Was d1 athlete , upon graduation went to coach HS track . made it only one year before quitting. 35k/year was not worth the time i spent away from wife and kids, now i am a realtor. very similar skills i would say. mainly teaching/coaching others and being friendly and smiling.. and can make six figures working 3 days a week. i would love to coach again. just don't see it ever happening sadly
Was reading through the Jobs thread and the topic of coaches leaving the profession came up for reasons such as work/life balance, low pay, cost of living, moving around, etc.
Those of you who have left in the last 0-10 years, what career did you move into? Did you have a degree in something other than Exercise Physiology or Teaching that you fell back on?
I'm curious what other options are out there that our skill sets can transfer easily to.
To me it's the opposit situation. Have been a teacher fulltime 45 years and will soon retire and then have plenty of time to take on more runners into my successful freelancing online coaching. Now 10 years since I started as an online coach and I just love it. So happy to help runners at all distances and levels all over the world to reach their running goals. Coach J.S , The Magic Wizard online running coach. Welcome to join! 🇸🇪🧙🏼♂️🇸🇪
Working from home. Writing books. Doing lots of consulting work for various sports teams. Coaching an athlete here or there. Making way more than I did coaching college. And most importantly, enjoying my family and young daughter, as I'm in charge of my own schedule.
Don't get me wrong, I loved college coaching. But it's important people go in with clear eyes:
1st: Recognize what your job actually is. As former athletes, we think it's helping student athletes develop, graduating kids, getting them competitive, etc. At the vast majority of D1 schools, it's not. The Track/XC coaches job is to stay out of trouble, don't spend too much $, have lots of women on the roster (for Title IX balancing out football), and not too many men.
That's what matters to most AD's. Yes, even on some of the most successful teams. I mean, after the first time we got 3rd at NCAAs, the entire track coaching staff went in and asked for a raise, and we all got denied. And we lost a countable coach, going down to 5 instead of the 6 every other major program had. That was the thank you for being in the hunt for a team title. That's when it was very clear that even winning a national title wouldn't make any difference in our standing.
2nd: It's increasingly less about coaching. More paperwork, tracking, compliance, etc. And lots of recruiting. Yes, what we love to do is coach. That's the best 2 hours of the day. But the other stuff takes up most of your time. Again, your job is to keep problems away from the ADs office. So that means lots of managing things and people. Some people love the recruiting game, some don't. But in a world where it's increasingly what NIL can you give, it's a tough game to play.
3rd: The pay sucks except at a handful of places. Expect to go from volunteer assistant to grad assistant to lowly paid coach for a long time until you get to a livable salary. It's supply and demand. Lots of young enthusiastic coaches, not a lot of high paying jobs. That works well when you're young and single, not so much when you have to support a family.
All that being said, depending on where you are, coaching is a lot of fun. The kids are great to work with. You are actually making a difference. But the adults in charge often make the job less enjoyable. Long hours, low pay, not much support or respect is the name of the game at many athletic departments, because all that really matters is football, basketball, and staying compliant.
As long as you recognize that going in, and understand the game you're signing up for, it can be a lot of fun. I enjoyed many of the years I spent coaching college athletes. I also got to hear from a lot of coaches who just felt trapped.
What I'd encourage coaches who are looking at getting out of the game is to not see your skill set through such a narrow lens. Think of how it applies more broadly, and the aspects you really enjoy in the coaching world. A coach is jack of all trades. Think about the knowledge of physiology, motor control, psychology, biomechanics, behavior change, management, sales/recruiting and on and on you had to develop as a coach. Those skills translate elsewhere. You've just got to figure out how to use them. Chances are you'll be able to tap into the skills and use them in a way that often provides a more lucrative and stable working environment. And you can always keep a toe in the water in coaching through private coaching or even volunteering to help at a local school.
My one suggestion for those considering a change is dabble in other avenues in your free time. My writing career began because I knew the NOP stuff was coming and I was afraid I'd never be able to coach again. So I dabbled in writing, without any idea what I was doing. My first book got rejected by every publisher. My last one went into a bidding war over. I did the same in applying my skills in other avenues. I saw Carl and some of the other staff doing some speed training work with NFL teams, so I broadened my experience in the offseason. It started off small, talking at some soccer training clinics and other sports on aerobic development for team sports, and eventually broadened out where I was talking to pro teams in every league on a variety of topics. I only got there because I started dabbling a decade ago.
