Macon approves additional coaching supplements
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The Macon County Board of Education has approved additional coaching supplements for head and assistant coaches in the district, to the tune of about $6,000 annually.
A request for an assistant JV volleyball coach last year prompted a review of coaching supplements in the school system and found that, along with the JV volleyball team that had requested an assistant coach, several other athletic teams did not have allotted funding for more than one coach, even though several of those teams have assistant coaches who volunteer their time.
Athletic Director Todd Gibbs found that girls’ wrestling, along with both the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams did not have assistant coaches.
“We had a push a couple years ago to make sure every team had an assistant coach,” Gibbs said during the December board meeting. “So, we’re asking that you guys consider listing assistant coaches and supplements for each of those positions.”
The review also found that the school system had no supplement for a swim coach at Highlands school, even though the school does have a swim team. The supplement for the head swim coach at Franklin High School is $2,261 and $744 for the assistant swim coach.
“We suggest that the board do the same for Highlands School swimming, head coach and assistant coach,” said Gibbs.
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In total, the additional coaches will cost the school system $6,176 annually. That will pay for three additional assistant coaches at $698 each per season. The assistant coach for girls wrestling is recommended to earn a supplement of $1,077. The high school swimming head coach and assistant coach for Highlands School are recommended at the same level of those at Franklin High School — $2,261 and $744 respectively.
“They’re a pretty active swim team run by volunteers,” said Board Member Hilary Wilkes of the Highlands swim team. “I do know our swim coach does work very hard and does middle school and high school… it’s a lot of work.”
Last year, the board voted to give athletic coaches a 10% raise across the board for coaching supplements. The move to include all athletic coaches and assistant coaches in the supplement pool will ensure parity across schools and sports.
Despite additional positions and supplements for assistant coaches, there will still be an opportunity for volunteer coaches who can’t make it to every practice but work with student athletes and support the teams during games. Those positions will still be unpaid.
