Walt Drenth (MSU)

I have only heard good things about Drenth (and the other coaching staff at MSU). His personality is a bit rough around the edges but if you work hard, you will run fast and be successful. Not for prima donnas. If you take running seriously, Drenth will take you and your training plan seriously.

https://www.runnersworld.com/web-exclusive/for-walt-drenth-process-trumps-outcome

Great man who has done a terrific job wherever he's been. He has full respect from the entire State of Michigan. I do however feel like he has lost the culture that was once great on the Women's side. HS girls that don't enjoy partying will be made to feel like outsiders on the current team. Michigan has benefitted from the party attitude of the women at MSU. I keep waiting for Walt to drop the hammer but it hasn't happened yet. The current Sophomore and Freshman classes are the most guilty.

I haven’t known him personally, but in terms of developing athletes and getting results, I don’t think anyone could really criticize him. The women are generally excellent and the men have become very good as well in recent years.

Yep.

Too bad he knows nothing about coaching track and field

can't speak to the current state of the team (re: west side michigan coach).

ran at MSU under coach drenth in the aughts. he has an incredible knack for getting the most out of his athletes, regardless of high school achievement. he is loyal to those who dedicate themselves to the process. very passionate guy.. excellent coach. and he has a killer sense of humor.

also, east lansing is a great place to train. the river trail, lake lansing trails, and the hilly dirt roads of bath are all within, at worst, a short drive's distance from jenison fieldhouse.

He's awesome....there is a reason why his athletes use the term "Drenthisms" and it's because he's hilarious, insightful, and is no-nonsense.

He won a NCAA title with the girls a few years back. Schulist, Wiersma, Clark, O'Connor, Otwell were All-Americans. Brender runs for Brooks-Hansons. Then you have people like Nicole Bush and Sarah Boyle/Price who was in the Olympic Trials for the Marathon.

Also he had three 800m guys go sub 1:50 a few years back - Humes, Banyai, Wissler.

Like another poster mentioned he finds hard-working diamond in the rough kids and makes them great.

West Side Michigan Coach wrote:

Great man who has done a terrific job wherever he's been. He has full respect from the entire State of Michigan. I do however feel like he has lost the culture that was once great on the Women's side. HS girls that don't enjoy partying will be made to feel like outsiders on the current team. Michigan has benefitted from the party attitude of the women at MSU. I keep waiting for Walt to drop the hammer but it hasn't happened yet. The current Sophomore and Freshman classes are the most guilty.

I've heard similar rumors about the young women on the squad. I'd also go so far as to say they have not performed well this year. Yes, they are running at Nationals tomorrow, but I predict they will finish well out of the top 10 as a team and will produce one All-American if they're lucky. Drenth is by all accounts a great coach, but he needs to reign these girls in before all of the talent starts heading elsewhere.

Lol just because 1 or 2 athletes party doesn't mean the whole culture is ruined. They made it to nationals as an auto. That's pretty good performance right there.

Walt is hands down one of the best coaches in the country. Smart, passionate, and a great motivator. The only reason he's not always mentioned as a top 5-7 coach is that he's not a great recruiter. Definitely not the type to make 17 year old kids who haven't really accomplished anything in the sport feel like they're the most important thing in the world. He's historically done better with the unheralded type, both because that fits his personality better and those kids tend to respond the best to his training philosophy.

As far as the current culture on the women's team, I have a hard time believing the current team is in that bad a shape. They've been solid if not spectacular all year and could be in the Top 15 range tomorrow. I'd guess that Walt recognizes that a kid having a beer every now and again is not the end of the world. This is especially true on the women's side. Women's distance runners can be uber Type-A personalities, and far more teams are ruined because of that than a partying culture (that's not necessarily true on the men's side). If you get too many who faint at the sight of alcohol, I've found that more likely to be problematic. If it were a huge pervasive issue, Walt would have dealt with it. His best teams have always seemed the right combination of focused and not overly tight. That's not to say that you have to (or should) imbibe as a distance runner, but I'd rather have a team that will have a drink now and again in a controlled way than not.

