Best Women's Coaches on the West Coast??

I have sent several athletes on to run in college.

I would trust my kid with Ann Detmer at Cal, and Pattie Sue and Jason at Stanford. I know all 3 of these people personally, and I trust their judgement, and their concern for their athletes' welfare. Ann has done a great job in just a short period of time at Cal. Felipe Montoro at Santa Clara is also a great young coach that I definitely trust with athletes.

It is way too early to make an opinion on the staff at UCLA ... they simply haven't been there long enough. One of my former athletes is there, and has great things to say about Johnnie Gray, their middle distance coach.

There is no coach on the west coast that scares me, but I am also not in the know regarding every single program around. I don't know Helen Lehman-Winters, the coach at USF, but I think she is doing a great job. Her women won the West Coast Conference this year, with a bunch of people I had never heard of.

And the academics at Stanford should not scare you, despite one of the above posts. The hard part is getting in, unless you are related to someone. Once you're in, it's no more difficult than any other school.

A few things:

1. Don't evaluate how much a school will cost if your kid runs 10:20, your kid has stellar grades, or your family is poor until you get your financial aid package or the coach offers your daughter a scholarship. Your financial results will be different than the full cost.

2. UCLA and Cal have very bad reputations for a reason. Some people love it at each place, and your daughter might also. They get the best recruits in California, and among the best in the country. Your daughter might like that, and there's no reason she couldn't be really successful there. But there are better coaches in the west.

3. Coaches being good people doesn't necessarily make them good coaches. You want both.

4. UC Davis and USF won the Big West and WCC, respectively, by reasonably significant margins. They were also the first non-PAC-12 teams in the West (USF 6, UCD 8). Both programs have been on the rise. Cal Poly was 10 and will be on the rise on the women's side, also. I also think Washington is a great program. Stanford is not time-tested but worth investigating. If I was a good student and good runner, I would want to go there. Don't know a ton about the Arizona schools. They get good recruits; they haven't always been great programs, but they seem to be consistent now.

5. The most common reasons a coach at a good program is a bad coach is: A. Doesn't care about the kids that much anymore, B. Only cares about the top kids/doesn't want to develop anyone/Treats kids more as number than people, C. Overtrains kids (obviously not all of them; nobody could overtrain an entire team without trying). If you can figure out a way to ask the questions that might expose this stuff, maybe you can get a better sense. I'll readily admit I don't know all of these coaches personally.

6. I would weigh both the side of the guy who said he regrets choosing DI running over academia and personal life, as well as the other side, which is that for some people it doesn't slow down their life progressions, but rather produces lifelong friends, develops valuable life skills, and is remembered as one of the better experiences of one's life. You can be a great student and great runner and have one other serious hobby, on average. Some more, and some less. If your kid doesn't want to run in college, it probably won't be worth it, but if there's nothing more she'd rather do with her energy, it probably will. My take, anyway.

Good luck. Oh, and one more thing. Please please please let your daughter conduct all correspondence with the coaches. She's the one that is going to go to the school and deal with the coaches. Not saying you shouldn't talk with her about her options, collect information (like you're doing now), or even that you're planning on taking over, but it's good advice that might not be intuitive to a parent.

LR for some reason can't stand him, but I'll take Greg Metcalf at UW any day of the week.

Program that might be on the rise that no one talks about is Gonzaga with Pat Tyson & Patty Ley. On the women's side, Pete Julian at Washington State may have something but may be a couple of years away.

If you want $$$ then don't expect much from Berkeley.Maybe 50%.Find out how much longer Sandoval plans on coaching.If this is his last year and Detmer is going to take over then consider Cal.

Surprised no one has mentioned Gary Towne of Chico St. Academically no where near Cal or Stanford but it is perhaps one of the best programs in the west.

ummmm.. wrote:

Oregon State...you must be kidding

I'm no expert on college coaches, but I've heard nothing but good things about Coach Sullivan. I don't know if she's THE best women's coach in the Northwest or West coast, but she's definitely a very good coach, and Oregon State should be worth a look.

West side federal wrote:Program that might be on the rise that no one talks about is Gonzaga with Pat Tyson & Patty Ley.

Gonzaga is another great option, in my opinion, if it would fit in with your financial and academic goals... Tyson and Ley are both tremendous coaches as well.

I'm confused.. who runs the Cal Program Sandoval or Detmer?

