Whistle See plans

College Athletics Staff by Conference

Across 1,098 NCAA athletic departments in 102 conferences, Whistle tracks 112,598 staff positions as of 27 Oct 2026: 48,559 coaching positions (43%) including 15,782 head coaches. The Big Ten has the most tracked staff (7,072 across 18 schools); the Big Ten has the largest average department (393 positions per school). 82% of positions have a published or inferred email.

Data as of 27 Oct 2026.

Source: official athletics staff directories of 1,098 NCAA schools, read by Whistle on a rolling schedule. Download the table as CSV.

How many athletics staff does each NCAA conference have?

Conference	Div.	Schools	Positions	Avg / school	Head coaches	All coaches	Ops	Video	Performance	Leadership	Email coverage
Big Ten	Division I	18	7,072	393	332	1,421	717	202	1,006	542	72%
ACC	Division I	19	6,619	348	344	1,501	746	202	881	573	80%
SEC	Division I	16	5,906	369	240	1,063	657	270	710	499	76%
Big 12	Division I	15	4,518	301	220	1,016	445	151	650	442	73%
AAC	Division I	13	2,434	187	183	675	258	77	363	231	79%
Sun Belt	Division I	13	2,103	162	179	645	206	77	270	155	80%
MAC	Division I	13	2,061	159	197	684	204	53	290	172	85%
Big Sky	Division I	16	1,959	122	205	707	166	62	270	139	83%
Atlantic 10	Division I	15	1,941	129	228	728	145	43	265	181	90%
Ivy League	Division I	8	1,925	241	217	774	208	20	272	145	93%
Big East	Division I	12	1,906	159	188	601	159	29	249	183	90%
CAA	Division I	14	1,897	136	212	707	156	46	312	176	89%
Pac-12	Division I	9	1,718	191	118	480	170	50	240	169	80%
Patriot League	Division I	10	1,614	161	195	675	142	32	222	123	88%
Conference USA	Division I	10	1,551	155	125	477	144	59	186	135	81%
MVC	Division I	13	1,517	117	165	543	133	33	197	116	86%
ASUN	Division I	13	1,421	109	193	593	104	24	182	110	84%
Summit League	Division I	11	1,385	126	158	508	137	27	203	125	91%
Mountain West	Division I	7	1,352	193	121	416	134	25	207	137	87%
MAAC	Division I	13	1,309	101	236	674	68	11	172	109	92%
Pennsylvania State Athletic	Division II	17	1,253	74	248	648	36	4	114	41	78%
Northern Sun Intercollegiate	Division II	15	1,222	81	193	613	46	5	161	69	84%
WCC	Division I	10	1,202	120	142	472	115	25	156	122	84%
Big West	Division I	10	1,161	116	138	448	84	9	142	105	92%
Southland	Division I	11	1,161	106	123	436	90	31	180	87	79%
Great Lakes Valley	Division II	15	1,159	77	258	643	24	4	108	68	81%
SWAC	Division I	13	1,107	85	135	425	101	28	100	79	70%
America East	Division I	9	1,100	122	150	478	93	31	129	87	90%
Southern Conference	Division I	10	1,094	109	134	438	81	29	163	91	90%
New England Small College Athletic	Division III	11	1,089	99	242	669	37	1	118	58	86%
Horizon League	Division I	12	1,076	90	150	466	76	11	169	97	86%
Lone Star	Division II	18	1,039	58	190	449	19	5	107	80	82%
Northeast Conference	Division I	10	1,020	102	185	506	66	18	123	56	83%
South Atlantic	Division II/Division III	13	1,014	78	207	525	35	2	145	66	96%
Other / unassigned	Division II/Division III	22	991	45	236	574	35	4	123	50	88%
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association	Division II	13	975	75	152	432	30	1	128	82	87%
Rocky Mountain Athletic	Division II	15	949	63	178	513	26	3	136	62	82%
Carolinas	Division II	16	933	58	251	519	29	2	114	47	91%
College of Illinois & Wisconsin	Division III	9	929	103	157	565	13	1	100	23	68%
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic	Division II	10	927	93	155	446	31	4	109	57	85%
Centennial	Division III	10	909	91	174	630	31	2	83	28	79%
Ohio Valley	Division I	10	898	90	125	399	58	21	110	51	90%
Presidents' Athletic	Division III	12	897	75	189	538	25	5	68	22	79%
Northern Athletics Collegiate	Division III	13	885	68	202	615	36	2	69	21	74%
Middle Atlantic Commonwealth	Division III	9	876	97	167	552	25	3	68	21	79%
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic	Division III	11	873	79	171	629	13	0	79	26	77%
Old Dominion Athletic	Division III	12	869	72	197	528	11	6	83	19	80%
Great Midwest Athletic	Division II	12	863	72	168	443	30	1	85	34	90%
WAC	Division I	6	844	141	82	275	65	7	108	70	90%
Liberty League	Division III	10	841	84	177	512	32	4	87	32	81%
Empire 8	Division III	11	826	75	182	494	15	3	73	27	76%
Big South	Division I	9	825	92	121	331	67	12	116	50	90%
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic	Division III	8	800	100	133	487	33	7	92	25	75%
New England Women's and Men's Athletic	Division III	9	796	88	162	499	22	3	58	25	81%
Sunshine State	Division II	11	776	71	168	407	24	0	102	38	91%
Northeast 10	Division II	10	767	77	168	485	16	1	75	40	89%
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Division III	8	754	94	163	497	32	5	74	16	73%
New Jersey Athletic	Division III	9	748	83	123	508	16	5	60	25	58%
Middle Atlantic Freedom	Division III	8	739	92	144	433	22	2	60	16	81%
University Athletic Association	Division III	8	732	92	111	385	20	1	71	40	78%
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic	Division III	9	731	81	122	436	21	2	74	22	82%
Great Northeast Athletic	Division III	14	724	52	187	459	15	2	68	27	84%
Little East	Division III	9	724	80	145	494	19	2	66	29	74%
Great American	Division II	12	716	60	130	377	19	0	70	43	86%
Gulf South	Division II	11	714	65	128	305	7	2	92	36	79%
Ohio Athletic	Division III	9	713	79	153	473	14	0	58	20	77%
Landmark	Division III	10	711	71	169	474	18	2	60	20	84%
California Collegiate Athletic Association	Division II	14	703	50	140	405	15	2	88	49	93%
Northwest	Division III	8	702	88	117	503	34	5	58	22	71%
North Coast Athletic	Division III	9	701	78	158	454	14	0	67	23	91%
Mountain East	Division II	11	682	62	159	356	14	5	64	30	84%
Conference of New England	Division I/Division III	11	678	62	192	449	18	3	56	24	85%
State University of New York Athletic	Division III	11	678	62	148	392	9	2	62	29	77%
MEAC	Division I	8	667	83	88	310	45	8	101	63	83%
Independent	Division II/Division III	14	640	46	145	380	14	3	55	27	76%
American Rivers	Division III	8	635	79	145	439	12	2	52	16	74%
Midwest	Division III	10	627	63	150	446	23	5	53	21	79%
Central Atlantic Collegiate	Division II	11	626	57	154	421	18	3	62	23	87%
Pacific West	Division II	10	617	62	119	363	12	1	58	33	72%
United East	Division III	12	599	50	146	423	10	1	44	22	71%
Skyline	Division III	12	584	49	147	405	10	0	50	23	83%
East Coast	Division II	9	567	63	122	358	8	3	48	35	75%
Southern Athletic Association	Division III	9	566	63	139	373	20	2	57	29	89%
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic	Division I/Division II	14	566	40	117	326	27	3	57	27	77%
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Division II	12	552	46	116	327	11	7	57	59	88%
Great Northwest Athletic	Division II	10	534	53	93	273	15	0	62	34	83%
Peach Belt	Division II	11	523	48	115	250	8	1	54	40	87%
Southern Collegiate Athletic	Division III	10	506	51	126	295	13	0	48	17	88%
USA South Athletic	Division III	8	465	58	113	300	9	3	48	16	88%
Heartland Collegiate Athletic	Division III	9	460	51	111	303	8	0	44	13	82%
American Southwest	Division III	7	437	62	107	231	10	5	43	19	86%
Upper Midwest Athletic	Division III	7	383	55	81	253	3	2	34	15	73%
North Atlantic	Division III	8	357	45	97	244	3	1	35	7	77%
City University of New York Athletic	Division III	8	350	44	79	218	6	0	17	25	76%
Coast-To-Coast Athletic	Division III	5	349	70	74	193	8	2	32	11	78%
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic	Division III	8	345	43	96	236	2	0	25	14	83%
Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic	Division III	7	322	46	90	220	8	0	35	9	99%
Atlantic East	Division III	6	313	52	67	193	5	0	26	8	79%
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate	Division III	7	247	35	85	159	2	0	17	9	88%
Collegiate Conference of the South	Division III	5	236	47	74	159	4	1	21	5	93%
United Athletic	Division I	1	135	135	13	37	6	1	12	12	76%
Middle Atlantic	Division III	1	86	86	18	47	1	1	11	5	81%

