108 New Athletic Trainer Jobs — Monday, July 27, 2026 - For Some Schools, It May Be Time to Rebuild the Staffing Model

108 new athletic trainer jobs hit the board this week.

Volume was lighter as the summer hiring cycle begins to wind down, but salary transparency was not. Of this week’s postings, 77.6% included compensation, one of the strongest transparency weeks of the year.

The board leaned heavily toward collegiate and secondary school positions, with a legitimate Ivy League leadership opportunity at the top, several strong public and private school jobs, a four-day industrial schedule, and another Division I salary at the bottom that needs to be called out.

The AT Finder Talent Network also continues to grow.

If you have not created your profile yet, it is free and always will be. You do not need to be actively applying for jobs. The more ATs who join and share what they are looking for, the better positioned we are to show employers what the workforce actually wants.

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Let’s get into the picks.

Associate Athletics Director for Sports Medicine | Cornell University

Ithaca, NY | $95,051–$110,465 annually

Top of the board this week, and it is not particularly close.

Cornell is hiring an Associate Athletics Director for Sports Medicine to help lead its Division I sports medicine operation. The role includes supervision of athletic training staff, primary clinical coverage, collaboration with physicians and performance personnel, and broader responsibility within the department’s healthcare structure.

The $95,051–$110,465 range is solid for a collegiate sports medicine leadership position. More importantly, the compensation begins to reflect the experience, accountability and scope of the role.

This is still college athletics. Expect nights, weekends, holidays and travel. Nobody should look at this as a traditional work-life-balance position.

But for an experienced athletic trainer looking to move into senior leadership without completely leaving patient care, this is the type of opportunity worth pursuing.

A master’s degree and BOC certification are required.

Sport Performance Coordinator — Athletic Trainer | District of Columbia International School

Washington, DC | $63,113–$103,515 annually

This role is back again, and it  is not a traditional secondary school athletic trainer position.

The role combines athletic training with strength, conditioning and sports-performance responsibilities for students in grades 6–12. That could be a great fit for an AT who enjoys both healthcare and performance development, but candidates need to understand how those two sides of the job are divided.

The ceiling above $100,000 is notable. The floor at $63,113 is much less attractive in the Washington, DC market, so the most important compensation question is where an experienced candidate would actually enter the range.

I would also ask how much of the day is dedicated to clinical care, how much is dedicated to performance classes or programming, and whether the AT retains clear authority over medical decisions.

The opportunity is strong. Just make sure this is one integrated job—not two full-time jobs placed under one title.

Certified Athletic Trainer | Bishop Ireton High School

Alexandria, VA | $70,000–$85,000 annually

This may be one of the most quietly important postings of the week.

Bishop Ireton is accepting candidates with as little as zero to one year of experience while advertising a range of $70,000–$85,000.

That does not mean every new graduate will receive $85,000. It does mean the employer is willing to put an entry-level-friendly salary on the table that exceeds what many colleges offer experienced ATs.

The estimated workweek is listed at 31–40 hours, although candidates should verify what that looks like during busy seasons, tournaments and playoffs. The posting also does not clearly explain retirement benefits, which should be discussed early in the process.

Still, this is the type of secondary school salary that changes the conversation for a young AT deciding between high school and college athletics.

Athletic Trainer | Western Connecticut State University

Danbury, CT | $69,953–$79,169 annually, 10-month position

Nearly $70,000–$80,000 for a benefited, 10-month collegiate position deserves attention.

Western Connecticut State sponsors 23 NCAA Division III sports, so this is not automatically an easy job. The quality of the opportunity will depend heavily on the size of the sports medicine staff and how those teams are divided.

But the 10-month calendar gives this role something many college positions do not have: a defined break.

Medical insurance and retirement benefits are included, and the salary is competitive for the setting. A master’s degree and BOC certification are required.

Ask how many ATs are currently on staff, which teams would be assigned to this position, how travel is distributed and what coverage expectations exist outside the 10-month appointment.

This could be one of the better overall collegiate jobs on the board—or an overwhelming workload hidden behind a strong salary. Staffing will tell the story

Assistant Athletic Trainer — Track and Field and Cross Country | University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA | $52,000–$70,000 annually

This is Big Ten athletic training with primary responsibility for men’s and women’s track and field and cross country.

That means year-round coverage across cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, along with significant travel. Anyone considering this should go in understanding that these are not short-season assignments.

The $52,000 floor is low for a Big Ten position. The upper half of the range, combined with the University of Iowa’s retirement contributions and broader benefits package, makes the opportunity more competitive.

This could be a valuable career move for an AT who specifically wants high-level collegiate track and field experience.

The key questions are where you would enter the range, how travel is shared and whether additional sport coverage is expected outside the listed assignments.

Worth Calling Out This Week

Assistant Athletic Trainer  |  East Carolina University

Greenville, NC  |  $40,000–$50,000 (Annual)

East Carolina University is a Division I R1 research institution. The ECU Pirates compete in the American Athletic Conference. This Assistant AT position carries comprehensive sports medicine care and healthcare services for varsity student-athletes. The anticipated recruitment range is $40,000 to $50,000.

