Athletic training education program directors were asked to rank their on-campus approved clinical instructors on their ability to teach athletic training students (ATS). Those ACIs with the highest rankings were invited to participate in face-to-face interviews to determine the socialization processes they underwent to be identified as "excellent". Seven individuals participated in this study and their socialization processes entailed: 1) attending and internship undergraduate program where there were small ATC staff sizes, the students immediately received hands-on experiences which led to a large accumulation of clinical hours; 2) the respondents received an advanced degree and had to function on their own, gained teaching experience, became familiar with accreditation standards and recognized a distinction between athletic training and sports medicine; 3) the respondents had prior job experience; 4) the respondents believed that they were good clinicians and 5) their primary responsibility is to athletics first and academics second.

When asked about the goals that the ACIs had for ATS, four ideas emerged: 1) to prepare ATS to pass the BOC examination; 2) to help ATS acquire relevant experiences; 3) to prepare ATS to enter the workforce and 4) to encourage ATS to value learning. The ACIs thoughts regarding athletic training education were: 1) the ACIs role was to bridge the gap between the academic and real world; 2) that pro-active ATS get a better education than those who are passive; 3) ATS need more clinical experiences and 4) ATS must see different aspects of athletic training. The formal coursework for these individuals was very limited resulting in the following desired experiences of the participants: 1) a desire for more formal academic training as most only had two or three athletic training courses; 2) a desire to have training in educational methodologies as athletic trainers have much content knowledge, but limited exposure to pedagogical content knowledge and 3) to understand and gain exposure to the new educational competencies as they are implemented in today's athletic training education.