Any coaches in california see this article?

It's a sad thing to see. I get a lot of parents complaining about coaches because their kid isn't getting enough playing time or not getting the ball enough. It's just kind of how a lot of parents are I've noticed. They want the best for their kids and have that "it's all about my kid" mentality. Whether you're winning or losing is mostly irrelevant to them. I can see why coaches are getting forced out. It's sad.

Parents have never changed. In 1869 I'm sure some pissed off parent was complaining. It's the administrators that give in to them and turn their back on the coaches that's different.

I'm not saying that this doesn't happen but that's amazing. So, you hire a guy and he strings you along, doing an exemplary job as a coach and in the classroom, for three years but it was all part of a plan? And that happens a lot?

Why?

What I've seen a lot lately is admins that don't hire the teacher who wants to be an assistant coach because they are worried the guy  will be a coach first,  teacher second.   At the school I was at we would tell potential hires not to mention they want to coach.. 

I agree with NC with most everything.

My issue is that CA schools are starting to rely on off campus coaches. Whether it's having an off campus HC or a ton of off campus assistants.

The issue I speak of is being around the student/athletes during the day to keep them in check grade wise, etc.

Sure people put in a ton of hours and kill themselves in the name of being the greatest football coach/team ever...but what it comes down to is how do you field a team when the school doesn't seem to care if the coach is on campus or not?

If there is an issue the guy can't immediately address it like an on campus coach could.

And I will run into this situation next year. I will be the only on campus football coach (i'm not the HC) and the HC will be at a different school full time. Pisses me off that a school can't make it work for the HC to be on campus. If something like this was done in the right way and didn't take another person's job, etc. then it should be looked into.

NC brings up a lot of good points but football SHOULD BE IMPORTANT. Why? Because we get ZERO GATE RECEIPTS from our games. All of that money goes to funding other sports on our campus. If the HC can work on getting better at football and getting butts in the seats the other people shouldn't complain. We're making other sports happen on our campus.

But you still didn't answer the question about why PE and social studies teachers shouldn't get tenure. Incidentally, do you have tenure?

Here is my history of coaching in CA.

2005-2006 - HC is English teacher on campus. Knows everyone, been in place for 10+ years, got the job at 27. Knows the system and works it to the utmost. 1 other coach on campus, 6 other coaches (me) are off-campus. School of 2,100 and got maybe 35 kids per (3) levels per year. Badminton was getting 80+.

2007-2008 - HC leaves to be HC at new school close to his home, new HC hired. I applied but did not get the job. Hire the Frosh HC who is off-campus. Now there are 2 guys on-campus, 1 is school security.

2009 - HC leaves, I get hired as the HC. Find out in the 1st meeting with the AD after the hire that the previous HC left me with a $9k debt, apparently the AD was asleep at the switch. Possible fraud was mentioned but I reviewed all of the $$ transactions and it was the AD. I'm off-campus. I have 2 coaches on-campus, other 7 are off-campus. I get hired in April, let go 2 weeks after the season in early November. They wanted an on-campus coach, who turned out to be my running back coach. Won 4 games which was 2 more than the previous coach won in each of his season. So I know full well how much school administrations want the HC to be on-campus.

2010-2011 - At new school back with the original HC, got the band back together. New school has 10 on staff, 6 are on-campus. I've got a 75 mile round trip everyday to get to work, practice, back home.

2012 - On to another school, can't handle the commute every day. 0 coaches on-campus. 0. Things run really well because the wife of the HC is one of the admins, that's how he got the previous coach fired after going 7-4, 8-3, and 7-4. They couldn't get past the 1st round of the playoffs, he got wifey to work her magic, he gets hired. But nobody on-campus.

2013-2014 - Family changes mean a move to a new school. Smaller school, 680 or so, and still 30-35 on each level, same as the 2000+ schools. 8 coaches, 4 are on-campus. HC did not want the job but the school pressured him into taking it. He liked being a position coach. At end of year 2 his GF says he loves football more than him. Guess what, he quits.

2015-Now - I apply and get the HC position. I've got 1 coach on-campus, 9 others on staff. I'm the first off-campus football HC in school history. For 2017 I've got 1 more coach on-campus now, he got a position as a special ed assistant. My situation is unique because I work from home doing software support. So they really wanted an on-campus, I needed a place to work, they gave me the coaches office and my own internet line. So I'm an off-campus coach that is physically on-campus. This works really well for both of us, but it's a very special situation.

There are 3 other football HC's on the school grounds, guys who did it in the past and have no intention of helping in any manner. One is the last coach to be successful at the school which makes things interesting. He has very little interest in helping the players or team because it might overshadow what he did.

