Basketball: What Would It Take for You to Relocate (Coaching)?

 

Would more money make us better coaches? Levitt and Dubner ask whether paying politicians more would get better educated, experienced, and effective politicians. Studies showed better pay attracted better public servants. 

How does money impact our coaching? Coaches invest time and money (books, clinics, software, DVDs, food, gas, etc.) to coach. There is a nominal fee available for coaching middle school in our city, which I don't accept. Like all of you, I invest funds to provide notebooks, laminated sheets (e.g. Pyramid of Success, Jay Bilas's "Toughness" Qualities), and other teaching materials. Pre-pandemic we also had an end of year gathering and awards. 

Let's backtrack to Angela Duckworth's Newtonian output equation:

ACHIEVEMENT = SKILL x TIME

Most coaching jobs (e.g. high school) are year-to-year. If you're paid "X" in a one-year deal, how much of a "bump" in compensation (pay, benefits, contract duration) would attract you to move to the rival school? 

SATISFACTION = ENVIRONMENT  x  MONEY  

What improves our "satisfaction" equation? Situation both boost and detract from a position. When a proposal to reduce our practice time by half arose, I pushed back saying that I couldn't teach enough or make us competitive. We still ended up losing a quarter of practice time because of school scheduling. It's hard to compete against programs with eight hours a week versus our three. 

Environment includes everything from the gym lighting to floor conditions to parental, community, and administration support. Personnel? I've coached in one community with great young people, so I have no comparison. 

Investopedia describes the marginal utility of income. 

Everyone's situation is different. A young family person may need the coaching stipend more than someone like me, a physician in career twilight. 

Additionally, some coaches take the hometown discount if they're established in a community. Here's a recent post seeking a JV boys coach. 

I have no idea whether this position is "in line" with others but the posted salary is prorated by hours worked (e.g. $32K x 12/40 hours x 13/52 weeks ~ $2400). If you love basketball, an additional couple of grand is a sweetener but not the caffeine. 

At $40K, the number rises to 40,000 x 12/40 x 13/52 ($3000). 

Many coaching salaries accompany teaching positions which are the primary income source. Income can piggyback atop teacher salaries and factor into retirement calculations which adds extra benefits. 

Of course, the salaries vary by sport and location. In football-crazy Texas, the coaching salary scale is on another level. 

At these rates, money isn't the driving force for coaching. The bottom line for changing positions likely reflects David Cottrell's quote in Monday Morning Leadership, "People don't quit jobs; people quit people." 

Lagniappe: As I've repeatedly posted, during the pandemic, Massachusetts HS basketball entries are SLOBs. Ergo, learn as much as possible about SLOB execution. I like the zipper into action similar to Elbow Get.