Weekly Rant -- I am Due

Football season is upon us and soon we will all hear the banging of drums, the smell of hamburgers on the grill and feel the crisp fall air. It's all exciting and, in fact, it's almost like waking up on Christmas morning when you were a kid. But, I have a bone to pick with High School football. I recently read this article about Rush Probst, the former coach at Hoover High (you know, from the MTV show "Two A Days"). In the article it states that he made $101,000 dollars a year.....UNREAL! If you don't read it, the article goes on to state why he lost his current job and how he got his current job at a high school in Georgia (including quotes for and against him). Well, come to find out he will be making $95,000 there! UNREAL!
Let me be the first to say I cant stand the man. First, he is selfish, goes way overboard, plays up for the cameras and over reacts to the point of being obnoxious. The man had an extramarital affair of which a child was born, knowingly cheated and fixed players grades while at Hoover. After all this, he still feels he should still have his job but felt "forced to resign"...give me a break. So what you are probably saying...people make mistakes right? Everyone deserves a second chance. I totally disagree. This is not an upstanding citizen and someone who should be coaching children. A coach does coach football but is also supposed to be a mentor and guidance counselor on education and life to these kids. How is he supposed to do that effectively after all of this? Find a desk job and move on dude. Probst + coaching = not-a-good.
Okay, I am through bashing Probst on on to the real rant/problem. Now, let me just say, "when in the hell did high school football coaches start making that much money?" In all honesty, it is really sad. When did football (especially at the high school level) become so important that other very important areas have to suffer? We can pay "coach" one hundred grand but our school systems are not only cutting teachers salaries each year but jobs like special education and other after school programs are being cut completely out. Heck, certain schools systems can not even afford to run all bus routes and supply adequate school supplies. But, we can afford to pay a FOOTBALL COACH as much as the whole lot of 8th grade teachers combined? This is a joke.
Lets be honest here. High school football is NOT college football where paying a coach can be justified because of the revenue it generates. The players are out raising money with car washes and bake sales for goodness sake. I do understand that some markets, like Hoover, can afford this because of donations of these affluent areas but THIS IS NOT THE NORM. And, I dont know the whole legality of these "donations" becasue they are still public, not private schools. Something needs to change....and it should be the amount of it in the REAL TEACHERS pockets if you ask me.

Call me crazy.

BOG