Southern Arkansas University Main Campus Online Master of Science in Kinesiology - Coaching

Southern Arkansas University's online M.S. in Kinesiology, Coaching is a coaching and sport leadership degree, not an exercise science degree. One course covers exercise physiology, and the rest is coaching methods, safety, law, administration, research and a capstone portfolio.

At $338 per hour in-state it's inexpensive for a master's, and it's built for working coaches and educators. Read the catalog's admission steps before you apply, because they're stricter than the program page suggests.

Southern Arkansas University is a public university in Magnolia, Arkansas, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The degree sits in the Department of Human Performance and Sport Sciences, part of the College of Education and Human Performance. It's fully online, non-licensure, and aimed at coaches, educators and athletic professionals.

The curriculum is organized around the National Standards for Sport Coaches. You take 33 credit hours, which is 11 three-credit courses, and the school says most students finish in about two years by taking two classes a semester, summers included. You can enter in fall, spring or summer.

The program page lists $338 per hour in-state and $530 out-of-state for 33 hours. Its estimated totals are $14,124 in-state and $20,460 out-of-state, which include a $90 per hour master's program fee. Tuition alone is $11,154 in-state and $17,490 out-of-state.

The fee sheet adds more. Mandatory fees run $88 per hour in fall and spring, and there's a $45 online course fee per course, a $160 graduation fee and a $25 application fee. If every fee applied to an online student, the in-state total would reach $17,523. Ask which of them apply to you.

33 credits at $530 a credit comes to $17,490 in tuition, before fees. At the in-state rate of $338, the same 33 credits come to $11,154.

Who It Fits

• Working coaches and teachers who can't make evening classes. The catalog says the online format exists for people held back by time and distance.
• Coaches who want to finish with a portfolio rather than a thesis. The capstone has you gather and explain evidence of your own coaching against national standards.
• Arkansas residents on a budget. The in-state graduate rate is $338 per hour, against $530 for everyone else.
• Students who want to reach their professors. Alumni quoted on the program page say faculty answer by phone and email.

Who Should Skip It

• Skip it if you want strength and conditioning, exercise testing or clinical work. Advanced Exercise Physiology is the only physiology course, and none of the 11 courses is about strength training or exercise testing. That also rules out the CSCS (the NSCA's Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist exam) and the ACSM-CEP (the American College of Sports Medicine's clinical exercise physiologist credential) as goals this degree supports.
• Skip it if you need a teaching license. Southern Arkansas lists this as a non-licensure program.
• Skip it if you live out of state and count on a discount. The $530 rate applies to you, and the contiguous-state waiver listed on the tuition page names living in university housing.

All 33 hours are required: KINE 6243 Advanced Exercise Physiology, KINE 6323 Sport Administration, KINE 6363 Workshop in Kinesiology, KINE 6423 Instructional Strategies and Techniques in Coaching, KINE 6433 Sport Safety and Injury Prevention, KINE 6813 Psychology of Athletics Coaching, KINE 6823 Scientific Analysis of Sports Skills and Motor Learning, KINE 6833 Capstone Portfolio, KINE 6923 Statistical Methods, KINE 6933 Methods of Research and KINE 6943 Legal Issues in Kinesiology.

The exercise physiology course covers the respiratory, circulatory and nervous systems, muscle contraction, fatigue and energy costs. The workshop is practical, with ethics, practice planning and mental skills.

The capstone portfolio requires you to select and document achievements and explain them in writing.

Courses the School Names

• KINE 6243 Advanced Exercise Physiology
• KINE 6433 Sport Safety and Injury Prevention
• KINE 6423 Instructional Strategies and Techniques in Coaching
• KINE 6813 Psychology of Athletics Coaching
• KINE 6823 Scientific Analysis of Sports Skills and Motor Learning
• KINE 6923 Statistical Methods in Kinesiology
• KINE 6933 Methods of Research in Kinesiology
• KINE 6363 Workshop in Kinesiology

Standout Features

• Curriculum built on the seven Core Responsibilities of the National Standards for Sport Coaches
• Designed for working coaches and educators who cannot attend evening courses

Everything is online, and the catalog caps each online course at twenty students. You'll buy a LiveText subscription, and the workshop course includes LiveText training.

The catalog lists most required courses for one term a year. Advanced Exercise Physiology, Sport Safety and Scientific Analysis run in fall, and Instructional Strategies runs in spring. Sport Administration, Psychology of Athletics Coaching, Methods of Research and Legal Issues run in summer. That's how a two-year plan works: you'll go through two summers, and your start term decides what you take first.

Southern Arkansas is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Nothing on the program page claims programmatic accreditation, and the degree isn't on the CAAHEP or CASCE lists we checked on September 29, 2026.

Those two matter only if you want an exercise credential. From August 15, 2027, ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP candidates must graduate from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). From January 1, 2030, U.S. CSCS candidates need a bachelor's from a CASCE-accredited program, meaning Collegiate Accreditation for Strength and Conditioning Education. A coaching master's doesn't change either rule.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

The full rubric is on the methodology page. A factor marked Peer Median had no published input, so it counts at half weight.

• The admission process is heavier than advertised. The program page says to meet graduate admission requirements, while the catalog adds contact with the program director, a cover letter and resume with three references, a mentor approval form and possibly a criminal history check.
• Entry can be competitive. If more than twenty applicants want a rotation, the catalog says selection weighs undergraduate degree area and GPA, GRE or MAT scores, a graduate assistantship and coaching experience.
• The standards count differs inside the catalog. The program describes seven Core Responsibilities, while the capstone course refers to eight domains and forty standards.
• The published price leaves out several fees. The program page shows tuition and the program fee, but mandatory fees, online course fees and the graduation fee sit on the fee sheet.

• Which admission packet items are required for my start term, and do I need a cooperating agency or mentor if I'm not coaching right now?
• Do the $88 per hour mandatory fees and the $45 per course online fee apply to a student who never comes to Magnolia?
• Can an out-of-state online student qualify for the graduate non-resident waiver, and what does the contiguous-state waiver's housing requirement mean for me?
• How often do you get more than twenty applicants for a start term, and how are the GRE and MAT weighed?
• Which term should I start so the fall and summer courses arrive in a workable order?
• How does the capstone portfolio map to seven Core Responsibilities versus eight domains and forty standards?

Southern Arkansas University is a public university in Magnolia, AR whose Department of Human Performance and Sport Sciences sits in the College of Education and Human Performance.

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