Why the trend for non-teachers filling high school coaching jobs?

I was asked recently my opinion on why less teachers are coaching and why more and more high school jobs are being filled by non-teachers?  Below are some of my thoughts on this subject.  I would love to hear feedback of others on this trend and whether it is a good thing or bad thing.....

When I was a high school AD, we had more head coaches and assistant coaches who were non-teachers and worked in the community. Teachers just did not want to deal with the headaches and politics involved with high school coaching these days.  A teacher has more control over their classroom and less control in their coaching capacity, especially compared to the past. In addition to the superintendent, principal, and AD, the coach has to answer to parents, boosters, and even players.

Other reasons for this trend?  Pressure to win and less focus on fundamentals, fun, sportsmanship.  I believe this is parent-driven.  Parents want results......they want college scholarships.  Fund and sportsmanship don't garner scholarships.

Time commitment - if you want to win, you have to put in the time. Film meetings, strength and speed workouts, attending camps and clinics, 7 on 7 leagues, summer leagues, fall leagues, etc.....

Extra red tape and time commitments- coaching certifications, rules meetings, CPR training, first aid training, AED training, background checks, main booster meetings, sport-specific booster meetings, athletic council meetings, fundraising events.

Public scrutiny - with traditional media and social media, everything a coach does is being watch and scrutinized. Say one cuss word or drink a beer, and the world knows about it.

Pay - it's not worth $1500-$2500 to a teacher to deal with all of the above when there are so many other avenues they could take to make that extra $.

One bad incident with a player or parent tends to make a teacher think, "screw this, I don't need this headache!"  Also, the classroom teacher is also being faced with these same types of commitments and requirements and headaches in their teaching job, so why would they want to add anymore to their plate?  I think a teacher who coaches, always wants to to focus on the professionalism of the teaching/coaching craft. In my experience, too many non-teachers don't care about or understand the professionalism involved with coaching young athletes.

I my last year as AD, we went to a pay to participate program. We were also forced to make all assistant coach positions at the high school level, and ALL junior high coaches VOLUNTEER positions. Each program was forced to do additional fundraising in order to pay their coaches. That was one of the reasons why that was my last year as AD. It was ridiculous.

The answer in my opinion is better support by administrators and better pay. You look at the schools that have successful sports programs coached by teachers, you will find big budgets and big salaries. And I think that $ needs to come from the general budget, not boosters. Otherwise, it increases the pressures. So in other words, it is only going to happen in school districts that are wealthy.

Thoughts?

Views: 842

Comment by Al Burke on January 19, 2013 at 4:36pm

This isn't necessarily an answer, but I coach in Canada where pressure for scholarships is lessened, but one thing I noticed when looking for a coaching position, especially at local club level, was the amount of fathers who wanted to coach their sons. While this is admirable, one club actually asked me to coach their flag team while said fathers could run their kids' team. The problem I had with this was I played for 20 years and coached for 8, yet these parents who had little football experience were coaching tackle football. While one issue is continuity,with parents moving on as their kids grow older, I had a bigger problem, and that is safety. Player safety was always my priority as a coach, and when you're dealing with minors, it should be even more so. We have guys who watch the NFL on Sundays teaching kids how to tackle responsible etc, while the most qualified person in the room was asked to teach flag to a bunch of 5-year olds. I said no. Now I coach JVAA where the only coach with a kid on the team played offensive line in college. Everyone else played to at least college level. 

Comment by Bill Vasko on January 20, 2013 at 7:33am

Thanks for the response Al. You bring up a good point about parents getting involved in coaching because they feel they know what is best for their kids' team.  Often times it may have been someone who was a really good athlete when they were in school, but has no idea how to teach fundamentals or even coach a group of young people in a professional manner.

Comment by Mark MacDougall on January 20, 2013 at 8:21am

Hi Bill

I also coach in Canada and agree with comments Al made earlier. In our province football is not run by the high schools but in community club formats. I have been a teacher for 21 years now and I have coached many sports in addition to football over those years.

Schools obviously would like to have teachers coaching because of liability issues that could arise, but also I think because teachers see the players every day and in different contexts outside of football. They can build relationships that help in developing players and teams. One of the mind shifts that needs to take place is that people need to understand that coaching is teaching. The subject matter is just different.

The idea of coaches needing to understand the fundamentals is crucial. Most places here now require coaches to be part of the National Coaching Certification Program which I would say is getting better all the time.

