Coaches and Scouts

Minimal Risk
Low High

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
7.5/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

10% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): This occupation appears difficult to replace end-to-end with current or near-future automation, including AI software and robotics. Roles in this range usually depend on human judgement, creativity, care, leadership, specialist expertise, or adapting to messy real-world situations. AI and machines may still change parts of the work, but the occupation is likely to remain a distinct human role.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Judgment and decision-making

Very important
Why this matters
Weighing trade-offs, risks, and benefits to choose the best action—especially when information is incomplete or consequences are high.
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Social perceptiveness

Very important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Instructing

Very important
Why this matters
Teaching or coaching others—explaining steps, giving feedback, and adapting to different learners so they can do the work safely and correctly.
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Assisting and caring for others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
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Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
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Show 5 more strengths

Managing and developing people

Quite important
Why this matters
Motivate, coach, and direct others, and make hiring and staffing decisions. These people-focused responsibilities rely on judgment, trust, and interpersonal skill and are harder to replace end-to-end with automation.
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Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
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Communicating with people outside the organization

Quite important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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Consulting and advising others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide guidance and expert advice to managers or teams on technical, system, or process decisions—explaining options, tradeoffs, and recommended actions.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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What users think

Based on 210 votes

23% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 10% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Coaches and Scouts will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Coaches and Scouts was $45,920 ($22 per hour).

The median annual wage for Coaches and Scouts was 7.2% lower than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Coaches and Scouts' job openings is expected to rise 6.4% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 250,940 people employed as 'Coaches and Scouts' within the United States.

This represents around 0.16% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 614 people are employed as 'Coaches and Scouts'.

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What people are saying (9)

Leave a comment
BasketballC11
08 Nov 2025 02:34
I value the minimal automation risk being low for coaches and scouts at 0-20%, since this is my dream job. In my opinion, coaches and scouts can combine both human and AI skills ethically. This is already seen throughout professional sports, such as Major League Baseball, where humans make the final decision. AI can be beneficial to player development by monitoring improvement, designing drills, and assisting with practice plans. On the other hand, coaches apply critical thinking, problem-solving, memory, motivation, and face-to-face interaction that make coaching special at any age or level, as they build trust and relationships with their athletes.
Aiden M. (Moderate)
05 Jul 2024 21:21
Robots probably can be motivational. They can give good tips and be better than humans overall.
al
21 May 2026 11:26
It would just be boring to with ai u defenetly dont watch football.
HeyCoach970 (Low)
17 Jan 2024 21:00
I believe it is highly unlikely, but not impossible, because AI could view a skill being performed by an athlete and assess it's deficiencies and provide possible solutions, however -

A) Diagnosing deficiencies and providing solutions is not all coaching is.
B) Motivation, Empathy, Support... a personal connection is the deeper value of a coach. It transcends knowledge of a sport.
M
15 Jul 2023 21:03
I love how you can tell which responses are from people with no athletic experience, or are thinking in terms of just one specific sport. AI will be an important tool at the professional and world-class levels, but it's not replacing coaches for technique instruction, development, motivation or leadership.
Futurechild (Highly likely)
18 Mar 2021 16:58
You guys should see the future of sports performance. Technology already replaced this job.
heycoach970
17 Jan 2024 21:03
Sorry bro... there is much more to coaching than spotting deficiencies and providing corrections. I do not believe AI will be able to replace coaches... only support them.
EJ
09 Sep 2020 19:20
I think that the percentage should be even lower because coaches and scouts choose players that they like, and robots can't since they have no emotions. Although robots can be smarter about making the right play or having a better strategy than humans, there is no way a robot can do everything a human coach could do.
Matthew (Low)
10 Apr 2019 19:34
A robot may be a better strategist than a human, but I doubt it.
Leave a reply about this occupation
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Job description

Instruct or coach groups or individuals in the fundamentals of sports for the primary purpose of competition. Demonstrate techniques and methods of participation. May evaluate athletes' strengths and weaknesses as possible recruits or to improve the athletes' technique to prepare them for competition. Those required to hold teaching certifications should be reported in the appropriate teaching category.

O*NET-SOC code: 27-2022.00