Tuscaloosa Mayor Proposes $500K In Funding For TCS Coaches

TUSCALOOSA, AL — As part of his annual budget proposal to the Tuscaloosa City Council, Mayor Walt Maddox asking for the creation of an Athletic Excellence Fund to boost coaching salaries for Tuscaloosa City Schools athletics programs.

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The suggestion would see a $500,000 budget line item for the coming fiscal year to then be doled out equally across the three high school "clusters" for Central High School, Northridge High and Bryant High.

This would give each school approximately $166,000 allocated only for the operations of the athletic departments within TCS high school and middle schools. It will also funds added to the already annual contribution from the city in excess of $6 million for TCS to fund pre-K, security, dual enrollment and more.

"We certainly believe that if we want to go attract more of our young people, why not use the single largest provider of services to young people as a tool, an avenue to do it?" Maddox said during the budget presentation on Thursday. "The data shows success when we can get young people involved and I will say that the more skilled coaches that you can bring into any sport, whether it's an Olympic sport or the more prominent sports of football and basketball and softball, more likely are to recruit more athletes and more people who want to participate."

Maddox cited data provided by Tuscaloosa City Schools earlier in the week that purports to show the positive impact of investing in quality athletics programs for schools. Indeed, Maddox argued that almost 50% of the TCS student body participates in some sort of athletic program at the middle or high school level, which results in their combined GPAs being higher than the average student body.

"So we know that being with caring adults who are passionate about student athletes is a value added to an academic education," Maddox said. "We also have to acknowledge that the city schools, as in some sports, are not performing at the level that we certainly would want them to perform."

Few would argue with Maddox's claim. For instance, in the opening week of the 2022 high school football season, the city's three high schools each notched losses and were outscored 118-22 by opponents.

"When you talk to the coaches in these sports, one of the big issues is just supplements, what it takes to pay for coaches, what it takes to attract coaches and to be successful," Maddox said.

District 1 Councilor Matthew Wilson, a former TCS Board of Education member, asked the mayor about the level of input the city would have in how the money is spent for each schoo.

Maddox responded by saying he wanted to avoid overstepping the purview of the Board of Education and the administrators within the individual school clusters in making those decisions.

"I don't think the city should mandate beyond what we're requiring here anymore, but then [TCS officials] have to report back what they're doing," Maddox said. "So if there are problems, we can bring it to their attention. Because, I worry if we try to micromanage that, I certainly think it can create issues with the board and what I've discovered in my time as an administrator with the city school is that principal, that athletic director, they know what's going on the ground."

District 4 Councilor Lee Busby also questioned the end goal of the added funding, asking if the overall aim was to get more students involved in athletics, as opposed to more trophies in the trophy case.

"I think if we are talking about adding another half million dollars of taxpayer money into that to improve the athletic performance of the schools on the ground, is the logic that you attract more young people into winning games than you do to losing things?" Busby asked. "I think it's incumbent that we have some sort of performance criteria associated with [evaluating return on investment]."

Maddox then provided a seemingly generic, yet relevant example of a high school history teacher thrust into the unexpected role of varsity volleyball coach — an example the mayor claimed to have seen during his time as the personnel director for the school system.

"Normally that volleyball team is not going to succeed because it's going to be very difficult for anyone to then have a tough new year to succeed," he said. "I think this will give the ability to attract more quality coaches who are also teachers in the school system, who then will sell and get more young people."

Be on the lookout for more breakdowns and coverage of the mayor's 2023 proposed budget in the coming month as city leaders mull over the details!

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