Questions getting into Coaching

Something I knew?  Don't go into education as a career- especially core classroom education! 

More on the coaching aspects- a few things to know- coaching, especially at the HS level is about making sure the locker room is clean and supervised, arranging for pregame meals, perhaps postgame meals if its a long road trip, painting fields, fixing equipment, maintaining inventory etc. Not just fancy playcalling or designing a playbook. 

Oh, it has nothing to do with coaching, and everything to do with what I see is the path of the profession. 
And CERTAINLY do not go into education just so that you can coach.  

I see! I can definitely see where you are coming from. I would definitely not force myself to teach just to coach because I understand the demand teaching requires and I've had conversations with teachers that confirm my thoughts. Luckily, teaching is something I am definitely passionate about both in the classroom and on the football field! Thank you for your thoughts though I appreciate your input about the background activities coaches must handle. 

It's awesome that you are passionate about teaching, but I have a hot take on that.

If you go somewhere that you have to be a certified teacher - It's okay to "teach just so you can coach" even if you don't really love teaching - provided you are still doing right by the kids and the curriculum in the classroom. Millions of people have jobs they don't love and they still do them. I tolerate teaching so I can coach. I still do my best in the classroom - but I would be lying if I said I love it. I am only bringing this up to let you know, basically, that it's normal to get sick of the teaching aspect and the crap we have to deal with in there. For me, it's worth dealing with to coach.

As for your questions:

1) I got into teaching because I was a sub-par football player that kind of made my own role on the team by hitching myself to the coaches. By proxy, I fell in love with the game and the idea of being a coach. Those guys helped me grow as a person tremendously, so that's what I at least try to do for our kids now. I started out as a journalism major because I loved sports and wanted to be in that side of it, but that changed quickly.

2) Managing your own time - spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend, family, exercise, diet, leisure, seeing friends, etc. - is the most overlooked aspect of this thing. That isn't a football answer or what you're looking for, but it's true for me. You have to find a way to have a healthy balance of all that stuff. My first few years coaching, it was either work, time with my girlfriend (now wife), and lifting. I ran myself to the ground. You have to have some balance!

3) I wish I would have known how important knowing both sides of the ball is...well, all 3 sides. I gave it lip service, and yeah we all slant a certain direction, but I wish I would have learned more defensive stuff when I was younger and just gaining interest.

Don’t let these guys scare you. Teaching is only bad if you don’t know how to pick your battles.

IMO the use of Google classroom has made it easier. Not only does it make it easy to keep up with finished assignments but all their make up work is right there if they miss.

Also it’s a paper trail for what you’re doing in class and if someone *cough* parents *cough* wants to complain about grades you can bring it up and show them the missing assignments/low quality work that OL’sport has been doing.

I actually enjoy the parent meetings when they come in like I’m some a$$hole and I pull no punches. The admin get a kick out of it also because I have proof all over the place and they can back that up.

I have to disagree vehemently with this, one of the main reasons being that the "payoff" for teaching (at least in the public sector) is likely 25-30 years down the road for new entrants. Good benefits and solid pension.  Yet, those things are being stripped away as the profession continues its course from trusted civic service provider to a client service based model where the customer is "always right".  

It isn't a very "portable" job, meaning in a normal job market (not the great resignation) you are likely limited to a few options.  People love to say that you can get a teaching job anywhere, BUT it is not shared that GOOD teaching jobs are becoming more rare. 

I can not endorse anyone who is  young to make the mistake of throwing away the formative years of your career "just to coach" There are other ways to get a coaching fix.  

These are all fair points.  The thing that makes the teaching/coaching field so interesting is how much everything varies from state to state.  Where I live - I can't speak for the original poster - things are not as bad as some other places in the country (yet).  I can still make a decent living teaching and coaching, especially when in a two-income household.  But, here, that coaching fix would be pee-wee or club sports, of which I am not interested in.

