OKRef -
I was in the same boat as you and I actually decided to strictly do the officiating thing.
Schedule - For the most part as an official, you can schedule your on and off days that you can and can't work. Being a school coach, you have practice or games every day of the week M-F and some Saturdays. There is little flexibility as a coach with your scheduling.
Pay - With the exception of a varsity head coach (and not by much), you can typically make more money officiating than coaching.
Headaches & Frustrations - As an official you are getting yelled at by fans and coaches for the hour or so that the game is going on. After that game or games, you can go home and get rid of the headaches. As a coach, you have to face those parents every day and if you have a headache, sometimes those will last for your entire season. Usually the kids are there to have fun, but the parents are a whole other story. In this day and age, if they want to get the coach fired, then they will get the coach fired. I have seen this way to much especially with girls' teams as the parents begin to make acquisitions.
It all comes down to whats in your heart. Do you want to coach or do you want to officiate. Maybe the happy medium is to officiate during the week and coach a rec league team on Saturday mornings. That way you can do both things.
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