SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

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.

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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

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.

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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

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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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

When I used to do recruiting consulting for college coaches, I always strongly recommended that they develop some kind of detailed grading scale for recruits.

There is certainly a “gut” or “feel” factor when evaluating a player. Experienced coaches often know when someone looks like a good fit.

But when you define categories that matter to you in a recruit, and then numerically grade and rank them, it creates a much more consistent process.

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