The Top 10 Assistant Soccer Coach Interview Questions in 2023

Possible Head Soccer Coach Interview Questions

• Why do you want to be a coach here? Kalaheo Interview Answer: (1) I found it impressive that Coach Alan Heu was Kalaheo’s head soccer coach for 15 years. I think coaches don’t stay with a team unless they love what they do. He stayed for 15 years, which says a lot about the school, the players, and the staff. (2) The varsity girls’ team was promoted to Division I last year. I would enjoy the challenge of developing and training players to do well at the Division I level. (3) Kalaheo school is participating in OIA. I like the league, and I know a few OIA high school coaches.
• What is your soccer philosophy? If you want to read about my soccer coaching philosophy, click here. Summary: Attack minded coaching. The players need to work hard to get good at technical skills. This lets the team play both direct and possession styles of football. Integrity to win, fairly by the rules, with honor. a never-ending desire to beat our opponents, real competitive spirit when we’re competing, and the discipline to never give up when things get tough I don’t like coaches who talk a lot because I’m a player. When I coach, I do my best to keep my points short, easy, and as word-light as possible.
• Could you go into more detail about how you usually do things? I believe in and follow the USSF stage I–IV session organizer. Here are some examples of training sessions I’ve planned: A typical practice session would be 90-120 minutes in duration. Most of the time, I plan a technical activity like footwork or passing for Stage-I (warm-up). As part of the warm-up, I always include dynamic stretching to get the muscles ready for more intense activity. In Stage II (small-sided games), you might work on 1v1 (2v2, 3v3) moves and combination plays with mini-goals or cones that aren’t too big. For Stage III (expanded activity), we would use two full-sized goals with goalkeepers and players who can move up and down, stay neutral, or hit the ball. For Stage-IV game activities, I like to play 5v5 or up to 7v7 with even numbers. I let the players play and use breaks to make coaching points.
• How do you deal with fan criticism? I try to keep an open mind, be kind, and be patient, because fans are just looking at me from the outside. Outsiders can’t see the whole picture, so I don’t take their criticism seriously. Being aware of this helps me stay calm when fans criticize me. I don’t easily get angry when someone criticizes me, another player, the team, the school, or the referee. Everyone is going to have an opinion, and I’m okay with hearing them. “If you don’t like criticism, don’t coach,” another coach told me once. I guess I can handle it since I still love coaching.
• What are your plans for hiring assistant coaches? Will you keep any of the ones you already have? I would like to keep assistant coaches, but not until I meet them and get to know them, like at a tryout or preseason event. If you need to hire new assistant coaches, I know a few coaches through AYSO, Club Soccer, and coaching courses that I could talk to.
• Can you call an NCAA Division 1 coach and ask them to look for a player?
• How will you handle the winning tradition here?
• I can’t think of a simple answer to this question. How can you turn a soccer team that is losing into one that is winning? It depends on why a team is losing in the first place. For instance, if the problem is team bonding, or playing well together as a group, it can be fixed quickly by making sure that training is always done in a professional, fair, and safe way, every week. If some athletes are being disruptive or stopping the team from gelling, I think those people need to change how they act or risk being kicked off the team as a last resort. If the team is losing because of its skills and abilities, there is no quick fix for this issue. In this case, I would focus on the player pipeline, getting younger players, and getting more involved with youth development in the community. In other words, I would have a long-term plan to turn the program around from losing to winning.
• How will you earn the trust of the players and parents? I would earn the trust of both groups by being professional, knowledgeable, respectful, consistent, following through, giving information at the right time, and setting realistic expectations.
• What experiences do you have with (inner city/rural, etc.) student-athletes?
• What are you going to do to help your players get better grades overall? I strongly believe in tutoring after school, so I would encourage my athletes to use the tutoring services we offer at school. I wouldn’t mind being late to practice as long as it was for the sake of academic improvement. In this case, I would ask the athlete to bring me a note from their teacher. I would also be happy to talk to the student about the problems they are having in school and help them come up with a way to get better, ideally with the help of their teacher(s).
