This survey has been put together by Doug Cornish, the founder of Swimpler, who is collecting data on swim coach salaries to help improve future compensation packages in the sport.
There are several dark clouds looming over swimming right now. Legislation is impacting roster sizes and opportunities at the collegiate level. Youth participation is dropping post-COVID. Leadership is shaky or nonexistent. All of these items require resolution, and it seems that there is a perpetual list of obstacles we are overcoming.
While we are on the discussion, we need to add another topic to that list: the increasingly overburdened swim coach. I think it ranks right up there with issues endangering our sport.
The plight of the swim coach is overlooked, and conditions for swim coaches are rapidly diminishing. I spoke with a trusted peer today, and he likened the coach to the heart of the sport. They connect all of the major players: swimmers, coaches, parents, administrators, leadership, and other teams while disseminating the information where it needs to be.
If the coaches are the heart of the sport, who is swimming’s cardiologist?
This survey is meant to gather information on the level to which coaches are compensated through pay, benefits, perks, and reimbursement for expenses.
My hope is that we can utilize the data to help improve the compensation packages for swim coaches, simultaneously improving the ability of teams to retain and attract talented and professional coaches.
HUGE thank you to everyone who completed the survey. With over 800 responses, I have shut it down. I will soon begin analyzing the data and then look forward to providing value to the coaching community.
I wanted to be a swim coach growing up. I coached summer league and year round. I wanted to move to high school and college eventually, but I figured out when I was 19 that swim coaching pays very little unless you own a big year round team and / or have Olympians in your stable, otherwise it is a meager and often thankless job. Parents demand everything but pay coaches next to nothing. I was a head coach at a very well known country club and they paid me like $3k for the whole season. It’s crazy. These parents make millions and expect you to work 80+ hours a week to coach their kids into Olympians for pennies.
… Read more »
Left coaching the sport 15 years ago and haven’t looked back. I make triple the money, have way more time with family and way less stress.
I am interested in the results.
I’ve responded for both teams I coach. Do you plan to share the results when you’re done?
Yes. I want to share (anonymously) any aspect of the data that will help coaches achieve a more professional experience.
I left coaching more than three decades ago, and hope to return to aquatics when I retire. I understand that I do not qualify for the survey. This starts from the grassroots on up. I’m not favoring USS, AAU, YMCA, or all the summer leagues. The solution will come from those who love swimming, and place a higher priority on happy young swimmers (i.e.: happy young athletes) over Olympic-driven metrics.
As part of my post-coaching career, I help coaches understand and attain supplementation to inadequate benefit packages so that they can coach with security. I also help teams improve their benefit packages to retain and attract talented coaches. This survey is helping to inform my efforts in those areas. I’d love for the discussions to include the possibility that an improved professional experience for the coaches plays a major role in the successful navigation of the sport into the future.
Springboard Creative has been doing something similar, actually more in-depth, for diving coaches and publishes a report on the findings.
You can find the survey and previous report at http://www.springboardindiana.com/reports
I think you shared the survey that you can edit and someone left their email in the space where coaches leave their email.
Thank you, John.