Private school coaching gigs should sell the family, not the dream

There’s been a lot of talk about the widespread high school football coaching changes around Louisiana this offseason.
It doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, with several positions still open statewide.
But, it’s hard to imagine any football district being more widely affected by this especially wild coaching carousel than Sacred Heart’s own District 6-1A has.
Following the resignation of Opelousas Catholic’s Thomas Davis earlier this week, the district saw its fourth of six head coaching positions vacated.
The others – Sacred Heart, North Central and Westminster Christian – have yet to be filled either as of this writing.
Sacred Heart started the district’s domino effect when Josh Harper accepted the Marksville position over a month ago.
North Central’s Jacob Carruth then stepped down to take the Avoyelles job.
Westminster’s Travis Blaize and David appear to have resigned to pursue other opportunities, with David specifically saying he’s looking to get back into public schools to accrue more retirement in the state’s system.
Harper has also taken another job within the state’s public school system and Carruth as well.
So, while the fact that the district will be littered with new coaches next football season is an intriguing idea, there’s a bigger and more pressing question to be asked.
Where is the financial incentive for coaches to be taking coaching positions at most private institutions?
It’s a tough and layered question that is worth asking.
Certainly, there are going to be coaches who will look to private schools to get their foot in the door and make a name for themselves.
Coach Harper certainly did that eight years ago, did a great job bringing stability back to Sacred Heart's athletic programs and left the school better than he found it.
A young coach would have every reason to take such a position to prove themselves, as would a coach who has accrued enough time in the state’s public school system to retire from it.
However, these examples are outliers. Not every coach is an upstart or a recently retired public servant looking to supplement their retirement income.
I guess the question worth asking would be this …
How can private schools incentivize their schools as destination jobs, rather than stepping stones or retirement homes?
What are the selling points that need to be highlighted to make a coach like Harper, currently in his prime, want to stay at a private school?
What has made a job like St. Thomas More in Lafayette or Catholic-Baton Rouge be perceived as a destination?
Winning tradition does a lot for those jobs, as does a larger donor base to help pay a coach’s salary.
But not every private school is a monolith. Most, in fact, are smaller schools built on moral values and a family atmosphere.
So, in order for small private schools to maintain good situations like O.C. and Sacred Heart had, the big picture should be sold in an effective manner. One that fully shows why these places are worthy of being called a permanent home.
Because ultimately, seeing smaller schools bleed coaches to bigger and more wealthy situations defeats the family cultures being built by these places.
And that’s a no-win situation.