At 9:20 AM 7/31/95, Tony Buffa wrote:
>Someone asked, a while ago [I think Jayson Moy] about how much assistant
>hockey coaches were paid in the sense that it seemed a lot of them were
>leaving to go into private business ....
 
On the salaries, I think it is going to be difficult trying to assemble a
listing of what DivI asst hockey coaches make.  This isn't information that
is usually released, especially at private institutions.  State schools are
another story and people may be able to get some figures there.
 
It's perhaps becoming more and more common for assistant coaches,
especially the (formerly) part-time ones, to take advantage of being
employed by a school to go for a master's degree.  This makes those coaches
more marketable in their field, and for many, that field is more profitable
than hockey.  RPI's Steve Duncan is a good example...although he had
already earned his MBA while playing at RPI.  But having that degree meant
it was possible for him to do better money-wise outside of hockey.  He was
also one of the younger #1 assistants in DivI at 28.
 
We also can't discount the wear and tear of coaching upon top assistants
like Steve...he had to spend a lot of his time on the road recruiting and
away from his family.  I'm amazed that some of these guys can spend a few
decades doing this.
 
There are very few head coaching jobs in DivI and a lot of contenders for
those jobs...and there are even fewer jobs that pay as much as the ones at
schools like Minnesota, Maine, and BC.  Unless you are prepared to pay your
dues and spend years as an assistant hoping for one of the big-time jobs,
you can often do better for yourself outside of college hockey.  I can
never blame someone for doing what is best for himself and his family.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
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