Want better high school coaches? Here's why you may not be getting them

Good coaches in public high schools are fewer and farther between than they should be. As is the case in the Los Angeles Unified School District, coaches are woefully underpaid:

•The average coaching stipend is $2,175.58, and it hasn't changed since 1999.

At 18 hours per week for 14 weeks, that translates to $8.63 an hour — making coaching pay in LAUSD less than the current minimum wage of $9 an hour, according to Cornelius. That doesn't include extra hours for playoff competition, watching film or scouting.

•The stipend is the same whether the coach is a teacher or a walk-on. Only 42% of LAUSD coaches are certificated teachers, the rest are walk-ons.

For countless assistant coaches - of which I was one for several years - the stipend is much less. The season is also significantly longer than 14 weeks, due to the year-round model everyone seems to be on now:

Coaches are already taking on increased workloads, from fundraising to instructing year-round, because that's what it takes to be competitive these days. However, there's only so much dedication a coach can have before he or she is forced to say, "Enough."

That was one of the reasons I hung up the coaching shoes, is I was making maybe $2.50 an hour when all was said and done. Athletic directors in public schools don't make a whole lot more than the coaches they supervise.

Coaches and teachers are some of the most influential people in a kid's life.

But Floyd Mayweather made a gajillion dollars last night.