By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Catie DeLoof will make $50,000 per year as a base salary as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama. That matches the resume of first year West Virginia assistant Sydney Pickrem at West Virginia, and establishes a new baseline for new-hire assistant coaches with limited coaching experiences but big athletic resumes at the Power 4 level of collegiate athletics.
DeLoof receives her base salary plus bonuses based on the Crimson Tide’s finishes at the SEC and NCAA Championship meets.
Bonuses
SEC Championship Finishes:
- Win the SEC Men’s Championship – 1 months salary (approx $4,667).
- Win the SEC Men’s Championship – 1 months salary (approx $4,667).
NCAA Championship Finishes:
The highest, per team, of the following criteria
- NCAA Championship team appearance (6 individuals or more qualifying) – 1/2 month’s base salary (approximately $2,083).
- 8 individual qualifiers OR Top 25 finish at NCAA Championships – 3/4 month’s base salary (approximately $3,500)
- 10 individual qualifiers OR Top 10 team finish at NCAA Championships – 1 months salary (approx $4,667).
- NCAA National Championship – 2 months salary (approx $8,333)
Based on last year’s NCAA Championship meet, where the men finished 19th and the women finished 23rd, she would have received 1.5 months of her base salary as a bonus, or $6,250.
DeLoof, 27, and Pickrem, also 27, have about the same amount of coaching experience – which is to say limited to camp and clinic instruction and development. They also have similar athletic resumes – each holds one Olympic bronze medal as a relay swimmer. Though Pickrem supplements it with 13 World Championship medals of various flavors, they are in a similar tier of elite swimming experience – including both having decorated college careers and both racing in the International Swimming League.
It makes sense, then, that they are getting paid similarly – although Alabama’s overall athletics budget is much bigger, roughly doubling WV’s revenue annually.
This raises the bar from where Annie Lazor, another swimmer with a similar resume, started at the University of Florida last season, where her annualized contract included a base $45,000.
DeLoof, who is engaged to Austrian Olympian Felix Auboeck, has not responded to requests from SwimSwam about the future of her competitive career.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Catie DeLoof Will Start With a $50,000 Salary at the University of Alabama