How good of a coach is Gary Towne from Chico?

Alzure wrote:

I know that he's been quite successful in the DII scene and both his men and women placed 4th at nationals but how does he stack up to other coaches especially the DI coaches? Do you think he develop athletes who are mediocre in high school into elite runners?

Yes. I've seen a 4:30 runner turn sub 4.

He's damn good. Best coach in California and division. Perfect fit for Chico.

He's obviously a good coach given his success, but remember he can have very large rosters and is able to offer good money to top talent from impoverished areas/kids with poor grades because it's easy to get into school. It has a rich history of being a great school, but when you're able to have double the roster of anyone else in the state, you can take more risks in training.

However, once he gets them there, he does an AWESOME job obviously, just want everyone to consider all factors in his success.

Good coach and good guy. Never heard anything bad about him. Always at the top of D2 every year.

Great guy, really cares about his athletes.

He is a very good coach. Maybe he isn't one of the best coaches when compared to elite or D1 coaches, or maybe he is, it would be hard to say without more evidence.

As others have mentioned, his massive roster probably makes him much more successful in the context of team scoring than he would be otherwise.

The combination of a nice (if remote) California area, party reputation, huge team comraderie, and extremely low entry standards means he can recruit better and more talent than all but one or two d2 schools. This huge team size also allows him to take runners that other coaches might cut and try to develop them long term. Occasionally one of those athletes makes big improvements.

IMO, he is the perfect coach for chico. If I were an athlete with poor grades, moderate talent, and from California, and didn't want to do a JC for two years to get to a better school, I would absolutely go to Chico.

If I had massive talent but poor grades, other doors would open and I wouldn't go to chico, but it wouldn't be to avoid running for Gary, it would be to get the benefits of D1 programs' money.

I heard he is ultra racist. Wouldn't let a black kid on the team... even though they are obviously going to be fast.

Don't go there wrote:

I heard he is ultra racist. Wouldn't let a black kid on the team... even though they are obviously going to be fast.

Odd troll attempt, since the roster is online, so anybody could go and look for themselves and see there are many black athletes on the team, especially on the track team, which he is the head men's coach.

CWRP wrote:

Alzure wrote:

I know that he's been quite successful in the DII scene and both his men and women placed 4th at nationals but how does he stack up to other coaches especially the DI coaches? Do you think he develop athletes who are mediocre in high school into elite runners?

Yes. I've seen a 4:30 runner turn sub 4.

He's damn good. Best coach in California and division. Perfect fit for Chico.

Curious as to who went from 4:30 to sun 4?

Not odd at all. Administration forced affirmative action on the coach. They are only there due to affirmative action and obviously the coach won't complain since the black ones are always the fast ones.

No way Jose wrote:

CWRP wrote:

Yes. I've seen a 4:30 runner turn sub 4.

He's damn good. Best coach in California and division. Perfect fit for Chico.

Curious as to who went from 4:30 to sun 4?

Scotty Bauhs is the only recent sub-4 guy from Chico, so probably him?

This isn't the answer but he turned my buddy from a 4:27 HS/ 3:56 JC time to a 3:47 guy. 1600 to 1500 obviously. I find that quite impressive in a short 2 years.

Lots of Hispanics on the team. Butthurt rival coach much? Gary is a great guy and a strong coach, but yes, he has huge rosters to work with.

I live in SoCal wrote:

No way Jose wrote:

Curious as to who went from 4:30 to sun 4?

Scotty Bauhs is the only recent sub-4 guy from Chico, so probably him?

Yeah, except he ran faster than 430 as a sophomore in high school... I forget what he ended up senior year, maybe 4:10?

Don't go there wrote:

I heard he is ultra racist. Wouldn't let a black kid on the team... even though they are obviously going to be fast.

Nicely done.