What do the role groups mean?

Head coaches: titles classified as head coach of a program.
All coaches: head, associate/assistant head, assistant coaches and offensive/defensive coordinators.
Ops: directors of operations, recruiting and player-personnel staff, equipment staff.
Video: video coordinators, analysts and creative/video staff.
Performance: strength & conditioning, athletic training / sports medicine, sports science & nutrition.
Leadership: athletic directors, deputy/senior/associate ADs and sport administrators.
Email coverage: share of positions with a published email or one inferred from the school's address pattern (recorded as inferred).

Method

Methodology: counts are computed live from Whistle's database of official NCAA athletics staff directories. Only current (non-departed) positions count; roles and sports come from published titles; a school's first extraction and coverage artefacts are excluded from change counts. Public pages never include names or contact details.

Conference membership follows each school's current NCAA listing; spellings are folded onto one conference. Division I counts include FBS and FCS. Whistle covers 1,098 of 1,168 NCAA athletic departments.

Frequently asked questions

Which NCAA conference has the most athletic department staff?

The Big Ten: 7,072 tracked positions across 18 covered schools as of 27 Oct 2026.

How big is the average college athletic department?

103 tracked staff positions per department across all covered NCAA schools; Division I departments are several times larger than Division III ones (see the per-conference averages above).

Need the people behind the counts? Whistle plans include every position with name, title and contact details; a single conference is $499 as a one-time dataset.