High School Track Coaches Salary's in TX?

[triple50]

Anyone have any insight as to how much high school track coaches make in Texas? Particularly in the Houston area? I know there is usually a broad variance depending on the school district but I'm curious as I might be relocating due to work to the Houston area from Washington. I know football coaches get paid quite a bit more out there and I was wondering if maybe track did too. Not that I would think it would be anything comparable to football.

[Cooter Brown]

I'm not a coach or teacher but from what I understand, you will be required to teach also since it's against UIL rules for non-school district employees to coach. Generally, only the head football coach gets out of teaching.

A friend that was an assistant in Austin got like $300/mo extra on top of his standard teacher salary to be an assistant track coach. No idea if being a head coach is a different pay scale. Most coaches will be required to coach a a fall sport....usually assisting with football.

Teacher salaries vary drastically from district to district...low 20's to mid 40's per year with only ladder step increases each year of like 1%. Medical insurance rates are very high for teachers from what I read in the local paper. Unlike a lot of other states, very little value is placed on advanced degrees with a Master or Doctorate only netting you an extra $1K/year or so.

[donley2]

Here is a link to minimum teacher scales. You could probably find some details for Houston if you looked around on the net.

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5860

[triple50]

Cool. Good info especially as I will be going down there to teach. Thats crazy that they don't reward masters degrees that much. In the Seattle School District you get somewhere in the area of a $10,000 raise for achieving a masters. As an assistant coach in the Seattle Schools I made right around $1000 for last years track season so as you can see its definitely not about the money.

[guru]

Houston info(track salaries page 60)

http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectEn ... MANUAL.pdf

[Marlow]

Cool. Good info especially as I will be going down there to teach. Thats crazy that they don't reward masters degrees that much. In the Seattle School District you get somewhere in the area of a $10,000 raise for achieving a masters. As an assistant coach in the Seattle Schools I made right around $1000 for last years track season so as you can see its definitely not about the money.

I'd been coaching track here for 10 years before it dawned on me that I could ask for money. Some coaches had it written into their school contract as just part of the whole, but my contract didn't say anything about HAVING to coach; I thought it was a privilege. Which it is. And I would do it for free anyway, but now I get paid to do it. Is this a great country or what?!
:-)

edit - I saw the Houston scale:

Track & Field - Head Coach $1,400 - $3,600

I fit somewhere in the middle, so I got that going for me!

[gm]

In Fort Bend ISD and Houston ISD, the two largest districts in the area, you will be pretty well paid. HISD starts at 45K for no experience/bachelors, and Ft. Bend starts at 44,500 for the same.

Track stipends can range from $1500 on up.

A masters gets you another 1000+ or so.

[gh]

I'm not a coach or teacher but from what I understand, you will be required to teach also since it's against UIL rules for non-school district employees to coach. Generally, only the head football coach gets out of teaching. ....

Interesting two-edged sword. You'd think that educators at a scholastic institution should be qualified teachers, but on the other than, sad to see qualified people in the coaching realm go begging. My real HS coach was a janitor at the local elementary school, but he knew so much that the nominal coach just sat back and let him do it on a shadow basis.

When I started my frosh year at Washington State, it was a rule (don't know if it was just the school, or whole conference) that head coaches had to have masters degrees, and that included football.

[polevaultpower]

I am not a teacher, but I am a female pole vault coach, so I don't ever anticipate moving to an area where I would have trouble finding a school to at least volunteer coach at. I think for pole vault, it's a lot more common to find prep coaches who are not teachers, just because it's so tough to find a knowledgeable coach, most schools will take what they can get. I know a LOT of pole vault coaches nationwide, and it seems like PV coaches who are also teachers are in the minority.

I do think it benefits a track program (any HS sports program) greatly to have the bulk of the staff be teachers. I did gymnastics for my local public HS, and our participation probably quadrupled when the head coach started teaching.

I can't imagine spending all day in the classroom, then spending a few more hours at the track. I love kids, but I find spending lengthy amounts of time with them to be draining. I think I'll stick with website stuff :wink:

[Cooter Brown]

it's a lot more common to find prep coaches who are not teachers, just because it's so tough to find a knowledgeable coach, most schools will take what they can get.

That's true but, as you know, it's still against the rules in TX. The schools, kids, and their parents generally appreciate outside PV coaches that help but I've seen parents and coaches try to get rival kids disqualified, etc. It's so bad at times that a lot of PV coaches have to camouflage their coaching at the District, Regional, and State meets.

[polevaultpower]

it's a lot more common to find prep coaches who are not teachers, just because it's so tough to find a knowledgeable coach, most schools will take what they can get.

That's true but, as you know, it's still against the rules in TX. The schools, kids, and their parents generally appreciate outside PV coaches that help but I've seen parents and coaches try to get rival kids disqualified, etc. It's so bad at times that a lot of PV coaches have to camouflage their coaching at the District, Regional, and State meets.

Well I don't plan on moving to Texas :P

On the plus side, the climate in Texas (both weather and coaching rules) seems to have spurred a lot of clubs, which offsets bad HS coaching somewhat by offering year-round good coaching.

[triple50]

It would seem that by only allowing teachers to coach you would get some pretty inexperienced coaches out there. Do a lot of states do this? Washington doesn't

[gm]

You also maintain a lot more institutional control by mandating that only teachers can coach.

[lonewolf]

It would seem that by only allowing teachers to coach you would get some pretty inexperienced coaches out there. Do a lot of states do this? Washington doesn't

I agree. I don't know what states have what requirements for teacher/coach but I have observed bad/incompetent coaching (both HS and college) in 38 states.

[GeorgiaFan1]

I'm surprised at the devaluation of a master's degree over the years. When I finished college, back in the 60s, it paid about 30% more than a bachelor's. Most teachers spent all summers working on their master's until they had it.