Former college coaches - how did you get out?

Bump. Any input?

I have wondered the same thing - what could I do after 20 years of coaching?

I will lump both those that left voluntarily and those that got fired.

Pharmaceutical sales

Manager of rental units

worked for M-F Athletics

sales

high school teaching/coaching

drive truck delivery

medical sales

state high school association position

grad school to get retrained

You could start a running shoe company. Does your wife have a waffle iron?

coach of the college wrote:

Reading the article about Heins got me thinking about how others who have been in the business got out. I've got almost 15 years in the coaching business but it is definitely a strain on my marriage and family. I just don't know what I'd do if I got out at this point.

I'm curious what other letsrunners who were college coaches did. If you got out after a couple years I'm interested to hear but not as much as those who were 10+ years in the profession. What did you do? Did you go back to school, just change careers, etc? My wife has a good job and we could survive for a little while but ultimately I would want to be doing something productive.

Almost 30 years in the business and I was non-renewed. It was a shock, with no indicators before it happened. My athletes performed well, they were happy, everything seemed to be good.

Then, no job.

It sucked and it still sucks. Trying to make ends meet as an older person whose career has been pretty much all in college coaching is not a great deal of fun.

I spent 9 years in coaching. I started out 2 years in high school, then progressed to NAIA, then Div 2, then Div 1. I was not renewed after 1 year with the new school, cause the head coach was insecure and knew that I was better coach than them and the athletes looked up to me rather than them.

Nonetheless, I spent 6 months trying to find a job, to no avail. I was applying for anything towards the end. Even hiring managers looked at my resume and saw my BS and MS and looked at me and basically asked, "you have a Masters degree and applying for a $11/hour call center job?"

Luckily enough, I discovered something called Corporate Recruiter. It's the easiest damn job for a former coach, especially if you cut your teeth at a smaller school and really had to learn to walk athletes through the recruiting process.

Being a "full-cycle" recruiter is basically calling a candidate on the phone, and assessing their talent/hard skills and personality/soft skills and if they will mesh with a hiring manager, and if they pass, bring them in for a sit-down interview to see if they are a "cultural" fit. It's basic college recruiting! And the more creative you were in college, the more these HR directors will love you.

Recruiters start at 60k, and if you become a Technical Recruiter, someone who can recruit IT, Marketing, or Sales, they start at 72-90k. If you make it up manager or director level, well over 100k. That's not including performance bonuses.

6 months ago, I left my 2nd internal corporate recruiting job for a an external technical recruiting agency that specializes in Data Science. The company has a direct to hire fee of 18-23% of the candidate's annual salary, which range from 80-120k for entry level and 120-260k a year for senior level, which I get 55% commission from. Ka-Ching! Since, pretty much every company is moving towards Machine Learning Decisioning. They are in high demand. If you place even one a month. You are living quite nice.

Everyday, I miss coaching and working with athletes. Being in the office on a nice sunny day is the worst. Tracking down leads can be a pain in the ass, but if you get connected and can network. It gets really easy. It's been 4 years since I was forced out of coaching, making 33k, working 60 hour weeks. But I like taking my girlfriend to a fancy dinner. I like knowing, I will be able to send my little girl to any University she wants. I like being able to take them on fun and unique vacations. Oh, and not living in a shithole apartment in a sketchy neighborhood has it's benefits.

Come on, coaches! Use your skills and get out of the rat race.

Hadsell fired in '12 now actor and syndicated radio host. I guess you could add that to list of potential other careers.

https://youtu.be/5b3ARpHFa74

Tickle one of your athlete's backs and post pictures of them sleeping

After several years of high school coaching, I fell into a college coaching gig (mid-major DI, part time). I grew with the program and eventually got bumped to full time. Several years, several All-Ams (back when you needed to score at NCs or be top 8 American...none of this 2nd or 3rd team nonsesne) and other qualifiers, several dozen conference champions, and a couple of conference team titles and I got a opportunity in a Power 5 conference.

