anotherparent,
I think this can be summed by.....it depends on the competitive level and expectations. For college D1 P5s are definitely in the category of win or else, depending on where the program is at the time. Some ADs and fanbases are patient other not so much. Take the SEC for example. There are far different expectations to be managed at Alabama vs Florida baseball. My son played at a mid to low-D1 program. The expectations were to raise money, graduate fine young men, and develop a competitive baseball program in that order. Any conference championship which led to a single NCAA bid from that conference was a bonus and typically coaches contracts were renewed 5-years if that happened. His college baseball expectations were far different from the expectations in mens & womens hockey, mens and womens lacrosse, and wrestling which the school was well known for.
To add a little color to your closing statement: It seems to me that, when choosing a college or even a high school, you would want to know the programs level of performance, historical expectations, and AD experience. As I write this, I'm thinking of Whit Babcock the AD at Virginia Tech (ACC). He is under intense pressure to get his coaches and teams to perform but he has a sense of fairness and evenhandedness (is that a word?) about him. He's had to fire some really good head coaches across many sports who couldn't produce, but he gave them more than enough opportunity. If I'm a Head Coach this is the kind of guy I want to work for.
As for high school in my area it is a little different. The good public school teams have a coach that has been there many, many years and the bad teams are looking for someone to turn their fortunes around. Coaching requirements in my area are 1) county employee or work at the school 2) pass a background check 3) drug test. There are a few kids that have choices between their home public school or a magnet high school if they qualify otherwise they are going to their local high school. My two oldest son's opted for a magnet high school with a far worse baseball program than their home public school. My youngest son went to our home public school and got the best baseball coach in the Commonwealth. He'd been coaching high school baseball for a long time and I suspect was never in jeopardy of losing his Head Coaching duties even though he'd only won one state championship (came close many times) So, there is no real analysis to be done there. Embrace public high school, apply to a magnet public high school, pay for a private high school or lump it. The coaching ability at this level is pretty much determined by longevity.
JMO.