A new bill to raise Florida high school coaches' pay could be presented by January, 2026

According to a USA Today report, the Florida Coaches Coalition, led by Florida International head coach Willie Simmons and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers' fullback Mike Alstott, led the group that spoke in Tallahassee this past week

Cocoa football head coach Ryan Schneider hugs assistant coach Dan Diesel after the Tigers defeated Gadsden County in the FHSAA football Class 2A state championship Thursday, December 12, 2024. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK / Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If everything goes according to plan for the Florida Coaches Coalition, high school coaches around the Sunshine State could be seeing a significant bump in pay and a recent visit to Tallahassee made that vision one more step to being reality.

According to a report by USA Today's Jon Santucci, the FCC visited Florida's capital on Tuesday and came away confident that a bill to increase coaching pay for high school coaches could be in front of the state's House and Senate by January, 2026.

One of the leaders of the push to get Florida high school coaches paid is FCC Executive Director Andrew Ramjit, who was the county athletic director of Brevard Public Schools, feels the strongest that a bill can be on the table by the very beginning of year.

"I am 100 percent hopeful, and I am 100 percent sure that we will have some sort of a bill in front of the House and Senate next session," Ramjit said via Santucci's report.

Among the contingent on hand to speak in front of state legislators was Florida International head football coach Willie Simmons, Cocoa head coach Ryan Schneider and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers fullback Mike Alstott, who had been the head coach at Northside Christian.

Per Santucci's report, the bump in pay would be set to begin in September, 2026 with coaches seeing a raise to minimum wage at $15 per hour. When it comes to head football coaches, they would be required to work no less than 1,500 hours a year and would make just over $22,000 for a stipend and coordinators would be capped at 1,000 hours for a total of $15,000.

It's not just football coaches that would see the drastic change in their pay go up. This would also be for other sports across the board, according to Santucci's report, with head coaches in athletics like baseball, (boys/girls) basketball, softball and volleyball needing to work a minimum of 750 hours for a stipend of $11,250.

Here are the high school sports in categorized and what a head coach (or football coordinator) would make based on the minimum required number of hours, per Santucci's report:

Football

Head coach: $22,500 stipend (Based on working a minimum of 1,500 hours)

Coordinators: $15,000 stipend (Based on working a minimum of 1,000 hours)

Baseball, Basketball (boys/girls), Softball & Volleyball

Head coach: $11,250 stipend (Based on working a minimum of 750 hours)

Soccer (boys/girls), Cheerleading, Wrestling, Track & Field (boys/girls), Lacrosse (boys/girls) & Swimming (boys/girls)

Head coach: $7,500 stipend (Based on working a minimum of 500 hours)

Water polo, Cross country (boys/girls), Golf (boys/girls), Tennis (boys/girls), Flag football, Weightlifting (boys/girls) & Bowling (boys/girls)

Head coach: $3,750 stipend (Based on working a minimum of 250 hours)

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi