Best Online Exercise Science Degrees for Coaches (2026)

UND lists sports and esports coaching among its areas of study, and you can shape the degree as a thesis, a non-thesis with an internship or independent study, or a Professional Science Master's. Online students pay one rate whatever their state, and mandatory fees cap at $955.08 per semester at 12 or more credits. Plan on two years, asynchronous.

Coaches aiming at professional or collegiate performance jobs get a CASCE-accredited curriculum and an optional 36-credit track. The price is real: $871 per credit, $26,130 for 30 credits. The Strength and Conditioning track also needs a 300-hour, full-time, in-person internship in your final semester, and the program director helps you find a site.

Sports and coaching professionals are the stated audience for the Strength and Conditioning concentration, which is CASCE-accredited and adds a capstone internship with supervised field experience. Its nine credits sit on top of the kinesiology degree, at $670 per credit plus a $55 per-credit distance fee. The parent program has a short residency in year two.

Cumberlands offers a Coaching and Fitness Leadership emphasis with coaching electives, and the price is easy to plan around. Its One Price Promise is $355 per credit hour with books and fees included, so 30 credits comes to $10,650. Active military and veterans pay $315 per credit. Expect about two years, fully online.

Pick the Coaching concentration and you'll do internships and practicums working directly with athletes and teams, so you'll need access to a team setting. Troy Online charges $475 per credit for 30 credits, or $14,250, with five starts a year and nine-week terms. A Leadership in Sport course rounds it out.

This is the pick if you want to run strength programs for high school, collegiate or professional teams. Courses are asynchronous with no clinical placement, and the curriculum prepares you for the CSCS. Tuition is $475 per credit, $15,675 for 33 credits, and military students pay $350. There's no application fee or GRE, and 5.5 semesters is the fastest pace.

LSU gives coaches a state flagship name with no campus appearance required. The Health Promotion and Sport Performance concentration covers testing, training and programming for sport performance. Tuition is a flat $644 per credit with no out-of-state surcharge, so 36 credits totals $23,184, fees included. The GRE is waived when you meet the school's conditions.

Hardin-Simmons lets you choose a Sport Coaching concentration, and its Exercise Science and Human Performance concentration is NSCA-recognized with Advanced Strength and Conditioning coursework. The school says every graduate completed an internship. Online-only graduate tuition is $595 per credit, $17,850 for 30 credits, and you can finish in a year, though about 1.5 years is average.

King's names strength and conditioning coaches first among its target students and sport coaches as a good fit, so expect a science-heavy cohort. You'll need to hold the CSCS by year two. The program is asynchronous, with two-day virtual workshops, at $765 per credit, or $27,540 for 36 credits. Part-time takes as little as two years.

Central Missouri's coaching option is written for people who coach athletic, performance and sport teams, run sport clubs or train other coaches. It's 100% online and asynchronous, and it takes 18 to 24 months. Tuition is $450 per credit, $14,850 for 33 credits, though the school's own estimate with fees is $16,640.

The degree's name says what it is. Coursework includes Advanced Sport Coaching Methodology, none of it needs a campus visit, and you choose a three-hour thesis or practicum. Part-time students pay $578.12 per credit. Full-time is a flat $5,197 per semester for 9 to 13 hours. Out-of-state tuition is waived online, and the GRE isn't required.

Aspiring coaches and trainers are the audience the school names. The Strength and Conditioning program of study runs 33 credits at a flat $640 each, with no out-of-state charge and $21,120 in tuition, and active military pay $575. You can finish in 15 months, and a 9-credit thesis or a hands-on experiential option closes it out.

Two hybrid courses, Advanced Strength Training and Advanced Exercise Testing and Prescription, require at least one weekend on campus per semester for hands-on testing. That suits a coach who wants real lab practice. The degree prepares you for the CSCS and includes coaching and leadership skills. Tuition is $595 per credit, $19,635 for 33 credits, over two years.

Montreat takes you one class at a time, continuously, for two years, which suits a coach with a season to manage. Coursework includes Principles of Coaching and Leading, and fitness testing uses a virtual lab. Tuition is $630 per credit, $18,900 for 30 credits, plus a $250 student fee each semester. Military students pay the same $630.

Coaching Behaviors and Sport Preparation are named courses here, alongside sport psychology. The base price is $447 per credit, $13,410 for 30 credits, but plan for a $330 student fee each semester and a $70 online fee per course, roughly $700 across ten courses. It's fully online at a private Texas school.

