CMS football coaches planned to boycott over pay, district promises fresh review

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ officials were bracing for a potential boycott by CMS football coaches this month, according to an internal memo obtained by The Observer.

The coaches as a group were ready to sit out practices or even a game in protest of what they feel is a lack of pay, they told The Observer.

On Tuesday, CMS responded to an inquiry from The Observer about the situation.

The coaches — speaking to the media company as a group via text after hearing CMS’ responses — said enough of their concerns have been addressed that they will stand down, for now.

“We believe it’s a start,” the coaches said via text. “The rest remains to be seen.”

Throughout the season, the coaches have been meeting to discuss ways to address pay with the district. They say they’ve asked for a meeting with CMS.

CMS told The Observer via email Tuesday that it was aware of the coaches’ concerns, as well as those from coaches of other sports. CMS also said it recently held a focus group meeting with coaches from all athletic programs in different sports.

CMS said it had no plans for a meeting solely with football coaches, but it was “currently engaged in the budget planning cycle for the upcoming fiscal year.”

The raise problem and the tax problem

CMS coaches across all sports have not gotten a pay increase since 2018, when, for example, a football coach’s stipend — paid in addition to the teacher’s salary — went from $4,172 to $5,006. That amount, however, is paid as a bonus and taxed at nearly 50%. That’s something coaches hope to change.

Before 2018, they had gone nearly 14 years without a stipend increase.

All of that shocked first-year Chambers High coach Captain Munnerlyn, a former Carolina Panthers defensive back.

Munnerlyn doesn’t think a first-year coach, like himself, should receive the same stipend that a 10-year or 20-year coach gets.

CMS pays all coaches the same stipend. And the football coaches say they are not paid for spring or summer workouts, or when a team makes a playoff run, which can add up to nearly two months of additional practices and games.

In addition, coaches are often asked to drive buses to games, and they say they are not reimbursed for costs associated with the special license required to drive the bus, or the actual work involved.

During a media day at Independence High School in August, Munnerlyn told The Observer that $5,000 is not nearly enough to cover all of that.

“As a head coach,” he said. “I’ve got to make sure kids get home safely, make sure the locker room is clean and wash the clothes. The amount of time you miss from your family and kids, it doesn’t add up with the pay. You look at other states, like South Carolina, and the pay is different. You look at a place like Georgia and the pay is totally different. Even in my home state of Alabama it’s so much better, and to see guys coaching here a long time (in CMS) and getting the same pay I get as a first-year coach, I think it’s ridiculous.”

Low salaries, stipends a statewide and local issue

North Carolina has more than 400 public high schools, but a Charlotte Observer study this spring revealed that only four N.C. football coaches make more than $100,000, including salary and stipends: Hoke County’s George Small ($114,298), Princeton’s Travis Gaster ($108,053), Richmond Senior’s Brad Denson ($106,274) and Shelby’s Mike Wilbanks ($100,063).

​▪ According to a study done three years ago by The State in Columbia, The Observer’s sister paper, coaches in South Carolina earned more than $100,000 annually. North Carolina is more than twice the size of South Carolina.

▪ Coaches in states like Alabama and Georgia far outpace South Carolina in six-figure salaried coaches. According to a recent Sports Illustrated report, six coaches in Georgia currently make more than $148,000, topped by Carrollton’s Joey King, who coached Trevor Lawrence in high school. King earns $225,007. ​

▪ Alabama has six coaches above the $140,000 mark, topped by Thompson’s Mark Freeman, who makes $162,054.

▪ The Houston Chronicle found 25 coaches in the Houston, Texas, area alone making more than $127,000. And according to reporting from The Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas, the average salary of 142 Dallas-Fort Worth coaches three years ago was $116,287.

The lowest paid coaches in the area earned $90,000. In North Carolina, a $90,000 salary is just outside the top 10.

CMS trails statewide and regionally in pay

As of April 2025, no Mecklenburg County coach ranked among the top 100 in North Carolina in terms of total pay. The highest was No. 118.

Mecklenburg County and Wake County are the two largest school systems in North Carolina. Wake County, according to The Observer study, has nine coaches making more than the highest paid coach in Mecklenburg.

Last year, Cabarrus County coaches — in a county that neighbors Mecklenburg — got a stipend increase.

According to published reports, Cabarrus coaches have long out-earned their counterparts in Mecklenburg.

In 2016, Cabarrus County football coaches got nearly $7,000 a year, while CMS was at $4,100.

Today, Cabarrus County has a stair-stepped system, something the CMS coaches are pushing for.

Cabarrus County football coaches with 0-4 years experience get $5,325; 5-8 years is $6,500; 9-12 years is $7,895; and 13-above is $9,450. That approaches double what CMS coaches like Munnerlyn receive.

The CMS coaches say those numbers, as well as what came out of The Observer study, led them to come together to take action.

“Football coaches are ultimately representing all coaches in CMS and the state of North Carolina,” they said via text. “Coaches represent the highest drop out retention in existence of public schools. With college athletics now paying athletes, high school coaches are under huge amounts of pressure to help build programs that are productive to future opportunities.

“Coaches became concerned when CMS leadership was unaware of current coaching issues. The impact high school athletics have in our Charlotte communities aren’t reflected in coaching stipends compared to neighboring states as well as counties.”

The boycott that didn’t happen

The coaches said repeated efforts to have a group sit down with CMS didn’t materialize, even though at least one football coach was represented in the focus group CMS athletics put together to discuss stipends.

Ultimately, the football coaches decided on the boycott option and targeted a potential regular-season game this month.

On Oct. 6, CMS athletics sent an email to all high school principals and athletic directors to “address some concerning rumors regarding a potential boycott by our football coaches in response to issues surrounding their pay.”

The email said the athletic department “is actively working on a proposal to review coaches’ stipends, which will be submitted to the Budget Department as a request for the 26-27 budget work session for consideration.”

The email also asked schools to have a plan in place in case a boycott happened, saying games would go on as scheduled.

Each school was asked to submit a contingency plan by Oct. 9.

The coaches said they were pleased to hear of plans to address pay. The email, combined with the districts comments to The Observer Tuesday, were enough to assuage them, they say — for now.

“It’s amazing if it comes through,” the coaches told The Observer, “because it’s not been given. It’s been earned. This is long overdue.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 6:30 AM.