Pigskin Job Brings Home The Bacon

The average paycheck for a head football coach in Texas' largest high schools is about $31,000.00 more than that of the average teacher at the same size school the Austin American-Statesman reported today:

Head coaches in Classes 5A and 4A --— schools with 950 students or more — are making an average of $73,804 while teachers in those classifications average close to $42,400, according to records obtained by the Austin American-Statesman through the Texas Public Information Act...

The Austin American-Statesman asked every 5A and 4A school district in the state for the total compensation paid to head football coaches and for salaries of their highest-paid teachers, high school principals and superintendents for the 2005-06 school year.

Did the paper really need to go to all that trouble to discover that in Texas high school football is king? A drive through any small town would tell you that.

Not surprisingly, some teachers aren't happy with the situation. Texas State Teachers Association President Donna Haschke told the Statesman, "In Texas, everybody expects us to have big football programs. In my opinion, yes, we need to emphasize academics over sports more than we do. Sports has its place, and it's an important, positive place in the curriculum. But I think that we should be putting some of that time and money into education."

Personally, I've always been of the opinion that in a free society such as ours, people earn exactly what they deserve. While I may wish society valued my job of Community Blogger more than they do, I've come to grips with the fact that I'll never get close to the pay of Ennis High School's Sam Harrell, who earns $106,004 a year. But hey, a guy can dream.