By Joe Joe Wright

joejoe.wright@cordeledispatch.com

I am absolutely beside myself as the season approaches. I mean how can anyone not love college football. I even caught myself watching a lot of the NFL last year as well. Of course I get paid to watch high school football so how cool is that huh?

Now I will be 500 years old before I believe any college coach is worth 7 million dollars a year. If Nick Saban wins 5 more straight titles I would be hard pressed to buy into that kind of salary. For that matter pro coaches making that much is shocking as well. But as I see it the biggest miscarriage of justice in the coaching ranks takes place in the high school arena. They don’t make enough for all the work they have to put in. I mean really it isn’t even close. Let’s take a look at this. If you are coaching football and say track in the spring let’s count the hours. Ok starting in the summer time you will have about 12 to 14 hours a week just doing summer workouts for 7 weeks. That is 84 hours plus starting in late July lets jump that to 20 hours a week for two weeks that’s 40 hours. Now school starts and you get to work at 7:30am and you leave at 8:30 pm for 4 days a week for 13 weeks, longer if you make playoffs. So let’s take the 8 hours off per day for being at school teaching that leaves us 5 hours per day or 20 hours a week. Ooops! Friday night alone and everything involved is another 8 hours so now 28 hours for 13 weeks minimum. Ok so 28 hours times 13 weeks equals 364 hours. Oh No! We got weekend work as well watching and grading film analyzing opponents. Add 5 more hours for 13 weeks and you get another 65 hours. Ok let’s tally up so far. 84 hours plus 40 hours plus 364 hours plus 65 hours equals 553 hours. An average American works 40 hours a week for 52 weeks is 2080 hours a year. A football coach if that is all he did works one quarter of that at a minimum. Usually most all coaches’ coach more than one sport, why? Folks they can’t afford not too.

So why am I writing about High School coaches wages in Georgia because I think they need a raise. Not just in Crisp County but all over the state. There are a few Head Coaches at some big time high school football programs that are as my son likes to say making “bank” Jess Simpson at Buford, Coach Propst at Colquitt County and many others. Here is why I think this way people.  Other than a kids parent(s) no one has more influence over your child’s development than his or her ball coach. Whether it is football, baseball, basketball, soccer, softball or cheerleading and so on. Yes I know many teachers are hugely influential as well as preachers but coaches are also teachers and some are also preachers but no one in my humble opinion projects more influence over your kid. Just seems to me that someone you intrust with that much authority in your life ought to be properly compensated. We are after all talking about your children. As a society we put more stock in college and pro coaches than we do the ones who really exude influence at a kids most impressionable time. As usual society always gets things backwards. Oh I never did count up the hours for the other sports. Oh well that will have to be another day. I welcome your comments.