My Power 5 experience was about 5 year before a major coaching shakeup left me unemployed. I took a mid-major job that was a total mistake and a very poor fit for me (personally and professionally). It got so bad that I decided that I would rather be unemployed than continue in the position.

Went back to school, volunteer coached while taking classes, got teaching certificate, got high school teaching/coaching job (making about double what I did in my best year coaching).

I miss college coaching every day (except payday)!

Good luck.

I made the decision to leave based upon the hours and pay, same equation the OP is looking at.

Picked up my personal training certifications, I now run a gym and am the head track coach at a high school. I still get to do what I love, help people strive for and achieve their goals, everyday. It is a different setting but I still use the foundation of knowledge that made me a good coach by having a depth of understanding within human science. And still get my track fix during the spring. I also coach and train some athletes on the side for endurance events.

I make more money, work less hours, my weekends are free for the most part, I don't have to travel all over the place. It has been a win win for me. I still occasionally wonder if I had stuck it out, where I would be today but then I go home to my family and I know it wouldn't matter because this is so much bigger than winning trophies.

Thanks for the post and information. This is the type of thing I was looking to hear. I've never done anything but coach college and have no experience in "real world" work settings or job searching. Not even sure if I have a resume that would be able to get me a non-coaching job at this point in my life.

What you describe sounds like something that I would enjoy and possibly be successful with. Did you find it hard to get that first position?

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

I'd take your coaching job for ya.

From November 1st posting by Sara Vergote on her Facebook page:

The decision to change careers is never easy especially in a career where the highs are really high. After a lot of reflection I wanted to articulate in greater detail my decision to leave a very rewarding job...Looking forward to one more month of the highs!

"On leaving the only real job I’ve ever had"

by Sara Vergote

"So I now find myself trying to explain to the people around me why I would just abruptly walk away from the “very cool job” that I’ve done for the past twelve years..."

Full posting at:

http://sara-vergote.squarespace.com/

coach of the college wrote:

Reading the article about Heins got me thinking about how others who have been in the business got out. I've got almost 15 years in the coaching business but it is definitely a strain on my marriage and family. I just don't know what I'd do if I got out at this point.

I'm curious what other letsrunners who were college coaches did. If you got out after a couple years I'm interested to hear but not as much as those who were 10+ years in the profession. What did you do? Did you go back to school, just change careers, etc? My wife has a good job and we could survive for a little while but ultimately I would want to be doing something productive.

See if you can get a job surfing the Internet like me. Oh wait you said you want something productive.

The thing about coaching that I alwasy freaked me out is when I'd read stories about 50 year old people losing their jobs. How do they get a new coaching gig? There is always a younger (cheaper) coach willing to do it. So you find yourself without a career at age 50. Scary.

It seems like a lot of real estate agent is one way to go. Regina Jacobs wasn't a coach but she was a slimy cheat so if you are slick recruiter, that would be one option. Of course if you are a slick/shady recruiter, you likely arne't looking to get out of the game unless you got nailed for an NCAA violation.

I've heard of a few coaches going into the 'family business.'

You think the only reason to get out is an NCAA violation? You coached and got out after not that many years? You ought to know better than most the other myriad reasons people get out or want to get out.

Sharpen up son!!

Well I was a coach for 5 years at the college level. I always worked in student affairs, or teaching along with my coaching position. I coached as a GA assist for a year, then 4 years as a head coach. Of the 4 years as a head 1 year was a JUCO and the other 3 were at D2 school. For me when I realized I wanted to leave coaching I made a plan for my exit. I realized I was going to work in student affairs and that I needed to work on a 2nd masters degree to move up the chain of command to not be in a entry level position. So far I am very happy for my decision as I make more money than I did when I coach and the hours are better and I get to spend more time with my wife than I used to. Coaching had its great moments and at time I miss certain points but I get a lot of the same things I used out of coaching I get in working housing in student affairs. I left coaching though when I was 28 so I had plenty of time to finish my 2nd degree and change careers before I was too old or invested in the field.

It won't feed you and your family, but every area needs knowledgeable officials to allow you to keep your hand in.

Ha!

Multi level marketing scam, these guys are good!

You were never a coach buddy.