New West Virginia assistant swim coach Sydney Pickrem will receive a base salary of $50,000 per year in her new role. That is significantly higher than the entry-level salaries we’ve seen for elite athletes with limited coaching experience in prior years, likely driven at least in part by changes in federal law.
Pickrem’s contract includes a relocation stipend of $5,000, tickets to home sporting events, annual dues to relevant professional organizations, the potential to share in camp money, and annual performance incentives.
The term of the original contract is one season, which is common for assistant coaching contracts.
Bonus Potentials
NCAA National Team Championship $ 2,500.00
NCAA National Championship Top 10 Team Finish $ 1,000.00
NCAA National Championship Top 20 Team Finish $ 500.00
Conference Postseason Team Championship $ 1,000.00
West Virginia has finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Division I Championships once in program history, when the men tied for 20th in 2007. Sergio Lopez, current head coach at Virginia Tech, led the program at that time.
The Mountaineers have never won a Big 12 team title in swimming & diving, though the departure of the Texas Longhorns and the arrival of teams from Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State will reshape the conference going forward.
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Pickrem’s Background
Pickrem was announced as a new assistant coach under the program’s new head coach Brent MacDonald in July, before competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. At the time, she told SwimSwam that she is still planning to continue training while coaching.
Pickrem, 27, also has seven World Aquatics Championship medals. Earlier this year, she won silver in the 200 IM; in 2019 she won bronze in the 200 IM; and in 2017 she won bronze in the 400 IM. Her other four World Championship medals were in relays.
She also has five World Championship medals in short course, including two gold medals.
Pickrem previously completed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games, which included a bronze medal as the breaststroker on Canada’s women’s medley relay. She also placed 6th in the 200 IM in Tokyo and Rio individually.
In Paris, Pickrem placed 9th individually in the 200 breaststroke and 6th individually in the 200 IM.
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New Overtime Exempt Rules
Beginning on July 1, 2024, the threshold for employees in most states to be exempt from overtime pay increased to $43,888. On January 1, 2025, that threshold will again increase to $58,656. Most college assistants at the NCAA D1 level are paid above that level because of the assumption that they will work more than 8 hours on some days and more than 40 hours weekly.
Pickrem is part of a wave of elite athletes jumping right into assistant coaching positions at Power 4 programs in recent years. Last season, Olympic medalist Annie Lazor was hired at the University of Florida with a starting salary of $45,000.
The Department of Biology invites the community to join its spring ephemeral wildflower walk Sunday (April 12) at the Core Arboretum.
The free guided walks will begin at noon, 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
The walks will take place each Sunday in April.
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Find more information and register to attend.
Last year, more than 45 species of plants were seen in bloom over the course of the wildflower walks.
Individuals are also welcome to visit and see the flowers on their own. Information on how to find and identify the flowers are available at the kiosk.
Those who wish to schedule a group tour outside of the regular schedule or would like to become a volunteer guide, should contact Zach Fowler, WVU Core Arboretum director, at zfowler@mail.wvu.edu.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia University has welcomed back its beloved Research Week for its eighth year.
Research Week at WVU was created to highlight the research efforts of students, faculty and staff across the school’s three campuses and to thank them for helping create the R1 institution’s household name.
Core facilities showcase (WBOY image).
Monday kicked off the week with award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author and historian John M. Barry as a keynote speaker in a conversation “on the power of storytelling to shape public understanding, inform policy, and influence how science is understood in public life,” according to WVU.
One of the events that took place on Tuesday was the Core Facilities showcase held in the Health Science Center, which featured 30 different displays of research.
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12 News spoke with WVU Core Resources Director Karen Martin on why it was important to feature the university’s research projects in this way.
“This is going to be professional development for them so that they can learn the skills that they can then take, not only to do their research now, but that they can take with them for jobs in the future. And we’ve got the cutting-edge, greatest technologies out there, so they’re really competitive, they’ve got good skills when they leave here. And we study everything from diabetes, cancer, neuroscience, just a whole range of everything that we study, and so students really get a lot of opportunities to learn, to understand how the technology works, and they’ve got that to take with them,” Martin said.
Research products that the Core facilities showcase. (WBOY images)
Research Week will continue all across WVU until Friday. You can find a full list of events and virtual seminars on the university’s website here.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Children’s Home Society of West Virginia (CHSWV) is a private, non-profit organization designed to help children find lifetime families, protect and nurture children, and help to strengthen and preserve families. Every year, they offer child welfare, behavioral health, social casework, and advocacy services to 24,000+ children and families statewide.
CHSWV is currently asking for donations and any help possible, as they begin their capital campaign to help raise funds to build a new, larger facility in Morgantown.
“A large portion of our funds goes toward maintaining our current rental space,” Abby Miller, Site Manager at the CHSWV Morgantown Location, said. “The resources that could otherwise be used to expand our services and reach more families are going toward our rent. We’re wanting to raise enough money to have a place of our own to be able to expand our foster care services.”
CHSWV’s goal is to raise $2 million. They have already raised $270,000.
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As well as foster care, CHSWV also provides those in need with a resource room, which supplies clothes, toys, shoes, accessories, and more. Anyone within the community is allowed to come in and pick items out, free of charge.
If you are unable to donate funds toward their campaign, donating to their resource room is another way in which you could aid CHSWV.
“We are always in need of donations, specifically men’s clothing, children’s clothing, children’s furniture, and any household items, as well,” Miler stated.
Last but not least, those interested in becoming a foster parent may call into CHSWV’s office or fill out an inquiry directly through their website. Although the foster care process is long, it has been known to be quite rewarding.
“Foster parents that we have had through us say it’s a rewarding process,” Miller said. “They have opened their home and their heart to be able to help children in need, and that’s the whole point of being a foster parent, whether it’s for a short time, a long time, or forever.
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Those interested in aiding in any way, whether that’s through donating funds, supplies, or becoming a foster parent, can consult in-person at their office in Westover, over the phone at 304-284-0992, or through their website at www.childhswv.org.
