Coaching College or HS

I am a young assistant coach but I have often thought about what it would be like to coach at the college level. I think it comes down to what you feel is right for you and your family. Each individual's situation is different. One good thing about coaching in college is you can basically do football full time...but on the other hand as govertical said job security is a major issue at the college level. Just think things over and do what is best for YOU!

if you are going to do it you need to go right to the top where the pay is equal to the hrs worked. if i am going to work 80hrs aweek I am going to do it where i can make 80,000 and above.

all divisions work about the same amount of hrs during the season and you have to recruit all year long at d3. now d3 has spring ball as well.

I looked at a job in the wiac(wisconisn d3 athletic confrence) when they told me how much it paid I thanked them for there time. the pay was 32,000 plus benefits. I made that my first year teaching without my coaching pay added in. I make as much being a h.s. teacher and fb coach as acouple the the wiac head coaches make. wiac head coaches make between 45 and 60,000. with 17 years teaching and 2 masters degrees I am making more then the bottom header in the wiac.

now if i could move to say a uw eau claire or uw lacross where the coaches are at the top I might think about it.

there are some instances where you could make good money at d3. many of the power house private d3 schools pay really well. places like whittenburg, mount union, wheaton, teams which are constantly in the d3 title hunt. some places like hanover have housing for there coaches. saves you alot of money.

I coached college footbal for 9 years before I decided enough was enough. The time wasn't a big deal to me in-season. Football coaches who are successful are putting in tons of time no matter at jr. high, high school or at the collegiate level. The pay sucks. My wife was working (good job) 2 very young children in daycare and had a master degree, head fastpitch softball coach, asst football, recruit 2 sports and teach 2 classes per semester. I was making 28,000 my last year when I resigned and took a head coach position at a high school. I received a 16,000.00 pay raise moving to the high school. We went and tried to purchase a house 3 straight years in the mid 90's and we were told we did not make enough money. I get the new job and my wife and I are pre approved to buy double the house that we even wanted.

Yes, I miss coaching the best kids and seeing them learn the techniques after 2-3 reps and having position meetings with kids daily and traveling for recruiting. But I do not miss living pay check to pay check. As said before, if I could do it all over again I would of took the high school job I was offered right out of college. If I would of took the job I was offered I would be 14 years from retirement. Now I'm 23 years from retirement.

JD

I was fortunate to get about 15 minutes of Pat Hill's (Fresno St. Univ HC) time in February. I asked him about possible routes to landing a D1 job and the first thing he did was to try and discourage me from doing it! He stated the time and job security suck. Then he asked me if I was married and then he asked me if I was a minority. He said the atmosphere is getting easier for minorities to be placed in D1 jobs, and that the college game is no longer about X's & O's. Every coach at that level can coach, no questions asked. There's so much technology involved and outside responsibilities that it consumes more & more time & resources every year. Coaches have to have other qualities than coaching genius to be marketable in an ultra-competitive and cut throat envirnoment. It really opened my eyes to the struggle involved in getting to that level and the sacrifices needed to stay there.

the only time my college coach ever hit me was when I told him I was thinking about getting into college coaching.
He said it was not something he would even want his own son to do. My friends brother in law has coached (and moved his family) from Arizona State, to UCLA, to U. of Washington, now to Detroit (Lions). They hate it most of the time!
I want to wortk w/ those athletes and be involved in the big game too, but in the long run it is still football, and our lives in many ways are better off at the HS level. But when i retire....

tog,
absolutely the pay was pretty good, but Phil honestly had a hard time afforduing to live in LA! isn't that sick. he was supposedly making @ $120,000 as Def. Coordinator. What is the cost of uproting your family though.
If I went that route it would've been for my ego. I'm glad I was educated abut the lifestyle, before I got in too deep.