The NCAA is considering legislation to eliminate the role of a “volunteer coach,” they said in a press release last week. The NCAA Division I Council is expected to vote on the proposals in January, and if eliminated, the changes will take effect July 2023.
As part of the modernization efforts in NCAA sports, the NCAA has weighed different proposals surrounding the size of coaching staffs. Those ranges have included a proposal to completely eliminate coaching limits – allowing schools to make those decisions.
The latest proposal would remove the volunteer coach designation and increase countable coach limitations, “so that schools can maintain the comparable number of coaching staffs.” The move would also redefine graduate student coaches in FBS football.
Current Countable Coach Limits, NCAA Division I Aquatic Sports:
- Men’s Swimming – 2
- Men’s Swimming & Diving – 3
- Women’s Swimming – 2
- Women’s Swimming & Diving – 3
- Combined Men’s & Women’s Swimming – 4
- Combined Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving – 6
- Men’s Water Polo – 3
- Women’s Water Polo – 3
Combined programs wind up having more swimming coaching slots than do separate-gender programs in swimming & diving, because the diving coach only occupies one position in a combined-gender coaching staff, whereas that same coach occupies one position on each staff in a combined-gender program. That’s why co-ed programs usually wind up with more swimming coaches than do two single-gender programs.
There are some sport-specific exceptions to these limits, mostly revolving around volunteer and graduate-student coaches.
Currently, in swimming and diving, an institution that has separate men’s and women’s swimming programs, with a combined diving program, may employ three volunteer coaches: 1 for men’s swimming, 1 for women’s swimming, and 1 for diving. If a school sponsors only one gender or the other, they may use the services of two volunteer coaches: one for swimming, one for diving.
The proposal, then, would in theory expand each program’s countable coaching staff from 3 and 3 (for swimming & diving) to 4 and 4, with the potential for even a second diving coach (though few schools are likely to employ that slot).
Many volunteer swimming & diving assistant coaches are either former swimmers who have a job outside of the sport, or local club coaches who help out with collegiate programs for the added experience. Most NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving programs currently have volunteer assistants.
While this, in theory, creates more potential opportunities for paid NCAA coaching positions, most entry-level collegiate coaching positions are not well-paid. It will also allow programs like football to bring in more paid assistants on their much larger payscale, thereby eating up more budget.
Programs can currently employ the same number of student assistant coaches as they are allowed full coaches.
What is the difference between a volunteer coach and a paid coach?
- A volunteer coach cannot be paid by the athletics department (though they can receive some limited benefits, as described below). They can receive compensation from camps run by the athletics department, or be employed by other departments within the institution, which is sometimes the case in swimming & diving when the university owns a club team.
- A volunteer coach cannot contact or evaluate prospective student-athletes off campus and may not perform recruiting coordination functions.
Volunteer assistants can get two free tickets to home athletics events in their sport, free tickets to home athletics events in other sports in conjunction with a student-athlete visit (official or unofficial), free meals during organized team activities or student-athlete visits, and ‘reasonable entertainment,’ but not cash for that entertainment, in conjunction with entertainment provided to student-athletes. For example, if the team goes to Disney World, the volunteer coach can be paid for too. Volunteers can receive reimbursement for parking expenses related to practices and competitions, but not incidental expenses during travel for an NCAA Championship meet.
Great, another blow to collegiate swimming
How much coaching is Ledekey doing at UF?
My guess would be that tagging her with the volunteer title allows her to participate in recruiting activities such as official visits.
That, and it allows the team to pay for some of her travel. Like if they send a squad to a Pro Swim, they can pay for her to go as well.
I also believe it allows her to train with the varsity.
will this apply to DII and DIII as well?
This vote is specifically for Division I. D2 and D3 might follow suit, but won’t be obliged to.
Hope this doesn’t get voted in. Will ultimately mean less coaches on deck.
or it means human beings will get paid for the work they do. But it is for football so swimming is just getting it as a side product.