The point is: If you want to keep coaching and are loving it, great! Stoke that fire and keep going at it. But if you've got that thought in the back of your mind that things are changing, that your life is changing, that maybe you can't do this with a family, start now in putting yourself in position to pivot. Use your knowledge and skills.
All the best to the coaches trying to navigate doing what they love in a chaotic NCAA environment.
OP, you asked for people who'd left coaching in the last ten years. I left 20+ years ago, so I'm not sure how much my experience will help. Feel free to ignore it.
I had young kids, and a spouse with a full-time job and a "problem." She just couldn't handle everything, and my working 60-100 hours a week for peanuts felt increasingly self-indulgent. I left coaching, temped for a couple years and then went to law school (fortunately didn't have to pay tuition), and worked as a gig lawyer for the best part of 20 years.
When the kids were grown I returned to coaching. I'd been the head at a national-level D3 conference before my break; returned as an assistant in a low-level D3 conference. (Eventually I was moved to head, mostly against my will, but that's a different story.)
TL, DR: left coaching, temped (office work) for a couple years, got a law degree and low-level legal work for ~15 years, then returned to college coaching.
Left about dozen years back. I was an assistant in D2. I didn’t like the odd hours of early mornings then afternoons into evenings. Plus the constant van travel weekends. I went back to school and now work as a physical therapist. Job has the same core rewarding aspects as coaching and the skills transfer nicely. I did avoid sports therapy because I felt living running all day soured my own personal passion for the sport.
You mean you didn't want to be 35 living the same life as a 20 year old student athlete? How could you possibly find THAT unappealing!
I often wonder if teachers and coaches feel "left behind" or like they are living in suspended animation. While their students/athletes move on into the real world, with a normal schedule, vacations, bonuses, stock options, and the chance to make real money and career success that actually matters they are still there, at the track (classroom) holding a stopwatch reading splits, doing the same ol thing...
Coaches get vacations. Longer ones than "normal" workers. There are bonuses too, depending where they coach at and how their teams do. Stock options - who fricking cares. If you make enough to live on, that's all you need. Some people aren't compelled to buy overpriced crap.
Jobs that matter? Stock option boy is literally making money for someone else. He's competing to sell more widget mathingy techs that are planned to obsolete within a few years or maybe figuring out how a few more of some useless product can get on store shelves, maybe he's selling canned water to middle class Americans. Jobs that matter - ya. Compared to the jobs 90% of people with "stock options" have, coaching matters infinitely more - at least they get to help people (who might actually go into jobs that matter) grow and build character.
Working from home. Writing books. Doing lots of consulting work for various sports teams. Coaching an athlete here or there. Making way more than I did coaching college. And most importantly, enjoying my family and young daughter, as I'm in charge of my own schedule.
Don't get me wrong, I loved college coaching. But it's important people go in with clear eyes:
1st: Recognize what your job actually is. As former athletes, we think it's helping student athletes develop, graduating kids, getting them competitive, etc. At the vast majority of D1 schools, it's not. The Track/XC coaches job is to stay out of trouble, don't spend too much $, have lots of women on the roster (for Title IX balancing out football), and not too many men.
That's what matters to most AD's. Yes, even on some of the most successful teams. I mean, after the first time we got 3rd at NCAAs, the entire track coaching staff went in and asked for a raise, and we all got denied. And we lost a countable coach, going down to 5 instead of the 6 every other major program had. That was the thank you for being in the hunt for a team title. That's when it was very clear that even winning a national title wouldn't make any difference in our standing.
2nd: It's increasingly less about coaching. More paperwork, tracking, compliance, etc. And lots of recruiting. Yes, what we love to do is coach. That's the best 2 hours of the day. But the other stuff takes up most of your time. Again, your job is to keep problems away from the ADs office. So that means lots of managing things and people. Some people love the recruiting game, some don't. But in a world where it's increasingly what NIL can you give, it's a tough game to play.
3rd: The pay sucks except at a handful of places. Expect to go from volunteer assistant to grad assistant to lowly paid coach for a long time until you get to a livable salary. It's supply and demand. Lots of young enthusiastic coaches, not a lot of high paying jobs. That works well when you're young and single, not so much when you have to support a family.
