Summers of labor yield debated compensation

Steve Virgen

Third in a three-part series

It’s an unwritten law, the understood truth for most high school

coaches: Making a fortune should not be expected.

Knowing that, Bob Serven said not getting paid for his summer work

as a coach at Costa Mesa High still bit at him and, in turn, was one

of several reasons that drove him to resign April 3.

Serven’s resignation was the first of four that came within a

three-month span at Costa Mesa. Serven was the only one of the four

who said lack of summer pay for coaches was one of his reasons for

resigning.

Serven is the Costa Mesa boys basketball program’s all-time

victories leader, posting a 79-56 record, including a share of the

only league title the Mustangs have won in their 45 varsity seasons.

“I do coach for the love of the sport,” said Serven, now an

assistant for the Mater Dei boys basketball team. “There are just

certain things you are supposed to have in order to be competitive.

You have to be there in the summer. It’s hard for me to justify going

to work, leaving my kids to go work for free. How many parents decide

they’re going to work for free? If you want us to provide teaching

for the kids during the summer, because that’s what we do, then pay

us. We’re not asking for $40 million. It’s not like I’m asking to be

paid like I’m [Duke University coach] Mike Krzyzewski.”

Typically, coaches of high-profile sports make between $2,700 and

$3,000 for their respective season. In the summer, they do not

receive a stipend.

Doug Deats, who resigned as baseball coach in late June, also did

not like the lack of summer pay for coaches but said he resigned to

spend more time with his family.

Glenn Mitchell, who resigned as boys and girls track and field

coach in late June, said his sole reason for stepping down was to

spend more time with his wife and daughter. His timing just added to

Costa Mesa’s chaos, which included the resignation of boys athletic

director Dave Perkins, who was fired by the school as football coach

last week.

Perkins said he was told to resign in January because he was

“rattling too many cages.” He also said he was fired because of a

misunderstanding with school administration over a check from a

summer football camp that was mistakenly made out to him.

Perkins said the check was intended for the school’s booster

program, which is standard procedure.

Costa Mesa Principal Fred Navarro did not comment on reasons for

Perkins’ dismissal Monday, saying it was a personnel matter. He

commented, though, on the recent developments with Costa Mesa

athletics.

“The issues are not related,” Navarro said of the resignations and

the firing. “Each issue is separate. Everything has been discussed

with [Perkins]. We’ve been direct with him. We’re not at liberty to

share any of that information right now.”

In regard to lack of pay for coaches, Navarro supported an

improvement.

“I don’t think compensation has kept with the times for what our

coaches do,” Navarro said. “Back in the ‘60s, the money was different

back then and it was good compensation. I think that’s something that

needs to be worked out in the future. Financially, we should be

looking at ways to reward the coaches. These are tough times. There

aren’t a lot of options to try and offer worthy compensation to these

individuals who have put in hours upon hours during the summer. It’s

just a reality that people have to pay the bills.”

Coaches can get money during the summer.

Those who want to donate money to the school’s athletics in Costa

Mesa usually make out a check to the booster club or to the

Newport-Mesa Unified School District, which then cuts another check

for the athletic program or the coaches as a matter of income during

the summer, said Jaime Castellanos, the district’s assistant

superintendent for secondary education.

Coaches will conduct camps in the summer to raise the extra

income, but students at the camp are not required to pay. If no money

comes in, the coaches don’t get paid.

Sometimes, as in the case of Costa Mesa girls basketball coach Jim

Weeks or softball coach and girls athletic director Sharon Uhl, the

coach will work for free during the summer and make sure all of the

money goes to the sports program.

Last year, the district paid a stipend to coaches at Costa Mesa

and Estancia, while coaches at Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar

stayed under their usual format, Castellanos said.

It is apparent that Back Bay high schools, Corona del Mar and

Newport Harbor, are located in an affluent area, as opposed to the

less affluent, sometimes poor Costa Mesa, Castellanos said. Back Bay

high schools have more students than the Costa Mesa campuses. Thus,

coaches at Back Bay high schools make more money during the summer

than coaches at Costa Mesa and Estancia. Several coaches at Costa

Mesa and Estancia don’t like that, but they continue to coach because

they love their profession.

The diversity between the four schools causes some coaches to

leave, as in the case of Serven.

“Newport-Mesa is incredibly unique,” said Castellanos, a former

high school coach. “This is my fourth district that I’ve worked in

and this is the most diverse, politically, economically and socially

that I have ever been in.”

Serven and Perkins weren’t the only coaches to leave citing pay.

Rick Buonarigo, a former softball coach, also resigned, in part

because of the pay during the summer, he said.

Buonarigo, a former Orange Coast College coach, did not have his

credential for the high school level last year. In the summer, the

district paid him substantially less than the other coaches at Costa

Mesa and Estancia for that reason, Buonarigo said. He was hurt by

that, he said, and it became one of the reasons for his resignation

last year.