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Post by airraider on Sept 18, 2008 19:44:38 GMT -6
I am having huge problems with my principal..
I am the 3rd head coach in as many years..
I heard all the horror stories coming in.. about how I wont be able to work for him.. but I thought.. "well, it cant be that bad"
And stepping back.. maybe I am overreacting..
It basically is over money issues..
Football is forced to float all other sports.. I found back through old statements where Girls Track was given over $1000 for this or that.. and all of the trophies for awards night was taken out of football to the tune of $600..
The part that really threw me off.. Prior to week 1.. we have $0 in the account..
The neighborhood association donates $1000 for football. Gives me the check. So we have $1000 in the bank.
I purchase coaching shirts for $300.. and the next thing I know.. we are in the hole over $1000...
I go asking questions.. and our state association charges $900 in fees for the athletic program.. and charges $40 per coach to be in the coaches association.. well he took all of this money out of football..
So the $40 for the card for the soccer coach came out of football..
Well the worst part was that the money donated for football was being used for something else..
He then tells me that there is no such thing as football money.. that its the school's money.. and brings in the district auditor to tell me that any donations made to the school in any capacity is left up to the principal to spend how he sees fit..
Like I said.. I may be looking at this completely wrong.. and it may happen way more than I know of at other schools..
but my old school.. the HC got REALLY mad when they made him give 10% of football money to other sports..
Advice, insight please..
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Post by coachplaa on Sept 18, 2008 20:31:50 GMT -6
I had one really bad principal, and I resigned because I thought I would make a great statement. I was wrong. Everyone is replaceable. I learned that principals come and go. I was lucky to get another head job the next year.
My advice is to setup a non-profit organization. It takes a small bit of legwork, but you can do it through AAU. Let me tell you...it is worth it. You purchase the $300 per year membership, and they give you "affiliated organization" status that you can take to the IRS to get a tax ID number. You setup a small biz account at your local bank, and keep records/receipts of everything in case you are ever called on it, or audited.
Then, you can probably finance your entire program through a game program or media guide. We have each kid sell one page in the media guide. This generates quite a bit of money. All of the checks are made out to the non-profit organization, and your donors can get tax deductions for their donation.
It works for us. When we want things that take the school forever to approve, we use our off-season account to get it done.
This will get your principal out of your finances. If it is too much work for you, I would suggest a group of dads or assistant coaches do this for you as a "Touchdown Club" so you don't have to keep track all the money.
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Post by poweriguy on Sept 18, 2008 20:41:05 GMT -6
Great post Coach Plaa. It is definitely worth starting an outside fund raising wing.
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Post by phantom on Sept 18, 2008 20:43:37 GMT -6
I am having huge problems with my principal.. I am the 3rd head coach in as many years.. I heard all the horror stories coming in.. about how I wont be able to work for him.. but I thought.. "well, it cant be that bad" And stepping back.. maybe I am overreacting.. It basically is over money issues.. Football is forced to float all other sports.. I found back through old statements where Girls Track was given over $1000 for this or that.. and all of the trophies for awards night was taken out of football to the tune of $600.. The part that really threw me off.. Prior to week 1.. we have $0 in the account.. The neighborhood association donates $1000 for football. Gives me the check. So we have $1000 in the bank. I purchase coaching shirts for $300.. and the next thing I know.. we are in the hole over $1000... I go asking questions.. and our state association charges $900 in fees for the athletic program.. and charges $40 per coach to be in the coaches association.. well he took all of this money out of football.. So the $40 for the card for the soccer coach came out of football.. Well the worst part was that the money donated for football was being used for something else.. He then tells me that there is no such thing as football money.. that its the school's money.. and brings in the district auditor to tell me that any donations made to the school in any capacity is left up to the principal to spend how he sees fit.. Like I said.. I may be looking at this completely wrong.. and it may happen way more than I know of at other schools.. but my old school.. the HC got REALLY mad when they made him give 10% of football money to other sports.. Advice, insight please.. Leave. The principal is not going to change. It's not a matter of making a point. It's about keeping your sanity. |
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Boltar
Sophomore Member
Posts: 208
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Post by Boltar on Sept 18, 2008 20:47:55 GMT -6
Principal's right!
It's the same here in our school district. Football has 5 home games and the football team sees none of it. It's used to finance other things.
We must fund raise 85% of our own money. I'm talking for basic equipment. The school only pays for the reconditioning of the helmets, that's it!