Football has already said they aren’t included on this vote. It seems to be pushed more by volleyball & baseball
I hope so too. I’m a volunteer coach (this is my 5th season) and would be so disappointed if I wasn’t able to work with my team anymore after this year. I’m not interested in pursuing coaching as a career – I was a D1 swimmer myself and have another (non-athletic) job on campus, but love staying connected to the sport. Plus, the women on my team and other coaches are awesome human beings that I love being around! Neither of my kids swim, but they have basically grown up on this pool deck and getting to know these amazing role models. We would all definitely miss it.
I think the point about the net affect about budgets in athletic departments is the most important one to consider with this. If a school can add another paid assistant to football or basketball, they’re going to do it. Even in places where those programs aren’t in the black. That money has to come from somewhere and it will likely hurt sports like swimming.
I remain worried about the future of collegiate swimming, particularly at the mid-major level.
Yes! And what happens when those schools (such as some mid-major) can’t afford to allow swimming to add another paid coach? Not only do they lose that extra potential coach, but they also lose the volunteer they were allowed to have in the past because the NCAA got rid of that opportunity. So when the proposal was meant to add more coaches, it is actually taking a coach away in the “smaller” sports like swimming.
Agree with this comment. Look at some of the team photos for football and basketball. I believe one of the more commented ones was the University of Florida football team. There were as many coaches, assistants, volunteers, supporters..as there were players on the team in uniform. I think getting rid of volunteer coaches will further rip apart swimming. It will become even more about the haves and the have nots. Boosters will support the programs they want and abandon the ones they don’t.
You’re right, but big schools are already paying a large number of “analysts” in Football. They’ll just get a different title and possibly more immediate access to players.
Would it be possible to pay them hourly? So it might not be as ‘livable’ but $15 an hour is way better than nothing as a volunteer coach who spends 20+ hours with the team. So it would still be an entry-level position
Chase Kreitler is definitely the right person to include as the title picture for this article
This doesn’t really make sense to me. By eliminating “volunteer assistant”, will individuals no longer be able to volunteer their time with the teams? It’s one thing to expand the coaching limit to add additional paid coaches, but shouldn’t people be allowed to volunteer their time if they so choose? Will people still be permitted to volunteer? It also helps coaches get their foot in the door to collegiate coaching, and many of the top coaches today started through that avenue.
So would you be in favor then of abolishing limits on the number of volunteer assistants?
Right now, the NCAA is doing a lot of things to stave off lawsuits. This could, in part, be them looking into their crystal ball about what other lawsuits might be forming down the road.
An unabated volunteer system could be at risk for corruption. Eddie Reese could make every club coach in Texas (who is not also a high school swim coach) a volunteer assistant. That would be big for recruiting.
I think the whole movement to modernize collegiate athletics is one giant catch-22. I think that athletes deserve to be paid for their work, but I also think that paying athletes what… Read more »
I agree with pretty much everything you said. I would not be in favor of abolishing limits for volunteer assistants. From my perspective, I think volunteer assistants should still be allowed with limitations (e.g. 1 for single-gender, 2 for combined).
I think if someone truly wants to volunteer their time to learn from a coach(es) they admire or want to learn from, and can pay their own dime for that year, then it should be permitted. For example, what if a club coach is interested in learning from a collegiate coach nearby (or far away, I suppose), and wants to volunteer their time on deck to help out in wherever is needed, and have the opportunity to learn from… Read more »
Spot on.
College coaching is an odd nut to crack. It is where the elites in coaching end up because it’s generally where USA swimming picks from their national coaching staffs.
In my experience (as coaching high level club for half a dozen years) Many colleges/college coaches would rather hire someone who swam at a high level (or was a volunteer assistant) with no coaching experience than someone who coached and lead a group at a club where the high schoolers were faster than the college team.
Your point rings especially true for coaching diving. AD’s and swim coaches seem to, more often than not, prefer candidates with elite competitive backgrounds over someone who has more coaching experience.
Do you think this could encourage weekly volunteer changes between club coaches to almost interview coaches in a series of “recruiting trips”?