Interview with Loudoun County H.S. Coaches (Joan & Marc Hunter)

Appreciate the Hunter's transparency and honesty. Great interview.

Great people, getting great results.

Excellent interview.

When was the actual interview done? There are several references to the timing of certain aspects of their training that would mean more if we knew when these statements were made.

The interview was from back in the beginning of August before the season had begun. And thanks for the interest. I'm hoping to continue to be able to interview some of the sports top coaches each season to help promote the sport by offering a good outlet for information.

Real good stuff, about what you'd expect from this family. Will be extra interesting to see how things play out on December 2nd.

HighSchoolHarrier wrote:

The interview was from back in the beginning of August before the season had begun. And thanks for the interest. I'm hoping to continue to be able to interview some of the sports top coaches each season to help promote the sport by offering a good outlet for information.

So, what's the common thread among all the 15 Questions Series with various coaches? LARGE TEAMS.

In order to be good, it's QUANTITY versus QUALITY. Sigh.

Sounds like you think there is no quality training on teams that happen to have large numbers? That their success is simply a numbers game?

Based on the interview, sounds like at Loudoun Valley they pay plenty of attention to ALL the athletes, carefully working with the beginners too. Not like they just throw everyone into a bunch of hard training, and survival of the fittest...

Maybe they have large numbers because they are starting to succeed. Sounds like that is what happened if you look at the increased numbers over the last few years. The school itself is not large- 1300 kids, and 10% of the school runs cross country.

I disagree wrote:

Sounds like you think there is no quality training on teams that happen to have large numbers? That their success is simply a numbers game?

Based on the interview, sounds like at Loudoun Valley they pay plenty of attention to ALL the athletes, carefully working with the beginners too. Not like they just throw everyone into a bunch of hard training, and survival of the fittest...

Maybe they have large numbers because they are starting to succeed. Sounds like that is what happened if you look at the increased numbers over the last few years. The school itself is not large- 1300 kids, and 10% of the school runs cross country.

Your 10% idea is still HUGE numbers. But, what happens when schools are smaller. 700 kids? 500 kids? 250 kids? Quality becomes so much more important!

Quality is ALWAYS important, regardless of the numbers. Also, imagine if a school of 700 could get 70 kids out. Assuming the coaching was decent, I bet that team would be excellent in their division. So perhaps thinking of ways to attract incoming freshmen would help get numbers.

The Hunters come off as genuine, dedicated, caring coaches. How I wish I'd had coaches like them -- doting on not just the stars, but the average and even sub-par runners in a true team setting. When running can be made more fun, there's probably going to be more success, and then more kids want to be a part of a successful program. Which leads to further success. There's pressure when you're top banana, sure, but the fun factor, and the sense of team unity, and great coaching by really good people can all contribute mightily to reducing that stress. I can only conclude, based on the record of the LVHS program (not based on the outrageous accomplishments of that statistical anomaly that is their son Drew, that, in the not-huge LVHS, the Hunters make XC and running fun. Thanks go to them, because we all feed off of their kind of success.

I disagree wrote:

The school itself is not large- 1300 kids, and 10% of the school runs cross country.

My high school had 900 students (Kansas, 1964) and was considered to be small.

I think what he's saying is large teams are good teams. It's a numbers game. More runners, more depth. That's not a knock on any coach of a big team, they sound like a great program.

Like Great Oak. Huge school. But then you add open enrollment for your district and you go from a 4000 school to one that has access to 15k+. Throw in you can recruit feeder schools and the number is even bigger. GO is a quality program with an amazing coaching staff. At a local clinic Coach Solles even said if you want to be successful program step one is to start at the biggest school. Numbers are a big assist.

Drew Hunter's trainer / coach is Tinman. The Hunters are disciples of Tinman's CV training philosophy. Tinman is also the coach of Grace Ping. Let's give credit where it is due: Tinman, aka Tom Schwartz.

So, I guess we should give credit to Jack Daniels for the success of the multitudes of good teams whose coaches use his principles? I agree, partly, but Jack and Tom aren't the ones showing up at practice every day, doing the actual coaching. There's more to it than just copying workouts. Knowing how to apply principles is important, not following any one cookie cutter approach. The Hunters are pretty transparent about Tinman's influence on their coaching. Pretty sure most successful coaches have had mentors or other coaches who have influenced them along the way, and most good coaches are continuously learning and revising their training.

Tinman coaches Drew (and Grace, and his mom) on a day-to-day basis, something that Daniels has never done with a top athlete. JD has always been in more of an advisory role. Both are successful, but Apples and oranges.

Not completely... wrote:

So, I guess we should give credit to Jack Daniels for the success of the multitudes of good teams whose coaches use his principles? I agree, partly, but Jack and Tom aren't the ones showing up at practice every day, doing the actual coaching. There's more to it than just copying workouts. Knowing how to apply principles is important, not following any one cookie cutter approach. The Hunters are pretty transparent about Tinman's influence on their coaching. Pretty sure most successful coaches have had mentors or other coaches who have influenced them along the way, and most good coaches are continuously learning and revising their training.

My point was that neither Tom (nor Jack!) are working with the Loudoun Valley HS team on a day to day basis and that to give all the credit for their success to Tom simply because the coaches use his methods is silly.

Kato wrote:

Drew Hunter's trainer / coach is Tinman. The Hunters are disciples of Tinman's CV training philosophy. Tinman is also the coach of Grace Ping. Let's give credit where it is due: Tinman, aka Tom Schwartz.

Most of those quotes from the interview sound like Tinman speaking. It just goes to show how great Tinman is at teaching his coaches his underlying logic and approach.

Not completely... wrote:

My point was that neither Tom (nor Jack!) are working with the Loudoun Valley HS team on a day to day basis and that to give all the credit for their success to Tom simply because the coaches use his methods is silly.

No one pays Daniels to write their schedules. They simply buy his book.

On the other hand, I assume Tinman looks at the LVHS XC schedules & decides what dates to do CV runs or tempo runs or whatever. The Hunters are PAYING HIM.

That's the difference!

Here are the layers:

Hunters: 1st tier, hands-on coaches; get most of the credit for success of any given team.

Tinman: 2nd tier, coaches the coaches (and more directly for Drew/Grace); gets indirect credit for specific program successes (or individuals in Drew/Grace's case).

Daniels: 3rd tier, coaches everyone in a general way, very indirect credit for a large array of program successes