SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

Hiring a college coach is one of the most important decisions an athletic director makes.

It is also one of the hardest.

A coach hire affects far more than wins and losses. It shapes team culture, student-athlete experience, retention, department morale, institutional alignment, and the long-term direction of a program.

That is why we recently gathered input from 60 college athletic directors across junior colleges, NAIA programs, and NCAA Divisions I, II, and III for our 2026 College Coaching Search Report. The goal was simple: better understand what athletic directors are experiencing, noticing, valuing, and struggling with in today’s coaching searches.

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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

Every coaching candidate talks about culture.

They believe in accountability. They care about relationships. They want to recruit high-character student-athletes. They value hard work, trust, discipline, and family.

Those are good words. But in a coaching search, they are not enough.

One of the biggest mistakes an athletic director can make is allowing “culture” to remain vague. When culture becomes a personality impression, the process drifts toward questions like, “Did we like this person?” or “Do they seem like they would fit here?”

Those questions may feel natural, but they are not enough to guide a high-stakes hire.

The better question is this:

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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

Every coaching candidate has weaknesses.

That is important to remember. The goal of a search is not to find a perfect coach. No such person exists. Every candidate has growth areas, blind spots, and situations they have not handled as well as they would like.

But there is a difference between a normal growth area and a warning sign.

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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

When athletic directors hire a coach, it is natural to focus first on the program.

Can this person recruit?

Can they coach the sport?

Can they build a competitive roster?

Can they connect with student-athletes?

Can they create a healthy team culture?

Those questions matter. But there is another question that deserves just as much attention:

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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

Hiring a college coach is one of the most important decisions an athletic director makes.

It is also one of the easiest decisions to misread.

Not because athletic directors are careless. Most are not. They work hard, ask thoughtful questions, involve key people, and carry the weight of knowing how much the hire matters.

But coaching searches are difficult because the most visible parts of a candidate are not always the most predictive.

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SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM DAN CHRISTENSEN 

Many coaches assume the hiring process starts when the interview begins.

Athletic Directors would tell you it starts much earlier.

It starts the moment they open your resume and cover letter.

And whether you realize it or not, they are asking one central question:

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