Assistantship Experiences
Mountaineer Goal Program
Enhance your graduate degree with hands on experience at WVU Athletics
Assistantship Info Review PlacementsMountaineer Goal Program
Enhance your graduate degree with hands on experience at WVU Athletics
Assistantship Info Review PlacementsRefine your knowledge and skills through a graduate assistantship
Higher achieving students often have success turning their undergraduate experiences into a graduate assistantship with WVU Athletics following the completion of their bachelors degree. These competitive paid positions are often viewed as an important next step in building a career in sport management and athletic coaching. A graduate assistant position in a Big 12 athletics program can provide a direct pathway to full-time employment in the dynamic field of intercollegiate athletics.
Graduate assistant positions are awarded on a competitive basis and include a full or partial university tuition waiver and stipend depending on the appointment. Please review the detailed policies, procedures, and guidelines for graduate assistant positions at West Virginia University before applying.
Students enrolled in the School of Sport Sciences online programs are not eligible for graduate assistantships due to the use of a different tuition model. Additionally, undergraduate students are not eligible for graduate assistantships. Only students who have completed a bachelor’s degree at the start of their graduate assistantship will be considered for a graduate assistantship.
Review the following assistantship placement options.
The athletic training program in the West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics provides quality health care for WVU student-athletes. The scope of the athletic training services includes injury recognition, treatment, rehabilitation, prevention, education and counseling to enable student-athletes to maintain an optimal quality of life beyond the span of athletic competition. The athletic training staff works in conjunction with the team physicians and athletics administration to ensure student-athletes receive quality care throughout their careers at WVU.
The Department of Athletics Communications within WVU Athletics facilitates media coverage for all 18 Mountaineer varsity sports. Athletics Communications is responsible for publicizing and promoting teams and student-athletes through press releases, game notes, media guides, press conferences, social media, posters, schedule cards and interaction with individual members of the media.
West Virginia University’s student-athletes compete in some of the finest athletic apparel in the country thanks to the Mountaineers’ partnership with Nike. Outfitting, sizing and properly fitting the Mountaineers is just the start as equipment managers provide updated, regulated and sanitized equipment to ensure that the health and safety of the student-athletes is paramount, providing an important behind-the-scenes job for all 18 varsity sports. Before student-athletes can perform, they must look good and it all starts in the equipment room.
West Virginia University is home to some of the finest athletic facilities in the country. Maintaining and treating them with care are the responsibilities of the athletics facilities department. Game day and daily practice operations along with maintenance and venue planning are just some of the assignments. Daily work includes dealing with coaches and administrators to schedule each facility and working with the general public on facility rentals. Game days are long and eventful, but the facilities staff knows that a fun and safe fan experience in WVU athletics venues means their game day efforts were a success.
The oldest varsity sport at West Virginia University, Mountaineer football is a member of the Big 12 Conference. Football has been an intercollegiate sport at WVU since 1891 and ranks among the winningest programs in NCAA history. The Mountaineers are frequently on national television as a member of a Power 5 conference and are among a select group of programs invited to play in a bowl game in 17 out of the last 20 seasons. Football has produced 43 All-Americans since 2002 and nearly 110 overall selections in its history. WVU has had 26 players selected in the NFL Draft over the last nine years, which ranks near the top of all Big 12 schools. In all, nearly 200 players have been drafted by NFL teams as West Virginia has consistently sent players to the pro ranks. The Mountaineers are coached by Neal Brown, considered one of the top young, up-and-coming coaches in the game.
West Virginia University men’s basketball is in the Big 12 Conference and has been an intercollegiate sport at West Virginia University since 1904. One of the winningest programs in NCAA history, the Mountaineers are frequently on national television as a member of a Power 5 conference. The team has made 15 postseason appearances since 2003, including 11 to the NCAA Tournament. Men’s basketball had a streak of 55 consecutive appearances in the Associated Press Top 25 poll from 2015-18 and finished 2020 ranked 24th in the country. The Mountaineers are coached by Bob Huggins, who moved past Dean Smith in 2020 for sixth place on the NCAA’s all-time victory list. He is the fourth-winningest active coach in college basketball behind just Duke Mike Krzyzewski, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and North Carolina’s Roy Williams.
