Best High school coaches in country?

I think coaches who can bring in a few kids to state and a team every once and a while are honestly ideal coaches. My coach rn isn’t the coach of a “powerhouse” school by any means. At the national level, no one would know us. But we do very well for our area, especially considered how small our school is. A coach who listens to kids needs is important. If they can prevent injuries while also getting kids to PR and have fun, then I think they are a great coach.

again, this thread is really the same troll thread which happens every year with the same result... let's get people to argue and maybe a coach or two will chime in and cause even more arguing... yay! yay! a it's been a success...

lots of "best" coaches out there...

As we all know, LetsRun invites anyone to anonymously snipe. Such message board comments are sometimes, not always, the epitome of cowardice. Right now, I could trash anyone I wanted, and it would be posted, with only a few rules enforced. What utter garbage. That said, I'm staying anonymous!

Doug Soles, bravo for using your own name to stand up to the critics and the trollers, and, in so doing, for expressing opinions, and facts, at which the opposition will scowl and b*itch even further! I especially appreciate your comment about saving a bunch of kids hundreds of thousands of dollars (because you have couched them to high school successes which open doors. A few of us, at least, deeply recognize the far-reaching importance of a college education-without-breaking-the-bank! I imagine that there are a bunch of GO kids who hold one Doug Soles in their hearts each and ever Thanksgiving.

And that's just the monetary side of it. You've armed them with many essential tools to cope with the big, bad world, too.

Now, I do hope your boys finish second by one point to Loudoun Valley on Saturday. (I hope your girls win.) In other words, may Temecula boys do you proud, but may LV boys stay at the top. Either team or both teams shining on the big stage would be great for the sport, and bad for the GO/Soles and LV/Hunter trollers and haters.

I agree. This site is a wonderful tool for runners, especially young runners who want to learn valuable lessons and ideas from experienced, successful coaches. Many high school kids do not have coaches who are knowledgeable about the sport. These kids need some advice on how to improve and this site COULD be valuable to them. It's a shame that some immature people come on to trash or make fun of questions or posts. This keeps the knowledgeable people from wanting to give their advice. I applaud Doug Souls and any of the other coaches who have given advice on the forum. Thank you

Interesting Observations wrote:

“Some things to look at is who coaches both boys and girls teams and finds success with both genders, who also does a great job with the distance role in track, whose kids tend to improve year over year, who develops kids from PE classes versus who brings in a lot of youth club kids and transfers. When transfers come in do they get better? Which coaches are consistently good season after season?”

Interesting that it’s ALL “performance-based metrics” and is not balanced with: What kind of person they are becoming, how they treat their team, what kind of leader/mentor they are to younger runners and the rest of the team. And of course, how they run at the collegiate level. Not at all surprised by the high-level of college-burnout by Great Oak runners.

I think this is a good observation. I wouldn't list that stuff because to me those are non-negotiables. Being a good kid, leading with character, having good sportsmanship, etc. are the foundation of success. I have met very few coaches that don't do a great job in those departments. I attribute that to the fact that most of us are blessed with amazing student athletes that already do most of those things. Maybe I'm out of touch with other parts of the country, but I get great kids the majority of the time regardless of how fast they can run.

This is also a very difficult metric to measure. Purely opinion based, and I could be Mr. Popular if I didn't share my opinions, followed the heard mentality, didn't share my workouts or lied about them. I would rather be truthful and let people's opinions fall where they may. I understand there are a few people that don't like me and that is fine. Part of the sport I guess.

I do think it would be better for the sport if we didn't always try to shame coaches into hiding. Some people can speak out and handle the negative responses, but not all coaches can. We miss out on a lot of great knowledge because too many coaches won't share their thoughts on a board like this. Maybe Letsrun needs to do a Coaches Board where coaches only can register and share thoughts with each other under their real name. That would be a great way to continue to learn and grow and help student/athletes.

Imagine how sad it is that one guy comes on here to try to tear other people down. I can't imagine how lonely that life must be. I feel really sorry for him.

Just some thoughts. :)

Doug

Grateful for your honesty, Doug wrote:

Doug Soles, bravo for using your own name to stand up to the critics and the trollers, and, in so doing, for expressing opinions, and facts, at which the opposition will scowl and b*itch even further! I especially appreciate your comment about saving a bunch of kids hundreds of thousands of dollars (because you have couched them to high school successes which open doors. A few of us, at least, deeply recognize the far-reaching importance of a college education-without-breaking-the-bank! I imagine that there are a bunch of GO kids who hold one Doug Soles in their hearts each and ever Thanksgiving.

