Now’s a good time to tell you I went to high school in Ohio, which you may notice is not Texas. Read Friday Night Lights for a view of a world where high school football (yes, I said high school) is insanely big business. (Read the book - the movie doesn’t do it justice, and the TV show is fiction.) And this is out in Odessa, Texas, which is way the hell out in West Texas, where there is Jack-shit else to do, although the book makes it clear that it’s just as crazy in Dallas.
The head coach was the highest-paid school employee and didn’t teach classes - he coached full-time and wasn’t expected to teach (and probably couldn’t have if he wanted to; he had games to win!) It was probably the closest thing to a highly competitive amateur model that one could conceive of, and there was still a lot of shit going on to skirt the rules and a lot of arms races for facilities, equipment, and yes, coaches.