Getting into Coaching

Realtalk wrote:

So how hard is it actually to get into coaching? I would assume you start as a GA or volunteer. How many GA jobs declines does it take to get accepted?

If there’s already a thread, lo siento

I wouldn't say it is necessarily "hard," but it does require a good deal of right place/right time and connections. I ran D1 and currently coach at the level too. In fact, I came back to coach in my own conference at a school 20 miles away from my alumni. I was one of the top guys in the conference at the time (13:43 5k) so I was known amongst the conference coaches which helped quite a bit. I took a gap year after I graduated to focus on making the Olympic Trials as well as trying out coaching before I entered an MBA program and resigned my life to that.

Initially all the schools around the area said "nope." They had no positions open and no one was leaving anytime soon. I ended up getting a head coaching gig at a local HS before one of the D1 coaches called me back and told me that their previous volunteer would not be coming back after all. So I left the HS gig before I started and entered as a volunteer with the program before the summer ended.

I was basically a glorified stop watch holder which was irritating because of my athletic experience....but I did my job as a volunteer. After that initial XC season, the distance coach got into trouble with the NCAA and school and got fired. I assumed an emergency hire position that track season and the following year I was kept on and have been there ever since as the distance coach.

You NEED to get lucky and you need to probably know people as well. Just be persistent. I admittedly lucked out quite a bit. At the time of my hiring I was the 2nd youngest D1 coach in the country. Its been some time now but there are a lot of D1 jobs out there and a lot of young people entering them. The pay can be very good relative to the time you actually put in. As a distance coach my pay is $85k a year base salary. It isn't a huge amount but a very good paid grade considering my job doesn't seem like a job. Can't complain about my quality of life. Not all are like this though. I have seen full time positions pay $25k-35k a lot. Some of my contemporaries can be paid in excess of $150k if you are at a top school. The top coach in my conference gets paid $95k a year. It can be a decent living so don't let it discourage you completely.

Make sure you practice gender equality. Lite pats on the butts for everyone, same push ups, hills, etc.

...everybody is a coach, have you ever noticed? Why does everyone think they’ll be the next Johnny Mac..? I’ve seen runners who are being currently coached ..put their shingle out and state they themselves are coaches.

Realtalk wrote:

So how hard is it actually to get into coaching? I would assume you start as a GA or volunteer. How many GA jobs declines does it take to get accepted?

If there’s already a thread, lo siento

Many fields require that you work yourself up from the bottom with low salaries initially. Many careers involve things you have to do that aren't your favorite part of the job. If you want to be a coach, then go be a coach. It's your life, not anyone else's.

Think of the number of colleges in this country. Most of them have track or cross country coaches. It's not a terrible lifestyle at all or so many of them wouldn't do it, and it wouldn't be so hard to break into it. Life on a college campus isn't a bad one. Most colleges, especially the state ones, give decent retirement benefits too.

Unless you plan to be a doctor or a lawyer or you really want to make big moves in the business world, most professional post-college jobs pay around what a college coach would make. Do you want to sit in a cubicle all day, or would you rather talk to athletes about running and coach them to get better and watch them be excited about getting better? Money isn't everything.

Getting into coaching depends on your athletic background. If you are/were a well-known/high-performing athlete, it's pretty easy. Start as a GA or volunteer in the type of program that you aspire to work in (HS, D3, D2, D1, P5 are all their own silos and it's difficult to move between them). Stay in your silo even when attractive opportunities present themselves!

A word of caution similar to what others have said. Coaching has a definite allure and yes, much of the time it does not seem like work. But the travel, the low pay, and the job insecurity are awful. Travel is usually every week or every other week for most of the year, and when you don't travel you're often hosting a meet which is way more work. Pay is OK at many P5 schools but still, even high 5 figures is not great considering how long the path typically is to get there. Job insecurity: if your head coach gets fired or takes a better opportunity elsewhere, you have to find something new or move with them. Don't buy a home, you're better off renting! It's an unsustainable lifestyle for those with a family and that's why I left. I really enjoyed coaching and I miss it sometimes, but my current career (like almost any career) pays far better, offers far more flexibility, and is far more stable than coaching.

I think the reason so many are posting the negative stuff is because we all understand the positives. For those of us that really love the sport the college coaching gig checks every box on the Dream Job list.

You get paid to do what you love.

It's prestigious.

In college you are coaching kids with talent and drive. You aren't dealing with the scrub HS kids that are just there to letter or aren't really trying or care.

You work on a college campus. That's a much better place than your typical cube farm existence most will deal with.

The pay isn't bad considering what is required and the hours.

If you do get a HC gig the chances of being fired are minimal. You won't be fired unless you DO something to get fired over. Performance of the team will be one of the last things to get you canned, it's all the other stupid stuff that could lead to your demise.

i started out teaching/coaching in hs...but now have over 20 years in the college game.

i love it, but i too would say think long and hard before committing to it. teach HS and coaching pays better, for sure...not that I miss anything about HS coaching.

one thing you might notice is that there are a lot of old bachelor coaches at the college level. that's because you have to put so much into your career that it makes it vary hard to form and maintain relationships. i have single coaching buddies in their 50s and 60s and i'm not sure they would have wanted it that way. they're not any different from anyone else, but their jobs kept them away from being in serious relationships for so long, hat now they'll probably die single.

