Contrary to popular belief, the high school football coach at (inset your favorite school here) is not striking it rich. Quite the contrary.

Not only that, but unlike teachers in a district, they have no protection from the whims anyone in charge. There’s no “tenure” for a high school baseball coach.

On average, New Jersey State Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson) says high school football coaches make about $9,000 a year. If you broke that down by game for a team that plays ten games, that’s $900 a week for ten weeks.

That’s not bad if that was all they did. But they are involved year-round with their programs in some capacity or another. There’s pre-season, postseason, college recruiting season, weight room sessions in the off-season, and so on, and so on.

Wimberly knows this well. He was a highly successful football coach at Paterson Catholic – producing several future NFL players, including former New York Giant Victor Cruz – and later spent nine seasons at Hackensack before stepping down in 2021.

He has sponsored two measures in the New Jersey legislature aiming to help not only high school coaches, but anyone in education involved in an extracurricular activity.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel,” says Wimberly. He says the proposals are inline with what neighboring states like New York are doing.

The first measure would require that compensation for coaching – or other activities like band or school play – be considered as income toward that person’s retirement fund.

The second would allow for schools to offer head coaches three-year contracts and assistant coaches two-year contracts, giving existing coaches job security, as well as creating potential to attract – or retain – the best coaches.

Wimberly says the feedback he’s received has been mainly positive so far for both measures, which will be introduced again in May.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly about the proposals: