Catie DeLoof will make $50,000 per year as a base salary as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama. That matches the resume of first year West Virginia assistant Sydney Pickrem at West Virginia, and establishes a new baseline for new-hire assistant coaches with limited coaching experiences but big athletic resumes at the Power 4 level of collegiate athletics.
DeLoof receives her base salary plus bonuses based on the Crimson Tide’s finishes at the SEC and NCAA Championship meets.
Bonuses
SEC Championship Finishes:
- Win the SEC Men’s Championship – 1 months salary (approx $4,667).
- Win the SEC Men’s Championship – 1 months salary (approx $4,667).
NCAA Championship Finishes:
The highest, per team, of the following criteria
- NCAA Championship team appearance (6 individuals or more qualifying) – 1/2 month’s base salary (approximately $2,083).
- 8 individual qualifiers OR Top 25 finish at NCAA Championships – 3/4 month’s base salary (approximately $3,500)
- 10 individual qualifiers OR Top 10 team finish at NCAA Championships – 1 months salary (approx $4,667).
- NCAA National Championship – 2 months salary (approx $8,333)
Based on last year’s NCAA Championship meet, where the men finished 19th and the women finished 23rd, she would have received 1.5 months of her base salary as a bonus, or $6,250.
DeLoof, 27, and Pickrem, also 27, have about the same amount of coaching experience – which is to say limited to camp and clinic instruction and development. They also have similar athletic resumes – each holds one Olympic bronze medal as a relay swimmer. Though Pickrem supplements it with 13 World Championship medals of various flavors, they are in a similar tier of elite swimming experience – including both having decorated college careers and both racing in the International Swimming League.
It makes sense, then, that they are getting paid similarly – although Alabama’s overall athletics budget is much bigger, roughly doubling WV’s revenue annually.
This raises the bar from where Annie Lazor, another swimmer with a similar resume, started at the University of Florida last season, where her annualized contract included a base $45,000.
DeLoof, who is engaged to Austrian Olympian Felix Auboeck, has not responded to requests from SwimSwam about the future of her competitive career.
No reply to swimswam is typical. How hard is that for a brand new coach with no experience trying to make a good impression and bring energy to a new team.
About time coaches get a decent starting salary
About right for a Michigan grad
Every coach over the last 30 years who started as an assistant, working 80 + hours per week for almost NO pay for years saying ……..”We were told to never ask for more money” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣…..never mind asking for a full time salary. 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪
God bless the new coaches – they deserve to start out on a decent starting wage.
For years it was half that amount for an assistant. Schools would also get Grad . Assistant’s for a small stipend.🤣 Some even had conditions that you pay and get accepted in one of their grad. programs. (Like it’s an honor to Coach in the Colonial League) Just using that as an example. 🤣 Swimming isn’t taken seriously by college administrations.
Look at your head D 1 coach’s. 😐 Really ?
Look at the swimmers. Where’s your weight room? You know that room where champions are made regardless of the sport.
Understand how strength and swimming are related. If our Olympic coaches understood it we’d take all the gold’s. 🤷
Swimming is recreational fun with friendly competition. 🤗
Annie Lazor should demand a raise.
Did Annie not have better bonuses?
For this past year did that add up to about 50% + academic bonus(es), so a little over $25,000 last year?
Same placements for Alabama would yield about $18,700 ?
This is very low for such a talented swimmer. She worth at least double that
A talented swimmer is not equivalent to a talented coach.
Exactly. Don’t think Bob Bowman or Dave Durden were known for their prowess in the pool.
It’s pretty high for anyone whose resume says 3 years of swim camp is their only experience.
That’s a lot for a sport that loses money.
50k isn’t a lot for any full time job. Most sports lose money, it’s ok for us to collectively invest in public opportunities that provide tremendous value.
Median individual income in the state of Alabama is $31k.
Thanks for including this point of reference. $50k for a single 20-something person living in Alabama is a very livable salary. To me it’s a nice sign that coaching salaries are pretty reasonable these days.*
(As long as you’re an Olympic level swimmer 😂)
Converting this to hourly and accounting for time and a half after 40hrs she is making 15.38 an hour. Pretty much the medium income.
How are we getting to time and a half with in season practice hours capped at 20 per week 🤷🏽♂️
Yep, college coaches just walk on deck, run a practice, walk off, and that’s it. No other responsibilities.
Most teams run several practices a day for different groups.
It’s a matter of time b/f the minimum sport count is reduced, and all these college coaches will be trying to steal our club jobs with their “impressive” college resumes…