You need to know if a coach's teaching style matches your learning style. For team sports, find out what kind of offense and defense is employed. For individual sports, find out how you are seeded, and how to qualify for conference and national championships. Don't make any assumptions about how long a coach will be at a school. Describe the preferred, invited and uninvited walk-on situation.
Different teams treat walk-ons differently.
This will tell you about their commitment to academics. The team's grade-point average also is a good indicator of the coach's commitment to academics. Describe the typical day for a student-athlete. This will give you a good indication of how much time is spent in class, practice, studying and traveling. It also will give you a good indication of what coaches expect.