I believe this because it was like that for me for a long time. Plus if you are coaching year round and you get a girlfriend, she will grow to hate it.

But, i got sort of lucky in that i found a wife that "lets me" do it, though she hates my hours and my salary. I know she'd prefer i go back to teaching HS, but i won't.

speaking of salary, once you've been somewhere for a few years and gotten a raise or two, good luck moving without taking a big pay cut.

if I had it to do all over again, I would have tried to volunteer at a big school, rather than take my first job in D3. although there are so few schools at which xc/tf is not treated like zit...the place i'm at now has it's problems, but at least people appreciate what i do here.

good luck

not worth it man. I was a GA, got an assistant job out of my GA position, but it's a position nobody wanted working with kids who shouldn't have competed in high school.

I'd say get a GA position, see how much you like it, then take your free masters and get another job in a career that you can someday make $70-100k.

Also, remember even if you make the "big time" at a Power 5 & are making the big bucks & think "I'm finally in!" that you're still at the whim of administrators who've never been an athlete a day in their lives & a head coach that could get you fired at any second. Take the staffs at Washington or UCLA within the last couple years for instance. All of those assistants were very good at what they did, proven & respected. Then their head coaches got fired & all of them lost their jobs. Those who were able to get back in all took a demotion. Every last one of them. Some are mid-life now with families & trying to start a career over through no-fault of their own. This is the rule, not the exception. The only way to avoid this is to become a director/head coach after 20-30 years of being knocked off the ladder...& a LOT of luck. Even then...good luck.

Teaching high school and couching is better job security.

You could even teach high school and coach Juco.

exP5coach wrote:

It's an unsustainable lifestyle for those with a family and that's why I left. I really enjoyed coaching and I miss it sometimes, but my current career (like almost any career) pays far better, offers far more flexibility, and is far more stable than coaching.

What are you doing now?

Realtalk wrote:

So how hard is it actually to get into coaching? I would assume you start as a GA or volunteer. How many GA jobs declines does it take to get accepted?

If there’s already a thread, lo siento

There isn't a magic number, you just have to apply and see

Post the same thread and alter it:

How hard is it to be a physical therapist?

How tough is becoming a lawyer?

Is it hard to be a race director?

All negative responses typically from a$$faces who are afraid you’ll be better than them and come along and steal their job. Do what you love. Just because they suck and never got better doesn’t mean you’ll end up that way. My neighbor is a JC coach and he’s making great $$. And he’s happy.

And it’s California. Coaches whine more than teachers here. These old guys should retire and go golf.

Frank Short wrote:

Great thread!!!

I hope it lasts long enough to get a bit more positivity. If most of these posts are true, I'm very glad I stuck

to high school coaching.

This is the kind of Subject I would like to see more of on LRC.

- Frank Short

Ha, yeah.

What a surprise all these negative, bitter, and complaining people couldn't get a good job.

I’m 27 years old now. I ran D2 for 5 years and am in my 4th year of coaching D2. I started out as a volunteer but then got paid a little but due to some crazy circumstances. I’ve been working for peanuts since then, no benefits or anything. I’ve been gaining some great experience though and I love what I’m doing. I would consider what I do as full time work for part time pay, but that’s not a complaint because I know that’s what I signed up for. I think I’m at the point where I could get a decent paying job if one opened up a the same level or lower, but I’m not sure that I actually want to do that because I’m really invested in our current athletes/signed recruits and love what we’ve been developing here.

So yeah, there are usually dues that need to be paid as a beginning coach, but it’s also possible that you could just be in the right place at the right time and slide right into a job. If it’s what you really want to do, then go for it and understand that sacrifices will need to be made. I don’t mind living super cheap and not having a girlfriend, so the lifestyle isn’t bad for me. Good luck.

50% of my college team wanted to be college coaches. But when they couldnt even get a volunteer job, they moved on from running and the college runner lifestyle and mentality. When youre 22 it seems like the coolest job, but people mature and change and lose interest.

Good luck, but if youre not a big time D1 runner or have some insider connection its going to be tough. High school coaching is way more realistic.

Realtalk wrote:

So how hard is it actually to get into coaching? I would assume you start as a GA or volunteer. How many GA jobs declines does it take to get accepted?

If there’s already a thread, lo siento

Start small. Have success. Have low fees.

20k a year is a good side hustle but never about the money.

hergy wrote:

Unless you plan to be a doctor or a lawyer or you really want to make big moves in the business world, most professional post-college jobs pay around what a college coach would make. Do you want to sit in a cubicle all day, or would you rather talk to athletes about running and coach them to get better and watch them be excited about getting better? Money isn't everything.

That is very not true.

Only a few DI coaching jobs head/assistant coaching jobs pay in excess of $100K and most at the P5 level.

Most DI head coaches at the mid major level do well. You can find info online stating many make $65-100K a year.

Many DI assistants are underpaid relative to their education, especially among mid majors. $40K is a modest but common pay rate for a 10 year coaching veteran at the mid major level. That is a lot lower than teachers in most states. A lot make a bit more, but many also make less. Not a great paying gig when you consider a mater's degree is required.

In other division pay really varies. There are some good positions, but they are far and few between.

I would say only DI head coaches are consistently paid on par with other post-collegiate working professional in other fields.

Coaching is great, but you have to be OK with the low pay.