What I've learned:
Schools really, really want the HC and as much of the staff to be on-campus. They want the HC to be part of the system so he is under control/influence. Systems do not like outlying data points, they want things to be part of the system, they want the parts of the system to be obligated to the system. HC's that are not part of the system owe no allegiance to the system, all they have is the stipend in exchange for the privilege of coaching.

In CA teachers are no longer asked/expected to do anything but teach. Coaching is a burden now, why deal with the parents and all that goes with being a HC for an additional $3.9k. Football HC is a full year job, it doesn't end like the other sports do. Why do that when it's not part of their job description.

Keeping older/senior/experienced employees around is good for productivity, but it really limits bringing in new employees. There are no teaching positions here, I think there are 35 teachers here, and there are maybe 2 openings each year. With coaching not being a part of the job description, and only 2 openings, how do you get a coach into the school? You can't. I can think of 3 HC's and 4 former assistants here but none of them want any part of helping out. So you have to go outside.

I know that all it would take is the AD to walk into my office and say 'we're going in a different direction' and I'm out. But the problem they have is they don't have anyone else on campus that would be willing to work it. The AD didn't want the job, he's counting the days until he retires in 18 months 27 days and 15 hours... My DC is the same way, he's my DC until he retires with the AD. Nobody want's these jobs.

I've been told a number of times that football is the biggest sport on campus. It usually is in terms of people involved and a financial position. My experience is along the lines of 60-80 players, 10 coaches, cheer team, chain gang, boosters, game attendance, practices, vendors, fundraisers, there's a lot to it and the teachers don't want it anymore. I've talked with the admins and teachers here and they say that 10 years ago 90% of all staff and 100% of all HC's were on-campus. Now, very few are on-campus. That has a big affect on everything.

Academics - I can't get into the school admin system to check grades, I'm not part of the staff. So I have to rely on doing regular academic progress reports. Only issue there is that the teachers don't enter their grades in a timely fashion so they don't know the kids grades. So I get teachers signing the form but telling me the grade is UNK. I've also got the AD telling me that he doesn't believe in the progress reports, before he was the AD he was one of several teachers that refused to sign the form.

Discipline - I ask the teachers to ensure the football players are in the front rows. You would have thought I had asked them for their left thumb. But there is no end to the teachers asking me to make Johnny run for being a jerk in the class. I can sure be the discipline guy, but no academic help which I attribute to not knowing the secret teacher hand-shake.

I'm not sure where this leads but its a hard situation all the way around. Schools don't like off-campus coaches but got no choice because the teachers don't/can't/won't do it. Off-campus coaches don't really like it because we're never going to know the secret handshake and we're always outsiders.

I didn't say they shouldn't get tenure. I said they should be evaluated on things beyond how well their lessons work. There's no standardized social science test in California. Why are administrators assessing me the same way they assess math and English teachers? Judge me based on how much I'm involved with school social culture and how well I immerse students with that. Isn't that what social[/] studies is?

I never considered myself a Social Studies teacher. I was a History teacher. Immersing students in school culture? Never evan thought about it. 

Do you have tenure, though? 

 Bob, I don't think you understood much of the article.  Allow me to simplify by providing some background points : 

1)  In the VAST VAST (so vast that I felt it appropriate to type vast twice, in all caps) majority of schools, coaching compensation is a small stipend. Sometimes it is a flat rate, others it is a percentage of their teaching salary.  Regardless, the compensation for coaching high school football would not be considered a living wage for most.  

2)Some locations require coaches to be teacher/district employees.  Some do not.  Some have this requirement for HCs, but allow for some number of non teacher coaches to be assistants on staff. Some have this requirement for some sports, but not others.

3) The author of the article was most likely just pointing out that in that particular school, there was a HC vacancy and 3 current teachers at the school who were previously the HC at said school. 

The main point of the article was simply to point out that the author believes that currently in California there is a trend of quality high school football coaches who no longer want to be HCs but aren't yet ready to retire from teaching.  

I don't know if the school mentioned in the article requires HCs to be teachers.  The main idea of the article is much simpler than you are making it out to be.  

Teachers who used to also participate in the extracurricular activity of coaching , are growing less interested in performing those extracurricular duties. 

Its not just football, other sports are a real problem in my area. A school hires someone to be the head cheerleader / softball coach etc. She does it for a few years then quits, but keeps her teaching job. She is well within her rights but it makes it difficult on the admin. They have to find another HC, but dont have the teaching slot.

It really hurts the small schools that have very few if any teaching openings in a year.