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Head Coaches' Teaching Loads (or Not)


Clyde

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Some are retired. Just coaching.

Some are retired and teach 100 days and coach.

Some teach full loads. I would guess that most fall into this category.

Some have administrative roles.

Some have pseudo administrative roles.

Some run the In School Suspension or Credit Recovery rooms.

A very few have even more "made up" jobs like drivers ed or home bound (but their case load is 2 kids while the other two home bound teachers have case loads of 15)

Some get an extra planning.

Some who have PE background get to have their team as a class during the day. - that's the best one going. Practice happens during 7th period and is called "Advanced Fitness" or something like that.

 

Like I said in another thread... Coaches have the most negotiating power when they first come to a school. Schools will often make many concessions to get the coach they want. Sometimes it works out... Sometimes it blows up in their face.

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Some are retired. Just coaching.

Some are retired and teach 100 days and coach.

Some teach full loads. I would guess that most fall into this category.

Some have administrative roles.

Some have pseudo administrative roles.

Some run the In School Suspension or Credit Recovery rooms.

A very few have even more "made up" jobs like drivers ed or home bound (but their case load is 2 kids while the other two home bound teachers have case loads of 15)

Some get an extra planning.

Some who have PE background get to have their team as a class during the day. - that's the best one going. Practice happens during 7th period and is called "Advanced Fitness" or something like that.

 

Like I said in another thread... Coaches have the most negotiating power when they first come to a school. Schools will often make many concessions to get the coach they want. Sometimes it works out... Sometimes it blows up in their face.

 

Exactly. :thumb:

 

 

Great detailed post.

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Why do coaches have to be teachers? Is that a different thread?

 

Most coaching stipends are between $3,000 and $9,000. The teaching salary is needed to make a livable wage. It also feeds into the retirement system which is based on full-time teaching years of service.

Unless the coach already has 27 years in, coaching only would be tough financially.

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Most coaching stipends are between $3,000 and $9,000. The teaching salary is needed to make a livable wage. It also feeds into the retirement system which is based on full-time teaching years of service.

Unless the coach already has 27 years in, coaching only would be tough financially.

 

I'm big fan of a para-professional coaching. I've never felt like a coach had to be "in the building" but I get why it is a requirement. It makes sense for the coach to be "in the building" but I would never be bothered if my local school didn't hire a teacher or require a head coach to be in the building.

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Communities care more about wins and losses and communities don't care if their coaches are excellent teachers or how many periods they teach. I'm almost 40 and I have never once heard a single person ask what a coach teaches or how many classe they teach. They sure do want to know if coach can beat (insert crosstown rival here) though and at the end of the day that's all communities care about. You're living in a fantasy world if you believe otherwise. Teachers teach and coaches coach.

 

 

I guess I live in a fantasy world - the fantasy world of Fort Thomas KY.

 

No way in hell that the community, the administration, the faculty, etc.... would go for a coach having 3 or 4 planning periods without other responsibility. Mueller teaches for 3 or 4 periods a day and then get 2 periods to do AD work. All other coaches in the building teach a full load. Weinrich will have a full teaching load next year in the middle school.

 

Sports seasons last for 3 or 4 months. Less than half the year. A coach getting 3 or 4 planning periods a day during season is a joke. Getting 3 or 4 planning periods during the off season is criminal.

 

If you haven't talked to anyone or had anyone ask what a coach teaches you need to talk to a more diverse group of parents. I know what subject every coach at my kids school teaches. Thankfully, every one of them takes their job as an educator as serious as they do their role as a coach.

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I guess I live in a fantasy world - the fantasy world of Fort Thomas KY.

 

No way in hell that the community, the administration, the faculty, etc.... would go for a coach having 3 or 4 planning periods without other responsibility. Mueller teaches for 3 or 4 periods a day and then get 2 periods to do AD work. All other coaches in the building teach a full load. Weinrich will have a full teaching load next year in the middle school.

 

Sports seasons last for 3 or 4 months. Less than half the year. A coach getting 3 or 4 planning periods a day during season is a joke. Getting 3 or 4 planning periods during the off season is criminal.

 

If you haven't talked to anyone or had anyone ask what a coach teaches you need to talk to a more diverse group of parents. I know what subject every coach at my kids school teaches. Thankfully, every one of them takes their job as an educator as serious as they do their role as a coach.

So football at highlands is only a 3 to 4 month job?

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I guess I live in a fantasy world - the fantasy world of Fort Thomas KY.

 

No way in hell that the community, the administration, the faculty, etc.... would go for a coach having 3 or 4 planning periods without other responsibility. Mueller teaches for 3 or 4 periods a day and then get 2 periods to do AD work. All other coaches in the building teach a full load. Weinrich will have a full teaching load next year in the middle school.

 

Sports seasons last for 3 or 4 months. Less than half the year. A coach getting 3 or 4 planning periods a day during season is a joke. Getting 3 or 4 planning periods during the off season is criminal.

 

If you haven't talked to anyone or had anyone ask what a coach teaches you need to talk to a more diverse group of parents. I know what subject every coach at my kids school teaches. Thankfully, every one of them takes their job as an educator as serious as they do their role as a coach.

 

Different strokes for different folks.

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This is a good topic and one of those that often times school administrators will hesitate to say what they really think. Some think successful athletics are important as the the school's face to the public, the life lessons of team athletics, and as a means to motivate kids and hopefully change lives( get their education/successful adults). Even of those with this philosophy, some are open about believing it. Others know that it is not PC to say so. They think it, but don't say it because they don't want people saying all they care about is athletics & winning.

 

A superintendent once told me that he did not want a head football or basketball coach to teach core content because the teaching part was too critical and together, both jobs were too big and too important for one person. He wanted his coaches to have teaching or administrative jobs in the building, but ones with more flexibility.

 

Some school administrators are overwhelmed with test scores, curriculum requirements, state mandates, and the list is long. For them, athletics can be a distraction and take away from all of the other demands/pressures they are facing. If athletics went away, they would be fine with that. They just don't want to deal with complaints about the coaches or athletic programs from parents.

 

Teaching history and being a head football coach are both much more demanding now than they were when I became the head coach at Paris HS in 1992. In March of 2015, I can retire from teaching. As much as I enjoy teaching, the plan now is that I will continue to coach but not teach. It is not that both jobs are that difficult. But you run out of hours in the day - especially as a husband and father. I think hiring coaches who are retired as teachers in KY is a great option and very affordable for KY schools. I also think it would be incredibly difficult for a young guy starting out to teach a full load of core content courses and become a head football coach.

 

I believe 100% that a community should get what is important to them. If athletics is extremely important and the community believes it is in the best interest of their kids to adjust the head coaches' teaching duties, I think that is fine. If they don't, that is fine also. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for and your checkbook shows your priorities.

 

The tough part is telling what a community really wants. 70 % may feel one way, but a handful of those opposed may be the most vocal.

 

I think schools will go different directions, based on what is important. In the South, being a head football coach is, and will be even more in the future, the primary job at many high schools and they will get fired pretty quick if they don't win. In areas where football is not as important, I can see the sport being dropped altogether because of the expense and liability. Again, a community will pay for what it values the most.

 

Back in the 50s, London HS was getting ready to start football. My dad wanted to play and my grandmother went to the organizational meeting. The debate was do they go out and hire a good football coach, or make the math teacher be the head coach. My grandmother told them that if they made the math teacher the head coach, my dad(who later became a head football coach/played in college) was not playing. She knew that an unqualified football coach would be a disaster/unsafe for the kids. She got her way and they hired Coach Oakley. She usually did get her way. :thumb:

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