A Strength Coach’s Guide to Winning Over the Athletic Director

Let's start from the beginning: Every athletic director is in charge of evaluating the economics behind their athletic program. This will include the salaries they decide to pay positions in the athletics department. While athletic coaches are necessary for competing, other positions sometimes must prove their return-on-investment. Understanding the economics behind your position will help you see “eye-to-eye” with your AD.

Convincing cash-strapped school districts that a strength and conditioning salary makes sense is no slam dunk. "Expense is an issue," says Mike Nitka, Director of Strength and Conditioning and

a Physical Education Instructor at Muskego (Wis.) High School, who puts an S&C coach's salary at the level of a starting teacher — $30,000 to $35,000. "Districts do not seem to value this position, and many try to combine two positions."

Strength coach Liane Blyn widens the salary range from $20,000 to $55,000, with stipend positions falling somewhere between $900 and $7,000. In an era of scholarship-seeking parents willing to pay for private personal training, a high school athletic department can actually recoup some of its investment in a strength and conditioning coach. "The goal for the offseason fall, winter and spring workouts wasn't necessarily to make money for the department; it was to offer a great service

to our student-athletes. The small charge covered the stipend for the strength coach," says Blyn

of their school’s approach, adding, "Our summer program cost was $150 and brought in a good chunk of money to the department — more than $100,000 — and after paying the staff there was a net of approximately $60,000."