At the end of the season as coaches prepare for the upcoming season, there may be some changes on a coaching staff. When that happens, the opportunity to interview potential new coaches presents an opportunity to interview coaches in an attempt to find a good candidate to fill that open basketball assistant position.

Basketball Assistant Interview Questions

When interviewing potential assistant coaches, I want to avoid asking surface level types of questions. I want to try to dig deep to see what kind of person we are interviewing for the open position.

The types of questions I am interested in asking interested applicants center around two main things: 1. Their philosophy in the game of basketball, and 2. Their values that could rub off onto our young players.

Question 1: What is your offensive development philosophy?

Rationale: I really enjoy asking this question to ensure the applicant we are interviewing is going to fit in with our philosophy as a program. We are a program that likes to spread the ball out and into the hands of as many people as possible. If they believe in isolating and only having one true scorer, this could be a potential issue down the road.

Question 2: Why do you want to help coach in our program?

Rationale: As a coaching staff, we are very protective over our players and the people we introduce into their lives. I want to know exactly why this individual has expressed a desire to become a coach in our program. Are we a potential springboard for another job they are truly after? Are they just looking for a resume builder? Or are they genuinely interested in our players not just as basketball players but invested into the future of America? Those are the types of people I want to have on our staff.

Question 3: What’s the most important part of a player/coach relationship?

Rationale: This question ties in with question 2 but gets a little more specific into the player and coach dynamic. As a head coach, it is vital to have assistant coaches that can develop positive relationships with your players. There is a ton of day to day activities that a coach has to take care of, and unfortunately a byproduct of that can be difficulty in chatting with each and every player on a regular, consistent basis. That is where you need quality assistant coaches to develop these relationships with your players. This question will really get into the heart of how they envision themselves developing that relationship.

Question 4: How will you go about developing trust with the players?

Rationale: This is the final piece of the puzzle in coaches developing quality relationships with their players. Trust is hands down one of the most important things in any relationship. We need our players to trust the entire coaching staff and we need the entire coaching staff to trust each other. Hearing how the applicant will go about developing this trust is something I really need to hear.

As I stated at the beginning, I feel like if someone is applying for a basketball position, they have some basketball knowledge. That is why I only had 1 question on here that I was truly interested in asking in regards to basketball. The most important thing I am looking for in an assistant coaching is someone that is going to develop positive, trusting relationships with our players. That is why I always like to ask those final 3 questions.

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Related: 5 Phases of Coaching Basketball

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