Essential Legal Duties for Athletics Directors and Coaching Staff

“In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved.” – Mike Krzyzewski

Athletic administrators have essential legal duties that must be performed to safeguard the health and well-being of student-athletes. As leaders in the athletic department and school, it is vital that trust is established with all staff in the department to execute that mission professionally, and athletic directors must trust their staff to carry out that mission.

Athletic directors’ knowledge of the essential legal duties only satisfies a portion of the responsibility. The front-line people such as teachers, coaches and athletic trainers must also understand those legal duties for the department to function properly. Every staff member in the department should be on the same page regarding these essential legal duties with a coordinated plan to proactively minimize issues, address problems when they arise, protect students, and reduce the desire to pursue litigation.

The question becomes, “How and why do we educate already busy, underpaid teacher-coaches, non-teacher-coaches, workers, and athletic trainers on the fundamental essential legal duties. How do we get that knowledge to our front-line workers?

The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) has established the 14 fundamental duties in the Leadership Training Course (LTC) 504. Using these 14 categories of legal duties, while not attempting to re-teach the four-hour course to coaches and front-line workers, staff members can be educated through incorporation of these duties during preseason coaches’ meetings and trainings.

1. Planning
The duty to plan transcends all other duties. Written plans must be in place to fulfill all legal duties as imposed by the courts to protect student-athletes from harm. Coaches can be held liable for failing to plan and should have a documented comprehensive plan for their program that includes daily, weekly and monthly plans with detailed descriptions of practices, skills, drills, supervision and emergency response information. Using this duty to plan, emphasize the expectation that coaches should keep these plans for years in the future to protect themselves and the school corporation from possible future litigation. Consult district policies and state law for the required length of time that these records should be retained.

2. Supervision
The duty to supervise should be shared with coaches so that they understand their duty to supervise in both a general and specific manner. General supervision is the supervision of student-athletes for a reasonable time before and after athletic activity. Specific supervision is the supervision of student-athletes while engaged in the activity. While discussing the coach’s duty to supervise it is also a great opportunity to discuss why coaches need to supervise and the issues that arise when supervision is neglected. Use the duty to supervise as a segway to talking about district policies of harassment and social media. Harassment between students and social media issues can lead to problems in locker rooms, buses or in parking lots during general supervision periods. This is an opportunity to share district policies and drive home the duty to supervise to coaches.

3. Selecting/Training of Coaches
Do head coaches hire their own staff? What thought goes into hiring that staff when it is so difficult to find qualified assistant coaches? Do head coaches operate like CEOs? What procedures are in place for hiring qualified and certified staff? Discuss with coaches their duty to hire properly trained assistant coaches. Drive home any state mandatory coaching accreditation requirements along with any school district requirements such as CPR Certification.

4. Technique Instruction
Related to the duty of selecting and training coaches, is the duty to provide proper technique instruction that is sport specificand using qualified instructors. Inform coaches of the importance of utilizing multiple methods of communicating proper technique. Coaches should also know that they need to thoroughly inform athletes of risks involved in participation. We live in a time when lawsuits can be filed quickly when athletes are injured. Someone must pay the medical expenses that result from injury. Lawsuits based on improper technique instruction by coaches that may have led to the injury is one way to recover those medical expenses. Use this duty to discuss policies and expectations. In the age of the smartphone, filming technique instruction can create a paper trail if injury does occur.

5. Warnings
Student-athletes must be provided warnings regarding all the risks related to participation in athletics. Warnings should be shared in a detailed, clear, concise manner through multiple types of media. Adding sport-specific cautionary forms and other measures such as warning posters and announcements can add effectiveness to the warning process and increase safety in participation while reassuring parents and staff that protections are in place.

6. Safe Playing Environment
Discuss with coaches the importance that any issues with equipment, facilities or playing surfaces should be corrected immediately and prior to any participation. Coaches should conduct these inspections prior to participation every day. Include custodial and maintenance staff in these communications and stress the importance of rectifying issues immediately. Use the duty to provide a safe playing environment to discuss policies such as lightning, other threatening weather, and heat indexes and warnings with coaches.

7. Protective Equipment
Ensure athletes wear appropriate protective equipment for the activity. Enforce consistent use of safety equipment. Remind coaches and staff to remain current with the NFHS and state regulations regarding protective equipment. Coaches, trainers and equipment managers must be knowledgeable and vigilant regarding protective equipment. Athletes must be adequately warned about the use of protective equipment in a detailed, clear and repeated manner. Use different methods of communication such as verbal reminders, written guidelines and informational posters in locker rooms.

