The Quizbowl Resource Center

Hi,

I am a member of the Alpharetta Quiz Bowl team. Currently, we are a completely student-run program, but we may be able to convince our principal to get funding to hire a quiz bowl coach. Do you guys have any suggestions for possible coaches near the Alpharetta Area?

Thanks.

Can't you get a faculty member (e.g. a teacher) to serve as the coach? Even if the coach doesn't do anything other than read questions and help the team with logistics, it certainly is better than no coach at all. Of course, I could be missing something here, but it doesn't seem that hard to convince a teacher to become the coach.

Hey Nikhil -- I know the Webb Bridge coach is really involved with their team. He might not have the time to coach a HS team as well, but it might be worth asking him if he could recommend someone.

I thought coaching quiz bowl was a volunteer type of thing. Do people really get paid to coach quiz bowl?

jmannor2 wrote:I thought coaching quiz bowl was a volunteer type of thing. Do people really get paid to coach quiz bowl?

I have no idea how it works in other states, but that's certainly the case in Missouri, as coaches tend to be faculty members or employees of the district.

MickeyR0urke wrote:

jmannor2 wrote:I thought coaching quiz bowl was a volunteer type of thing. Do people really get paid to coach quiz bowl?

I have no idea how it works in other states, but that's certainly the case in Missouri, as coaches tend to be faculty members or employees of the district.

I am talking about additional money tacked on to their regular salary. I would assume most coaches are faculty members of the school they coach.

jmannor2 wrote:

MickeyR0urke wrote:

jmannor2 wrote:I thought coaching quiz bowl was a volunteer type of thing. Do people really get paid to coach quiz bowl?

I have no idea how it works in other states, but that's certainly the case in Missouri, as coaches tend to be faculty members or employees of the district.

I am talking about additional money tacked on to their regular salary. I would assume most coaches are faculty members of the school they coach.

The amount and system of compensation varies greatly by school district. Some places it's volunteer; others it's paid.

Coaches in Kentucky get paid up to several thousand dollars a year extra to coach quizbowl. This has a lot of advantages like creating incentives coaches to keep a program competitive, although sometimes it draws out disinterested coaches who are only in it for the extra stipend. In a lot of other states (if not most) it is a volunteer activity.

If you can't get a faculty member who is interested enough to be a coach, it might be worth finding a player at one of the nearby college programs (Georgia Tech is close, although it looks like UGA is a bit further away) to help out, even if its on a volunteer basis. This happens in a lot of places, usually with players alma maters or schools near their university, but if you're able to find a little bit of funding (maybe just enough to cover expenses) you might find a person who is willing to help you practice and study, staff for you at tournaments, etc.

If your principal agrees to pay for a quiz bowl coach, he/she should be able to find a faculty member at your school who would be willing to take on that position. At least in Georgia, teams that go to tournaments on a regular basis generally have coaches who are paid a supplement/stipend.

In Missouri, coaches typically get paid because it's seen as basically equivalent* to coaching a sport, since "scholar bowl" is an activity overseen by MSHSAA, who also oversees football, basketball, etc.

* = only in the sense that its a similar kind of position, not because they actually get the same kind of treatment

alexdz wrote:In Missouri, coaches typically get paid because it's seen as basically equivalent* to coaching a sport, since "scholar bowl" is an activity overseen by MSHSAA, who also oversees football, basketball, etc.

* = only in the sense that its a similar kind of position, not because they actually get the same kind of treatment

Same in Ohio. I believe the amount of the supplemental varies, depending on the district, but Quiz Bowl coaches are paid a stipend like a teacher coaching baseball, track...etc

Thanks for all of your replies. Our principal has promised a stipend to any teacher who is willing to take the position. We are currently asking every teacher we know, and hopefully we will find our coach soon. It might be a problem considering the school year has already ended.

NikhilSethi wrote:Thanks for all of your replies. Our principal has promised a stipend to any teacher who is willing to take the position. We are currently asking every teacher we know, and hopefully we will find our coach soon. It might be a problem considering the school year has already ended.

You may not have to limit the search to just teachers. I'm not familiar with rules in GA, it may very well be something different. But when I coached, I wasn't a teacher in the district, I was still a college student. If hiring a teacher from within the school district, usually stipends for sports and extra curriculars are determined by the base salary of the teacher. So, when I was still in college, the school labeled me as a first-year teacher and my pay to coach the quiz bowl team was a percentage of the salary the school paid first-year teachers.

If there are universities in the area, tap into their students and particularly anyone who was a player in high school/college. If possible, talk to the principal again and see if a college student was interested in taking the position, if they would get the stipend. I'm sure anyone outside the school district would have to take (and pass) state/federal background checks, but this usually isn't a problem for college students as they can easily take them during the summer months.

I think it's a huge help to have a coach with prior quiz bowl experience, or who at least knows quiz bowl. It's possible a teacher at your school played quiz bowl, but it was probably a very different form of quiz bowl than what your team is playing now. Although, I'm not sure of your team's exact situation, I'm just offering suggestions and maybe paths to finding a coach you may not have considered. It could be you have to take whatever teacher is willing...and in that situation I would hope you remain a student-run program, the the coach/teacher purely as a necessary adult figure.

Best of luck in your search.

Tempted to go to grad school in one of these magical places where they pay quizbowl coaches. Mind-blowing.