I have been asked to be a parent sitting in on the interview process for a new activities/athletics director for our high school. I’m crowd sourcing here to see what traits you would look for? Red flags? Great interview questions? This is far outside of my wheel house so I’m sure there are things about the job that I haven’t considered.
Thanks
I would ask about their views and experiences with difficult parents. Parents demanding more playing time for their kids and ADs not supporting the coaches in the face of overly-involved parents is a real problem for school coaches.
Also the AD’s views on his or her role in preventing bullying and sexual harassment should be explored.
This is a bit different. At my daughter’s high school there is a figure skating team which represent the school. It doesn’t fall under the school/state altheletic association rules nor is it part of a sport that can lead to gym exemption since they follow United States Figure Skating Association rules… However our athletics department recognizes the program in some ways such as selection of student athlete of the week and a yearbook photo. I’m sure there are other groups like this. I would want to know if they will include these students when there are no rules against it.
Have you ever had an experience where you had to make sure a student was benched for bad grades?
Have you ever not benched a student when you should have?
What do you think about students concentrating in only one sport?
How do you prioritize activities vs athletics?
How do you define “success” in athletics?
In terms of winning versus playing time for all, what is your philosophy for elementary
school, middle school, and high school?
What do you believe is the appropriate role of parents in an athletic program?
Our school is about ____% low income. What steps would you take to support these
students?
What is your experience with handling an athletic budget?
How would you allocate funds to different sports?
How familiar are you with college recruiting procedures?
http://www.indianapli.org/wp-content/uploads/Interview-Questions-Athletic-Director.pdf
I’d throw a few hypothetical* situations their way just to see how they think. For instance:
A coach comes to you after being alerted to a group/team chat in which a group of your players have been disparaging players from another town. The coach has been sent screen shots of comments in which players have made racially or economically charged comments about the other town. This conversation has since been taken off line so it’s not possible to tell for sure who was involved. How do you counsel the coach? What actions do you recommend?
A second situation added to the above…The parents of the opposing team have learned about the chat and they’re out for blood, calling your entire athletic program racist. You’ve just gotten a call from the other town’s AD. How do envision the return call going and how do you calm the situation?
A talented player isn’t getting the playing time she wants and her parents are complaining to you, saying the coach isn’t giving her playing time because he doesn’t like her. The coach claims she’s not getting time because she has a lousy attitude and is goofing off and distracting other players. How do you handle the parents?
A low income player’s family keeps sending unauthorized people to pick her up at away games. The coach knows it’s because her parents have difficult work schedules and they’re doing the best they can but he’s only allowed to release her to people who have been put on a list or once the bus has returned to school. The family is part of a program to bring minority students from the city to your suburban town. The last time they were forced to pick her up at school she waited outside the building until 10:00. How do you handle it?
The coach is popular. The girls on his team keep trying to connect with him on social media and hug him when he’s not expecting it. Some have written flattering and slightly sexually charged things on the group chat meant for alerts about things like schedule and field changes such as calling him “Coach hottie”. The coach is doing his best to keep things professional but the girls simply seem to be taking the conversation private and the coach is worried a parent or kid might misinterpret the situation. How do you advise him?
A girl is being excluded. The coach thinks it’s because she narced on her teammates who were posting nasty things on social media about an opposing team. The coach is looking for input. How do you advise him?
Having been an admin assist to an athletic director for many years, I have some experience with what the job entails. I think that this role involves a lot of problem solving and attention to detail, even with the support of coaches, assistants, etc. The logistics of scheduling and getting everybody to the right place at the right time is huge: involving players, coaches, parents, the other school’s team (and their parents), bus drivers, officials, etc. Then it rains and it all has to be redone. I would ask questions about their organizational skills and how they look at the day to day operations. This is one job which requires many kinds of skills, not just people skills (noted by the situational questions discussed by others).
Ok…I’m confused by the phrasing of the question. Is the job limited to athletics or is the person in charge of other activities as well?
Simple. Concentrate on what’s important.
First and foremost. Football is the one sport that truly matters. This is why they have the homecoming football game. Ever been to a homecoming soccer game?
After you are certain that the AD is committed to hiring the best coaches to put out the best football team.
Then and only then you focus on the other sports. Depending upon your region that might be boy’s basketball, boy’s lacrosse, wrestling, baseball etc. And, the additional resources should be focused on the other programs.
^I certainly hope this is a joke.
I don’t think it is a joke, Sue22. Usually schools that have football teams are football focused.
I think you have to determine if the AD will also be running budgets, trying to fund raise, being a school administrator, teaching a class. When I was in high school, our AD was also the vice principal and the football coach. He relied on the other coaches and gym teachers to work out conflicts. At my daughter’s first high school, the AD ran a $40M athletic complex (yes, at a high school with 1000 students) and he needed to bring in the money. The students paid to play, the fields and courts and pool and gym were rented out all the time. He was a business man. I don’t think he was very involved with the school or with the kids’ attendance or grades at all. At daughter’s final school, the AD received the attendance and grade reports every day. Didn’t go to class? Can’t practice or play. I saw him pull kids off the fields. He didn’t teach a class, but it was clear his job was as an educator. He was involved in the concession stand, in conflicts between the marching band practicing on the football field and the soccer team (and the sprinkler schedule). He wrote LOR for recruits. He made sure the school was in compliance with state sports requirements.
I get that football might be the school’s most prominent sport, but does @MAGAdad61’s community not contain any girls?
Sure. The football team needs cheerleaders, doesn’t it? 
Everywhere we’ve been, football is king. Even where my daughter is now, football is king even though the rowing team does very well and the AD is the rowing coach. The hierarchy is football, rowing…and way in the distance all other sports.
At a few schools, basketball is the name of the game. Last year Maryland won both the NCAA men’s and women’s lax championships. I’ll bet football and basketball still got more attention.
A private school near me has a homecoming soccer game. The football team is a co-op and has multiple homes and apparently does not have a real home coming.
At our local HS boys’ soccer and football share the limelight in the fall. Both teams, as well as the girls’ soccer team, are usually in the state championships, so all three get town-wide support. We have a number of other teams that get a lot of attention as well. Maybe it’s because we have strong girls’ teams, but I can’t imagine omitting women’s sports from any conversation about HS athletics.
Rowing is a tough sport to drum up a fan base for because it’s so brief and because you can’t see the rowers for most of the course. I had a rower and trying to watch her races was a test of even my patience.
My high school doesn’t have a homecoming game. The biggest community sports event is the annual cancer fundraising game day. It started in 2007 as a single game to support the assistant coach’s mother in her fight against breast cancer. It’s now a full day event that last year had 16 teams and raised $65,000 for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Pretty much the whole sports-watching portion of the town shows up. Each kid on our soccer team wears a pink jersey with the name of someone who’s dealt with breast cancer on the back.
My bad. I expressed this in a poor way.
I am a huge proponent of women’s sports. Think they are awesome and I am old enough to recall when girls sports were a bit of an oddity. Now - it is “cool” and desirable for girls to play sports. As it should be.
What I meant to say was football gives the whole school a focus to rally around and then regionally every area has its special areas. For instance- Here on Long Island - we have very strong lacrosse, both boys and girls.