Ran against Drenth coached runners 20+ years ago and they were always ready when it mattered. Had a few chats with him and was always pleasant and helpful as I wasn't coached by anyone at the time. Knew him when he coached at William and Mary so many years ago.

2 Cancers wrote:

2 cancers destroying the entire women's team.

1. LR

2. EM

Everyone knows it and talks about it. Staff seems oblivious to it. Killing the team attitude and destroying the recruiting.

Dang. That's some pretty transparent shade you're throwing there. I've heard nothing about your number 2, but LR seems to have had the same reputation since middle school, which is a long time.

running commenter wrote:

SpartanFan wrote:

I've heard similar rumors about the young women on the squad. I'd also go so far as to say they have not performed well this year. Yes, they are running at Nationals tomorrow, but I predict they will finish well out of the top 10 as a team and will produce one All-American if they're lucky. Drenth is by all accounts a great coach, but he needs to reign these girls in before all of the talent starts heading elsewhere.

Lol just because 1 or 2 athletes party doesn't mean the whole culture is ruined. They made it to nationals as an auto. That's pretty good performance right there.

Sure they made it as an auto, out of a pretty weak regional. Looks like my prediction held up. Fourteenth place for the ladies and not an All-American among them. Does it back up the "they're partying" line? No, but for a team that won it all just three years ago they don't seem to be heading in the right direction. Something's not going well.

Sure it's those 2 and not the one who isn't running this year but is the whose who of MSU

Anyone know about the assistant coaches at MSU? Do they add any value to the program? I wonder about injuries this year since a few of the top returnees have not competed. I hope this year was a blip and they will be back near the top. They seem to have the talent on campus.

2 Cancers wrote:

2 cancers destroying the entire women's team.

1. LR

2. EM

Everyone knows it and talks about it. Staff seems oblivious to it. Killing the team attitude and destroying the recruiting.

How so?

People are treating 14th like it's some sort of failure. Given the talent on the line for MSU today, I thought they were pretty solid. Men had a rough day, but the women were at least roughly on par with was expected. Not a lot of All-American level talent in the line-up with the exception of Maggie Farrell, but not much to complain about.

The women should be better next year. Top 4 all return, plus they'll get Holly Bullough and Amber Way off of redshirt. That's a strong top 6. If they can get India Johnson going, would expect that they'll be top 10 and challenge for top 7-8.

Midwest is Best wrote:

People are treating 14th like it's some sort of failure. Given the talent on the line for MSU today, I thought they were pretty solid. Men had a rough day, but the women were at least roughly on par with was expected. Not a lot of All-American level talent in the line-up with the exception of Maggie Farrell, but not much to complain about.

The women should be better next year. Top 4 all return, plus they'll get Holly Bullough and Amber Way off of redshirt. That's a strong top 6. If they can get India Johnson going, would expect that they'll be top 10 and challenge for top 7-8.

I agree with your regarding 14th. Almost everyone expected Bullough, Way, McClintock, and Karrigan Smith would be in the top 7 this year. Bullough was out the past track seasons so some may have wondered if she would be able to contribute this season. The women would have been better every year since their national championship if top 7 runners had not been seriously injured. The year they won the championship was exceptional in that they were healthy. I did not follow the team as closely back then so I don't know who, if any of the potential travel team members were injured.

All the teams have to deal with serious injuries. I consider preseason rankings to be fun to read but meaningless because there are too many unknowns including injuries.

Flotrack ranked MSU at 19th in their preseason pole assuming everyone would be healthy.

Saw Amber Way at NCAA today with boot on her foot. Doesn't look ready to run anytime soon.

MSU has an injured team that is as good as the team that they ran. THATS A PROBLEM.

Bullough- number 1 returner from Nats last year

Way- 33:50 this past track season

Goethals- 34:30 this past year

McClintock-4:21 1500 this last spring

Kettle- footlocker kid that has been in the program for 2 years

Johnson- freshman with credentials as good as Farrell who is their #1

Weiler

Fuller

Smith

Wilberding

And at least a dozen other very good high school runners.

I feel sorry for Coach Drenth who has proved himself for years but somehow has a group of runners that don't care enough.