The West Virginia University men’s soccer program was established in 1961. As of 2019, the Mountaineers have won seven conference championships and advanced to 14 NCAA tournaments, while posting 40 winning seasons. Eleven Mountaineers have earned All-America honors and 33 have played professional soccer. In the classroom, the program has posted a team GPA above 3.0 for 13 straight seasons and has received the United Soccer Coaches Association team academic award for 12 consecutive years. A member of the Mid-American Conference, WVU plays its home games at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium adjacent to the WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineer Athletic Club is the professional fundraising arm for the West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. The primary objective of the MAC is to provide the resources necessary to enrich the lives of our student-athletes as they strive to reach their full academic and athletic potential. The financial support and commitment by MAC members helps to help ensure all student-athletes in WVU’s 18 sports programs receive the resources they need to succeed academically and athletically.
West Virginia University rowing is a member of the Big 12 Conference and has been competing as an intercollegiate sport at West Virginia University since 2001. In its first year of competition the Women’s Varsity 4+ of Tina Griffith, Rishi Kelley, Erin Nesbet, Noelle Dodge and coxswain Christine DeRienzo won the Dad Vail Regatta and were invited to participate in the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, England.
The goal of West Virginia’s strength and conditioning program is to build the total student-athlete in body and mind. Properly conditioned athletes are healthy athletes and less prone to injury. WVU’s strength coaches are outstanding teachers and emphasize safety, technique and nutrition. All athletic weight rooms are equipped with the latest technology to produce fine-tuned athletes who know that championships are won by those who embrace hard work and have the discipline to tolerate discomfort.
Note: Graduate Assistants must be certified by a nationally accredited strength and conditioning certification program (NSCA OR CSCCa).
The West Virginia University Intercollegiate Athletics Student-Athlete Development unit works daily to schedule classes, mentor and tutor Mountaineer student-athletes to help them succeed in the classroom. WVU produces numerous Academic All-Americans, Academic All-Conference selections and national academic award winners annually because of the success and organization of this unit. In 2019 and 2020, West Virginia recorded its highest Academic Progress Report (APR) score in school history and its overall department APR. Team GPAs and graduation success rates consistently rank above the national NCAA average. Student-athletes, coaches and the academic unit have formed a strong team in developing tomorrow’s leaders.
The West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics’ Clinical and Sport Psychology program is directed by Dr. Dayna Charbonneau, Psy.D., who began her tenure at WVU in 2017. Charbonneau is responsible for overseeing individual and group therapy, crisis intervention and coach, individual and team mental performance consultation services and programming.
The West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics Student-Athlete Enhancement program serves to provide leadership development, career development and community outreach programming for all Mountaineer student-athletes within the Office of Student-Athlete Development. SAE works to provide holistic development of transferable skills and prepare student-athletes for a lifetime of learning and develop them into future leaders and lifelong ambassadors of West Virginia University.
West Virginia University men’s and women’s swimming and diving is part of the Big 12 Conference. The men’s program has been competing as an intercollegiate sport at WVU since 1953 while the women first began competing in 1974. Both programs have produced numerous NCAA qualifiers, All-Americans and Olympic athletes during their existence. The Mountaineers are now competing in a new $48 million, 50-meter aquatic center officially dedicated in the fall of 2018 at Mylan Park.
The Mountaineer cross country and track and field teams are some of the most successful athletic programs at West Virginia University, producing more than 80 All-Americans, three national champions and four Olympians, as of 2020. Cross country has made nine appearances in the NCAA Championship with five top-five finishes. Track and field posted eight straight years of top-20 finishes. In the classroom, 18 Mountaineer student-athletes have been named Academic All-American since 2010.
One of the youngest Olympic sports at West Virginia University, Mountaineer women’s soccer is also undoubtedly the most successful. Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown has built a powerhouse program that played for the national championship in 2016 and has won Big East and Big 12 championships. The program also produces All-Americans, professional players, Olympic and International team selections. Kadeisha Buchanan was the Hermann Trophy winner in 2016, college soccer’s version of the Heisman Trophy. The team plays its home matches at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, adjacent to the WVU Coliseum.
As one of the oldest programs at West Virginia University, Mountaineer wrestling began in 1921. A member of the Big 12 Conference, WVU has won more than 600 matches, qualified more than 180 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships and posted 16 top-25 finishes at the national showcase as of 2020. Three Mountaineers have won five total national championships, with Greg Jones winning three of them, and 23 three Mountaineers have earned 32 first team All-America honors.