JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — High school coaches will get new opportunities for higher salaries and more leeway to put their own money forward to help their teams under two bills signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in Jacksonville Friday morning.
High school coaches in Florida pour their blood, sweat and tears into their work, but the pay isn’t much compared to what coaches make in other states.
Some coaches in our neighboring states pull in six-figure salaries, while coaches here are only eligible for a stipend of an extra few thousand dollars a year on average.
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That’s even the case for prolific coaches like Andrew Jackson High School Head Football Coach Bobby Ramsay, who coached local NFL great Derrick Henry and two-time National Champion Quarterback Carson Beck.
“I think we just want to feel validated. And I think everybody just wants to be acknowledged for their time that they put in,” Ramsay said. ”Nobody expects to be rich.”
But under two bills signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis Friday, the playing field will soon change.
“It will recognize that these coaches serve important roles. They’re mentors. It’s not just all x’s and o’s,” DeSantis said.
The first bill allows for booster clubs and community groups to supplement high school coach pay using private funds.
Max salaries are capped at the same level as the highest-paid school administrator in the district.
In Duval, that would be roughly $320,000 a year.
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The second bill allows K-12 athletic coaches to expend up to $15,000 of their personal money per year to help support their teams.
That bill is named after NFL Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater
After Bridgewater returned to coach his old high school football team in Miami, he was suspended in 2025 for paying for his players’ food and transportation.
“If the guys standing over here who doesn’t work at the school can do those things, I don’t know why myself, who is invested in the person can’t do those things either,” Ramsay said.
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Ramsay acknowledged it is possible the new laws could lead to an uneven playing field, where well-off communities and boosters could attract top talent with bigger salaries.
But currently, he argued, the state as a whole risks losing those talented coaches to other states that have already moved in this direction.
“Other states are gonna catch up and you’re not going to be able to get by on the fact that you have access to great DNA,” Ramsay said.
Both new laws officially go into effect on July 1st.
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