New West Virginia assistant swim coach Sydney Pickrem will receive a base salary of $50,000 per year in her new role. That is significantly higher than the entry-level salaries we’ve seen for elite athletes with limited coaching experience in prior years, likely driven at least in part by changes in federal law.
Pickrem’s contract includes a relocation stipend of $5,000, tickets to home sporting events, annual dues to relevant professional organizations, the potential to share in camp money, and annual performance incentives.
The term of the original contract is one season, which is common for assistant coaching contracts.
Bonus Potentials
- NCAA National Team Championship $ 2,500.00
- NCAA National Championship Top 10 Team Finish $ 1,000.00
- NCAA National Championship Top 20 Team Finish $ 500.00
- Conference Postseason Team Championship $ 1,000.00
West Virginia has finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Division I Championships once in program history, when the men tied for 20th in 2007. Sergio Lopez, current head coach at Virginia Tech, led the program at that time.
The Mountaineers have never won a Big 12 team title in swimming & diving, though the departure of the Texas Longhorns and the arrival of teams from Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State will reshape the conference going forward.
Pickrem’s Background
Pickrem was announced as a new assistant coach under the program’s new head coach Brent MacDonald in July, before competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. At the time, she told SwimSwam that she is still planning to continue training while coaching.
Pickrem, 27, also has seven World Aquatics Championship medals. Earlier this year, she won silver in the 200 IM; in 2019 she won bronze in the 200 IM; and in 2017 she won bronze in the 400 IM. Her other four World Championship medals were in relays.
She also has five World Championship medals in short course, including two gold medals.
Pickrem previously completed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games, which included a bronze medal as the breaststroker on Canada’s women’s medley relay. She also placed 6th in the 200 IM in Tokyo and Rio individually.
In Paris, Pickrem placed 9th individually in the 200 breaststroke and 6th individually in the 200 IM.
New Overtime Exempt Rules
Beginning on July 1, 2024, the threshold for employees in most states to be exempt from overtime pay increased to $43,888. On January 1, 2025, that threshold will again increase to $58,656. Most college assistants at the NCAA D1 level are paid above that level because of the assumption that they will work more than 8 hours on some days and more than 40 hours weekly.
Pickrem is part of a wave of elite athletes jumping right into assistant coaching positions at Power 4 programs in recent years. Last season, Olympic medalist Annie Lazor was hired at the University of Florida with a starting salary of $45,000.
Ummm, yes? This is very clearly the case.
Considering she is top 10 in history of the 200 IM she would be better than most woman in nearly every program
With a history of pulling out of races at the last moment due to race anxiety, the question is will this rub off on her athletes or help her show them how to overcome it?
A coach who understands and is empathetic about anxiety will be a net positive.
What does that have to do with hiring a great athlete and Olympian Absolutely zero. She’s a real person first so who are you to judge. She has it all and she will continue to getterdone and coach n teach first and those swimmers will learn how to compete n race well.
I love how people think because she is an Olympian she will be a good coach. Coaching and swimming are two completely different things, so her Olympic experience means almost nothing.
Personally I know Sydney and I wish her the best of luck
Nobody seems to be saying that. But regardless, perhaps her having spent almost two decades as a successful competitive swimmer might qualify her to be a good coaching candidate? Seems a great deal of commercial pilots start out in the military flying jets, cargo planes…Executive chefs start out in junior roles and I’d be willing to bet, love to eat good food! Said differently, nobody is born a CEO.
Your argument that coaching and swimming are two different things is not at all a valid one. That is like saying, just because I love furniture, I should be a great carpenter. Where do you suppose one should look when considering who might make good swim coaches? The circus? Or… Read more »
Well given that WVU is a public university, salaries, terms and conditions of employment, etc, of all employees are available for public viewing.
While the fact one is an Olympian or national team member doesn’t mean they will automatically be a good coach, the experience doesn’t count for nothing. A lot of the best coaches were also very good swimmers. They understand what they are asking their athletes to do and can pass on knowledge on how to approach various parts of competition. Not all are great communicators and not all know how to motivate others in the same way they themselves were motivated, but the ones who can communicate and motivate are well served by their elite experience. Sydney had a great coaching example in Steve. I imagine she’ll pull elements of that and combine it with other experiencesas her coaching style… Read more »
This seems surprisingly low, swim coaching is such a massive time commitment.
that’s more than a lot of head coaches. EIU was hiring around 35-40,000.
Oh wow, that’s even worse. Why are head coaches accepting roles that pay $35K – $40K? Seems you could do literally any other job and get paid better for it, or at least get a job with comparable pay which doesn’t require you to give up* your weekends with your family. Which isn’t a criticism of coaches at all, it’s just slightly shocking to hear how underpaid they are for what they do.
Many school bus drivers make more than this. It’s beyond time for college assistant coaches to make more across all sports – not just football.
Most sports lose money, that isn’t a good investment.
given the current landscape in NCAA sports, its probably the worst time ever for anyone to make a stink about compensation in sports that are easy to cut.
not just assistants, coaches period
Maybe in other parts of the country. In West Virginia, most k-12 teachers start out below $50,000.
how much is the head coach making? I guess a lot more than he made at Xavier
I’d guess a least double. Was around 50,000.
As an assistant coach who gets paid less than the 58k, can anyone confirm on Jan 1st for coaches we are part of the OT exempt rule? I remember this about 10 years ago but coaches weren’t part of it.