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.
(2019) After 5 years of coaching full time, I left a D1 assistant position where I was making $25K with no bonus structure.
I took an entry-level sales job in corporate america making $60K+15% bonus. I have since been promoted every 12 to 24 months and now work in marketing for the same company.
The freedom you gain when you step out of coaching is something that is hard to conceptualize when you are currently in the thick of it. Whether it's time or money, you end up with more of both when you step out of collegiate coaching.
I coached for a combined 20+ years......most of those years as a head coach. The last 5 years of my career were the most unenjoyable time I ever had as a coach. Those years produced All-Americans, National Champions, and even Olympic trials qualifiers but they were miserable. The profession has drastically changed in the last 7-8 years and not for the better. Coaching is a profession built on love of the sport and passion, but it does not love you back. Any success you have is forgotten about by the time you get back to campus from nationals because you have to start working on next year and the administration doesn't care unless you fail. There are always more problems than solutions to most of the BS you deal with, and the landscape is changing faster than they can even write the rulebook for it. The profession I started in does not exist anymore. Coaching takes more than it gives and it can be brutal at times. You small school coaches that have a good gig with low numbers, low expectations, and the ability to make a difference in the lives of your kids........stay. When you are chasing that D1 job just remember the immortal words of Biggie. "Mo money, mo problems" I still work in higher ed but not in the hamster wheel that is the athletic department and cannot even imagine going back. I will do everything i can to deter my kids from wanting to go down the career path I did.
honestly, coaches are very skilled. They have experience as leaders, they have higher ed degrees, managers of staff, fitness trainers, have handled budgets, been sport psychologist, teachers, travel agents, professional drivers, and not least of all great at sales. You could put successful coaches in almost any industry and they could succeed. Don't count us out.
FYI fast food workers probably make more on average than most college coaches......without all of the student debt.
I coached for a combined 20+ years......most of those years as a head coach. The last 5 years of my career were the most unenjoyable time I ever had as a coach. Those years produced All-Americans, National Champions, and even Olympic trials qualifiers but they were miserable. The profession has drastically changed in the last 7-8 years and not for the better. Coaching is a profession built on love of the sport and passion, but it does not love you back. Any success you have is forgotten about by the time you get back to campus from nationals because you have to start working on next year and the administration doesn't care unless you fail. There are always more problems than solutions to most of the BS you deal with, and the landscape is changing faster than they can even write the rulebook for it. The profession I started in does not exist anymore. Coaching takes more than it gives and it can be brutal at times. You small school coaches that have a good gig with low numbers, low expectations, and the ability to make a difference in the lives of your kids........stay. When you are chasing that D1 job just remember the immortal words of Biggie. "Mo money, mo problems" I still work in higher ed but not in the hamster wheel that is the athletic department and cannot even imagine going back. I will do everything i can to deter my kids from wanting to go down the career path I did.
What do you do in higher ed now, if not in the athletic department?
Honestly that coaching thread is the WORST place to go for advice. The only people that check it every day are the ones don't even have jobs, or people who coach D3 and are desperate for a better job even though they haven't even won anything on the D3 level.
Being a coach is a much better job than being in something like IT or accounting. In those jobs you are in a cubicle 40-50 hours per week and the boss yells at you if you take a 10 min break instead of a 5 min break.
Coaching is hard work, but you are outside or at a track meet. It's rewarding to help athletes improve and win.
The only coaches getting out of the profession are ones that shouldn't ever have joined in the first place. The NCAA is better off without those coaches.
I've been coaching 30+ years and it's been amazing. I've been to more than 50 weddings of athletes that I've coached. I still stay in touch with most athletes, they are like my extended family. Coaching is high hours, but if being at practice for 4 hours a day feels like "hard work" for you (plus recruiting and paperwork), then you shouldn't be coaching anyway.
Honestly that coaching thread is the WORST place to go for advice. The only people that check it every day are the ones don't even have jobs, or people who coach D3 and are desperate for a better job even though they haven't even won anything on the D3 level.
Being a coach is a much better job than being in something like IT or accounting. In those jobs you are in a cubicle 40-50 hours per week and the boss yells at you if you take a 10 min break instead of a 5 min break.
