Coaches in scholastic sports do more than run drills and implement game plans.
Andy Pooler, baseball coach at Mount Desert Island High School, donated a portion of the full stipend he received to Acadian Youth Sports and toward youth scholarships at the Downeast Family YMCA. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
Coaches build teams, creating bonds of connection and accountability between members that stretch beyond seasons. In a true sense – although not always officially – coaches are teachers.
So it’s disappointing to see so many Maine school districts decide not to pay their spring season coaches after the sports calendar was canceled before it got started this year. Thanks to a story by Staff Writer Mike Lowe, backed by extensive surveying by reporters from the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and the Central Maine Newspapers, we have a detailed view of what districts have decided to do.
When students were sent to study at home, coaches in about a third of Maine school districts were not paid their stipends, and about half of school districts are paying only a portion.
In some ways, it’s an understandable choice. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed the state’s economy into free fall, school districts are preparing for the tightest budgets in years. Nearly 125,000 Mainers have applied for unemployment benefits, and many others have experience reduced hours, lost contracts for work or have otherwise been experiencing economic disruption. Before going to the voters with next year’s budget, school officials should be able to show that they have spent every dollar of public money wisely.
But cutting coaches’ stipends in this year’s budget is not wise.
Even though there are no games or meets, young people still belong to teams and can still benefit from maintaining that connection. As schoolwork moves to a distance learning model, where students are prohibited from gathering in any but the smallest groups, any opportunity for connection should be preserved.
Coaches are still talking to their players, supervising workouts (from a distance) and encouraging team members to think of themselves as part of a team. These activities are just as valuable as wins and losses on a team’s record.
It’s also not fair. These coaches signed on to work this spring, and in many cases were relying on the stipend to make ends meet. School districts raised the money to pay those coaches in the current year’s budget and should honor them even though the sports season was canceled.
That does not mean that school districts should be locked into paying coaches in the future. The fall season is also in jeopardy, and some superintendents were afraid of setting a dangerous precedent going forward.
But that is not a reasonable fear. Coaching stipends in the next school year would be part of next year’s budget, which is still being hammered out in most districts. School officials can make it clear to the coaches that there may not be a fall season and can make their contracts contingent on games being played.
It may also be a good time to consider whether there are better ways to provide extracurricular activities, given the financial pressures that school districts are likely to be under, not just this year but also in the years to come.
But the unanticipated disruption of a school year should not be used as a reason to renege on promises made to coaches.
We still want young people to feel like they belong to their schools, even though they are studying at home. And for the same reason, we want athletes to continue thinking of themselves as members of their teams.
Coaches are a big part of maintaining that connection, and they should be paid for that.
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