The Assessment of Athletic Ability at the Junior College Level

The means by which coaches select, develop, and evaluate their athletes is a topic of interest among sport scholars. Expectancy theory is one framework implemented to further understand the leadership behaviors of coaches. Results from previous research suggest that coaches use a wide variety of sources to develop and evaluate their players. Unfortunately, junior (also called community) college coaches have been omitted from this important work. The purpose of the present study was to query junior college coaches and their athletes regarding impression cues utilized to judge athlete ability. Thirty-four coaches and 210 athletes completed the Solomon Expectancy Sources Scale (SESS). Results determined that head and assistant coaches are consistent in their prioritization of expectancy sources. Coaches and athletes are also congruent; however, coaches rated Coachability significantly higher than athletes. These results are discussed in light of the unique position of the junior college coach.