By Staff
Coaching Management, 13.10, December 2005, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm1310/bbpennstrike.htm
When Shippensburg University opened its 2005 season with a narrow 10-3 win on Aug. 27, it was the second close call worth celebrating that week for Head Coach Rocky Rees. Just days before the game, Rees—who is also chief negotiator for the union that represents coaches in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)—learned that a new contract agreement had been reached between the union and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The deal ended the possibility of a coaches’ strike that threatened to shut down sports in the NCAA Division II conference.
About 360 PSAC coaches—those not under separate faculty contracts at their schools —are represented by the country’s only coaches’ union, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF). Working without a contract since their previous one expired in 2004 and facing unresolved issues including pay raises, health insurance, and performance evaluations, the coaches in June 2005 authorized APSCUF to call a work stoppage. The official strike date was never made public, and coaches reported to preseason practices as scheduled. But newspaper reports speculated that if a deal were not in place by late August, teams at the 14 PSAC schools would have likely found themselves, at least temporarily, without coaches.
A tentative agreement was announced on Aug. 23, and Rees says players and coaches alike were relieved to learn their seasons would not be interrupted. “I was disappointed from the beginning that the student-athletes had to be put through the anxiety of a potential strike,” he says. “And as coaches, we were burdened with the thought of having to tell our players that our families had to come first.”
While that burden never materialized, many PSAC coaches were encouraged to find that their athletes not only understood their situation, but also supported them. “I told them if we did go on strike, it would be because it’s the only resource we have left,” Rees explains. “My players said that while they hoped it didn’t happen, they understood that these things are a part of life.”
Of the issues that needed to be hammered out, pay increases topped the list. Under the new contract, coaches receive a three-percent salary increase for the 2005-06 school year and again for 2006-07, with the potential for an additional performance-based raise of up to two and a half percent per year. Full- and part-time coaches with at least 10 consecutive years of experience also received a one-time cash payment of $50 for each year they have coached.
The coaches did not secure the direct link between performance evaluations and contract renewals they originally requested to protect job security. But as part of the new agreement, university presidents have to provide written justification whenever an individual coach’s contract is not renewed. The coaches also agreed to contribute 0.5 percent of their salary to offset the cost of health insurance in 2006, and one percent in 2007.
While the threat of a strike made many uneasy, Rees says the coaches of the PSAC support the concept of unionization, and realize that it gives them critical leverage in collective bargaining. Before joining APSCUF, which also represents 5,500 faculty members at Pennsylvania state schools, virtually all aspects of a coach’s job were controlled by his or her university president.
“Each president handled things his or her own way, but there was nothing to protect our rights,” Rees says. “We had no sick days, so if we were to have a catastrophic illness, we were at the mercy of the president to keep us on during that time. We had no guarantee of job security, either. We were basically on year-to-year contracts even after we had been at the same place for 15 or 20 years.”
Many coaches’ salaries were also very low. The first contract they secured through the union, which took effect in 2002, set salary ranges for full-time head coaches ($30,000-$85,000) and assistant coaches ($25,000-$50,000), as well as minimum salaries for part-time coaches. Before they unionized, Rees knew of some coaches who were eligible for public assistance programs while working full-time for their university.