Lets be honest here though, the lowest ranking coaches in the SEC are at least being compensated 3 to 4 times what the vast majority of public school teacher/coaches are.   LSUs lowest paid asst coach (actual asst, not just someone associated with the football program) will make $500,000 next year.  

A quick back of the napkin calculation --lets say that some of those coaches only "net" say $180,000 or so-  if they get 3 years out of that, it is the same as working around 10 years at a gross rate of $54,000.  

Sure, there isn't a lot of job security, but if you are grossing 6-7 times what a classroom teacher makes, and live well below your means, there is definitely some financial security benefits.   

Now for the others, I 100% agree, AND that is the risk of going the college route.  For every Nick Saban making over 8 figures, there are 20 guys scouring football scoop daily in hopes of getting that $25,000 full time gig with dorm room duties somewhere in Oklahoma... 

just scroll through about 50 pages of the career section and you'll probably find a couple hundred threads about getting into coaching

If you are not able to get a coaching spot, try officiating. You will learn the rules of the game (in more detail than most coaches understand.) You will meet coaches in your area to network for coaching positions.
Officials talk and watch a lot of football.

1. For most of my life I wanted to teach and coach. In college I remembered that Dad was a teacher and coach and we never had any money or nice things that other kids had, so I decided to veer off into the business world. I made great money but hated it. I lived with that until I talked to my fiancé one night and she got tired of my complaining and said “So why don’t you do something about it?”. So I got my teaching degree and started teaching. First job coaching was 8th grade WRs and DBs. I played OL my whole career so we were really good at perimeter blocking and press coverage while I drank thru a firehouse to learn what the heck happens out there in space.

2. Working efficiently- not everything is important.

3. Learn from people at your level. I am a public high school assistant coach, so I learn the most from public high school coaches. Take things from private, college, NFL coaches with a grain of salt. And remember, not everything you see or hear is applicable or a good idea.

Definitely doable.

I did mine in History as mentioned above, and also in California. It's doable forsure, and once you get rollin it will be alright, i suppose i was emphasizing that coaching while doing student teaching in History would be awful with all the stupid tests you have to do in student teaching now.

Coach5085 and I haven't see eye to eye much on here. Which is totally fine and healthy...

But his takes on this thread...ARE EXACT!

I have been a public school lifer. And years ago I would want my children to maybe follow in my footsteps.

Now...I am mad at them if they even consider it.

For those who want to start the teaching/coaching process...good luck. I mean that sincerely. But the old tooth folk have seen the changes over the years and this {censored} is scary. I'd love to be the agent of change, but there aren't many like me.

I got BACK into coaching this year after 5 years off. Wow. The changes in the last 5 years are dramatic. And not for the better. I could find some positives. I really think kids (especially young men/boys) still need strong male role models. But don't tell schools that. Needless to say...I coach like I did several years ago. I get a lot out of kids because I'm demanding. I think newbies need to come into the game with an old school mindset. This soft generation crap is killing schools and football in general. My old school $.02.

Wasn't directed at me, but I will bite:

1) In many states, the long term benefits of public teaching (and likely employment in general) are being eroded.  Pensions are being slashed/eliminated. Insurance costs increasing etc.  
2) Accountability continually shifting from student to teacher.  Many have compensation if not job security based on a VAM model (Value Added Model) that is heavily dependent on test scores. Very few other professions essentially mandate that the professional is responsible for making sure others "care" without having any remedies if they don't. 
3)As the wealth inequality gap increases in our country, one natural result is even greater socioeconomic stratification of schools. More demographic changes and more "have or have not" situations meaning more concentrated poverty and all of the issues that come with that. 
4) The change in staffing.  I saw data showing that nationwide, school populations have increased about 15% the last 2 decades, classroom teacher staffing has increased about 13% (didn't even keep up), but central office/non classroom teacher staffing has increased over 100%! Instructional coaches, literacy specialists, interventionists,  "behavior coaches", curriculum specialists, supervisors, directors etc!  

Also, just curious what  compensation for similar professionals is in your area is compared to the figures you gave.  Making 80K 9 years into the job might be considered pretty low in California in several professions.