Coaching position at Volunteer

[76Panther]

Has anyone heard if the Falcons will be heading in a different direction and look for a new coach?

[JDHoss]

Has anyone heard if the Falcons will be heading in a different direction and look for a new coach?

 

I have heard from one person who "might" know, and that is that they will look in a different direction. To be fair to the current coach, or whoever is coaching there, it's an uphill battle considering who they have to compete against. That's not to say the program can't improve, but it will be tough for anyone to break .500 there.

[BatmanDB]

I have heard from one person who "might" know, and that is that they will look in a different direction. To be fair to the current coach, or whoever is coaching there, it's an uphill battle considering who they have to compete against. That's not to say the program can't improve, but it will be tough for anyone to break .500 there.

You hate it for the kids,but it is a real tough deal in the big 8 for them.If they had played three very easy teams out side of the conference this year,they would have made it to .500 but breaking it will take a very good year.

[dbFAN91]

All the Volunteer team needs is a very good coaching staff and this program will get turned around. I don't believe for one minute that the talent at that school is not as good as it is at the other local schools. It's going to take a couple of years to see the results but if they find and hire someone who has played some college football somewhere where that school was successful then they can get this thing turned around. Another choice would be to hire an assistant from an already successful program. I wish them all the luck.

[76Panther]

JDHoss have you heard anything else from the person who might know?

[ChurchHillFootballFan]

JDHoss have you heard anything else from the person who might know?

 

Bump! Any news?

 

The thing that holds Volunteer back is the coaching salaries, or lack thereof. They simply cannot get a top head coach or keep assistants because they refuse to pay market value, and the school has always been a place where a good young coach lands his first job to prove himself and then leaves ASAP for a fat raise elsewhere. That's why half the staffs at Dobyns-Bennett and Tennessee High coached at Volunteer at some point.

 

Hawkins Co. has the lowest teacher salary in the region (lower even than Unicoi Co., Greene Co. and Carter Co.) but I don't think a lot of people realize just how big this gap is:

 

Teachers start out around $31k a year in Hawkins Co. vs. about $36k in Kingsport.

 

Hawkins Co. teacher salaries top out at $42k for a BA and $45k for a M. Ed., In Kingsport it's $51k and $58k, respectively.

 

A Head Coach in Hawkins Co. only gets a $3200 stipend regardless of his time there. Graham Clark gets over $8,500.

 

Assistant coaches in Hawkins Co. get a flat $1600/yr. regardless of rank. In Kingsport, assistants get anywhere from $2700 to $5800.

 

This means that the coaches in Hawkins Co. make between $32,600 on the low end and $48,200 on the high end. In Kingsport, those numbers are $38,700 and $66,500 a year on the high end.

 

At the absolute minimum, a coach at D-B makes over $6,000 a year more! Over a 25 year career he would make about $250k more than he would in Hawkins Co.

 

THIS IS HUGE!!!! HE WOULD MAKE AT LEAST A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS MORE OVER HIS LIFETIME BY COACHING AT DOBYNS-BENNETT AS AN ASSISTANT VS. HEAD COACH AT VOLUNTEER!

 

Is it any wonder that Volunteer struggles to attract and retain coaches? The D-B staff currently features a pair of coordinators who coached at Volunteer (including a former Volunteer HC who quit to take MORE PAY as an ASSISTANT at D-, a former Volunteer frosh coach, and at least 2 other former Volunteer players on the roster.

 

Imagine a Volunteer coaching staff of Darrell Watson, Joey Christian, Brian Barrett, and maybe even Mike Mayes or Brad Stubbs from THS. That's a staff that could kick butt and take names! Instead, it's Jason Witten's Uncle and whoever he can talk into helping out.

 

If Hawkins Co would raise teacher salaries or coach stipends by about $5,000 a year, this would help stem the brain drain where all our talented coaches and teachers jump ship for surrounding systems. They could even take a page from Washington Co's book and hire the head football coaches as assistant principals so they could at least give them a bump in pay.

 

It can't be because they need competent administrators there. They've already got the incompetent former Sullivan South coach (and principal) Pat Fraley running Cherokee into the ground the same way he did the Rebels' football program in late 90s/early 2000s, while the similarly incompetent former Volunteer HC Steve Starnes collects $40k+ a year to log attendence.

