The Hiring Mistake Athletic Directors Keep Making

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.

The Reality: The Best Coaches Often Aren’t Looking

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

The best candidate for your job often doesn’t even know your job is open.

And even if they do, they’re probably not applying.

Why would they?

• They’re already leading a program successfully
• They’re respected and established
• They’re not actively looking to leave
• They’re focused on their team, not job boards

Meanwhile, the applicant pool often consists of:

• Coaches actively looking (for good reasons or concerning ones)
• Assistants trying to move up
• Coaches from lower levels seeking opportunity
• Candidates between jobs

Now, there are great hires in every one of those categories. No question.

But if you limit your search to only those who apply, you’re automatically excluding a large percentage of high-level, proven coaches.

You’re not evaluating the full market.

You’re evaluating the available market.

And those are not the same thing.

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Why This Happens

To be fair, there are real reasons athletic directors take this approach.

1. Time and Capacity

Most ADs are already stretched thin.

Managing staff. Handling crises. Fundraising. Compliance. Game operations.

Running a full coaching search is already demanding, let alone adding the layer of proactively identifying and recruiting candidates.

Recruiting coaches the right way takes:

• Research
• Outreach
• Relationship-building
• Follow-up
• Discretion

That’s real work. And most ADs simply don’t have the bandwidth.

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2. The Discomfort Factor

There’s also a relational tension.

Reaching out to a coach who is:

• Currently employed
• Doing well
• Connected to another AD

…can feel uncomfortable.

Questions come up:

• Is this appropriate?
• What will their AD think?
• Am I putting them in a tough position?

Those are valid concerns. And there are absolutely right and wrong ways to handle those situations.

But avoiding the process entirely isn’t the answer.

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The Standard Still Applies

At the end of the day, the responsibility is clear:

Your job is to find the best possible leader for your program.

Not just the best available applicant.

The best possible fit.

And that requires recruiting.

Whether you:

• Do it yourself
• Delegate internally
• Or partner with a search firm that has the network and bandwidth to do that

…it has to happen.

Because if it doesn’t, you’re not running a true search.

You’re running a selection process.

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The Hidden Cost of “Good Enough”

Here’s where this really matters.

When you don’t recruit candidates, you increase the likelihood of making a hire that is:

• Good, but not ideal
• Capable, but not the best fit
• Available, but not the right leader for the long term

And what happens next?

• Performance falls short of expectations
• Culture doesn’t fully align
• Progress stalls

And within 1–3 years…

You’re running another search.

Which means:

• More time
• More stress
• More institutional disruption
• More resources spent

All because the initial process didn’t go far enough.

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We ask our coaches to:

• Outwork others in recruiting
• Build relationships
• Identify and pursue the right people
• Not settle for what’s easy

That standard shouldn’t disappear at the administrative level.

If anything, it should be elevated.

Because hiring the right coach impacts:

• Every student-athlete in the program
• The culture of your department
• The reputation of your institution
• Your own effectiveness as a leader

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A Better Approach

The strongest searches operate with two tracks:

1. Evaluate the Applicant Pool

There are often strong candidates here. Don’t ignore them.

2. Actively Recruit Beyond It

Identify coaches who:

• Are succeeding where they are
• Align with your institution’s mission
• Might not be looking, but could be open

This is where the best hires are often found.

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Final Thought

Posting a job is not a search strategy.

It’s a starting point.

If you want to hire great coaches, you have to go find them.

Just like you expect your coaches to do every day.