North Carolina high school football coaches moving out for greeneer pasteurs

An article by The Charlotte Observer’s Langston Wertz Jr. explored why North Carolina high school football players move out. The simple reason: they get better salaries elsewhere, including in South Carolina.

Five years ago, The Observer found out that teachers in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools with a bachelor’s degree and 14 years of experience received a ten-month salary of $57,725. However, football coaches get an additional month’s salary and a stipend that bumps their gross annual salary to $68,504.

Fast forward to 2025 and The Observer revealed that only four North Carolina high school football coaches have six-figure annual salaries. Likewise, 62 high school football coaches in Georgia earned more than $120,000 last year, based on the figures shared by NwGaFootball.com contributor Brooks Carter.

Wertz shared the stories of coaches who found better pay elsewhere. There’s Mark Palmieri who left Mallard Creek High School for Georgia’s Denmark High School. While Palmieri said enjoyed coaching at Mallard Creek, he wanted more financial stability because his son was entering college. Palmieri’s exact salary remains a mystery. However, to have an idea about how much he earns, his predecessor, Terry Crowder, made $98,967.36 in 2019.

Likewise, Tom Knotts won seven consecutive state championships at Independence before transferring to South Carolina’s Dutch Fork. He turned the Foxes into a football powerhouse, leading them to nine state championships including the last Class 5A crown. However, when Dutch Fork hired him in 2010, he was already earning $104,142 plus playoff incentives.

While Knotts led Dutch Fork to an undefeated record last year, their toughest challenge came against Irmo, coached by Knotts’ former assistant Aaron Brand. Before coaching the Yellowjackets, Brand handled the North Carolina high school football teams Chambers and West Charlotte. He left those schools behind and received a $100,000 base salary when he took the job at Irmo.

Meanwhile, coach Darryl Brown led Grimsley to the 2024 North Carolina high school football Class 4A state championship. That victory made them the state’s top-ranked team, based on the On3 Composite Team Rankings. However, despite that success, Brown earned $79,171 last year, making him the 47^th highest-paid coach in the state.

Aside from the relatively low pay, coaches in North Carolina discussed high tax hits and not earning additional money for playoff games. You may read Wertz’s full article here.