What does the Coach-Friendly Score™ mean?
The Coach-Friendly Score™ is a 0–100 composite score that measures how attractive and sustainable a school district is for athletic coaches, based on more than 4 years of coach and teacher retention data, relative compensation competitiveness, and TEA Academic Accountability scores. These districts have a history of keeping their coaches, paying them well, and have a high performing academic student body.
Why isn’t this based on win–loss records?
Win–loss records capture short-term outcomes. MyCoachingTree focuses on program conditions—the factors that determine whether success is sustainable and whether coaches want to stay.
Why are some historically strong programs ranked lower than expected?
Some districts with storied histories experience high staff turnover, compensation stagnation, or recent organizational instability. The rankings reflect current conditions, not legacy reputation.
How do you define a “coach” in the data?
We identify coaches using TEA personnel files, cross-referenced with data from TEA on assignments (e.g., “UIL Athletics”). This captures athletic staff whether they are certified teachers or not.
Why do many districts score highly on compensation?
Texas districts cluster tightly at the top in raw pay ratios. To create meaningful differentiation, compensation scores are percentile-scaled, allowing us to distinguish between competitive, strong, and elite compensation environments.
Can districts see or audit their data?
Yes. All rankings are derived from public TEA datasets, processed using transparent, repeatable rules. Districts can replicate the analysis using the same source files.
