Episode #14 - Coaching In The Public vs Private Sector

In this episode, we have a special roundtable discussion with fellow coaches to discuss the various aspects of S&C coaching in the public and private sectors.  In this great podcast we have the following coaches

• Steve Brown - UW-Oshkosh
  • Twitter - @CoachBrown19
• Zach Cahill - Northern Illinois University
  • Twitter - @CoachZCahill
• Matt Gifford - NXLevel Performance
  • Twitter - @GiffUsStrength
• Korey Van Wyk - Northwestern College
  • Twitter - @KoreyVanWyk

Topics Covered

• Caliber of Athlete
• Freedom Allowed - Freedom of programming, freedom from sport coaches, freedom of the facility, freedom of equipment, freedom of space, freedom of time/hours
• Job Stability/Security
• Typical Schedule/Hours
• Salary/'Compensation

Favorite Quotes

• "Much of my day is running around like a chicken with my head cut off, working with athletes of every make and model"
• "As a strength coach, I'm support staff, but I've found that the better my relationship with the sport coach - the more freedom and trust they give me in the weight room"
• "Much of my job was educating the parents - they often just wanted to see Jimmy and Johnny sweating, but if we're doing pure speed work, the athletes might not be sweating"
• "I have many friends, who I know are good, quality coaches who are out of jobs because their team didn't have the wins.  The higher the level, the less job security"
• "Being a good Strength coach isn't enough anymore - you have to branch out and find 1-2 other areas of speciality like speed & agility, technology, nutrition, rehab, etc"
• "Definitely a benefit of most public sector positions is the benefits like health insurance, retirement, life insurance, etc.  When I worked in the private sector, my salary was basically the same as it is now, but the benefits I now receive make my current job more worth while"
• "A hidden part of being at my University longer and longer is I always seem to be roped into more and more committees - whether it be a hiring committee or leadership committee or coaching committee - these add to additional meetings/hidden hours"
• "When I was in college, I didn't know until my senior year, that our Strength coach did summer training for free.  His contract didn't include the summer and wasn't paid to be there - I'm now in that situation with maybe a small stipend"
• "Do an internship in the college setting, do an internship in the private setting - every situation is different and you won't know what you'll like unless you spend valuable time in each setting"
• "You better love it, you better have a why to what you're doing"
• "We do such a good job in our own weight rooms of building people up, but we could do a better job building up people in our S&C community"
• "How many athletes are totally healthy?  In my experience, not very many, so spending time to figure how to work with injured people because it's a huge part of the job"