JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville parents said their kids’ coaches showed up every day for the love of the game, not the paycheck. Now, a new Florida law aims to make that paycheck a little more worth it.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 538 at Ribault High School in Jacksonville.
The legislation creates two paths for coaches and extracurricular administrators to receive higher pay.
The first allows coaches to request that their superintendent pay them above their current union-negotiated supplement, which would place them in an administrative-type role. The second allows booster clubs to raise money to supplement coach pay — though some districts in the Jacksonville area do not currently allow that practice.
Under current law, coaches in some Florida counties earn as little as $3,000, while others make as much as $8,000 for their work.
We spoke with Parents at Wolfson High School during the school’s Honor Roll Bowl spring game.
Christen Reynolds, whose son plays football at Wolfson, said the low pay didn’t slow coaches down.
“They’re out here for the love of the game and the students,” Reynolds said. “They’re not out here for the money. They want to be out here. They should be recognized for it.”
Reynolds said she had seen the impact coaches had on her son beyond the field.
“Absolutely incredible communication, expectations, responsibility, holds them accountable,” she said. “Just everything is bigger than football, it’s bigger than sports.”
Clay Tousey, another Wolfson football parent, said coaches had become more than athletic instructors to the players.
“They are like substitute fathers for these guys,” Tousey said. “The head coach and Coach Wilson here is wonderful. He loves these kids, and they love him. But then there’s the assistant coaches too — a football staff has probably eight, ten coaches who are all so dedicated who get close to the boys and the boys get close to them.”
Tousey called the new law a long time coming, but acknowledged there was still more work to do.
“It’s long, long overdue, and hopefully the start of more,” he said. “I’m sure this is just still a relative drop in the bucket compared to all the work they put in.”
Reynolds echoed that sentiment, saying the law should eventually reach beyond sports.
“For the coaches, for the arts, for the band teachers, for all the extracurriculars, they need all the money that they can get,” she said.
The law was the result of years of reporting by News4Jax Sports Editor Justin Barney on coaching pay issues across Florida.
Senate Bill 538 goes into effect July 1.