I'm going into my 10th year of coaching high school XC and am encountering an issue with another local runner that coaches individuals on the side starting to coach kids I'm currently training for the upcoming season. I have a history of success and my failings or lack of knowledge should not be driving my kids to seek outside coaching, they just want to run. I didn't have a problem with my kids running with this coach and his group for a long run every week or something (it's illegal in my state for me to run off campus with my kids), but recently my kids did a workout that was more speed based with him, and this type of workout basically follows a different philosophy than what I apply to over the summer. When I contacted this runner he took offense to the suggestion that he should be aware of what kids are already doing for training and attempt to contact the primary coach of those kids. I am not here to debate summer workout plans, I just want to know-
Does an outside coach have a responsibility to communicate with a high school coach if he is going to start doing workouts with the high school kids, particularly if those workouts start to become more specific? When I talked to this runner he said he wanted to "experiement" with some things, and this does not sit well with me. In the structure of today's society, I feel a coach that is not the primary coach of an athlete at least owes it to the kids to communicate with them and their parents to make sure there is not a conflict in training. I offer three practices a week, which these runners all attend, and I think it's great they want to run on the days we don't meet. However, I think there is a certain protocol that needs to be followed in today's society, however, especially with liability and the appropriateness of relationships being ever so prevalent in the discussion of high school sports.
Thoughts?