Contributed by Coach Jerry Campbell at jcfb.com, 30+ years of coaching experience
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The wrong assistant coach does not just hurt your staff. It could cost your athletes an entire season.
At CoachBridge we see it every day. Programs across every sport and every state are understaffed, and the turnover rate among assistant coaches is higher than most people realize. Schools post positions and struggle to find candidates. Programs finally hire someone and six months later they are starting the process all over again.
A lot of that turnover comes down to one thing: hiring the wrong person in the first place.
Finding candidates is the first challenge. That is exactly what CoachBridge was built for. But once the candidates are in the door, you still have to make sure you hire the right fit for your program. Asking the right questions in the interview is how you change that.
We reached out to Coach Jerry Campbell, who has been coaching for over 30 years, to share what he looks for when sitting across from a candidate. These are not questions about X's and O's. They are questions that reveal character, culture fit, and whether this person is someone you can actually build with.
Here are the seven questions you should be asking.
1. Give a specific example of how you have positively impacted an athlete.
This is one of the most powerful questions you can ask. It immediately tells you whether a candidate cares more about developing people than installing a scheme. Make sure they know this is not the time for modesty. You want a real example, not a highlight reel answer.
The response also tells you a lot about cultural fit. If you hire an assistant who does not share the values your program is built around it does not matter how many wins you pile up. At some point something breaks because the most important things were never aligned.
2. What have you learned from mistakes on the job?
Most candidates will give you a guarded answer here and that is expected. Do not focus on what went wrong. Focus on how they handled it, took ownership, and made changes. What you are really trying to find out is whether this person can admit when they are wrong and do the work to get better. Just like your athletes, your coaches are going to make mistakes. You want someone who can rise above them and keep improving when it counts most.
3. Describe the role you see yourself taking on during practices and games.
Most candidates will be off base with this answer and that is completely fine. The value of this question is now what they say. It is the converdation that follows. Do they address the team in the huddle? Do they pull athletes aside for individual coaching? Do they run drills while you evaluate? Getting these things on the table before day one creates the kind of clarity that keeps small misunderstandings from turning into bigger problems mid season.
4. How do you plan on getting athletes to buy into their roles on the team?
Every roster has athletes who are not getting the playing time or role they hoped for. How an assistant handles those conversations says everything about who they are as a coach. This question tells you how much they are willing to invest in the athletes who need the most encouragement, not just the ones already bought in. It also reveals something less obvious: whether they trust the vision you have set and can reinforce it when you are not in the room.
5. How would you handle a philosophical difference with the head coach or another assistant?
Disagreements on a coaching staff are inevitable. This question is now about what their philosophies are. It is about whether they can handle conflict without it becoming a distraction. Can they find a compromise when there is room for one? Can they step back and support your decision when the situation calls for it? The answer tells you a lot about whether this person makes your staff stronger or more complicated.
6. How do you plan on improving as a coach from year to year?
Every coach will tell you they want to get better. Not every coach does the work. Listen for specifics here, not generalities. What are they actually reading, watching, or learning from? How do they think about their own development? The coaches who grow year over year are the ones who make your program better over time. The ones who coast are the ones you replace.
7. What would you try to teach your athletes besides the sport?
This is the question that tells you what kind of person you are really hiring. The answer reveals the traits they want to build in young athletes. Perseverance, accountability, respect, character. You do not want to hire someone because you are impressed by what they know about the game and then find out they have nothing to offer when it matters most
The Bottom Line
Coaching turnover is one of the biggest challenges facing programs today. At CoachBridge we see it across thousands of schools. Programs that hire the wrong assistant do not just lose a coach. They lose time, stability, and continuity for their athletes.
The right hire starts with asking the right questions. Use these seven every time you sit down with a candidate, and you will walk away with a much clearer picture of who you are actually bringing into your program.Â
Ready to find your next assistant coach? Post your open positions free at CoachBridge.org and get in front of thousands of coaches actively looking for opportunities.