No edit function here, just an anonymity function. So a slight edit to save face is in order:

(because you have coached them to high school successes which open doors.)

TheXCrunner wrote:

Edina and Wayzata from Minnesota!

They have had at least one runner in the top 50 runners in the nation every season.

They have always qualified for NXN!

No top 50 runners this year for boys or girls, and neither boys team qualified for NXN, however both girls teams did. Wayzata sent one individual boy, and Edina's boy didn't get the wildcard.

Every high school coach who has presented at the Boulder Running Clinics, or will present in January, has appeared in this thread.

Jeff Messer - Dessert Vista and Xavier College Prep - presented at the first two clinics.

Charlie Kern - York - presented a few years back.

Last year the line-up was:

Joan Hunter - Loudoun Valley

Doug Soles - Great Oak

Jonathan Dalby - Mountain Vista

John O'Malley - Sandburg

Dan Iverson - Naperville North

This year we'll have:

Timo Moster - American Fork

Paul Vandersteen - Neuqua Valley

Dave Frank - Central Catholic

January clinic info -

https://boulderrunningclinics.com/

Free excerpts from the clinics on this playlist:

https://bit.ly/2OMUQVi

Mike Danner at Lyons Township near Chicago deserves some mention here.

Consistently puts out great teams and individuals.

Cool, but what it seems most people have an issue with is the “transactional relationships” your language suggests. Strictly performance-based relationships (which then creates an unhealthy hierarchy); your list of former athletes even suggests a “best to worst”, thus, further confirming a “transactional culture” - not to mention the bragging of “college money saved” - again, further solidifying a transactional culture where performance becomes a means of identity and gaining attention. An athlete may only perform as a means to connect and gain affirmation from their coach; therefore, when they don’t? Connection from the team & coach decreases because the “transaction” is not equal. We see this all the time at D1. Not to say this is inherently “bad”, but it’s not sustainable, leads to burnout, and creates the kind of person who may be CEO of a company one day, but lacks character bc of a performance-identity and “has all the money” via transactional relationships but “hates their life” and is “always needing more” to satisfy the void.

Best... means??? wrote:

Before anyone can give you an answer the word 'best' needs to be defined... otherwise this thread will get the same results and responses as it always does.

+1

Coach is only as good as what he has to work with.

2018 Great Oak alum Sandra Pflughoft: Fall freshman season - #2 runner at SCAD Atlanta, AAC freshman of the year, first team all-conference, XC all-American, #1 freshmen finisher at XC nationals NAIA and helped her team to a 5th place finish at nationals. Thanks Doug for referring her and helping her earn an incredible scholarship!! Go Great Oak and all the teams at NXN

I like your idea Doug of having a coaches board that you have to login in to for access and posting. Not sure how many coaches would share but I would (and use my real name)

Ghost of a Cougar wrote:

Has no one been watching Newbury Park from Thousand Oaks, California and their coach Sean Brosnan (No relations to Pierce Brosnan).

He took that program with no direction at all and got them the State Title in 3 years for DII. Many schools in California have a slew of talent, but it takes a special person to build a program and get those kids out training and racing to their potential. But, if you know Sean like I do, he has a very unique background that really cultivated those kids into a championship team. Sean has had the opportunity to meet many talented runners and coaches and with that knowledge he built a great program. I'm sure he could do it almost anywhere too! Cheers to him and look him up if you get a chance. Good luck at NXN!!!!

Really? So, one year of making the podium at the state meet (didn't make it last year) with a team that has 7 runners who broke 5:00 for 1600 in middle school on the roster, and we're going to anoint him as one of the best coaches in the country? Let's pump the brakes and see how the next 10 years go. Maybe he get's there, but a couple years of qualifying for the state meet would be a good start. Baby steps...

TexasTough wrote:

Coach Justin Leonard from Southlake Carroll should be in this conversation.

Agreed. His boys team qualified for NXN for the 10th time in a row, and actually DOMINATED state (without their low stick even scoring) and NXR this year. And last year they reloaded very nicely after losing a lot of seniors.

The best coaches are the ones that take very small schools and have a competitive team annually. You’ve probably never heard of them because they’re not winning Nike nationals.

This didn't age well

Arcadia (CA) got 2 national titles under O’Brien. He was fired before the 2013 season started. Now they’re not as solid as they used to be.

https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20846001/why-a-top-high-school-coach-was-fired/

Coach Scott Gowan formerly of Chiles High school is a genious.