In a 2005 news report for WTAE Channel 4 in Pittsburgh, Paul Van Osdol noted that, although becoming a high school coach won't pay off and make you rich like it will at the college or professional level, high school coaches are no less important in the eyes of students and parents. In Pennsylvania high schools, as in others elsewhere around the country, the time spent in these important leadership positions is in addition to time spent as teachers, and the pay for some can be only a fraction of their teacher salaries.
Determination of Pay
High school coaches in Pennsylvania are not typically paid to be full-time coaches. In most cases, high school coaches in Pennsylvania work as teachers for their primary source of income. Pay earned from coaching is usually paid as a stipend that the coach receives over and above his teaching salary. It is not uncommon for some coaches to coach multiple sports to receive additional stipends and increase their salaries substantially over the course of the school year.
Teacher Pay
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Pennsylvania was the fifth largest state in terms of the number of teachers employed in 2010. Teachers in Pennsylvania earned an average salary of $56,740 per year in 2010, according to the bureau. The city of Philadelphia is also noted by the BLS as the city with the seventh-largest number of teachers. These teachers made an average salary of $60,840 in 2010. This pay was substantially higher than the average salary for those who worked as full-time coaches in Pennsylvania. The bureau notes that these coaches made an average salary of $32,310.
Stipends
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the average pay for high school football coaches in Pennsylvania, beyond any teaching salary earned, was $7,728 as of August, 2008. This was based on salary information reported by 135 public schools in western Pennsylvania. Stipends ranged from as low as $2,931 per year to as high as $23,128 per year, according to the Tribune-Review's report. The report indicated that teachers take on multiple coaching assignments to supplement their teaching income.
Job Outlook
The job outlook for both teachers and coaches appears positive, based on the projections made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period from 2008 to 2018. The bureau indicates that the number of teaching jobs should grow by about 13 percent during this time frame. Coaches, on the other hand, should enjoy even greater job growth at a rate of about 23 percent, according to the bureau.
