AFM Home | The Staff Report | March 2004

There is a concern nationally that 22 head football coaches earn over $1 million per year. Only a few coaches are overpaid because they do what they love despite the insane hours and the high stress. The real question for football coaches no matter what they earn is “Do they optimally manage whatever they earn?” Are they good stewards of their money? Do they save enough every year to donate to their churches and chartities because they can actually get by financially? Being a good fiduciary is the key issue.

The model, “Park’s Paradigm for Career Coaches: Wisdom in a Multitude of Counselors,” displayed on the next page summarizes in visual form the football business advisory “A” team. Each successful coach needs to assemble an “A” team around him in order to intelligently manage his increasingly complex business affairs, which accompany his career success. To ignore such matters despite the lack of professional time available in the busy life of the coach is not wise. We believe that such off-the-field, highly important, financial issues must essentially run through sound, trusted, and delegated help like any other executive function. “Park’s Paradigm for Career Coaches: Wisdom in a Multitude of Counselors” creates a working model which shows the interaction of the various professional skill sets and related professional persons who must assist the successful career coach in running his financial and business life. This “A” team must act as your financial and business coaching staff.

The greatest threat to financial ruin and the attendant pain which accompany such business failures which, by the way, can have dire family repercussions, have often attended professional athletes and even coaches, to a lesser degree. These can be remedied by assembling a high quality business advisory management “A” team, particularly for the highest earners. This group is comprised of the requisite professional disciplines manned by trusted, capable and competent people around the central coach-client who knows them well and who acts to orchestrate the team decisions through them on his and his family’s behalf. The selected people on the “A” team must work in concert to the financial betterment of their client, the coach, and never act in their own self-interest. They must serve collectively as a decisional check and balance source for their client-coach and be loyal to him. The coach can then ask good and tough questions more than once to get balanced perspectives from their various dimensions of professional expertise. This allows the client-coach to arrive at optimal business solutions to his family financial matters having heard various perspectives aimed at helping him achieve his career financial goals and be protected along the way.

Park’s Paradigm was originally conceived at Florida State University to remedy the sports agency management problem for young, emerging, professional athletes. The following model, adapted to coaches, describes the required team members, complete with their duties, compensation methods and their relationships with each other. It is the role of the client-coach to use their professional skills, expertise and knowledge in a manner that aids him in his decision-making in a most efficient manner. This efficiency by trusted delegation allows him to optimize on his valuable coaching time remaining. By assembling such a team, the coach is best positioned to make the most of the financial benefits and opportunities afforded him by his coaching success. So often coaches ignore these matters simply because winning and the excellence required to do so leave no time for financial matters.

The “A” team is comprised of the following professionals from “Park’s Paradigm” with a thumbnail description of the duties:

• “A” Team Business Manager. This key function may be filled by any of the professionals in the model. It can also be a separate oversight person acting as a chief of staff. This may be the most important member of the team like a financial assistant head coach. Their role is to manage and coordinate the team for the principal.

• Sports Contract Agent. This member of the team will often be an attorney with strong negotiation skills, as well as possibly being a general advisor, if they understand football coaching. The maximum fee charged a coach on a new deal should be 3% or less of the gross revenue of the obtained contract, collected only once, paid as the coach is paid, and sometimes an hourly fee may be established for special projects or consulting work. High hourly rate lawyers ought to generally be paid that way. Be very careful what you pay an agent. Get a second opinion on fees as the field is filled with cost abuse.

• Lawyer. It is important to retain these services in order to have general legal advice on hand. Project billing is done on an hourly basis often in addition to a retainer or contingency fee. If the agent is a non-lawyer, this team member may work with him. Specialty lawyers may also be needed for legal tasks.

• Endorsement Agent. The function of this individual is to seek out and negotiate income for the high profile coach in addition to that which he earns from coaching. This is a function that is generally only necessary for coaches of high enough status that endorsement deals are feasible.

• Certified Public Account (CPA). Some believe that the function of the CPA is limited to tax advice. Equally important to the handling of taxes is the monitoring of the overall financial picture which the CPA performs, income break-down, wise counsel, advisory, financial strategy and book-keeping.

• Certified Financial Planner (CFP). A CFP is charged with the development of a comprehensive financial plan for the family. This includes budgeting, estate planning, in conjunction with a tax attorney, and working with a financial planner to develop an investment portfolio. He provides a critical financial roadmap for life.

• Financial Advisor (FA). The FA and his institution is the platform from which the investment plan is executed. They will identify money management groups, determine asset allocation, find investments, structure IRA’s, as well as monitor their progress. May work for large or medium sized financial institution. Select them wisely.

• Banker. In addition to providing services such as checking and savings accounts, a commercial banker will provide lines of credit for housing, automobiles, and outside business interests. In some cases, the firm which employs the FA may be able to provide this service. Lending and credit services are their main functions.

• Insurance Agent. A competent insurance agent will find competitive rates for home owners, auto and life insurance. In addition they can help to find protection for special situations. This advisor should be carefully shopped for with the assistance of the CFP and the CPA. They also help with estate and succession planning.

• Realtor. It is important to establish a relationship with a dependable, honest realtor. They can also be helpful in finding vacation homes, managing rentals, as well as finding real estate for investment purposes.

Do contact us with any of your questions at: (850) 668-3121 or email at DrThomPark @ aol.com