There aren’t a lot of countries that have a sports culture like America does, but in Japan, where at least the system is similar, it seems like a lot of schools actually don’t hire outside coaches. They’d usually assign a teacher (who may or may not be experienced) to double as a coach.
Is it similar in the US, or otherwise?
Answers would be much appreciated.
6 comments
Really depends on the school. There’s such a variance in operating budgets throughout the nation that some can afford to hire dedicated coaches while others just assign a regular ol’ teacher, who may or may not have any experience in said sport, to do it
From what I’ve seen, usually a teacher is a coach, however the order of this priority can change. A teacher might be assigned to coach a team because it needs a coach and it doesn’t really matter who. I’ve also seen coaches hired for coaching then assigned courses to teach so that they’re both teaching and coaching. I’ve seen some job listings where it’s grouped from the start too, like “will teach social studies and coach baseball,” where they’re looking for some equally willing to coach and teach.
I would say most schools just use staff. Though there are exceptions.
I personally was on a swim team with a pretty prestigious coach in our state who became a good coach because he was by default given the position in the 70’s when he was a gym teacher and did it for decades. He held the coaching position even after retirement and I was coached by him in the late 00’s / early 2010’s. It was a funny situation where it actually became his second career by accident.
It’s mostly similar in the US. Plenty of teachers get drafted as coaches for the “minor” sports, even if they don’t have any experience in the sport.
Bringing in outside coaches sometimes happens, but that’s usually in rare circumstances and the coaches are doing it out of love, so they don’t demand much pay.
For example at my high school lacrosse was introduced statewide as a varsity sport that all schools had to offer. Problem was, none of the teachers knew jack crap about lacrosse, so they found a parent who had played in college.
Coaches especially the assistants are certified teachers. The bigger the school, the more likely the head coach has less and less classroom responsibility. At the average school they may teach PE, Driver’s Ed, or History. At smaller schools they are teachers first. At big high schools they basically only have classroom responsibilities to the bare minimum.
Football and Basketball are the big popularity outliers also. Outside of them the more likely the coach is a teacher drafted into the position. Sometimes with minor sports the Teacher is just the board employee in charge and the actual coaching is done by a volunteer coach.
At my high school, some coaches were teachers and others were hired specifically as coaches with no other role at the school. It’s usually not their only source of income, however.