Sure, the nation's unemployment rate is nearing a record low -- just don't mention that to aspiring coaches.

Trying to get hired as a graduate assistant, the coaching profession's entry-level position, makes for the toughest job hunt outside of becoming a sitcom star. Just ask Virginia Tech's former long snapper, Shane Beamer. The recent graduate didn't get a nibble after applying to more than 10 programs -- and his dad, Frank, had just been named college football's Coach of the Year.

Pedigree aside, Beamer's plight isn't much different from that of any of the other wannabes toting light résumés and touting themselves as the ideal hire. As many as 200 candidates apply for each open GA spot at the top Division I-A schools, and the lucky one who lands the job is in for two grueling years. A program's two grad assistants will spend 16-hour days doing office work, breaking down film, staffing football camps and doing anything else the coaching staff needs. And taking graduate courses, of course.

For it all, a GA receives free room, board, tuition and books and a small stipend that can amount to as little as $300 per month.

A sampling of current GAs reveals three basic ways to get a foot in the door: impress your coach while you play for him; work first at a high school or small college and schmooze the big boys when you get a chance; or keep searching obsessively no matter how many times you've been told no.

Florida's Noah Brindise, an ex-Gators QB, impressed Steve Spurrier enough to be invited back to UF as a GA after serving one season as quarterbacks coach at Div. III Ursinus (Pa.) College. East Carolina's Danny Frank doggedly surfed the Web for GA opportunities for 18 months. Frank, then a prep coach and special-ed teacher studying for an MBA, got on the horn the very day ECU posted an opening on K-Coach.com. Ten other hopefuls had already called, but Frank's diverse background won him the job.

Brian Yauger coattailed his way to Oklahoma State by coaching at a Kansas juco with Buddy Ryan's son Rob, who was hired as OSU's defensive coordinator and soon after brought Yauger along as a GA. While Ryan has since taken a job with the New England Patriots, Yauger is a long shot to fill the vacancy OSU has at linebackers coach. Says Yauger, whose GA stint is up: "The toughest thing about being a grad assistant is knowing you'll be scrambling again in two years."

N.C. State's Manny Diaz might have the oddest story. The 26-year-old Diaz, a former ESPN production assistant, got the attention of then-Florida State assistant Chuck Amato -- thanks to the recommendation of analyst Sterling Sharpe. Diaz quit his job to do some data entry work in the Florida State recruiting office at nights and was able to support himself and his pregnant wife working in the state's attorney general's office. A year later, Diaz got a full-time job as a videographer, cutting tape and assisting GAs, demonstrating a tireless work ethic. In January, when Amato was named N.C. State's head coach, he recruited Diaz to come along as one of his GAs. "It took a big leap of faith," says Diaz, who will get his national title ring later this spring.

Meanwhile, Beamer, a part-time high school substitute teacher in Blacksburg, Va., is trying to stay optimistic. "Everyone said they wouldn't have any openings for two years but to keep in touch," he says of the schools he contacted. As for his pedigree: "Nobody will push some guy out just because they know my dad."