming sentiment suggests an industry that must evolve how it treats its workforce. The voices of Division I athletics administrators paint a stark picture of an industry at a crossroads. While the challenges have evolved from pandemic-driven disruptions to fundamental structural upheaval, the underlying issues remain remarkably consistent: inadequate compensation that fails to match workload expectations, leadership that often undervalues support staff contributions, and an increasingly unsustainable work-life balance. Perhaps most telling is the recurring theme of administrators feeling caught in the middle—asked to do more with less while watching revenue flow to coaches and athletes, yet still expected to maintain the same level of dedication “because we love it.”
In Part 3, ADU will speak with experts and industry leaders to explore how college athletics as a whole can address both the root cause and the symptoms of accelerating exhaustion, disengagement and burnout.