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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with Frances Hogan, May 23, 1991, and June 3, 1991. Interview L-0044. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

Changes in hiring and pay of coaches since the 1950s

There have been drastic changes in the pay scale for women's athletics coaches and in the hiring of male coaches since the 1950s. Most coaches made about one thousand dollars per year in 1973 and male coaches were discouraged from entering the field.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with Frances Hogan, May 23, 1991, and June 3, 1991. Interview L-0044. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Full Text of the Excerpt

FRANCES HOGAN:
I think one interesting thing to note is that women coaches were paid for the first time in '73-'74 and the salary was one thousand dollars per year for each coach. Keep in mind that the coaches were all on the staff of the P.E. department. Some were graduate assistants and some were regular staff. It didn't matter the length of the season or how much time you put in or if you met the group once a week or whether somebody else met them. All coaches received the same. So, no allowance was made for any difference in coaching responsibilities, length of season and so on. The first full-time employee in the women's athletic program was the secretary, who was hired in 1976. And the women's basketball coach became the first full-time female coach in the program in '77. The Director of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women became full-time athletics in '78. I worked from '74 to '78 for three thousand dollars each year. And those were hard years.
MARY JO FESTLE:
I'm sure they were. And how did you feel then, when these full-time coaches were being hired at these big salaries, comparatively?
FRANCES HOGAN:
Well, the salaries were not that big then. Jennifer Alley, the first full-time female coach, received an automobile to use. I received a car in '78. Back in the seventies, we had some men coaching, but mostly we had women coaches. Now, we have a male head coach of swimming, and men are head coaches in track, cross country, soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, and fencing. There are two assistant men basketball coaches. So, there are more and more men coaching women's teams, whereas in the early seventies and sixties and fifties, that would have been frowned upon and not allowed.
MARY JO FESTLE:
What do you think of them?
FRANCES HOGAN:
I think some of the men are excellent coaches. I think Anson is just a terrific soccer coach. And I think Derrick Galvin is just tops in gymnastics. Ron Miller is that way in fencing. Frank Comfort is that way in swimming. They're all such refined people and in addition, they are very intelligent. So, you feel the women are under very good care. And that makes a tremendous difference. But we do have many assistant coaches now. You see, back in the seventies, you were the head coach and that was all. You didn't have assistants. Now, most teams have assistants. Dot Gunnells is presently the golf coach, and she was hired at the time when we had no money. The program was still was under the Department of Physical Education. And at that time, Dr. Blyth and I decided to go with local people. We did that in tennis, the person who took my place, and we did it in softball when we added that to the program.