Coaching is hard work, but you are outside or at a track meet. It's rewarding to help athletes improve and win.
The only coaches getting out of the profession are ones that shouldn't ever have joined in the first place. The NCAA is better off without those coaches.
I've been coaching 30+ years and it's been amazing. I've been to more than 50 weddings of athletes that I've coached. I still stay in touch with most athletes, they are like my extended family. Coaching is high hours, but if being at practice for 4 hours a day feels like "hard work" for you (plus recruiting and paperwork), then you shouldn't be coaching anyway.
Agree there are a lot of positives that come with coaching. But for some, those positives don't outweigh the negatives of little pay and a tough work/life balance. There is nothing wrong with that and there is nothing wrong with advocating for higher pay for our profession.
I love coaching, I love the job, but I do question it at times. Working until close to 7pm multiple nights a week isn't always "fun." But I get a ton more vacation time and time off during the summers than I would get at ANY other job I know of. I love being outside most of they day, and would not get that in other professions.
Everyone has to find the right balance for them. BUT eventually for a lot of people paying bills and planning for the future/a family becomes more important than some of the other non-monetary perks of the job.
I left coaching for a lot of reasons after 2021. The pay, hours, administration, etc all were a part of it.
I was able to find a sales job at a start up and tripled my salary never working 1 min past 5:00pm. Start up folded and I found another sales job in software within 3 months.
It is way easier than coaching. The job stops when you log off (no athlete mental health issues, no parents, no administration, no weekend travel).
If you are grinding at a mid major or DII you’d probably double your salary for half the hours working.
I’d say jump now if you aren’t power 5.
Look at the last decade of rule changes in the NCAA and tell me if you are confident the NCAA will exist by 2030
Honestly that coaching thread is the WORST place to go for advice. The only people that check it every day are the ones don't even have jobs, or people who coach D3 and are desperate for a better job even though they haven't even won anything on the D3 level.
Being a coach is a much better job than being in something like IT or accounting. In those jobs you are in a cubicle 40-50 hours per week and the boss yells at you if you take a 10 min break instead of a 5 min break.
Coaching is hard work, but you are outside or at a track meet. It's rewarding to help athletes improve and win.
The only coaches getting out of the profession are ones that shouldn't ever have joined in the first place. The NCAA is better off without those coaches.
I've been coaching 30+ years and it's been amazing. I've been to more than 50 weddings of athletes that I've coached. I still stay in touch with most athletes, they are like my extended family. Coaching is high hours, but if being at practice for 4 hours a day feels like "hard work" for you (plus recruiting and paperwork), then you shouldn't be coaching anyway.
This x1000000
Coaching is great because you feel like you are having a positive impact on people's lives everyday.
I'd take that any day over a meaningless sales job that makes a big corporation more money. Soon AI will render salespeople and most other jobs obsolete anyway.
Honestly that coaching thread is the WORST place to go for advice. The only people that check it every day are the ones don't even have jobs, or people who coach D3 and are desperate for a better job even though they haven't even won anything on the D3 level.
Being a coach is a much better job than being in something like IT or accounting. In those jobs you are in a cubicle 40-50 hours per week and the boss yells at you if you take a 10 min break instead of a 5 min break.
Coaching is hard work, but you are outside or at a track meet. It's rewarding to help athletes improve and win.
The only coaches getting out of the profession are ones that shouldn't ever have joined in the first place. The NCAA is better off without those coaches.
I've been coaching 30+ years and it's been amazing. I've been to more than 50 weddings of athletes that I've coached. I still stay in touch with most athletes, they are like my extended family. Coaching is high hours, but if being at practice for 4 hours a day feels like "hard work" for you (plus recruiting and paperwork), then you shouldn't be coaching anyway.
This x1000000
Coaching is great because you feel like you are having a positive impact on people's lives everyday.
I'd take that any day over a meaningless sales job that makes a big corporation more money. Soon AI will render salespeople and most other jobs obsolete anyway.
AI can't coach!
Honestly, I think a former coach could be suited for tech recruiting or something like that.