8. Evaluating Conditioning
Evaluate athletes for initial preparedness to safely participate in a sport or activity. This is especially important in the first practices and ongoing throughout the season. Use the duty to evaluate conditioning to discuss working athletes in slowly if they have not been conditioning prior to the season.

Discuss thresholds for heat indexes and adherence to heat index guidelines and recommendations. Establish who determines measuring heat indexes and warnings and when precautions are implemented. Remind coaches to err on the side of caution and practice protective judgement when weather conditions warrant. Administrators do not get a second chance if an athlete is injured due to negligence.

Use the duty to evaluate conditioning to discuss the importance of physicals and to establish who is responsible to ensure every athlete has a valid physical or other paperwork on file prior to participation. Discuss the importance of enforcement during the summer and off-season. Discussing concussion policies and protocols under the evaluating conditioning duty is a way to ensure all coaches are aware of the seriousness of head injuries and proper processes when an athlete has a concussion.

9. Evaluating Injury
Who evaluates injuries to athletes? Who makes a judgment on whether an athlete should play? Coaches need to understand that the evaluation of injury must be conducted by medical professionals and that coaches cannot supersede the education and licensing of medical professionals. Discuss and clearly define whose role it is to make medical decisions.

10. Matching/Equating Athletes
Athletic administrators and coaches must match and equate athletes in practice and competition based on the following criteria: s ize, age, strength, skill level, experience and incapacitating conditions. Ensure that coaches and personnel understand what it means to match and equate athletes. Provide examples to staff of proper practice techniques and highlight examples of improper use from an individual and team perspective.

11. Medical Assistance
We have an obligation to offer medical assistance to athletes and those in our facilities. This duty can be difficult for coaches and personnel to understand after directing them not to evaluate injury past the level of their training. Discuss the difference between diagnosing and evaluating an injury or medical problem and providing first aid or life-saving techniques. Take the opportunity to discuss why they must provide immediate medical assistance. This is a great opportunity to review the locations of all AED units. Include a trainer or school nurse in this conversation and invite these professionals to coaches’ meetings.

12. Emergency Response Plan
Detailed emergency response plans should be posted inside and outside of all athletic facilities. These plans should be specific to each facility as every facility has different challenges that should be addressed in each plan. Discuss this emergency response plan with all coaches and staff and review where these plans are located. Stress the importance of why coaches and staff need to know the emergency response plan for each location and conduct practice drills for staff and students.

13. Safe Transportation
Discuss the duty of safely transporting athletes to and from a sporting event. What is the school corporation policy regarding athletic transportation? Discuss transportation expectations that are in place while riding on school-provided transportation. Use this time to discuss expectations and what school corporation policy is regarding athletes riding to and from events. If policy allows for students to ride separately from district transportation, discuss how this is clearly communicated and documented.

14. Sport-Related Disclosures
Discuss with all department coaches and staff the importance of always providing factual and true information to athletes. Work with school counselors and administrators on placing athletes on the right path for course work to satisfy NCAA/NAIA college requirements for admission. Provide accurate information to athletes and parents related to registering on the NCAA/NAIA Clearinghouse. Ensure the requirement is met to disclose whether the school corporation offers medical insurance coverage or disclose if the district does not offer coverage but requires athletes to have insurance coverage prior to participation.

BONUS DUTY! 15. Best Practices for Preventing and Addressing Bad Acts
Always follow school corporation or district policies. Communicate policies to all stakeholders and ensure all coaches and staff are well trained. Instill strong communications habits with coaches and staff and clearly define a conduit for reporting issues. Do policies exist for self-reporting incidents? Stress the importance of listening as a habit and to pay attention to conversations and actions.

If something feels like a bad act, call the principal and superintendent immediately. A failure to notify can and will result in issues. Coach coaches and staff to respond immediately if they know of a bad act and to never wait to see if hearsay and rumor is true. Stress that they should never ignore the fringe. Small problems add up to large problems that can lead to permanent damage to a program and can harm individuals. All of these duties and best practices will serve to safeguard students, staff and ourselves!

The information provided in this article is not a substitute for legal advice. There may be nuances of state or local law that could affect implementation of strategies or policies discussed. Readers are strongly encouraged to seek the advice of their state association or school district legal counsel.