Using a Grading Scale to Improve Your Coaching Hires

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.

It allows you to:

• Compare recruits more clearly
• Evaluate prospects against your current team or past athletes
• Reduce reliance on memory or emotional impressions
• Create a more systematic evaluation process

I’m a bit of a stats guy, so this approach has always made sense to me when it comes to recruiting.

Recently, though, I was reminded that this same idea can apply to something just as important.

Hiring coaches.

A Conversation That Made the Idea Click

The other day I had a great conversation with Tim Sceggel, Ed.D. , the Vice President for Athletics at LeTourneau University.

He shared that he uses a similar grading approach when evaluating coaching candidates during a search.

That idea really clicked with me for several reasons.

1. It Clarifies What Actually Matters in Your Search

Using a scoring system forces you to think intentionally about what matters most in a coaching hire.

As the athletic director, or whoever is leading the search, you must decide:

• What characteristics are critical
• Which ones are important
• And which are simply nice to have

Without defining these priorities, it’s easy for searches to become driven by personalities, impressions, or the latest conversation.

A grading scale helps ensure that the most important qualities carry the most weight in your decision-making.

2. It Helps Your Hiring Committee Stay Aligned

Many coaching searches involve multiple people:

• Other coaches
• Athletic department staff
• Faculty members
• Administrators

But not everyone always shares the same assumptions about what the ideal candidate looks like.

A clear grading system gives the entire hiring committee a shared framework for evaluating candidates.

Everyone understands:

• What the department values
• Which qualities matter most
• How candidates will be compared

When committees operate without that alignment, searches can stall or become more complicated than they need to be. But when everyone understands the criteria, and how they are weighted, it helps keep the group focused and productive.

Every School’s Priorities Are Different

One of the biggest advantages of this approach is that it allows you to customize the evaluation based on your institution’s priorities.

For example:

At some schools, faith integration may be a major factor and carry significant weight in the hiring process.

At other institutions, a coach’s ability to recruit and help drive enrollment may be more important than their past win–loss record.

In some situations, the department may need someone who can rebuild culture, restore accountability, and navigate past drama, even if they have less head coaching experience.

Every program is different. A grading scale simply helps you define those priorities clearly.

How to Create Your Own Coaching Evaluation Scale

If you haven’t tried something like this before, I would encourage you to make a simple list.

Start by asking yourself:

What factors matter most when hiring a college coach at your institution?

Some possible categories might include:

• Personality and relational fit
• Recruiting success
• Head coaching experience
• Previous experience at your division level
• Regional recruiting connections
• Ability to integrate faith (for faith-based institutions)
• Cultural leadership and program development
• Past winning results
• Alumni status or institutional familiarity

Once you have your categories, assign each one a weight.

You could keep the system simple by making it out of 100 total points.

For example:

• Personality / relational fit – 20 points
• Head coaching experience – 25 points
• Recruiting ability – 20 points
• Cultural leadership – 15 points
• Experience at your level – 5 points
• Alumni connection – 5 points
• Other factors – remaining points

These weights will look different for every school.

That’s the point.

Use the System During the Search

Once you’ve built your grading scale, review it with your hiring committee before the search begins.

As you interview candidates and learn more about them, each committee member can score candidates within the categories.

Then you can:

• Compare scores
• Discuss differences in evaluation
• Identify strengths and concerns
• Narrow the candidate pool more objectively

Instead of relying purely on discussion and memory, you now have a shared evaluation system guiding the process.

It’s a Tool — Not a Rule

Of course, this doesn’t mean you automatically hire the candidate with the highest score.

Hiring still involves judgment.

But the grading system can help you:

• Identify your strongest candidates
• Clarify where candidates differ
• Reveal when something in your scale might need adjusting

For example, if you find yourself leaning toward a candidate who scored slightly lower overall, it may reveal that one of the qualities they possess should carry more weight in your evaluation system.

In that way, the process can actually help you refine how you think about hiring.

A Simple System That Can Improve Your Process

Hiring the right coach is one of the most important decisions an athletic department makes.

Creating a simple evaluation scale won’t eliminate every challenge, but it can bring clarity, alignment, and consistency to the process.

And sometimes, those small structural improvements can make a big difference.

If you’re interested in building something like this for your department and want help thinking it through, feel free to reach out. I’d be glad to talk with you about it.