With less than 2 weeks to go until the school’s October 4th Purple & Gold alumni meet that will kick off the season, Division I Western Illinois University in Macomb is on the market for a new head coach.
After a summer of great upheaval in the Division I head coaching market, the churn isn’t quite done yet. Western Illinois lists only 2 graduate assistants (Emad Abdellatif and Alex Peach) on their coaching staff for the 2019-2020 season. According to a job posting, the position was listed officially on September 17th.
The former head coach was Greg Naumann, who was the head coach of the program for 10 seasons after previously swimming there and serving as a student assistant. We have reached out to Western Illinois to learn more about the late vacancy, and will provide an update if we receive more information. Naumann was quoted as part of the team’s schedule announcement on August 7th, which narrows the window for his time of departure from the program.
Naumann was named the 2019 Summit League Men’s Coach of the Year after leading his team to 4 school records. The men finished 4th out of 6 teams while the women finished 5th out of 6 teams at the Summit League Championship meet.
The Leathernecks, which sponsor both men’s and women’s programs, hold their first intercollegiate meet on October 12th when they host Green Bay – another team that has a new head coach this season. Eddie Gillie is currently serving as interim head coach, with the program having not yet named a full-time replacement after Reed Robelot’s departure.
Illinois public records show that Naumann made $39,350 in 2017 as the program’s head coach.
The turn over in the SUMMIT league this year is unreal, Four out of the 7 schools have new HC, EIU, Denver, Valpo and Western. EIU, WIU, and I’m sure Valpo all making under 40K for their HC combined programs, which is just sad. This just leaves you to wonder, Where are all these HC now?
That trend is becoming more and more popular among mid major conferences. Horizon league has 4 out of 7 programs with new staffs
Western Illinois in general is a garbage fire, I don’t blame him for wanting to leave Macomb after all these years
Shed some light. I was the head coach there way back in late 80’s early 90s. My house then (my 1st one) was $60,000 and it was nice. I made exactly $30,000 then so its sad to think that nearly 30 years later its only gone up less than 10k. No camp and I had to teach classes as well. It was a stepping stone program then and still is, the least of why is because they wont pay a coach to enough to stay more than few years. That really shots you in the foot recruiting wise. A recruit knowing WIU wont take care of its coach financially and knows that chances are that coach will be different by… Read more »
How much does Western Illinois’s football assistants make? Pitiful that a D1 program pays less than a living wage.
Head football coach made $192,462 in 2017. And while 40k isn’t that much I can’t imagine that Macomb, Illinois has a very high cost of living
A really nice 2,000+ square foot house in Macomb can be bought for $229,000.
That being said, I don’t think there’s a cost of living in the country that would convince me to be the head coach of a Division I, co-ed swim team for under $40k/year. Nor a job that would convince me to live in Macomb, Illinois for under $40k/year. Maybe just for a season or two to get it on my resume, but that he held out for 10 years there is better than I would have done.
All this comes with the caveat that public records only show public money. At some programs, there is additional money that comes from boosters and such that doesn’t have… Read more »
Making $39K after ten years! What was he making in year one?
Not sure how one can “down vote” a comment like this. The guy had a combined program and was underpaid. Most swimming coaches never make the big dollars but still work their tails off. It’s not as glorious as it is made out to be. Most struggle to pay the bills and then worry if their job is safe due to programs being dropped out of the blue.
Hire the assistant. Brilliant kid and the team loves him. FTO
Not even 40k to coach a D1 team. Yikes……How was he able to do it for 10 yrs??
Maybe made some money in camps?
That is just sad. Poverty level.
Less than some mid-major assistants…
Me: The swim season is about to start
Western Illinois coach: Ight imma head out