Mission, Evaluation, and Developing Coaches with Darin Keizer

In this episode of Beyond Coaching, Rob Ramseyer sits down with Darin Keizer, Athletic Director at Dordt University and Director of Coaching for Transformation, to discuss the challenges of leading college athletics while staying focused on developing coaches and student-athletes.

Darin brings more than a decade of experience as a high school athletic director before moving into college athletics. He and Rob discuss the differences between the two environments and why high school coaching can be valuable preparation for college coaches. At the high school level, coaches often have to teach athletes with dramatically different skill levels, forcing them to become better teachers, communicators, and developers of people.

The conversation then moves into one of the biggest challenges facing small-college athletics: How do you remain competitive while staying missionally aligned?

Darin explains how Dordt approaches hiring, coach retention, fundraising, and decision-making through the lens of its mission. He emphasizes that the goal isn't simply to win at all costs. Instead, Dordt views the development of young men and women toward Christ as the product, with winning as an important byproduct of doing that work well.

Rob and Darin also wrestle with an uncomfortable question for athletic directors: How much should winning matter when evaluating a coach?

They discuss the tension between competitive expectations and transformational impact, ultimately arguing that winning has to be evaluated within context. A coach's success should be considered in light of the institution's resources, history, expectations, and competitive environment.

A major focus of the conversation is coach evaluation.

Darin shares his philosophy that an athletic director shouldn't be the ceiling for a coaching staff. Instead, the AD should be the cultivator. His evaluations are designed to identify opportunities for growth rather than simply point out what coaches are doing wrong.

At Dordt, coaches are involved in developing their own assessments using "must, should, and wow" goals. Darin also incorporates student-athlete feedback to better understand what coaches are doing well and where they can grow.

The episode also explores one of the most important pieces of effective supervision: trust.

Rather than waiting until an annual evaluation to give feedback, Darin meets with his coaches monthly to ask what's happening, what challenges they're facing, and how he can support them. That ongoing relationship makes difficult conversations easier because feedback becomes part of an established relationship rather than a once-a-year event.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The transition from high school AD to college AD
• Why high school coaching can prepare coaches for college athletics
• Teaching athletes with different skill levels
• Mission alignment in college athletics
• Hiring coaches for both mission fit and competitive ability
• The financial pressures facing small-college athletics
• The relationship between winning and transformational impact
• Why winning must be evaluated within context
• The difference between evaluating and cultivating coaches
• Using coach-created goals and assessments
• Incorporating student-athlete feedback into coach evaluations
• Building trust before difficult conversations
• Why monthly check-ins can be more effective than annual evaluations
• Faith integration beyond simply praying before practice
• The role of longevity in building sustainable programs

A Framework for Coach Development

One of the central ideas from the conversation is that athletic directors shouldn't be the ceiling for their coaches. They should be the cultivators.

About Darin Keizer

Darin Keizer is the Athletic Director at Dordt University in Iowa and serves as Director of Coaching for Transformation through Dordt's Center for the Advancement of Christian Education.

His work through Coaching for Transformation focuses on helping schools develop missionally aligned practices in areas including hiring, coach evaluation, and faith integration.

Darin can be contacted at:

712-301-5077 or Darin.keizer@dordt.edu

About the Impactful Coaching Project

The Impactful Coaching Project (ICP) exists to help coaches become more intentional about the impact they have on the people they lead.

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