INTRODUCTION: Todays job market is extremely competitive. Having the basic job qualifications for a specific opening usually is not enough to gain a position. Getting a job can be as lucky as being in the right place at the right time, or as simple as who you know. For those who do not have the luck to be in the right place, and have not had the opportunity to know the right person; finding a job is both difficult and frustrating. The collegiate coaching profession is no different in that aspect. What goes through a collegiate athletic directors mind when they choose the person to build or maintain a program? That is the question every aspiring coach wants answered. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to help people earn jobs in the collegiate coaching profession by determining what collegiate athletic directors deem the most important qualities of candidates. SIGNIFICANCE: The results of this study provided useful information to aspiring collegiate athletics coaches in their search for employment in the coaching profession. METHOD: Two hundred one college athletic directors were chosen randomly. There were eighty-two chosen from NCAA Divisions I, fifty-one from NCAA Division II, and sixty-eight from NCAA Division III. The instrument was a survey questionnaire with twenty-five common factors in hiring coaches. They were asked to rank the top fifteen factors from one to fifteen with one being the most important and fifteen the least important of the ranked factors. Additional comments were encouraged. A cover letter that explained the purpose and benefits of the study accompanied the survey. The data were evaluated by adding the numbers of a given factor. The lowest number determined the most important factor, on average. Any strong or recurring comments were examined.