Is Mark Wetmore the "greatest running coach in American history?" If not, who is?

Jack Daniels.

Definitely a lower profile tha Wetmore but that doesn’t mean anything.

8 division 3 titles at SUNY. Had he chosen division 1 results would still have come.

He produced 31 individual national champions and more than 130 All-America athletes.

He was named the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Coach of the Century.

He coachedJim Ryun before Mexico City to prep for altitude.

Jerry Lawson’s American record in Chicago would be the American record today with super shoes, bicarb, ketones fueling etc.

He was open to higher mileage if athletes wanted it but what was impressive is that he got results with lower mileages. That takes more skill than piles of miles aka Lydiard.

Still Wetmore had a long run and was very dominant. But I would take Daniels.

....

Surprised John McDonnell's (Arkansas Razorbacks) is being mentioned...he won like 11 plus NCAA Team Titles in a row. I was part of the team that went to Arkansas and defeated them in their dual home indoor meet in the early 1990s (during their NCAA reign)

I was just going to say...we've made it to page 2 and no one has mentioned John McDonnell!?

He and Heather did more for Americans than most of the other coaches mentioned. I'd put Eyestone and Taylor up there as well.

Wetmore was a great one and got a bad deal in the end. I think the Arkansas coach, John McDonnell has to be considered. I am be wrong by a few titles, but I think he coached his teams to approx 40 NCAA Championships. I’m not sure how the stats have changed over the years, but at one point, there were on two colleges that had won more, including all sports.

Again, I may be off by a bit….but not far off. I think 11 were XC.