One of the things I notice is different in coaching school sports and community sports is that teachers have a collegial relationship with coaches from opposing teams as well as their own. The professionalism you spoke of is easier to achieve in those settings. Sport is seen as part of developing each student, not just trying to advance your programs record.

On the issue of paying coaches my thoughts are fairly simple. Most coaches coach for the love of the game. The time being demanded is getting to be more and more. I am now coaching at a small college which is also a volunteer position. The time I spend at football is time away from my family. Coaches should get compensated for their time at least in some small way. They could then pass the money straight to their wife - and as the old saying goes Happy Wife = Happy Life.

Just my thoughts

Comment by Mike Peters on January 20, 2013 at 10:17am

Great article Bill. I coach in Michigan, started as a volunteer at the 3rd grade level, coached all the way through 7th grade. My 7th grade team played in the championship game, simply because the head coach was open minded and would try new things when something wasn't working. I was asked to be the line coach for our high school JV team the following year. We had one paid coach (head coach), and three volunteer coaches on JV. My eyes were opened to all the politics and ridiculous bs that goes on. Many of the teachers were just doing it to get some extra money. After talking with the AD and Superintendent, I started a strength and conditioning program, at first for football, now for every sport. I also hold nutrition talks for the athletes and their parents. Myself and one other volunteer coach started a 5k fun run to help fund the strength and conditioning program (to buy new equipment that the school refuses to buy) as well as bring back the cross country team that the school lost in 1999. We also started an alumni game between our school and our cross county rivals. Last year (July 2012) we raised almost $10,000 per school from it, an almost unheard of amount in our area. This year (2012 season) was my first year as a paid coach, as I took the head JV coach position.

I guess my point in all this is that the volunteers that may walk in your door may actually help your program in more ways than you thought possible.

Comment by Zak Bessac on January 20, 2013 at 10:37am
Bill, I know here in Wisconsin, school districts have moved away from hiring teachers who are coaches and instead hire others. Our staff has 12 coaches on it and only 4it are teachers and only are actually in the building. We have struggled and fought to get more coaches in the building and they just can not get hired. What I do not understand is why all the "reasons" you listed would not also deter non-teacher coaches from coaching. As a non- teacher myself I feel I have to make more sacrifices than a teacher just to pursue my dream. I deal with all the same headaches and situations that a teacher deals with and I still show up everyday, often times having to either start work extra early or take vacation just to be apart of the team. Just my 2 cents.
Comment by Bill Vasko on January 20, 2013 at 10:39am

Great point Mike!  It is definitely true that many non-teachers who coach can actually add more to the athletic program than a teacher who is just coaching for the extra money.  It's coaches like you who I truly admire because you are doing it for the right reasons! Thanks for the input!!

Comment by Bill Vasko on January 20, 2013 at 10:44am

Great points Zak.  It's not that non-teachers don't have to deal with the some of the same headaches, or entirely separate headaches that you mentioned such as the time requirements.  My point was, teachers deal with a lot of headaches within their teaching position and know what they would be dealing with if they coached.  I think a lot of non-teachers are unaware of these potential headaches until they get involved in coaching.  I have seen a lot of non-teachers get involved in coaching because they didn't like how the previous coach was doing things. Then they get in there and see all of the headaches, and they are outta there after one year.

Comment by Ed Betsworth on January 20, 2013 at 10:57am

Here in Iowa alot of schools don't want teachers to coach. Administration wants the teachers to focus just on teaching. I work for a small K-8 catholic school as the AD. All of my coaches are parents. I don't have teachers as coaches. The school I work for is a penny wise and a pound foolish. They don't want to spend money to hire coaches. They want volunteers.

The catch-22 for me on this is: even the volunteer coaches need to be state certified. The volunteers need to pay for their own certification (and here's the kicker)....the school doesn't reimburse them. It's a headache trying to find parents who are willing to coach and have to pay to do it. So most of the time I have to take who's available, which isn't always the best situation.

Comment by Bill Vasko on January 20, 2013 at 11:11am

Ed- I hear ya on the volunteers.  When I was AD, volunteers had to get fingerprinted, take a first aid class, and take cpr training - all at their own cost!  The biggest headache was, the head coach and/or the volunteer decided they wanted to help out right before the season or after the season was already underway.  So of course they wanted to to coach, but not take care of any of the requirements.

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