Plum Athletics Budget Discussed

Plum School District coaches attended a school board athletic committee meeting on Tuesday night in support of the athletics program.

Some school board members previously had questioned the amount of money in the athletic budget and the coach salaries.

School board member Andy Drake said officials had to cut costs deep into the 2011-12 budget, and it's not going to get easier in upcoming years. He said residents have been questioning why education cuts were made, but not athletic cuts.

Though the athletic budget was reduced this year, it increased overall when coach salaries were included.

"We have a limited amount of money, and our priority is education," Drake said.

Joe Ionta, track and cross country coach at Plum, said coaches provide educational opportunities for student athletes because they teach them life skills.

"I don't remember how many games I won or lost as a kid, but I remember what I learned from my coaches," he said. "The field or court is our classroom."

Plum Athletic Director Bob Alpino presented a spreadsheet comparing the number of coaches the district has in each sport with other AAAA school districts.

In most cases, Plum was in the middle or bottom of pack in terms of how many paid positions each sport has.

Alpino said it's important for the district to have adequate number of coaches in order to fairly compete with other schools.

However, said board member Sal Colella, it doesn't matter how many positions there are, but how much each coach is paid.

"I don't think a pay cut is inappropriate," he said noting that he is an advocate for athletics.

School board member Tom McGough, athletic committee chairman, said the amount of money coaches receive is "a stipend" at best given the amount of time they spent with the athletes.

"They are going year round," he said. "They probably wouldn't get minimum wage on an hourly basis."

School board member Shane McMasters said students who participate with the high school hockey team, which is a club sport, spend a lot of their own money to play. The coaches don't get paid by the district.

McMasters said he's not opposed to possibly implementing a pay-to-play regulation.

"The hockey players pay a lot on their own and then you have others who scoff at the notion of having to pay anything to play a sport," he said. "Coaches to me are important people in a kid's life. I don't want to put a price tag on that."

McGough said the athletic department is working on strategies to generate revenue, such advertisements, marketing and teaming up with an apparel company.

"I'm optimistic we won't have to cut if we can generate some revenue," he said. "Hopefully there's a small pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."