• What makes you different from the other applicants? (1) I work out regularly to stay in shape, and I also work on my own technical skills (like moves, passing, and shooting). (2) I still play ice hockey and soccer. (3) I’m always learning more about the modern game and getting better at coaching it. (4) I know how to win, but I only want to follow the rules. When I lose, the first thing I do is figure out why. Then I make changes to get better. I try not to blame or make excuses for things I can’t change, like the field, the referee, the weather, the fans, or anything else that might be outside my control. (5) I don’t believe in luck other than the luck you make. I believe in being responsible for yourself, working hard on your own, and always wanting to win. I expect and work toward these traits, and I hope that my players do too. If they don’t, I’ll do my best to help them take some of my life ideas and make them their own.
• What do you think about replacing a popular coach? I think it will take time to earn the trust and respect of the players, especially those who were loyal to their old coach and were very upset when they lost him. It will be up to the new coach to show what they can do and say, so getting off on the right foot and making a good first impression will be very important. It could take weeks to get players to “buy in,” especially if the new coach has very different daily training routines and styles than the old coach. Maybe some players want to leave the team. If that’s the case, I’d ask them to stay and give it a shot for a few weeks. We need that time to get to know each other. Be well prepared and prompt.
• In your coaching career, what are two of the biggest mistakes you’ve made? (1) Yelling and pressuring U10 girls to win games when they didn’t want to; they just wanted to have fun and didn’t care about the score. (2) Only teaching your team how to attack and not teaching them how to defend as well
• What will the athletic director and principal do for your soccer program? Help me get in touch with the youth soccer community near the school. Keep an eye on and punish student athletes who are having problems with their grades or behavior. Managing budget, equipment, uniforms, identifing good assistant coaches. Safety and emergency plans for what to do in case of an accident Training and league regulations, rules, eligibilty and compliance. Transportation plans and budget. Help recomending and hiring assistant coaches. Field maintenance and setup .
• How will you get more people to join the program? Before pre-season, I would make a one-page flyer to hand out around the school campus and an online banner for the school’s website and/or social media sites. On both flyers, you could find out what, when, and where, as well as about the coaching staff and their philosophy. Making a Team Handbook: A team handbook is a tried-and-true way to keep your soccer program organized. You can tell your athletes about your program’s personality and most of the important administrative details they need to know in a handbook. It also has pages for your athletes to write down practice notes and thoughts about their game, as well as pages with team history and motivational quotes. The team handbook becomes the written document of your program. “Well-behaved women seldom make history. “You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you take” — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich ” – Anonymous “Nice guys finish last. — Leo Durocher “Keep going even when things are bad” Churchill said, “The point of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other guy die for his.” ” – General George S. Patton “He who angers you conquers you. She said, “It’s better to be a lion for a day than a sheep your whole life.” Liz Kenny: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” ” – Samuel Goldwyn .
• What are you going to do if a teacher tells you that a player was bad in class? I would first talk to the student athlete about the problem in private. Depending on how the discussion goes and the specifics of the teacher/classroom problem, I may take some kind of action or punishment against their participation in sports. Another less harsh option would be to keep an eye on and evaluate the player’s attitude going forward, for example, for one to two weeks or until the student athlete shows improvement.
• What is your off-season conditioning program like?
• What do you think about athletes who play more than one sport? I think it’s good for young athletes to play more than one sport. Overuse injuries are less likely to happen, and if a student athlete is happy playing more than one sport, their coach shouldn’t stop them.
• In the big picture of the school, what role does soccer play?
• What is your opinion of youth soccer?
• How will you generate community interest for the program?
• How will you deal with a parent who is angry about their child’s playing time? I think “playing time” is something that should be set before the season starts, even before the tryouts. If a parent asked me why I chose the players’ playing time, I would tell them that it was based on their skill and work rate, not on anything or anyone else. Get better and work harder than your teammates if you want to play more.
• How will you handle it if a player openly criticizes the decisions you make as a coach?
• What does “success” mean for the Freshman, Junior Varsity, and Varsity teams?