Sullivan is a dude.

Hank Moody wrote:

Sullivan is a dude.

lol, I swear I meant to say "he"... my apologies.

It was just too funny since you wrote "I'm no expert"....haha!

I have heard mostly good things about him. They don't seem to ever produce much, but he rarely gets any talent in there. Normally just small school Oregon girls. Think 10:00-10:20 3k types.

Whoever brought up Symmonds....I'd really like to hear that story...why would have Sullivan noticed a 1:55 800 runner out of Idaho...especially when he only coaches women. Not calling you a liar I just have never heard this story.

Hank Moody wrote:

It was just too funny since you wrote "I'm no expert"....haha!

I have heard mostly good things about him. They don't seem to ever produce much, but he rarely gets any talent in there. Normally just small school Oregon girls. Think 10:00-10:20 3k types.

Whoever brought up Symmonds....I'd really like to hear that story...why would have Sullivan noticed a 1:55 800 runner out of Idaho...especially when he only coaches women. Not calling you a liar I just have never heard this story.

Again, I'm not expert (haha) but I think Sullivan was the head coach for both the men and women when he was at Willamette, which did include when Symmonds was recruited to Willamette. No idea who noticed his talent or anything like that, but... I do think Sullivan was the head coach at that time.

Hank Moody wrote:

I have heard mostly good things about him. They don't seem to ever produce much, but he rarely gets any talent in there. Normally just small school Oregon girls. Think 10:00-10:20 3k types.

Whoever brought up Symmonds....I'd really like to hear that story...why would have Sullivan noticed a 1:55 800 runner out of Idaho...especially when he only coaches women. Not calling you a liar I just have never heard this story.

Kelly doesn't have pressure at OSU to develop a Championship team, so he brings in 19-20 min. 5K types and develops them into 4:20-30 1500/16:20-17:30 5K runners. His first year there, he was having to recruit girls who were regular students on campus. One of these girls went on to run 35:30 for 10K the following year. He's a great developmental coach-- brings girls along the whole 4 years. Low pressure, positive environment.

He coached at Willamette before Oregon State, and was coaching Nick for a while before he joined OTC.

Dad of the runner....You are confusing ! You ask who the best coach is, that is Arizona , no Question. You then respond with Berkley???? Not the best Coach or best school! So if your daughter just wants to go there then so be it. All she will need is a liberal mind , no running shoes needed!!!

The best coaching is not in Arizona unless your daughter is from Africa and has tons of talent. My wife could coach the African runners from Arizona, and she knows nothing about running. I thought your daughter wanted to attend a school with very good coaching. Look at some of the more experienced coaches out there. I would not trust my daughter with a newbie.

Bear Trap wrote:

The best coaching is not in Arizona unless your daughter is from Africa and has tons of talent. My wife could coach the African runners from Arizona, and she knows nothing about running. I thought your daughter wanted to attend a school with very good coaching. Look at some of the more experienced coaches out there. I would not trust my daughter with a newbie.

You need to distinguish between the men's and women's programs. James Li, who is listed as Head Coach but coaches only the men, certainly has shown he can coach high-level Africans but not much else. They also didn't send a full team to Regionals even though he could have.

On the other hand, Erin Dawson at Arizona is a coaching stud. They've come very far under her leadership with solid contributions from both solid recruits (Menefee) and 11:20 girls. Check the PAC-10 and West Regional results the past three years. U of A is also not a bad choice for pre-med, since they have the state's med school.

Arizona is not a "bunch of Africans." Jennifer Bergman who was their #1 runner and all-America at the 10k last spring is a blond white girl from California.

I knew he was at Willamete before - guess I didn't know the dates matched up. Cool stuff though. I did hear that Symmonds was being coach by someone other than McGuirk but I didn't know who.

Thanks.

And I agree with everything you said about Sullivan's situation at OSU. Even though there is no pressure and limited funding (from what I hear) I still think a university in Corvallis should be able to compete with the mid level programs out there.

Sandoval is the head coach but looks like he would be more comfortable playing golf with some of his cronies and talking about "the good ole days."My daughter received a recruiting phone call form Sandoval and was instantly "turned off" after establishing a positive relationship with Detmer.Desi Davila,Olympic marathon qualifier had narrowed her college choices to Arizona St and Cal.She chose Arizona St because of the coach(Walt Drenth at the time).