Making the transition from athlete to coach is a goal many people have. Athletes know their sport backwards and forwards. They know how the game is played, and how to have a competitive edge. As individuals, athletes know what it takes to win.
Becoming a coach after being an athlete might actually look a little different than you think! Learning how to effectively lead, teach, and stay on-top of sport performance techniques as they advance is a skillset that is highly sought after in the coaching world!
The fully online Coaching and Sport Performance Degree from Southern Miss helps prepare you to become the absolute best coach you can be, and teaches you how to stand out in the coaching industry with the best practices and performance methods.
Learn how Dasman McCullum transitioned from a D1 athlete to a coach through our program below!
Q. Out of all the schools that you could have chosen for your field of study, what made you choose Southern Miss?
A. I chose Southern Miss because I love this University. I came here as a freshman in 2010 and graduated with my undergraduate degree in 2014. I’ve seen this University continuously grow and add more and more to the school to make it one of a kind – as it has always been.
Q. What do you feel made your Coaching and Sport Performance program unique?
A. What made it unique was it showed me more aspects to coaching then what I’ve previously experienced and been through as a young coach and a player. It was a lot of different concepts dealing with analyzing the sport, working with your athletes on and off the field, and working on yourself as a coach.
Q. What do you feel were the strengths of your program?
A. I feel my strengths were with understanding the aspects of leadership, individual characteristics in sports performance, and finding your identity outside of your sport.
Q. What was one of your favorite aspects about the program?
A. I enjoyed how in-depth this program went into coaching. It was incredible seeing how coaching is constantly changing and how we – and players – have to constantly adapt to the new ways of coaching as technology advances. It gives us new methods to help athletes improve their skills.
Q. What is a fun fact about yourself?
A. I played football here at Southern Miss from 2010-2014. Had a chance to go play for the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles and also played for the Botafogo Reptiles in Brazil in 2018.
Thanks, Dasman! We hope this helped answer some of your questions about transitioning from an athlete to a coach! If you’d like to learn more about our Coaching and Sport Performance Master’s Degree, fill out the form below or visit this page!
SMTTT!
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