SAFE
The modal worker here is a high school or youth-level coach, not a pro scout: the job is standing on a field or court demonstrating technique, correcting a 14-year-old's footwork in real time, managing a locker room, and deciding who plays. None of that digitizes — but the scouting half of this title is genuinely exposed, since video-tracking and predictive models already do much of the talent-identification and opponent-tendency work that scouts once produced by hand. Sign-off liability is thin (CPR/concussion certs, state coaching credentials, not professional licensure), so the moats are physical presence, athlete trust, and ownership of playing-time and safety calls.
Tasks largely resist digitisation. Running a two-hour practice — cueing a swimmer's turn mid-set, breaking up a locker-room conflict, adjusting a game plan at halftime after seeing the other team's press — has no digitizable substitute, and the 15 rather than 19 reflects that film breakdown, opponent tendency reports, practice-plan drafting, and stat-based lineup analysis are already routinely offloaded to software and scouting platforms.
Hands-on in uncontrolled environments. You are outdoors in heat and rain, throwing batting practice, holding blocking pads, spotting a gymnast on beam, and physically pulling a kid out of a drill before he gets hurt — the 17 rather than 20 only because meetings, film sessions, recruiting calls, and travel logistics take real hours off the field.
Certification preferred, not legally required. CPR/AED, concussion protocol training, and a state coaching credential or NFHS certificate are the ceiling here; no board can revoke your right to coach, and when an injury lawsuit lands it names the district and the athletic director alongside you, which is why this sits at 5 and not in licensed-professional territory.
The human relationship is the product. Parents hand over their kid, a senior decides whether to keep playing, and a recruit chooses a program largely because of who is going to coach them — that relationship is the retention mechanism and the reason coaching jobs follow individuals between programs, held just under the top band because wins and losses can override it fast.
Exists to be accountable for ambiguous calls. You decide who starts, who gets cut, whether a concussed or cramping athlete returns to play, and how much load a growing 15-year-old can take — calls made in seconds with incomplete information and real physical consequences, scoring 14 because playing-time and safety decisions are yours to own even though return-to-play protocols and eligibility rules constrain the edges.
Has AI actually changed your work?