Exclusive: Most DFW high school football coaches make $100K; nearly half earn $120K
No one ever thought Steve Huff would leave College Station.
He was their only head football coach after he helped open the high school 10 years ago. He was as successful as any coach in the state, winning 82% of his games, going to two state championships and winning a title over Aledo in 2017.
But Huff and his family knew.
Exactly three months later after his final game with College Station, Huff was named the new head coach with the Decatur Eagles. A big reason Huff came to the metroplex was to be closer to family.
But the pay was pretty good too.
Huff is making $140,000 during the school year, the most among Fort Worth-area high school football coaches.
Huff is the fifth-highest paid coach in Dallas-Fort Worth, and he’s behind some pretty elite company. The only coaches to have a higher salary in 2022-23 are Duncanville’s Reginald Samples ($146,675), Allen’s Lee Wiginton ($144,500), Lake Highlands’ Lonnie Jordan ($144,451) and Highland Park’s Randy Allen ($141,307).
“I didn’t think a lot about the salary, but Decatur was where I wanted to be,” said Huff, who has coached for nearly 40 years. “Yes, it’s hard not to look at the money and it’s high substantial company with those three other coaches. I’ve known coach Allen for a long time. We were just looking to get to the metroplex and in a smaller community. My wife’s mother is in Oklahoma. Her sister is in Richardson.”
The Star-Telegram obtained the salaries of 142 Dallas-Fort Worth high school football coaches through open records requests in July. The average salary for coaches in the metroplex is $116,287.
Sixty-four coaches make at least $120,000.
Twenty-two coaches make $130,000.
Huff’s salary is more than twice the 2021-22 average base teacher pay of $59,555 in the Decatur school district.
“I’m not doing it for the money,” Huff said. “I would’ve taken less money and still done it. Timing was just right. I had a son who was a senior last year. My daughter is now a ninth grader. So for us to make a move, it was a pretty good time to do so. It all just kind of aligned that way.”
So are coaches overpaid?
Huff said no.
“The amount of hours coaches put into it, it’s substantial,” Huff said. “It’s not an undertaking. It’s a calling and unfortunately, we’re short on coaches across the board. They have to spend a lot of time away from their own families, but we’ve chosen to do it. You just hope you get compensated.”
Day in the life of a football coach
What’s funny is that Huff didn’t put his name up for Decatur right away.
It took a phone call with a friend to get the ball rolling.
Shortly before Huff was hired at Decatur, Chad Jones was hired as the superintendent for the Decatur school district last fall. He and Huff go way back. They coached together in Oklahoma.
“We were going through a few résumés and coach Huff’s name was actually listed as a reference,” Jones said. “I called him to touch base and talk about this applicant. Not in my wildest dreams did I think he’d consider leaving after leading a 5A team to state for a 4A school. In my 32 years, coach Huff is one of the best coaches I’ve been around. He’s had success everywhere he’s been.”
But responsibilities run deeper than just Friday nights for Huff and most coaches. Huff is also Decatur’s athletics director. He was the athletics coordinator at College Station.
That means long hours and little sleep.
A normal day during the football season: Get to school before 6 a.m. and start ninth grade practice. Most coaches go to class followed by junior varsity and varsity practice at 11:45. Coaches return to class before one more practice from 4-6 p.m. That’s followed by film at 7:30 p.m.
Don’t forget about game days.
Huff will go to middle school games on Monday and Tuesday. Then his high school programs play the rest of the week. A home game might end on 10:30 p.m. on Friday night, but he won’t get home until midnight or later.
Then it’s an early wake-up call all over again.
Remember, Huff is also the AD.
He tries to go to as many non-football events as he can, such as volleyball — the team has won three state titles in the past four seasons.
As if football season was long enough, the spring will actually be the busiest time of year for Huff. Along with spring football, he needs to help manage with a number of sports like soccer, softball, baseball and track.
“We feel good about coach Huff coming here,” Jones said. “He’s going to make a difference and impact many lives.”
Added Huff, “I’ve been doing it for 38 years. It’s still a blast. The kids are still a blast.”
By the numbers
Eleven football coaches make between $90,000 and $99,000.
The lowest-paying coaches in DFW are Dallas Kimball’s Brandon Harrison and Dallas White’s Kenchee Ross. Both sit right at $90,000.
The lowest-paying coach in Tarrant County is Fort Worth Eastern Hill’s Devvin Anderson ($94,120).
Dallas and Fort Worth school districts are among the worst paying jobs when it comes to football coaches. Dallas is averaging right under $104,000 per coach while Fort Worth is just over $100,000 per coach.
The school district with the highest average (with more than one school) is Lewisville. Its five coaches are averaging $137,000. Grand Prairie, with only two schools, is paying both coaches $134,333 while Denton has four coaches averaging $127,800. Five Mansfield schools sit at $123,638. Five Arlington schools are at $116,876.
By comparison, the average salary for a high school teacher in Texas is just under $60,000.
Jennifer Andrews is a sixth grade teacher at Briarhill Middle School in the Lewisville school district.
Her son plays football at Flower Mound High.
“It’s no secret teachers are grossly underpaid compared to almost every profession out there, but comparing our salaries to coaches is as helpful as comparing it to a lawyer or a doctor. They’re different jobs,” Andrews said.
But Andrews knows how hard coaches work.
She doesn’t think they’re overpaid.
“I don’t believe coaches are overpaid. We want incredible people in these coaching jobs, so, bottom line, they should make significantly more than teachers,” Andrews said. “Almost double? I don’t know. Without living the life of a good coach, none of us know what all their daily minutes are spent doing. But just from what I know, they earn those paychecks.”
The expectation
While most salaries are based on how long a coach as been in the business, performance on the field and winning games can play a factor.
Take three of the top four highest paid coaches, Samples, Allen and Wiginton ... Duncanville, Highland Park and Allen have combined to win 12 football state championships.
Samples has over 300 wins and has taken Duncanville to three title games in four years. Allen has over 400 wins, winning four titles with Highland Park.
Another area with football tradition is Southlake Carroll.
Riley Dodge will make $131,638 this year. He’s led his alma mater during the past four seasons while sporting a 52-5 record. The Dragons have gone to the state semifinals in back-to-back years. They played in the 6A Division 1 championship during the 2020 season.
Carroll athletic director Steve Keasler arrived to Southlake shortly after Dodge was hired in 2018.
Before that, he was the AD at Midlothian ISD.
He knows coaches earn their salary.
“One point in time, coaches had summers off,” Keasler said. “Nowadays, especially coaches, they don’t get summers off anymore. It’s a full year now. They’re working 12-hour days, reporting in the summer, checking on kids and staying on top of program development.
“For Carroll, our coaches rarely get Thanksgiving off. No fall break for those guys, it’s a seven days a week job in the fall. We’re playing 16 weeks all the way to December and almost to Christmas, and during the COVID year, we were playing until January.”
Of course, expectations for the football season run high in Southlake.
The Dragons have won eight state titles.
It’s been 11 years since Carroll last won one, but the Dragons continue to be a state champion contender with Dodge, who won a title for Carroll in 2006.
And winning 91% of your games doesn’t go unnoticed.
“He’s a big face in our community,” Keasler said. “He’s responsible for a lot of kids that he’s shaping into young men. The job doesn’t stop at 10:30 when the game is over. He’s still there until 1 or 2 in the morning, working through the weekend, and spring comes by, you have spring football and that’s like a second sport.”
