Budget changes bring cuts to Lovell coaching pay

School District #2 eliminates indoor track and cuts stipends for golf, cross country, track, activity sponsors and middle school coaches

The Lovell school district has become the latest Wyoming school district to reduce athletic expenditures following recent legislative changes that created separate budget “silos,” limiting a district’s ability to transfer money between different funding categories.

At its July meeting, the Big Horn County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees approved a revised coaching and sponsor salary schedule that reduces compensation in several athletic and activity programs while adding a handful of new stipends. The changes include eliminating the high school indoor track program, reducing several high school coaching stipends, lowering every middle school coaching stipend and decreasing pay for several student activity sponsors.

Although the salary schedule was approved by the board, the changes received little discussion during the public meeting, and no explanation was provided at that time for eliminating indoor track or reducing a number of coaching positions.

Following the meeting, Superintendent William Hiser answered several questions from the Chronicle regarding the revised salary schedule.

“The changes to coaching and sponsor compensation bring us more in line with other schools in our conference while continuing to provide competitive pay,” Hiser said.

The district’s own policy states that “coaching salary schedules are based on sport intensity, time commitment, differences in workload, supervision demands, competitive demands and overall coaching responsibilities.”

After seeing where coaching salaries were reduced, the implication is that high school track, cross country and golf don’t have the same time commitment or demands as football, volleyball, wrestling and basketball.

Comparing the newly adopted salary schedule with last year’s reveals several significant reductions.

The largest single reduction is the elimination of the high school indoor track coaching position, a stipend worth up to $6,075 for the head coach.

High school cross country coaching stipends were each reduced by $1,000 for both the head coach and assistant coach. High school track stipends were also lowered by $1,000 for the head coach and for each assistant coach.

One change involved golf coaching, which Hiser said was modified from weekly pay to seasonal stipends.

“The golf coaching position used to be paid weekly, like our other coaching assignments,” Hiser said. “It has been changed to a stipend, with one stipend paid for the fall season ($3,000) and a separate stipend for the spring season ($2,000).”

Under last year’s salary schedule, a coach who led both the fall and spring golf seasons could earn as much as $9,450. Under the new schedule, that same position is capped at $5,000 for the entire year, a reduction of up to $4,450, or nearly 47 percent. Based on the published salary schedule, golf experienced the largest percentage reduction in coaching compensation of any high school sport.

Several activity sponsor stipends were also reduced. Wyoming Academic Challenge was reduced by $1,000, middle school student council by $500, while middle school vocal and instrumental music were each reduced by $300.

Combined with the elimination of indoor track, reductions to cross country and track coaching pay and the changes to golf compensation, the published salary schedule reflects at least $23,025 in reductions before accounting for additional savings from multiple assistant track coaching positions and lower middle school coaching stipends.

Every middle school coaching stipend is reduced.

The weekly rate for middle school head coaches decreased from $650 to $575, while assistant coaches were reduced from $500 to $425 per week, resulting in a $525 reduction for each middle school coaching assignment.

Assuming every middle school head coaching position is filled, those reductions total approximately $4,725. Additional savings depend on the number of assistant coaching positions filled, which is not specified in the published salary schedule.

Although the district’s coaching policy mentions “sport intensity, time commitment, differences in workload, supervision demands.” However, there was no public discussion on how those factors were evaluated in setting the new middle school coaching stipends.

Under the newly adopted schedule, every Lovell Middle School head coach will receive the same stipend regardless of sport. Head coaches for football, volleyball, boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, wrestling, cross country and track all receive identical compensation despite differences in season length, participant numbers and the demands of each sport.

Based on the published schedules, the district appears likely to reduce coaching and sponsor expenditures by roughly $25,000 to $30,000 for the 2026-27 school year before accounting for several newly created stipends, including Perkins Coordinator, middle school cheerleading and middle school dance. The revised salary schedule also restructures how some high school sports are compensated.

Football, basketball, volleyball and wrestling remain on the district’s higher coaching salary schedule, while cross country, track and golf now fall under a lower compensation tier.

Hiser also explained that the district does not award performance bonuses for championships or playoff success. Instead, coaches are paid for the length of their season. For example, a basketball coach whose team reaches the state tournament receives the same compensation whether the team is eliminated in the opening round or wins the state championship, because the salary schedule compensates coaches for weeks worked rather than competitive results. 

“Rather than providing a separate bonus for postseason success, our coaching salary is structured to compensate coaches for the actual length of their season,” Hiser said.

He explained that basketball coaches are paid through the conference tournament, with an additional week of compensation if the team qualifies for the state tournament. Football coaches likewise receive additional compensation as teams advance through each round of the playoffs.

“This approach ensures coaches are compensated for the additional time and responsibilities associated with postseason competition, rather than receiving a separate performance-based bonus,” Hiser said.

The district also does not provide longevity pay for coaching assignments.

“A first-year football coach receives the same pay as a coach with ten years of experience,” Hiser said. “Currently, our coaching salary schedule does not include step increases based on years of coaching experience or longevity. Coaching salaries are based on the position and the responsibilities associated with that role, rather than the coach’s tenure.”

Lovell is unlikely to be the last Wyoming district forced to re-evaluate athletic and activity spending. As school districts across the state adjust to the Legislature’s new funding model and its restrictions on transferring money between budget categories, boards will likely continue weighing difficult decisions about staffing, programs and extracurricular opportunities. 

Whether Lovell’s changes become an isolated response or part of a broader statewide trend will become clearer as districts work through their first full budget cycle under the new funding system.