Yes it is kind of likes sales, but isn't that what you do anyways at a NCAA school? You sell your product, recruit, retain, and forge connections. The last two parts mentioned there can be tough and draining. However, with working for a recruiting company you don't have to do the retention thing and deal with the day-to-day of 18-22 year olds.
Most of these jobs are work from home, or you go into the office once in a while. I know college coaches tout having summer breaks or other built-in vacation time that aligns with student-life....but are you REALLY getting a break? Still gotta recruit, still gotta be "on it." Well, you can take your work with you in a lot of these recruiting jobs and have a pretty open schedule. Sort of like coaching in a sense.
Furthermore, your base salary is probably higher than being a coach, PLUS many of them make commission. If you crush it as a coach in your job, your AD may give you a flimsy bonus or you might get a pat on the back. Well, if you go above and beyond in these recruiting based careers, you get a big financial incentive.
As I wrap up my shilling campaign of this profession, I just want to restate that it's a perfect fit for any college coach who was decent at the recruitment game. You get rewarded for the time you put in much more--AND you get to change people's lives still by assisting them in locating jobs.
The title of the thread is " Coaches who left Coaching - What do you do now?" and all the replies except 2 are not former coaches saying what they are doing. Its a bunch of people replying with what they think coaches can do if they leave coaching. They did not ask for your opinion, they asked what you are doing.
Nobody cares if you think sales is a good option or more rewarding unless you are actually in sales and can give personal examples.
Can we please stay on topic, and maybe just maybe you can keep your opinion to yourself. I know that is hard because we have all been told that our opinion matters, but lets be honest, most of the time it doesn't.
The title of the thread is " Coaches who left Coaching - What do you do now?" and all the replies except 2 are not former coaches saying what they are doing. Its a bunch of people replying with what they think coaches can do if they leave coaching. They did not ask for your opinion, they asked what you are doing.
Nobody cares if you think sales is a good option or more rewarding unless you are actually in sales and can give personal examples.
Can we please stay on topic, and maybe just maybe you can keep your opinion to yourself. I know that is hard because we have all been told that our opinion matters, but lets be honest, most of the time it doesn't.
Maybe he was a former coach? What if he said he was. How would you respond then? I coached mid-major in Big West and Mountain West. I work for a staffing company. I do recruitment. It’s very easy and I help my wife’s high school team on the side. Financially, we are in a better spot. So to stay on topic, I think that profession is a natural progression and I agree with the previous poster.
I will never be a head coach again. As soon as a parent says, "Well I think...."....it's over and they could make your season very difficult and it only takes 1 of them to do so. I still teach...can't give that up. But I've always helped other coaches with their training plans so I never really got out of it. I'm in a new school district this year and they want me to be a head coach, but I just can't do it. Especially these days. A kid can make a false accusation against you and it's not worth it. Something like this happened last year at the school I was at. I will stay in shadows.
Honestly that coaching thread is the WORST place to go for advice. The only people that check it every day are the ones don't even have jobs, or people who coach D3 and are desperate for a better job even though they haven't even won anything on the D3 level.
Being a coach is a much better job than being in something like IT or accounting. In those jobs you are in a cubicle 40-50 hours per week and the boss yells at you if you take a 10 min break instead of a 5 min break.
Coaching is hard work, but you are outside or at a track meet. It's rewarding to help athletes improve and win.
The only coaches getting out of the profession are ones that shouldn't ever have joined in the first place. The NCAA is better off without those coaches.
I've been coaching 30+ years and it's been amazing. I've been to more than 50 weddings of athletes that I've coached. I still stay in touch with most athletes, they are like my extended family. Coaching is high hours, but if being at practice for 4 hours a day feels like "hard work" for you (plus recruiting and paperwork), then you shouldn't be coaching anyway.
Fifty weddings? I probably make 10% of the weddings I get invited to due to meets/visits etc.This tells me this guy has one of those coaching gigs to hang on to.
I DID get out of coaching. I worked for a local government in an administrative role related to sport. It was incredibly easy, and paid better. I felt prepared for it but was bored a lot.
However, I missed coaching and got back in. I fully expect to have to find a new career once the NCAA implodes. That doesn't scare me - coaches should be versatile and adaptable.
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