Do college football coaches get pensions?
Nowadays, it is hard to find a job that offers pensions as a retirement plan. If you are with a company that has one, you likely won’t ever want to leave it because of how rare they are. However, do college football coaches get pensions?
College football coaches can have a pension plan, but not every college offers them. Pensions are mainly offered at bigger universities where the quality and scale of the football program are recognized across the county, and it is one way to keep a coach with the team and not sign somewhere else.
If you are curious how this works and how a school can afford a pension plan when that is a very expensive retirement plan for the company or school to have, read below for more information!
Why Do College Football Coaches Recieve Pension Plans??
Oftentimes, a college football coach’s job is not very secure, and even after a successful season of winning games, they can be let go and replaced by someone else. A pension allows for a school to hire a coach and make the coach commit to working for them because there are things set up in their contract that show how the school values them for the future. One item may be that if they work at the school for X amount of years, they can receive their pension or be enrolled in the school’s pension program.
A pension is essentially money that the company pays you monthly after you retire that you don’t have to work to earn. The company (or school in a college football coach’s case) will simply pay you a salary that is similar to what it was when you were working. It is one of the most favorable retirement plans potentially available. Today, most retirement plans involve companies matching your own contributions to your retirement account.
So, there are a few reasons why a school would want to offer a pension plan to coaches. As mentioned, it makes choosing their football program and school much easier, and it makes them look like they are offering more than other schools a coach could be looking into.
It also makes football coaches want to continue working for a school and team until they retire. If a coach has a successful run where their teams always do well and are successful, other potentially bigger schools will make offers that will make the coach want to work for them. However, if the coach is already in line to get a pension, they will stay with their program, and the school won’t have to worry about the coach leaving them.
In a coach’s contract, a school can say that so long as the coach hits different successes or milestones, they will stay in the program, but if they fail to meet various goals, they can be let go. This can impact whether or not a coach will be able to get a pension. For example, the school can say that if the coach reaches some milestones, helps improve the program, and works with the team successfully for 3-5 years, they can be qualified to receive their pension. However, they would have to stay with the team until retirement.
Essentially, a school looks at its football coaches as investments for the success of the team, which brings in a lot of money for the school. Because of this, they are okay with paying a coach a pension, as if they continue to prove their value to the team, they are worth keeping for as long as possible.
Other Retirement Plans for Football Coaches
The popular retirement plan today is for a company or college to set up a retirement plan, pick a type of retirement account to open. Then each employee can contribute a percentage of their earnings to their retirement fund. Oftentimes, the company will match the amount of money a person contributes to their retirement plan.
A football coach may receive this type of retirement plan offer from most programs until they come across a school that offers them a pension. This also may be the offer that a school has until the coach has worked there for a few years and is able to receive a pension while also contributing to the retirement account. However, if a company or school will pay someone a pension, they may not contribute to a different retirement plan.
College football is extremely competitive, and it is a step toward becoming an NFL player after graduating. Many schools know that current students, past students, and other families who grew up cheering for them are loyal to their team. Because of the loyalty associated with the sport, schools want to make their team the best in the league. They are always striving to improve their football team as much as possible. They recruit and invest in players, and they make huge investments with the coaches.
College football coaches are some of the highest-paid employees in some states. That is not the case for every school, but many want to give money to coaches so they are able to coach for them until they retire. (Reference)
It is relatively hard to find extremely good football coaches that can improve a team and its players individually so they can succeed in the sport after they graduate. When hired, football coaches often look for a great school, a great team, and a good retirement plan.
The best college coaches improve their team partially because it reflects well on themselves and their abilities so other schools and teams will send them job offers that have more benefits than what was offered to them when they decided to work for the school they currently work at. These beneficial job offers often include pensions as well as parking spots, vacation time, and tickets to games.
Overall, while not all football coaches receive a pension when they retire, many good football coaches have pension plans if they work for a large enough school that can afford to pay them.