 

But the powers that be would rather waste the exhorbitant wheel tax and decent football gate money on overpaid and incompetent school administrators, building crap that we don't need, and whatever other form of kickbacks and waste they can think of. It's disgraceful.

 

Volunteer Football is no different from the old ETSU football program or the Cincinnati Bengals. You get what you pay for, and even a good head coach who's willing to accept such low wages still needs good assistants around him. I think that's the biggest downfall of the Falcons under Rider: he can't keep assistants around so he has to make due with people who are more nice guys and yes men than football coaches.

Edited January 29, 2011 by ChurchHillFootballFan

[WaCoJaCo]

Bump! Any news?

 

The thing that holds Volunteer back is the coaching salaries, or lack thereof. They simply cannot get a top head coach or keep assistants because they refuse to pay market value, and the school has always been a place where a good young coach lands his first job to prove himself and then leaves ASAP for a fat raise elsewhere. That's why half the staffs at Dobyns-Bennett and Tennessee High coached at Volunteer at some point.

 

Hawkins Co. has the lowest teacher salary in the region (lower even than Unicoi Co., Greene Co. and Carter Co.) but I don't think a lot of people realize just how big this gap is:

 

Teachers start out around $31k a year in Hawkins Co. vs. about $36k in Kingsport.

 

Hawkins Co. teacher salaries top out at $42k for a BA and $45k for a M. Ed., In Kingsport it's $51k and $58k, respectively.

 

A Head Coach in Hawkins Co. only gets a $3200 stipend regardless of his time there. Graham Clark gets over $8,500.

 

Assistant coaches in Hawkins Co. get a flat $1600/yr. regardless of rank. In Kingsport, assistants get anywhere from $2700 to $5800.

 

This means that the coaches in Hawkins Co. make between $32,600 on the low end and $48,200 on the high end. In Kingsport, those numbers are $38,700 and $66,500 a year on the high end.

 

At the absolute minimum, a coach at D-B makes over $6,000 a year more! Over a 25 year career he would make about $250k more than he would in Hawkins Co.

 

THIS IS HUGE!!!! HE WOULD MAKE AT LEAST A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS MORE OVER HIS LIFETIME BY COACHING AT DOBYNS-BENNETT AS AN ASSISTANT VS. HEAD COACH AT VOLUNTEER!

 

Is it any wonder that Volunteer struggles to attract and retain coaches? The D-B staff currently features a pair of coordinators who coached at Volunteer (including a former Volunteer HC who quit to take MORE PAY as an ASSISTANT at D-, a former Volunteer frosh coach, and at least 2 other former Volunteer players on the roster.

 

Imagine a Volunteer coaching staff of Darrell Watson, Joey Christian, Brian Barrett, and maybe even Mike Mayes or Brad Stubbs from THS. That's a staff that could kick butt and take names! Instead, it's Jason Witten's Uncle and whoever he can talk into helping out.

 

If Hawkins Co would raise teacher salaries or coach stipends by about $5,000 a year, this would help stem the brain drain where all our talented coaches and teachers jump ship for surrounding systems. They could even take a page from Washington Co's book and hire the head football coaches as assistant principals so they could at least give them a bump in pay.

 

It can't be because they need competent administrators there. They've already got the incompetent former Sullivan South coach (and principal) Pat Fraley running Cherokee into the ground the same way he did the Rebels' football program in late 90s/early 2000s, while the similarly incompetent former Volunteer HC Steve Starnes collects $40k+ a year to log attendence.

 

But the powers that be would rather waste the exhorbitant wheel tax and decent football gate money on overpaid and incompetent school administrators, building crap that we don't need, and whatever other form of kickbacks and waste they can think of. It's disgraceful.

 

Volunteer Football is no different from the old ETSU football program or the Cincinnati Bengals. You get what you pay for, and even a good head coach who's willing to accept such low wages still needs good assistants around him. I think that's the biggest downfall of the Falcons under Rider: he can't keep assistants around so he has to make due with people who are more nice guys and yes men than football coaches.