SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

By the time a coaching search reaches the finalist stage, it is easy for an athletic department to think primarily about one question:

Do we want to hire this person?

That is obviously important.

But the candidate is trying to answer an equally important question:

Do I actually want this job?

As part of our 2026 College Coaching Job Search Study (to be published soon), we asked more than 300 college coaches which parts of a finalist or campus interview would be most valuable to them.

The top responses were:

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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

The interview process should not be handled lightly by the athletic director and hiring committee. It is a huge opportunity to make a huge decision for the institution.

Recently, I shared an articlerelated to our recent national study with Athletic Directors about the coaching search process. In this article I discussed the focus of questions asked by ADs in the process. But, now I wanted to speak to those of you in those interview rooms, asking the questions.

Here are a few quick tips for making those interviews more effective based on what is working for other ADs around the country:

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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

A formal interview tells you a lot about a coaching candidate.

But it does not tell you everything.

In fact, some of the most useful information in a coaching search comes before and after the interview itself. How a candidate communicates, prepares, follows through, treats people, asks questions, and handles the full process often gives an athletic director a clearer picture of how that person may operate once hired.

The interview is the performance.

The process often reveals the pattern.

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