The Football Coaching and Training blog

Many people know that coaches do not join the profession for the money. These coaches join this profession simply for the love of the game. Other then division one coaches or professional coaches, many coaches do not make enough money to support a family simply on a coach’s salary. So in this blog I am going to touch upon how to make some money aside from being a football coach. 

 If you want to coach football at the high school level, your best idea is to go to school to become a teacher. Majority of high school coaches, at least in the north east, are teachers as well as coaches.  This will give you a solid income as well as being able to coach the game you love.  Another way to make some cash is to apply to football combines and camps during the summer. Camps are always looking for coaches to offer a week or two during the summer to help run their program.  This is a simple and easy way to make some money while still working in the field, or on the field I should say, that you love so much. 

 If you become a collegiate coach at a small division 2 or 3 level, there are a few things you could look into. One possibility is to become the intramural sport coordinator. Organizing intramural sports is huge at the college level and they are always looking for some one to do so.  This is a fairly simple way to make some cash aside from your coaching job. Also another possibility is to apply to become the Athletic Director, or Assistant Athletic Director. My head football coach at my school (small Division 3 in Massachusetts) is also the Assistant Athletic Director and he brings home a good pay check.  During the summer you can also offer yourself to camps and combines like I said for High School coaches. As a college coach you would have the ability to apply at larger camps and make more money.  

Essentially, the most important thing in a coaching career is to always try and advance your career. You never want to be satisfied where you are until you either are making a solid living for yourself, or have found yourself a home in a program that you fall in love with and could not be with out. If you are looking to make a good amount of money as a coach you must not try and be satisfied at the lower level. On the other hand, if you are a coach who simply just love the game and love where you are, then you can settle down and find options else where to make some cash. 

 When people hear that some one is interested in pursuing a coaching career, they always worry about how that person is going to make a solid living. With these simple options here, you can bring in some more money outside of coaching and make a good amount of money to live off of. 

There are many different sets of skills and traits needed to become an excellent coach. Majority of people not even in the profession could most likely name a few traits needed to be a good coach.  I found an interesting article (http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/qualitycoach.htm) on how to become a good coach.  They state a few important facts that every coach should pay attention to in order to successfully run his program. 

One of the most important traits stated in this article would be to lead by example.  They state that an effective coach follows the same rules he expects of the players. All coaches have a certain set of rules in which his team must follow, so he must make an example and follow them himself.  All coaches also demand respect from their players, but to get respect you must show respect. A major part of a winning program is making sure your team has a positive attitude and out look on the future, so you as a coach must do the same thing the players are going to follow your beliefs if you show them strongly enough. 

Another key component to being a good coach is you must be able to motivate players.  If you put forward a positive attitude like I stated before as well as enthusiasm towards the game and the season, your team will follow you.  This article states that “The ability to motivate and inspire is part of the formula for success,” which is very true.  If you can inspire your team to play their hardest game in and game out, then you will have a successful season. 

 An obvious third trait needed is good communication skills. You must be an excellent speaker. You must be clear with your words so that people believe in you and follow your way.  If there is any doubt in your skills as a leader and as a public speaker, no one is going to have faith in you. You must be able to explain game plans as well as motivate your team each and every game with a pre-game speech. If players do not believe in you, they will not listen. 

A fourth trait, which is very important, is knowing your athletes. Not all athletes are the same. Knowing the differences in players, not only their physical abilities, but their personalities as well.  If you have a kid who can not handle the pressure of being yelled at constantly, then you can not yell in their face or they will crumble. A key component to success is knowing how to handle each of your players different, as they are all separate individuals.  Knowing the players personalities is a major part of the responsibilities of being a great coach. 

One final trait a coach must have is that you must display commitment. Your players commit their lives during season as well as off season to the team, and they want to see that you are just as committed as well.  All the great coaches got to where they are because they love their job and they love what they do. They commit themselves to the team and nothing else matters.  If you can show that you are in it for the best interest of the players as well as the team, you will have people follow you and you will create an excellent and winning environment. 

 There are other essential traits needed to be a coach such as, general knowledge of the game, having an open mind to anything new the sport has to offer, organization, patience, media relations, as well as many others which I did not touch upon. I simply chose five major traits needed to succeed in this business. 

In this new day and age of football in America, coaches are being paid more then they ever have. This life style has turned every day coaches into famous millionaires. When the winter time comes and the season is over on the field, many coaches are looking to find new contracts and bonuses. Four days after the national championship, Les Miles, head coach for LSU, got an extension of his contract through 2012 and figures to make roughly $3 million a year.  And who says coaches are not in it for the money?

This puts Les Miles in a interesting group of four coaches  making over $3 million a year, including Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, Florida’s Urban Meyer, Alabama’s Nick Saban and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz. In a recent study done by USA Today, this past year for the first time the average earnings of a major, division one football coach reached the one million dollar mark, not including bonuses and perks.

 In This survey taken by USA today, they concluded that 50 coaches make at least seven figures, a dozen of which are over $2 million.  It has become a given that in December and January, schools are digging deep into their pocket to dish out incentives  and bonuses for winning the conference, or a bowl game or even a national championship. Winning these games has become more then just a pride of winning, but a large cash flow into the coaches pockets.

 This survey also touched upon bonuses and average salaries per conference.  The big ten leads the pack in bonuses (17) with the Big East, the ACC and the MAC all at ten.  Even the smaller conference, the WAC still gave out almost 5 bonuses to different coaches. 

