As most, if not all, of you know, football season is in full swing at almost every level now. The majority of the high school and college programs are entering their fourth week of competition this week while the professional teams are moving into their third week. Even most of the youth leagues have gotten their season under way with kids as young as four and five years old donning football gear for participation in competitive leagues in some places.

With all those games being played each week naturally there are some teams who are enjoying being on the winning end of things while there are an equal number who have had to swallow the bitter pill of losing more times than they would like.

In each of those situations there are men and possibly some women too who are giving leadership and guidance to those who are participating. These are the people we commonly refer to as coaches. At the collegiate and professional football level they are usually highly paid professionals who have paid their dues, so to speak, in the coaching profession and who because of their success have reached the status of being considered highly competent and skilled in their occupation. The compensation they receive for their services is usually very good and in some instances almost beyond reason by most of our standards. In their defense though the close scrutiny and constant pressure they work under and the lack of job security that comes with the big pay check tends to mitigate their situation somewhat. All in all though, life isn't too bad for the coaches at those levels.

Dropping down a level to the high school and junior high school coaches, you will find it's a different matter. In the first place if we ever took the time necessary to calculate what these folks earned on an hourly basis for their work as a coach I'm afraid the results would be alarming. Especially when we consider the pressure and often times unreasonable expectations under which they are expected to perform their job. I once had one coach, who by most high school standards is fairly well paid, to tell me that when he divided his coaching supplement by the actual hours he worked, he was receiving less than a dollar an hour. There are others who if they bothered to calculate their rate of pay might find that in all actuality they are paying the system they work for to perform their coaching duties. Even those who would be considered among the highest paid high school coaches don't receive an hourly compensation commensurate with their duties and responsibilities. The truth of the matter is, for the majority of those in the profession at the high school and junior high school level it's their love for the game and their desire to help the kids they work with that keeps them committed to their task.

Of course if you take it below that level to the younger city leagues and park leagues you'll find that those coaches are literally working for nothing because they are generally volunteers. Here again what they do in the coaching area, for the most part, is driven by their desire to see the kids have an opportunity to play the game.

Unfortunately we as fans often forget those facts when we openly criticize and ridicule coaches. The way we second guess them, most folks who don't know us, might think we were once one of the greatest coaches of all time. Shoot, if we had the slightest resemblance or even a few of the right facial features, the expertise with which we raise our questions and level our criticisms might even convince, some who believe in that sort of stuff, that we were Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Eddie Robinson or 'Bear' Bryant reincarnated. Then again, if they did know us, they would realize far to often that we are the same people who find it easy to second guess and criticize others regardless of what they do but never take the time to admit our own failures and short comings. Why, there are even some of us, if the truth was known, who find ourselves questioning God when things don't happen just the way we think they should.

Many years ago now, there was a sitcom entitled "The Life of Riley" that aired on NBC for the first time in 1949. From that first airing in October of that year until sometime in 1958 a total of 238 episodes were broadcast depicting the life of an Irish - American nuclear family living in suburban Los Angeles and the challenges that faced Chester A. Riley, the family breadwinner best played by William Bendix. Many times since that show first aired people have used the expression 'living the life of Riley' to somehow convey that those they were referring to," had it made" and to use another euphemism, "were living on easy street." Although the expression never quite reflected what the show was really all about or the trials and tribulations Chester A. Riley actually dealt with, it did stick as an expression of life in its most sublime form.

With that said let me tell you, from someone who has had coaches in his family all of my life, those who choose to go into the coaching profession can never be accused of 'living the life of Riley' as we know it.

Until next time……be safe!