Coaching contracts are skyrocketing and it's not only happening in college football and the NFL. High school coaching contracts are increasing at a substantial rate as well, particularly in the football hotbeds in the South.
Take the Alabama football arms race as an example. According to AL.com, nine coaches in the state of Alabama earn over $100,000 a year, and the four highest paying contracts were all signed in the last 10 months. The highest paid of those coaches is Hoover's Josh Niblett, who just got a raise that pushed his annual salary to $125,000.
Niblett has won four state titles at Hoover, which is one of the most storied high school football programs in the country. Even Niblett sees the soaring salaries in high school coaching and thinks it may be getting out of hand.
"It has kind of been getting outrageous," Niblett said. "It started off with the money college coaches were making, but I think if you go to other states like Texas or Georgia you will find [high school] guys making a lot more than $125,000. The numbers those guys are making — and not teaching — are unbelievable."
The average high school coaching salary across the country is approximately $47,000, per Indeed.com — which is based off of the salaries listed for all posted jobs as a Head Varsity Football Coach.
The upper echelon of coaches at the biggest programs, however, command far more money than that, and the trend of coaches that don't teach is growing. High school football programs are money-makers for the schools, so the specialization of coaches that keep 100% of their focus on football is increasing.
