Utah State Coaching?

They don’t really have anybody running super outside of maggard, but at the same time, he wasn’t anywhere near the stud he is now coming out of HS. He ran 1:56, 4:19, and 16:19, so maybe coaching is pretty good there.

Their coach is Artie Gulden. Was a hospital administrator, but 5 years ago decided to switch paths. Coached at a high school in Idaho for a year, then was an assistant at Idaho State, then went to Utah state as an assistant. He was in the right place at the right time and a year ago was made the head coach. He is very quiet, but knows his stuff. This year both men and women's teams made it to NCAAs for the first time in school history. I could see this team getting a lot better in the next few years, but may take time. Utah State is definitely a builder team and struggles to get top talent because it is in the shadows of BYU and SUU.

Shadows of BYU and SUU? Really? Not so much on the Women's side...USU Ladies beat BYU at BYU and SUU Women weren't even in the zip code

Papabear wrote:

Shadows of BYU and SUU? Really? Not so much on the Women's side...USU Ladies beat BYU at BYU and SUU Women weren't even in the zip code

Yes, shawdows. Utah state women beat BYU in early September when it didn't matter. At NCAAs BYU women were 11th. Yes it is true that for women they are competitive with each other (for the first time this year), but for the men... BYU takes 9 out of 10 of the top runners in Utah and the only reason they don't get that last person is because they either are not Mormon or they are butt hurt that BYU won't give them a full ride. The 10th guy then ends up going to SUU.

Utah state under Gulden can change that though.. for at least the women. He is a great coach and knows his stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if they are top 15 next year.. but once again BYU has a rich tradition of success and with their new women's coach (Diljeet Taylor) they will be on the podium in the near future. Can Utah State do that? Maybe.. but unlikely.

The point of my comment was that Utah State is doing great with the minimal talent they receive.

Utah State has a HUGE draw within Utah. I mean a huge draw. I would say they have more of a draw than U of Utah itself has amongst distance runners. SUU has just outworked them to be as good as they are. People in Utah don’t even know where SUU is and yet they’re basically top 10.. With the talent in Utah, Utah State should have been this good YEARS ago.

I'm glad to see the women coming around. They have gotten lots of talent and the last few years with in Utah. I heard a rumor that ARtie commutes from another state to coach, is this true?

I think Artie Gulden will be a great coach. In his 1st season, both USU teams qualified for Nationals, which was the 1st time ever for either team. His Dad was a Hall of Fame coach for Bucknell University for many years.

He seems to tailor his training to the individual, while focusing on preventing injuries. I doubt anyone expected them to make Nationals except maybe the team and coaches. His dedication is obvious considering his 90 mile commute each way to and from Logan to coach the team. From where they were to where they are is impressive particularly since they have a difficult recruiting task with in state programs like BYU, SUU, Weber, and on the women's side, Utah.

PA boy wrote:

I think Artie Gulden will be a great coach. In his 1st season, both USU teams qualified for Nationals, which was the 1st time ever for either team. His Dad was a Hall of Fame coach for Bucknell University for many years.

He seems to tailor his training to the individual, while focusing on preventing injuries. I doubt anyone expected them to make Nationals except maybe the team and coaches. His dedication is obvious considering his 90 mile commute each way to and from Logan to coach the team. From where they were to where they are is impressive particularly since they have a difficult recruiting task with in state programs like BYU, SUU, Weber, and on the women's side, Utah.

Art Gulden is a legend!

Adding on to that, USU doesn't support XC like BYU does. Their roster is roughly half the size, and that is by choice. I have a good friend who was a 15:xx runner in HS, trained over the summer, ran just shy 26:00 in try-outs on their 8k course who was basically told "we'd love to take you, but we don't have room on the team for you." He still ended up at USU because engineering was a bigger priority than running.

It will also be interesting to see how USU XC continues to develop as their new president, Noelle Crockett, finishes her first year. Her predecessor, Stan Albrecht, supported athletics a lot more than I think she will.

One thing that USU has going for it though is location. High elevation, cooler summers, and a variety of places to train. One downside is winters. They can be brutal with the worst air-quality in the nation.