Two more from NJ - Ed Mather from Bernards and less well known but Mike Glavin from Paul VI - had about as good a run as you can have in HS before moving on to college level.
Two more from NJ - Ed Mather from Bernards and less well known but Mike Glavin from Paul VI - had about as good a run as you can have in HS before moving on to college level.
Don Kliewer: Manheim Township (Lancaster, PA)
Without a doubt, one of the top three is Pete Spieles. He was the XC and track coach from tiny Charlevoix, Mi in the 80's and early 90's. something like 9 state XC titles in 11 yrs, 4 in a row, and probably 20-30 individual state champs in track in distance. He was brilliant at motivation, and I wished i could have run for him instead of against him (I went to East Jordan). Sent numerous athletes to Ivy league and small D1 programs, and a slew to D2. Jeff Drenth, Matt Smith, Matt Peterson all went to college because of his coaching. Just my .02$
I only know them as fellow coaches, but it's always appeared that George Guins and Ken Jarvis at Galion (OH) HS must make the experience a tremendous amount of fun.
For about a dozen years starting in the early 70s, there was no one better than Ed Mather at little Bernards High in NJ. Most people have no idea how tiny the HS is. XC and track was the only sport that won anything in those days, and they often competed with XC powers 5 times their size. Mark Wetmore's direct mentor and a viscious competitor himself.
who could forget Doug Duffy...
what about the coaches who dont have 100+ kids who come out to tryout for the xc team. What about the coach who only has 9-10 kids come out for the team and is able to produce 16:00 guys!!!
Well, that's not really the question, which is who are the best ever. Given that, it is hard not to pick the titans- Newton, Lange, Tyson, Kranicks, etc, and the coaches at The Woodlands, Mountain View, Bingham, Kingwood, etc.
that guy from mcfarland for sure
greenliner wrote:
Well, that's not really the question, which is who are the best ever. Given that, it is hard not to pick the titans- Newton, Lange, Tyson, Kranicks, etc, and the coaches at The Woodlands, Mountain View, Bingham, Kingwood, etc.
of course there great coaches but as far as i know most of these schools get huge amounts of kids coming out to run for them. York has like 300 kids right? I mean could Newton have the same success if he only had 10 kids come out for the team every year?
I agree with the same coach. A long time ago when I was running HS, there was this one team who had 2 freshmen, 3 soph, 3 jrs and 3 srs TOTAL. They ended up dominating most the season and had 2 guys break 16:00 for 5k (15:31, 15:49) and they only had 5 guys on varsity. In track they had 2 guys under 4 guys under 10:00 for a full 2-miles (9:57, 9:48, 9:23, 9:22) and 5 guys running near 4:30 (4:33, 4:33, 4:29, 4:19)
Not only that but they had a string of success similar to that going on for about 6-7 years and every year they had no more than 13 guys total for freshmen through srs who were on the xc team.
they had 2 guys who ran 1:55 (1:55, 1:54) or faster for 800m is what I wanted to originally put after "2 guys"
Mike Byrnes, Wantagh HS, Wantagh, LI '60-'70. In 1964 he had Ron Gustafson running under 9:20, Jim Johnson running 4:18 and Ken Jaccard running 1:51. They won state cross country. Every year he had someone under 9:30 and 4:20 when those were fast enough to make you a state contender from a HS with less than 700 kids. Advised Sarah Bowman during her HS career, and many others. Is one of the organizers of the group that does the HS national indoor and outdoor meets and Great America XC. Started Long Island Striders (later Athletic Club). Which spawned Olympic walker Steve Hayden and others.
This question is a bit tougher:
Who are the best cross country coaches ever that DON'T burn their athletes out in high school?
99% of Tyson and Newton's athletes are finished when they hit college. I've never heard of Lange so I can't comment.
Truthiness wrote:
This question is a bit tougher:
Who are the best cross country coaches ever that DON'T burn their athletes out in high school?
99% of Tyson and Newton's athletes are finished when they hit college. I've never heard of Lange so I can't comment.
Good point. Lets look at all the top 10 D1 finishers at Nationals from lets say the past 5 years. Figure out which guys went to which high school and whichever high school has the most kids thats the winner of best coach. Im sure at least 2 guys gotta be from the same school.
This is a stupid question, no one knows who the best coaches are, that is entirely subjective. Given the sheer amount of HS coaches out there, the best coaches are probably people you have never heard of. Here is a better way to phrase the question:
What coaches consistently have the most talented teams in the nation?
(These are the coaches many of you are listing because they are the ones who get publicity)
Albert Caruana wrote:
Walt Lange (California)
http://www.albertcaruana.blogspot.com
Good call. Brings back memories of those long tough runs along the American River trail. Walt Lange coached me 34 yrs ago. At the time, I thought he was quite a good coach. Tough, but very good. Haven't seen him since, but his results have spoken for themselves. He's still coaching at the same school, and his red shirted cross country teams are amongst the best year in and year out.
On a side note, he could be quite opinionated and entertaining, particulary if you asked him about a topic he passionately hated such as baseball. Would love to know if he mellowed or got more opinionated with age.
Coaches were also required to teach. Let's just say he made his mark as a cross country coach not as a history teacher and leave it at that.
of course wrote:
greenliner wrote:Well, that's not really the question, which is who are the best ever. Given that, it is hard not to pick the titans- Newton, Lange, Tyson, Kranicks, etc.
of course there great coaches but as far as i know most of these schools get huge amounts of kids coming out to run for them.
Not entirely true. Lange's school had about 500 boys in the student body when he started there. Now there's probably about twice that many. Not exactly a larger than average school.
About 1000 boys? I'd say that's a larger than average school.
However, just as recruiting is a major factor in what makes great collegiate coaches, high participation rates are a sign of a quality high school program. I'm always impressed when I hear of large high school squads -- doesn't diminish accomplishments in any way.
Tyson brings the best out of non talented kids. They run way above what anyone ever thought they were capable of. Why? Coz they are motivated and run their hearts out. They are not burned out, just gave it their all. The more talented runners are just used to having their buttons pushed in a different way to get the best out of them with out doing too much and still having fun. The life lessons and sense of accomplishment and self worth lasts a life time. I saw him coach a youth team in the 80's and those kids loved running due to him. Most ran for different high schools when they got older, puberty hit some hard, some ran slower but still contributed to their teams. It was all about being a part of something more than just you. Everyone was important in one way or another. I know of a few who went on to coach kids and are still giving back to the sport. Tyson made it more than just winning state, it was about life too.
Albert Caruana wrote:
Who in your opinion are the best HS Cross Country Coaches ever?
I will start with a three to get this discussion going. Please list the coach as well as the state.
Joe Newton (Illinois)
Pat Tyson (Washington)
Walt Lange (California)
http://www.albertcaruana.blogspot.com
Dan Green (Texas)
Mike Corn (Louisiana)
Pat Tyson (Washington)
Joe Newton (IIllinios)
These are the best four in order of greatness.