That is a D-I floor of $40,000. No bonus disclosed. No retirement disclosed for a state university posting — the North Carolina State Retirement System would typically apply, which is worth noting, but its absence from the posting is not reassuring. A BOC-certified AT with a graduate degree providing primary medical coverage at a D-I program in North Carolina should not be starting at $40,000. Greenville runs below the national average on cost of living, which helps at the margins. It does not move the needle enough. ECU has the resources to post a more competitive range than this.

What's Worth Noting This Week:

Maybe We Need to Stop Rebuilding the Same Job

There are colleges and high schools across the country that cannot understand why their athletic trainer positions are not filling.

The job stays open for months. Candidates withdraw. Offers get declined.

Then the employer reposts the same position.

Same salary. Same schedule. Same staffing structure. Same number of teams. Same expectation that one athletic trainer will handle evaluations, rehabilitation, practices, games, travel, documentation, concussion management, referrals, general medical concerns and administration.

At some point, employers have to consider that the problem may not be the posting.

The entire system may need to be redesigned.

The athletic training employment landscape has changed. ATs now have more opportunities in industrial settings, physician practices, military programs, performing arts and other emerging settings that often offer competitive compensation and more predictable schedules.

The traditional college route does not carry the same automatic appeal it once did. The same is true for secondary school positions built around every afternoon, night and weekend.

There are still athletic trainers who want to work in athletics. But fewer are willing to accept a job that requires their entire life to revolve around the athletic schedule.

Schools cannot keep offering yesterday’s job and blaming today’s workforce when nobody takes it.

Maybe the answer is not simply hiring another person into the same all-encompassing role.

Maybe the work needs to be divided differently.

One athletic trainer could focus primarily on rehabilitation and return-to-participation. Others could work schedules built around practices, competitions and acute care. Someone could focus on general medicine, concussion management and care coordination. A clinical director could oversee staffing, policy, physician relationships and administration.

Some of those roles may not need to be on campus every day.

A remote athletic trainer could support several schools through scheduled telehealth appointments and other clinical work that does not require physical presence. Where clinically appropriate and permitted by licensure, medical direction and institutional policy, that could include concussion follow-ups, return-to-learn coordination, rehabilitation check-ins, general medical consultations, referral follow-up and documentation review.

The remote AT would not replace the clinician needed on the sideline. They would not manage an emergency through a computer or make decisions that require an in-person examination.

They would take appropriate clinical work off the on-site AT’s plate.

That matters because the traditional staffing model is often inefficient.

An AT may spend part of the day physically sitting in an athletic training facility waiting for an athlete to arrive, then become overwhelmed during the two-hour period when every team practices at once.

A remote AT’s schedule could be built around actual appointments and clinical needs across several institutions. One hour could be spent conducting concussion follow-ups for one school. The next could involve rehabilitation check-ins for another. Later, that AT could coordinate referrals, review documentation or help an on-site clinician manage a complicated case.

One remote position could add meaningful clinical capacity across several locations.

It could also keep experienced athletic trainers in the profession.

Not every AT wants to continue working nights, weekends and holidays forever. Some leave athletics because the schedule no longer works for their family or because years of event coverage have become unsustainable.

A remote clinical position could use their knowledge and experience while offering a more manageable schedule.

Schools also need to be realistic about the size of their athletic programs.

If an institution sponsors 20 teams but can only hire two athletic trainers, dividing the teams in half is not a sustainable plan.

Two ATs cannot be in four places at once.

The answer may require a combination of full-time on-site staff, remote athletic trainers, rehabilitation-focused clinicians, later-shift positions, per diem event coverage, telehealth partnerships and better scheduling of practices and competitions.

It may also require an uncomfortable conversation about whether a school is sponsoring more teams than its healthcare infrastructure can responsibly support.

Nobody wants to reduce opportunities for athletes. But those opportunities cannot be built on the assumption that a small medical staff will continue stretching itself indefinitely.

The athletic department is not fully funded if it cannot adequately fund athlete healthcare.

A position that remains open for months is feedback.

Instead of reposting the same job and hoping a different person accepts it, employers should ask what work requires an AT to be physically present, what can be handled remotely and how responsibilities can be divided into more sustainable roles.

I also want to hear from employers who are willing to think differently.

If your school, college or organization is struggling to fill an athletic trainer position, there may be a better way to structure the department through shared services, remote athletic trainers, dedicated rehabilitation roles, staggered schedules, per diem coverage or a combination of different models.

Those ideas will not look the same at every institution. That is the point. The structure should be built around the actual needs of the athletes, the available staffing and the work that truly requires physical presence.

If your organization wants to discuss what a different model could look like, reach out to me at atcfinder@gmail.com.

The future may not be finding more athletic trainers willing to tolerate the old model.

It may be building a model that uses athletic trainers—and their time—far more effectively.

Until next week — stop looking, start finding.