Here the coaching angle is mental. The Sport and Exercise Psychology concentration lists sport coaching and mental skills consulting as careers, and it's coursework only with no thesis. North Carolina residents pay $352.81 per credit. Online students living outside the state pay $660.37. Plan on two years and one start.

Coursework covers athletic coaching and sport psychology, and Whitewater lists strength and sport coaches among career paths. No campus visits are required. Residency changes the price a lot: $666.32 per credit for Wisconsin residents versus $1,280.77 for everyone else. Full-time students finish in three semesters with a practicum or thesis.

The Teaching, Coaching, and Administration track is a 30-credit route, and the program page names coaches and trainers as its audience. It's asynchronous, with a supervised field-work practicum. Published totals run $11,729.70 to $12,902.67 depending on credits, and you can finish in under two years with three starts a year and no GRE.

Coaches who also teach get the most from this one. You can choose physical education and sport concentrations, and the department offers assistantships in strength and conditioning. Tennessee residents pay $742 per credit and out-of-state students pay $882, so 30 credits run $22,260 or $26,460. Expect a letter of intent, two recommendations and a writing sample.

Two courses speak directly to your sideline: Sports Coach and Mental Performance Coaching. Tuition is a flat $650 per credit for every U.S. resident, $20,150 for 31 credits, and 8-week courses let you finish in about 18 months. No GRE is needed, but without a kinesiology bachelor's you'll add a leveling course.

The curriculum is built on the National Standards for Sport Coaches, so it's written for people who already run practices. Arkansas residents pay $338 per credit, about $11,154 for 33 credits, while everyone else pays $530 per credit, $17,490 total. It ends with a capstone portfolio and doesn't lead to a teaching license.

Choose this if you want to coach with data rather than only drills. The school says graduates work with athletes, coaches and sports medicine staff, and the degree centers on analytics. It costs $756 per credit for 36 credits, $27,216 total, with no GRE. A college statistics course is required before you start.

The degree title says it plainly: Physical Education and Coaching, aimed at leadership in athletic coaching. Arkansas residents pay $303.25 per credit and out-of-state students $556, though students from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana get the in-state rate. Add per-hour fees and a $50 per credit online fee. It won't qualify you for a teaching license.

The Sports Coaching Emphasis targets both aspiring and experienced coaches and names athletic coach and sports performance specialist as careers. It runs 30 credits in 8-week courses, and the school says about a year. Nine credits cost $3,851 for Texas residents and $7,703 for non-residents, plus $50 per online hour. New students may get a $250 or $500 grant.

A 15-credit Sports Coaching Education specialization sits inside this 36-credit degree, taught one course per month so you can finish in as little as 12 months. Tuition is $650 per credit, $23,400 total, or $495 per credit for active duty and veterans. Rolling starts and no GRE make it easy to enter mid-season.

The only online concentration is physical education pedagogy, and the school says graduates go into teaching and coaching. That suits a PE teacher who coaches. North Carolina residents pay $277.06 per credit while non-residents pay $1,044.06, so the residency gap is huge across 36 credits. Practicum courses are required, and a licensure option exists.

You can keep coaching while you study, and you choose the site for the two field experiences. Each is 150 hours at a site you choose, under a coach with the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) credential. It costs $700 per credit for 42 credits, $29,400 total, in 7-week courses. Prerequisites in science and physics apply.

Coaches get sport psychology, group dynamics and sports law here, three topics that come up in every locker room and boosters' meeting. The whole degree is 100 percent online at $675 per credit for 30 credits, $20,250, with no separate out-of-state rate. You'll need a 3.0 undergraduate GPA and a $100 administrative fee each term.

Coach education is the whole point here, through a Strength and Conditioning concentration. You complete 240 supervised internship hours at any site you pick, and no campus visits are required. Tennessee residents pay $672 per credit, and out-of-state students taking only web courses pay the $835.50 eRate, about $30,078 for 36 credits. Your bachelor's needn't be related.

The Adapted Sports concentration lists coaching and strength and conditioning specialist among its careers. Field experiences happen at your own location. In-state online tuition is $299.23 per credit against $1,038.57 out of state, for 33 credits. The GRE isn't required, and admission is fall or spring only.

A sports coaching specialization and a coaching certificate are both named on the program page. Georgia residents pay $238 per hour and out-of-state students $863, and distance-only students pay a $393 Online Learning Fee each semester. The non-thesis track is fully online with an internship. The thesis track needs you on campus for two semesters.