Fresno City College part-time assistant coaches feel they are being underpaid.
Women’s head soccer coach Oliver Germond said that his assistant coaches only get paid during their season and don’t get paid for any offseason work, which includes recruiting, training and scrimmages.
“What other job on campus is getting paid for one semester and volunteering during the other semester?” Germond said.
Part-time coaches at FCC get paid $4,500 a year, but they are only getting paid for the work they do during their sports season.
On May 6, Germond attended the State Center Community College board of trustees meeting in an attempt to educate the board on this issue.
“I feel like our assistant coaches don’t really have a voice,” Germond said.
Assistant football Defensive Back coach Drew Brown said regardless if he is called part time, it is a full-time job 12 months out of the year.
“Travel, gas, time, weekends, phone calls, working from home, I am not compensated for any of it,” Brown said.
Men’s wrestling head coach Paul Keysaw said that he believes the district has acknowledged that this is an issue.
“I think the bond between players and coaches is undervalued,” Keysaw said.
One of Keysaw’s assistant coaches, George Moreno, has been on his staff since 2009 while working full time as a history teacher in Kerman. Moreno has been selected for assistant coach of the year five times and never received a raise.
“George has actually lost money from working here, but he’s loyal to this place,” Keysaw said.
Moreno said that he’s seen a decline in the competitiveness of sports at FCC because head coaches aren’t able to fill their staff with the best and most qualified coaches due to the stipends being poorly compensated.
“Coaches outside of FCC are taken back by the fact that Fresno City College, the gold standard, one of the state athletic powerhouse programs, has such an inadequate and low rate of pay,” Moreno said.
Moreno said he could be working three hours a day at a fast-food restaurant and his salary would be more than it is as an assistant coach at a California Community College.
Moreno believes this is a result of a lack of support for athletics at FCC.
“The once bustling foot traffic and overall energy of the athletics department has definitely diminished,” Moreno said.
Negotiations are currently happening between the coaches union and the school board to resolve this issue.
According to Germond, assistant coaches are important in contributing to the success of our athletics at FCC.
“Our head coaches do a great job, but we can’t do this by ourselves,” Germond said.
