By Staff
Athletic Management, 18.6, October/November 2006, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1806/wufacultyonly.htm
This summer, administrators at California (Mo.) High School instituted a new requirement in their athletic department: All head coaches must be full-time faculty members. The intent of the move is to increase communication between coaches and players, their parents, and other teachers.
“The administrative team for the district met and decided faculty coaches are more accessible to both students and parents, and that’s important to us,” says Principal Scott Jarvis.
With the high number of non-faculty coaches a nationwide trend, how did California High achieve its mandate? The first step was to approach current faculty not already in its coaching ranks. “We got more faculty members to step up to the plate and say they would like to be a head coach,” says California Superintendent Mary Wood.
They also kept coaching needs in mind when filling staff positions for the upcoming year. They looked for teachers who might also be able to lead on the field and made it part of the interview process. “Two of our coaches last year were not certified teachers at the time, but have since finished their degrees and their certification, so we hired them as classroom teachers,” Wood says.
Coaches not on faculty were sent letters thanking them for their past service, explaining the situation, and telling them they would be the first choice if no faculty member could be found to coach. Currently, there are still two non-faculty coaches at the high school and one at the middle school, but Jarvis says he’s confident the school will soon follow through on its goal of having an all-faculty coaching staff.