The following are some things to think about prior to walking into that interview.

• Know something about the school. For instance, my old school has a great reputation for both academics and sports. Most schools are also distinctive in some manner. The candidate should know what makes a school stand out because most of the questions will be about what makes that school unique.
• Dont say anything negative about the former coach. One of the candidates for our position did just that. He must not have known that I had a lot of respect for our old coach. This is not a good way to make a good first impression. The interview is where you should say if you want to change the way you coach from what you did before. However, dont take shots at the previous coach.
• You don’t want to give stiff, memorized answers, but you should be ready for common questions. When I asked one of the candidates to explain how he coaches, he had a hard time. He looked like this question had never been asked of him before. Surely this is one question for which you should prepared.
• When you answer a question, don’t say more than what is asked. Some candidates just kept talking because they didn’t know when to stop. In doing so, they gave out some information that hurt their campaign instead of helping it. One candidate talked about a weakness he thought he had more than once. In the event that someone asks, “Name one area in which you can improve,” you will need to give an honest answer. However, dont volunteer this information unless it is specifically asked. Also, try to put a positive spin to it.
• “Please take two to three minutes and tell me something about yourself,” is our first question most of the time. This is done so that the candidate has time to calm down and is less likely to get nervous at the start of the interview. Some of the candidates’ answers and the paths they took were very telling. All candidates would be better off if they had prepared something that would help their campaign but not reveal anything bad or questionable.
• Know that there is a thin line between being sure of yourself and being cocky. “What are some qualities that good coaches might have?” was one of the questions I asked. “The next question was, “OK, which of these qualities do you think you possess?” I was shocked when one candidate quickly and without hesitation said, “All of them.” “The answer comes across badly, even if it’s true.” We can all work on and get better at things, right? No one is perfect.
• One candidate told me over and over what getting this job would mean to him and his plans for the future. He clearly wants the job, which I can understand, but the answers should have been more focused on what he could do for our athletes and our program. As the athletic director, this is what I care about the most, so it should be easy for candidates to understand. To be successful, a candidate must impress the interviewer.
• More than once, the candidates kept answering a question that they really didn’t fully understand. If you don’t understand a question, ask the interviewer to say it again or in a different way. There is nothing wrong with asking for a clarification. How well you answer questions is important to your success, and you can’t do that if you don’t even understand the question.
• Another thing that’s fine is pausing for a moment to gather your thoughts. Too many of the candidates were fearful of silence. It’s better to take a few quiet seconds to think of an answer than to give one quickly and badly.
• Bring written copies of your coaching philosophy, off-season workout plan, summer workout plan, and playbook. These are other ways of greatly impressing the interviewer. You can offer a copy that backs up your answer at the right time during the interview, like after answering a related question. This is a great way to show that you have not only studied for the interview but also have a well-thought-out coaching philosophy and method. Not one of the five candidates did this.
• Be prepared to answer hypothetical questions. So, what would you do if one of your players (or your star athlete) was at a party over the weekend where alcohol was served? The question is probably being asked because of a problem that happened at the school in the past, which is a real concern. You should take a moment to think about this because your answer will be taken very seriously, even though it’s just a guess.
• At the end of every interview, I ask, “Do you have any questions for me or about our program?” None of the five candidates did. This doesn’t make me think that you’re really ready for the interview. This is your last chance to really impress the interviewer if you have even one good question. Even if you know the answer, dont miss this opportunity! .
• It was also interesting to see if any of the candidates would send a thank-you note or, more likely these days, an email. This is another surefire way to show the interviewer how professional and well-mannered you are. Even if all the candidates have the same background and experience, these little things are often what set them apart.

Besides these suggestions, there are some answers that will make a lot of athletic directors uncomfortable. Try to avoid any mention of:

• A poor relationship with a former athletic director. Why should I hire someone who had a problem with someone in the same job at a different school?
• Inappropriate approaches with parents, the press or other coaches. These connections are very important to any sports program and are usually very delicate. Why hire someone who has a history of doing bad things in these areas?
• sudden resignation from their last job without a good reason or switching jobs all the time Why take the chance that this will happen again at your school if it will happen again elsewhere?
• Inappropriate or foul language. All coaches represent the school and project its . Also, good sportsmanship is becoming more and more important in many schools’ sports programs, so anything that could hurt or get in the way of that will not be welcomed.
• Some people think their sport is the most important or only important sport. You should be excited and passionate about your sport, but most athletic directors and programs value all of their sports. Someone who doesn’t agree with this philosophical approach won’t be welcome, which makes sense.

Being prepared for and practicing for interviews is only natural for coaches since they are such an important part of getting a coaching job. Very few coaches would approach a game without having prepared in practice sessions. Why would you enter an interview without making this same type of effort?.

Research the school or club as best as possible.

• What the school’s history is like (failed tax levies, falling enrollment, etc.) ).
• The tenure of the last three head coaches.
• The status of facilities (field, locker rooms, conditioning equipment, e.g.)

Know that you are one of at least five people being interviewed in the first round. Many schools link having more interviews to being more well-known in the community, media, etc. Also, many positions have a front-runner before the first interview is given.

Be Yourself Convey enthusiasm and make sure your body language is sending the proper signals during the interview. Ask questions which pertain to the position, as it relays an interest in the position.

Dress Professionally Do not wear shorts and a t-shirt, dress in business attire. You can wear something that matches the school or club’s main colors as long as it’s neat and clean.

Interview 3 Saint Louis School, Head Varsity Boys Soccer Coach

Thursday May 14th, 2015

• “What do you tell your team on the first day of practice?” A: This was the first time someone asked me this. and I had never really thought about it. I thought about what I could say for a moment before looking up at the ceiling. So my answer was. The only thing I would do is briefly introduce myself and the other assistant coaches. Then we would start training and get to know each other while we played and trained together. ” .

Interview Result: did not get the position.

Feedback: none, and did not solicit.

High School Coach Interview Questions with Answer Examples