High School coaches, what do you do on the side for income?

Head high school track jobs in Iowa pay anywhere between $3000 and $6000. Season is Feb 17-May 23 (13 weeks). Practice hours are roughly 3:30PM - 6:00PM. Throw in about 15 meet days in the season and the hours get real goofy. Good luck finding shifts that end before 3:30 or being after 6:00 without being a teacher/associate/security guard/etc... or an employer that will give you the necessary flexible schedule for 1/4 of the year.

The HS coaching job supplements teaching income. There is no such thing as supplementing a HS coaching salary it is just too low, unless Iowa is the exception which I highly doubt.

The only coaches whose regular employment is not through the school that I am aware of are small business owners or college students.

1800 after taxes for XC, Indoor, and Outdoor head coach. That's all together.

The south treats its teachers like slave labor.

If coaching is your passion, don't waste your time at the high school level. Go right into it as a grad student and work your way up through the college ranks. There aren't a lot of profitable opportunities in transitioning from hs to college. Oh, and by the way, there isn't any money in hs sports and not a lot of opportunities in minor sports at the collegiate level. So either coaching is your "passion" and you don't need to be paid much for it or you need to find something else to do with your talents.

Been there... wrote:

If coaching is your passion, don't waste your time at the high school level. Go right into it as a grad student and work your way up through the college ranks.

College coaching has always seemed like it has a terribly gloomy ratio of actually coaching to "other" work. I'm not sure if I'd be satisfied with a job like that. It also seems -very- risky. I've heard that coaches can be fired after their first year or two for bad performances. Is this true? I'm not so sure that that position would be best for me.

^Above post is me, by the way.

Find a decent sales job, can make good money if working with the right product or industry and have flexibility to coach. The real coaching is done at the HS level so go for it.

Been there... wrote:

If coaching is your passion, don't waste your time at the high school level. Go right into it as a grad student and work your way up through the college ranks. There aren't a lot of profitable opportunities in transitioning from hs to college. Oh, and by the way, there isn't any money in hs sports and not a lot of opportunities in minor sports at the collegiate level. So either coaching is your "passion" and you don't need to be paid much for it or you need to find something else to do with your talents.

Most college coaches make very low salaries, so he'd likely need another income there too.

I teach on the side (Ha Ha). Thought I was going into industry beyond college but didn't think I would be able to coach which is what I wanted to do. Changed major from engineering to education. Great hours, good pay, secure position, kids have been great for the most part. Expect minimum of 12 hour days during the XC-Track seasons though while keeping up in the classroom and working after school. I paint houses in the summer. Make around 85k here in the midwest, not counting painting which could add another 10k on the average depending on how much I want to work. Won't get rich for sure. Been at it for 25 years. However, many state titles and runner-ups so I've been blessed with kids and other adults who share my passion. Summers are yours to choose to do with what you wish. I've traveled, got my masters, and meet with runners 5 mornings a week in the summer. Everyone is on a volunteer basis and it works because they understand it's about them, not me. I have been able to raise a family and travel far and wide with them. My kids will be more financially successful than myself that's for sure. My wife teaches as well and makes nearly as much as I do so that helps both financially and for scheduling.

Coaching is teaching, Teaching is coaching.

Let the teacher haters begin...

Pimp

Aspiring Coach wrote:

I want to be a coach, but I'm not sure how I'd get by financially. This is my sole passion though, so I want to make it work. I came on here to find out how you coaches who aren't teachers get food on the table consistently. I'm definitely willing to take suggestions from people that don't fit this description too. The more the merrier.

Been there... wrote:

If coaching is your passion, don't waste your time at the high school level. Go right into it as a grad student and work your way up through the college ranks. There aren't a lot of profitable opportunities in transitioning from hs to college. Oh, and by the way, there isn't any money in hs sports and not a lot of opportunities in minor sports at the collegiate level. So either coaching is your "passion" and you don't need to be paid much for it or you need to find something else to do with your talents.

I personally know of 2 high school coaches who went on to coach collegiate sports, including one who became head coach in the Big Ten and later Big 8 in basketball (20+ yr NCAA head career). I've turned down a college T&F/XC position myself b/c the pay ($30k/yr 12-month position) was too low.

I teach middle school science. I'm technically an assistant coach, but I am in charge of all the training. I work at a private school, so 7 all district runners in 2 years earns me $800 for the cross country season.

I deal weed. (I live in Colorado.)

High school teachers make 50-80k pretty much everywhere after 15 years. If you coach typically you get an extra 2-5 grand for that. And I knew many oldtimers that coached and worked jobs in the summers.

One was a legendary swimming coach. He even a book published on training and spent every summer working at the local amusement park as a vendor.

Another bought a boat and chartered fishing trips on Lake Erie.

All of these guys are now retired with pensions and benefits and are 60-65 years old.

And these guys all live in 200-300k homes now or nice 120k condos on a golf course and vacation in florida every winter and retired young. And they all golf a lot.

Aspiring Coach wrote:

I want to be a coach, but I'm not sure how I'd get by financially. This is my sole passion though, so I want to make it work. I came on here to find out how you coaches who aren't teachers get food on the table consistently. I'm definitely willing to take suggestions from people that don't fit this description too. The more the merrier.

And nobody in this country has to worry about "getting food on the table". 25-30k a year is more than enough to not starve and be able to pay rent and bills. Now if you need new 25k-40k car every 5 years, a great retirement portfolio, and nice vacations once a year, teaching might not cut it until you are about 45 years old.

Become a teacher, preferably in an easy subject/grade level so as to take up as little of your spare time as possible.

All teachers have to do work in their spare time with grading/organizing assignments and lessons, but as a freshman health teacher (I'll admit it's a joke) I have ALOT less side work to do than the guys who teach advanced-level senior classes like Honors Calculus or Honors Chem and make the same money I do. I do almost no work outside of regular school hours, all grading is done during my prep/study hall block in school. I even have quite a bit of free time during school to look up coaching stuff or just browse the web.

So being a teacher is your basic income while you also coach. So to make extra money, look for something you can really focus on during the summer. There are countless things you can do. A fellow teacher/coach and I started up a jet ski rental/food vending operation at several very popular local summer hotspots. It's a simple gig and at this point I just hire kids to actually work the place while still being quite profitable.

Another teacher/coach owns a driving school, makes a sh*tload of money given the fact that he interacts with dozens of 15 year olds and their parents every day.

I invest my money pretty well and all told make close to 6 figures/year while living very easily.

In my opinion coaches who become teachers just to coach are a lot of what's wrong with the education system. If you go the teaching route, do so because you want to teach kids. I don't think of my teaching getting in the way of coaching, they are really just the same job in different contexts.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm wrote:

1800 after taxes for XC, Indoor, and Outdoor head coach. That's all together.

The south treats its teachers like slave labor.

Really? You're going to use that analogy? Hmmmmm...

I'm a cook on the side. The pay's great! Don't knock it 'till you try it.

Sell pot. Not kidding. If your comfortable with the idea, this plus the coaching salary would probably be enough to get by. It would take a little while to get your business up and running, but eventually, if you were good at it, you would make more than enough to pay the bills. If you were going to do this, it would be smart to move to either colorado or washington, so you don't get thrown in jail.