All that being said, depending on where you are, coaching is a lot of fun. The kids are great to work with. You are actually making a difference. But the adults in charge often make the job less enjoyable. Long hours, low pay, not much support or respect is the name of the game at many athletic departments, because all that really matters is football, basketball, and staying compliant.
As long as you recognize that going in, and understand the game you're signing up for, it can be a lot of fun. I enjoyed many of the years I spent coaching college athletes. I also got to hear from a lot of coaches who just felt trapped.
What I'd encourage coaches who are looking at getting out of the game is to not see your skill set through such a narrow lens. Think of how it applies more broadly, and the aspects you really enjoy in the coaching world. A coach is jack of all trades. Think about the knowledge of physiology, motor control, psychology, biomechanics, behavior change, management, sales/recruiting and on and on you had to develop as a coach. Those skills translate elsewhere. You've just got to figure out how to use them. Chances are you'll be able to tap into the skills and use them in a way that often provides a more lucrative and stable working environment. And you can always keep a toe in the water in coaching through private coaching or even volunteering to help at a local school.
My one suggestion for those considering a change is dabble in other avenues in your free time. My writing career began because I knew the NOP stuff was coming and I was afraid I'd never be able to coach again. So I dabbled in writing, without any idea what I was doing. My first book got rejected by every publisher. My last one went into a bidding war over. I did the same in applying my skills in other avenues. I saw Carl and some of the other staff doing some speed training work with NFL teams, so I broadened my experience in the offseason. It started off small, talking at some soccer training clinics and other sports on aerobic development for team sports, and eventually broadened out where I was talking to pro teams in every league on a variety of topics. I only got there because I started dabbling a decade ago.
The point is: If you want to keep coaching and are loving it, great! Stoke that fire and keep going at it. But if you've got that thought in the back of your mind that things are changing, that your life is changing, that maybe you can't do this with a family, start now in putting yourself in position to pivot. Use your knowledge and skills.
All the best to the coaches trying to navigate doing what they love in a chaotic NCAA environment.
Thanks for responding, man! And thanks for all the input. Glad you're doing well.
Great post. Do you think the US college system could ever move to a club-type model for distance runners structured more like a HS team? No recruiting, everyone is a walk-on. Just a bunch of young men and women looking to push themselves.
You mean you didn't want to be 35 living the same life as a 20 year old student athlete? How could you possibly find THAT unappealing!
I often wonder if teachers and coaches feel "left behind" or like they are living in suspended animation. While their students/athletes move on into the real world, with a normal schedule, vacations, bonuses, stock options, and the chance to make real money and career success that actually matters they are still there, at the track (classroom) holding a stopwatch reading splits, doing the same ol thing...
Coaches get vacations. Longer ones than "normal" workers. There are bonuses too, depending where they coach at and how their teams do. Stock options - who fricking cares. If you make enough to live on, that's all you need. Some people aren't compelled to buy overpriced crap.
Jobs that matter? Stock option boy is literally making money for someone else. He's competing to sell more widget mathingy techs that are planned to obsolete within a few years or maybe figuring out how a few more of some useless product can get on store shelves, maybe he's selling canned water to middle class Americans. Jobs that matter - ya. Compared to the jobs 90% of people with "stock options" have, coaching matters infinitely more - at least they get to help people (who might actually go into jobs that matter) grow and build character.
Real money, real bonuses, yes even stock options, are what allows people to retire early, buy vacation homes, provide the best for their families.
You seem to have a made up, Hollywood movie perspective of what it's like to work outside of the sports or educational field. In TV and movies they ALWAYS portray the working man as the loser and the guy that chucks everything and follows his dreams as the winner in life. In reality it is the complete opposite.
I have worked various staff positions and am currently faculty. I miss the coaching part of coaching but unfortunately that is not what the job is. It never has been. The job is dealing with everything else and putting out fires. That being said coaching was one of the most rewarding things I have done but my family paid the price for my success. I was spending more time with everyone else's kids instead of my own. You cannot be a good/successful coach with the pressures of the current climate without sacrificing your family on some level. I decided my family was more important to me than this sport and career that I love. I have no regrets and every time I talk to coaching friends I thank God I am not in it anymore.
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