As a coach, you want to be successful and do all you can to achieve positive outcomes. However, sometimes you unknowingly block your team’s success.
What Actually Makes Coaching Candidates Stand Out
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Every coach wants to know the same thing going into an interview:
“What actually separates candidates?”
Not in theory. Not in a generic “be yourself” sense.
But in real search rooms…what do Athletic Directors actually notice?
As part of our recent national coaching search study at Bechler Leadership, we asked Athletic Directors a simple but revealing question:
“What have candidates done to stand out during the interview process?”
Their answers were consistent, and instructive.
While many things matter in a search, three themes rose clearly above the rest.
How to Evaluate Your Offseason Program for High School Teams
The legendary football coach George Allen was the first to say, “What you do during the offseason determines what you do during the regular season.”
Success during the regular season doesn’t just happen because we want it to. Wishing is not a strategy.
Whatever we want for our athletes, coaching staff, or team during the regular season must be built in the offseason. Games and matches might be contested during the regular season, but athletes and teams are made in the offseason.
Why Coaches Get Eliminated Before the Interview
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There’s a hard truth in the college athletics hiring process that many coaches underestimate:
You are being evaluated long before the interview.
In fact, based on our recent study of Athletic Directors, many candidates never even make it to that stage, not because of experience, but because of what shows up (or doesn’t show up) in their resume and cover letter.
This isn’t about perfection. It’s about signals.
And right now, too many candidates are sending the wrong ones.
What REAL Leadership Looks Like
You’re a coach, which means you have a position of leadership. However, keep in mind that just because you have a business card, plaque on your office door, or embroidered shirts saying “coach” doesn’t mean you are a good leader. There are plenty of politicians, CEOs, administrators, and yes, even coaches that aren’t maximizing the leadership potential of their positions.
Your status as a coach provides you a tremendous opportunity and starting point to make a positive impact on people. Leadership isn’t about positions or status, but about influence. Anyone can be a leader because anyone can have influence. However, you have a head start because you have power, status, and authority. You have a built-in platform and opportunity to use your power for good … or for bad.
The Hiring Mistake Athletic Directors Keep Making
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In college athletics, we hold a clear expectation for our coaches:
They recruit.
They don’t sit back and wait for prospective student-athletes to fill out an interest form and hope the right ones show up. They evaluate, build relationships, pursue, and compete for the best possible fit for their program.
Because we all know what happens if they don’t.
The roster suffers. The program plateaus. The results follow.
And yet, when it comes to hiring coaches, many athletic departments take the exact opposite approach.
They post the job. They review the applicants. They hire the best candidate who applied.
No real recruiting. No proactive outreach. No pursuit of the best possible fit.
Just… selection from the available pool.
6 Things Coaches Do On High Performance Teams
As a coach, you’re constantly trying to lead your team as far as you can each season. This is true regardless of your resources or talent.
However, some coaches are blessed to be a part of programs that have high-performing individuals. High-performing teams usually have individuals that are more talented than most, but as coach, your role is to get the most out of them.
Interview Questions That Lead to Better Coaching Hires
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At Bechler Leadership, we’ve been studying one simple question with Athletic Directors:
“What’s a favorite interview question you ask when hiring a coach?”
The responses were incredibly revealing, not because of the questions themselves, but because of what sits underneath them.
What became clear very quickly is this:
Athletic Directors are not using interviews to confirm résumés. They are using them to evaluate leadership.
Overcoming the Odds
“Impossible odds set the stage for amazing miracles.” (Jentezen Franklin)
🔊 Click here to listen to a 1-minute audio version of this story.
The 2022 Kentucky Derby saw an incredible underdog story when an alternate horse gained entry into the prestigious race at the last minute.
Rich Strike was an 80-1 longshot but emerged as the victor in the 2nd biggest upset in Derby history.
The On-Campus Audition: Moving from Candidate to Head Coach
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In college athletics, the on-campus interview is rarely a “final check.” It is a high-stakes, multi-stakeholder audition for leadership.
While your win-loss record and tactical philosophy got you in the door, they won’t necessarily get you the keys to the office. On campus, you are being evaluated by a disparate group of stakeholders, from the Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) and student life staff to fellow coaches and student-athletes. They aren’t just looking for a coach, they are looking for a brand ambassador, a risk manager, and a coalition builder.
To leave campus as the clear choice, you must shift the room’s perception from “this is a strong candidate” to “this person is already our head coach.”
Here are three essential “Dos” and three critical “Don’ts” to help you command the room and close the deal.
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