The average salary for these coaches are roughly the same in all the major conferences.  The SEC, the BIG 12, and the Big Ten are all over $1.5 million , with the SEC leading the pack at $1.9 million.  This is a huge boost from recent years, but the demand for an excellent coach has raised. Once again, even WAC coaches now a days are making half a million dollars with the even smaller conferences of the Sun Belt and the MAC coaches making a quarter of a million dollars.

USA today got this information from 107 major college coaches, figuring their guarantee pay is around $1.046 million. Just last season it was just under a million dollars.  In 1995 there was only five coaches that hit one million dollars in salary, now there is over 50.

Now as a coach, how would you feel about taking in a million some odd dollars, when you are sitting watching game plan one Sunday afternoon after being beaten badly on the field? What about after a win versus a big school rival. Coach Brian Kelly from the Univeristy of Cincinatti states, “It ranges from some days when I’m embarrassed about the amount of money I make to other days that you say, ‘Listen, what’s my market value? These are my earning years, and I’ve got to make sure I get the dollars I deserve. “  So even though these coaches may be getting paid a large sum of money, they have that high value due to the market demand for a great coach.  Back fifteen, twenty years ago schools did not want to burn their pockets for their sports because the demand for a win was not as high.

“There was a time when we were content to be 4-4 in the SEC and win three other games and go to a bowl,” LSU athletics director Skip Bertman says. “But evidently, we’re not content to do that anymore. And we have to pay. I think people here understand that.”

Personally speaking, I feel as though these coaches do deserve the cash that they are recieving. A major-college coach is more then what happens on Saturdays and you must be a smart business man as well as have the proper football smarts to run a successful program. Also, the demand is so high for a productive coach that schools will do anything to bring one in, which brings the demand for that coach much higher, raising his cost.  If you have a coach like Les Miles who has turned your program around from a sub par team to a constant threat for a national championship, then you want to keep him around to help bring your athletic program those millions of dollars from championship games. And if you want to keep him there, you must pay hm the appropriate figure or he will find it else where.

The college game has turned into a business in the coaching office now, it’s more then just the satisfaction you get from winning.  If coaches begin to win and bring you championships, a new contract with a high income better be following or you will lose your championship caliber coach in a heart beat.

Source:http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2007-12-04-coaches-pay_N.htm

On December 17, 2007, Rich Rodriguez (the former head coach of the University of West Virginia’s football team) was announced as the 18th head coach for the University of Michigan.  In his six year reign for the Mountaineers, he accumulated an impressive 60 win 26 loss record, including four Big East titles and six straight bowl bids. This past season he was also named the AFCA Region I Co- Coach of the Year.  Michigan had a loyal coach in Lloyd Carr, who served them well, earning one national championship in 1997. Unfortunately, in the past few years coach Carr began to seem a bit “out-dated” with his play calling and over all tactics, and it was time for a change. After a long dispute over who Michigan would select as their new leader, Rodriguez seemed to be a perfect fit.  His spread style offense is exactly what the Wolverines were looking for to change the face of the program.  Now a new challenge faces Rodriguez as he takes the job at one of the most prestige colleges in the United States. 

Since Coach Rodriguez has signed with the Wolverines, he immediately got to heavy recruiting.  Rodriguez got five of the ESPN’s top 150 prospects along with a fine recruiting class composed with his system type offensive weapons.  Not only did he sign some great weapons, but he also got some great offensive linemen to sign, possibly replacing all he lost in the great offensive tackle Jake Long. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, one of his major targets, Terrelle Pryor who is the number one quarterback in High School today, has not committed to his school or any school. He is one of the best athlete’s and people claim he could be the next Vince Young, if not better.  If I was Rich Rodriguez right now I would completely focus my time on making sure that Terrelle Pryor comes and plays in the “Big House” at Michigan.  Pryor would be the perfect fit in Rodriguez’s offense and could become an immediate Heisman Trophy hopeful, so the number one priority in Rodriguez’s eyes right now should be getting Terrelle Pryor to sign as soon as possible. 

 Once Coach Rodriguez finds out Pryor’s decision, he must focus his attention on getting his players physically ready for next season right now.  Off seasons work outs are in full swing right now and he must get his returning players in the shape he needs them to be. Also he must try and get some of his top prospects to try and graduate early and come to school a semester early so that he could get them into the swing of things a semester early.  This is a big change for these player’s and his offensive mind set is completely different then what most of the players saw in the past so he has to get these players ready for a much faster paced game. Also, aside from coaching football, Coach Rodriguez has become part of a large community at the University of Michigan, so he must begin to try and get the approval and support of the alumni and the students currently enrolled at Michigan. He must begin to show his face more around campus, and let the people as well as the alumni know that he is prepared to stay for the long run and to win them a national championship.  If he can receive the support of the alumni and the school, this will be followed by more money being brought in for the program to use. 

If Rich Rodriguez does what I have previously mentioned, he will begin the process of becoming one of the most successful coaches in the University of Michigan’s football history. 

This past Sunday, the world got to see one of the best football coaches in Bill Belichick face off against a very underrated coaching staff of the New York Giants.  Week after week New England fans continued to hear Coach Belichick say to his players “Do your job, just do your job,” when in reality, maybe he didn’t do his job as well as he could have.  One the other sideline of Super bowl XXII was Tom Coughlin and his aggressive coaching staff. Now this is a team who flew under the radar for the past two weeks, and well just did their job.  In this blog I am going to touch upon 5 tips on what it takes to coach and maintain a championship team.