At one point or another, students are bound to have a teacher who is also a coach. In fact, they’re everywhere. These teachers not only have the stress of teaching their students in the classroom but coach their players on the field. They have to juggle not only their teaching schedule but also their coaching schedule.

Being a teacher is time consuming enough. Between grading papers, coming up with lesson plans, and staying for tutorials, teachers already have enough on their plate. But having that and all the responsibilities of coaching, it’s a miracle that these teachers are still upright, sane and actually have the time of the day for all of it.

Mike Newton, baseball and football coach who also teaches world history, knows how much time jobs like his take.

“You’ve got have to have a lot of time,” Newton said. “Most people don’t realize that during football season, football coaches get back after midnight on Fridays, they’re up here Saturday morning at 7:30 and don’t leave till 3 or 4 p.m. and then they come back on Sundays generally after church and stay till dinnertime.”

Staying sane is possible in this profession, and Michael Reeb, basketball coach and biology teacher, spilled the secret: Organization is key.

“Every week I write out everything I do,” Reeb said. “Every meeting, everywhere I’m suppose to be. I also put it in my phone so my phone is constantly reminding me where I need to be.”

They come across situations where both teaching and coaching schedules collide. It happens all the time. So in times like those, coaches have to make a compromise to their students and players.

“In basketball, there’s a couple times where I had to go to a tournament, so I had to get a sub,” Reeb said. “I have to be there. In sports, you just can’t miss. If I’m not there then they don’t have a coach. It’s not like you can get a sub to come coach. You can’t do that.”

Along with added responsibilities, the majority of their time has been greatly sacrificed. For example, they both don’t spend as much time as they would like with their families.

“I had a daughter who played tennis,” Reeb said. “I couldn’t go watch her play because I had practice.”

“I spend more time with other people’s kids than my own,” Newton said.

But besides this staggering list of cons, there are also pros to having these two jobs.

“I get a lot of satisfaction out of coaching because you see a group that develops and evolves, they learn how to be a team, how to win and lose,” Newton said. “All of that is important for success in life.”

“I’m not a teacher who coaches, and I’m not a coach who teaches,” Reeb said. “I’m a teacher and a coach. To me, a coach who teaches would be a coach who didn’t really care about teaching. A teacher who coaches would be a teacher who didn’t really care about coaching.”