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:
1. Ask for stories, not statements
Instead of:
- “What are your values?”
Ask:
- “Tell me about a time you had to choose between two competing values.”
That shift changes everything.
2. Layer your questions
The first answer is rarely the most revealing.
Follow-up questions like:
- “Why?”
- “What did you learn?”
- “What would you do differently?”
That’s where clarity shows up.
3. Use questions that reveal tradeoffs
Some of the best questions in this dataset did this:
- A success you wouldn’t want to repeat
- Doing the right thing when it cost you
These expose decision-making, not just outcomes.
If there’s one thing this research makes clear, it’s this:
Great interviews don’t reveal who the best coach is. They reveal who the right leader is.
And increasingly, those are not always the same thing.
For Athletic Directors, the opportunity is to ask better, deeper questions.
Dan Christensen is the Director of Collegiate Consulting for Bechler Leadership. Founded by Jamy Bechler in 2018, Bechler Leadership helps schools, athletic departments, and organizations build stronger cultures and maximize their potential. In the last three years, they’ve worked on 60+ searches, specializing in meeting the needs of “smaller” colleges. Dan can be reached at dan@bechlerleadership.com.