Struggling
Need some advice.
Over the last five years, I’ve dedicated my life to building my coaching resume by assisting at various levels across the U.S. and Europe. I spent every off-season flying around the world to attend camps, training sessions, and clinics to network and grow as a coach. I even built my own self-sustaining business so I could coach full-time without relying on a stipend, with the goal of deferring my pay to my future assistant coaches once I landed a head coaching role.
Finally, it all felt worth it. I received an offer to be the head coach at a Top 20 school in the state. It was my dream job and the place I hoped to eventually retire. I was supposed to start in early July, so I bought a house and moved my entire family across the state.
Then, just one week before my start date, HR emailed me to say the job offer had been rescinded because my background check did not pass. I am destroyed, and my whole family is in shock.
When they shared the report with me, it flagged a single marijuana possession charge from 13 years ago when I was an 18-year-old kid making a dumb mistake. The charge was eventually vacated. At previous schools, this occasionally came up, but after a brief explanation, it was never an issue. This time, however, the screener marked my report as "ineligible."
I feel completely defeated. Coaching is my absolute passion, and I did everything in my power to set myself up for a limitless career. Now, I’m terrified that I might never be able to get a head coaching job because of a single, decade-old vacated charge, and I fear all my hard work was for nothing. I don’t know what my next step is.