Another example - a private donor wanted to donate $1 million dollars to the wrestling program. School says NO! The donation goes to the school. They built a brand new wrestling room but it's a "all sports" room that anyone can use.
Booster Club!
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Post by larrymoe on Sept 18, 2008 22:01:26 GMT -6
Leave. The principal is not going to change. It's not a matter of making a point. It's about keeping your sanity. Agreed. |
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Post by coachorr on Sept 19, 2008 3:00:10 GMT -6
Don't fill a resume with holes. This seems like a minor issue. I remember when you were talking about money issues a few months back, no wonder why there was none. What is a amazing, is that life would be easier if you could just coach.
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htownoc
Sophomore Member
GATA
Posts: 186
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Post by htownoc on Sept 19, 2008 6:30:56 GMT -6
Principals come and go. I know that I'll be here longer than my current principal.
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Post by olinecoach61 on Sept 19, 2008 6:36:00 GMT -6
Our school has a separate account for all sports / activities. If we sell gold cards and raise 4 grand it goes in the football account. Only the HC can access the account. The school can and does audit, but no one touches our money. If all of the money goes into one account, of course the principal is going to use it. In addition we have a non profit set up which has for the last 8 years completely funded the program. The district is phasing in a three year plan to fund us to 80%.
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Post by casec11 on Sept 19, 2008 6:41:10 GMT -6
Like coach plaa said start a non-profit organization... and you won't have to deal with this principle at least in footballs pockets.
You have waited to get your chance as a head coach and it is here now, coach out the season and see if the relationship improves.
on another note: "any donations made to the school in any capacity is left up to the principal to spend how he sees fit.." I hope some checks and balances or oversite are in place for this sort of thing, it seems the school should have money allocated to pay for state association charges and such.
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Post by touchdownmaker on Sept 19, 2008 6:49:53 GMT -6
You do not need money to be a successful football coach. raise your own money.
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Post by Sparkey on Sept 19, 2008 7:01:06 GMT -6
If I were you, I wouldn't leave because of the principal until you have another coaching job lined up. Don't give him the satisfaction. Remember, most administrators are on a hug ego trip and are just looking for the next step up the ladder. If you love coaching, stay with it as there are usually obstacles with any coaching job.
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Post by threeback on Sept 19, 2008 12:20:55 GMT -6
To answer your question, yes I have resigned because of my principal, but that's a whole other story.
We had it almost as bad as ya'll did. Sure, we shared the "football" money, but we were also totally self-funded as a program through fundraisers. The only time we asked for outside help was when we truly needed very expensive items and couldn't swing it with the budget. Our booster club helped out then. The only thing that really would piss me off was that the band would get 100% of the concessions at the games. I don't know why, but that always pissed me off- maybe it was because the band would often not show up to games due to "expenses", and then I would see the band members around school with a shirt that read "It's not a football game until the band shows up.." WTF??!!
airraider, is the principal "near the end" or about to transfer? If he plans on staying there, I would have serious reservations about staying if I were you. Hard to build a program if you don't receive the financial support of administration. As much as I dislike the principal I used to work for, I have to admit that when we needed help in the form of money, he came through.
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Post by 19delta on Sept 20, 2008 14:16:50 GMT -6
So...
If your football players do a Varsity Gold fundraiser or sell pizzas or have a car wash or conduct a lift-a-a-thon or whatever, you guys don't get to keep the money?
I understand why some high schools have to use income from home football games to float other sports because those sports don't make any money, but it is just wrong that if you guys do a football-sponsored fundraiser, you have to share the wealth with programs that didn't participate.
How did you get the coaching shirts paid for?
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Post by 19delta on Sept 20, 2008 14:22:28 GMT -6
Here's the other thing...
I think what the principal did is potentially illegal. The neighborhood association gave YOU a $1000 check for FOOTBALL, yet the donation was not used for football-related items. I'm pretty sure that it is illegal to accept a donation from someone and then use that money for something for which the donation was not intended.
What you MIGHT want to consider doing is letting the president of the neighborhood association know that the $1000 you were given for FOOTBALL was not used for football and, in fact, the football program saw very little of those funds.
My guess would be that a noisy and angry community group that donates money to the school every year would make more headway with the principal than you will.
Good luck...it is definitely a bad spot!
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Post by coachdawhip on Sept 20, 2008 15:52:41 GMT -6
stay coach and follow coachplaa's advice!
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