QOD Grant Fishers coach is arrogant and full of himself

totally agree wrote:

Good reference. I choose not to run.

If you aren't going to run it, you can choose not to talk about it. Talking about it is showing off.

It's like telling your family: "Oh yeah, I could easily run under 3-hours in the marathon, but don't run them because marathons are bad for you and wear you down"

That is all.

"Have clear goals and keep them to yourself. I found that talking about my goals never helped me achieve any of them. Likewise, I've heard plenty of people talk a big game then never deliver. You should set clear goals for yourself and spend your time working toward achieving them rather than broadcasting them to the world." - Mark Nenow

I understand the coaches reasoning but he's still a douche

Yeah, having the utmost faith in your athlete is really douchey

Fisher's coach: FLN CHAMP TWO YEARS IN A ROW

Everyone else: ZERO. NADA. ZILCH.

Get off him. The guy has it together as a coach, and he's treating his prodigy as someone who actually has a future.

The coach is milking it. He knows that if the kid runs sub 4 and then has less success in the next few years, the coach will have shown to have publicly failed the kid. However, if he says that he has a undefined long term plan for him, he can blame all the future failures on just part of this "long term plan."

ricky bobby wrote:

Fisher's coach: FLN CHAMP TWO YEARS IN A ROW

Everyone else: ZERO. NADA. ZILCH.

Get off him. The guy has it together as a coach, and he's treating his prodigy as someone who actually has a future.

coach f wrote:

The coach is milking it. He knows that if the kid runs sub 4 and then has less success in the next few years, the coach will have shown to have publicly failed the kid. However, if he says that he has a undefined long term plan for him, he can blame all the future failures on just part of this "long term plan."

ricky bobby wrote:

Fisher's coach: FLN CHAMP TWO YEARS IN A ROW

Everyone else: ZERO. NADA. ZILCH.

Get off him. The guy has it together as a coach, and he's treating his prodigy as someone who actually has a future.

Hilarious. That's how losers like you think.

brogan1 wrote:

I agree.

There are a lot more than five total high schoolers that could have run sub-4 but didn't. What makes it so special is that only five were able to put it all together on the right day.

His coach wants to claim the credit of sub-4 without actually putting it all together on the right day.

Making an attempt at sub-4 wouldn't ruin his long term goals.

What rubbish this is.

Haters have to hate I guess.

coach f wrote:

The coach is milking it. He knows that if the kid runs sub 4 and then has less success in the next few years, the coach will have shown to have publicly failed the kid. However, if he says that he has a undefined long term plan for him, he can blame all the future failures on just part of this "long term plan."

ricky bobby wrote:

Fisher's coach: FLN CHAMP TWO YEARS IN A ROW

Everyone else: ZERO. NADA. ZILCH.

Get off him. The guy has it together as a coach, and he's treating his prodigy as someone who actually has a future.

Yes. The coach knows the boy is a prodigy. He wants him on HIS long term plan to reap the benefits.

Nothin' like a coach riding a kid's coattails.

jim, tim, marty, alan, lukas wrote:

so you believe a sub 4 in high school makes one "one of the greats"? i disagree. A fantastic accomplishment but all those who achieved sub 4 had up and down careers.

nothing wrong to look long term for the athlete you guide.

Ummm yes breaking 4 in HS means you are one of the greats....in HS at least.

totally agree wrote:

Good reference. I choose not to run.

If you aren't going to run it, you can choose not to talk about it. Talking about it is showing off.

It's like telling your family: "Oh yeah, I could easily run under 3-hours in the marathon, but don't run them because marathons are bad for you and wear you down"

That is all.

Are you actually this stupid? It is nothing like the analogy you have provided. It would be like running a 3:02 marathon and winning the national title easily, signing up for the same championship race the next year (with the sole goal of winning again) and then saying to your family: "Oh yeah, I could easily run under 3-hours in the marathon, but I might not need to."

That is all.

Fisher's coach clearly knows what he's doing (he's privately coached many other top Michigan kids over the years) and is looking out for his long-term development, so kudos for that, but saying he's a sub-4 kid without actually doing it is a horrible statement. A lot of kids run super fast their junior seasons only to not improve almost at all their senior seasons. I DO think Fisher has the talent to go sub-4, but until he does it, he's a 4:02 miler, nothing more, nothing less.

I don't have any problem with the statement about being able to run sub-4 but not entering a race for the purpose of going sub-4. I don't think it is a "horrible statement". I thought it was a great article and I was impressed by the training approach. However, apparently a few people were offended by the statement, so I suppose the coach should stop being so honest in interviews- or better yet, not worry about offends people on the message boards. I like the honest approach and applaud the coach and author for sharing the information.

Jayzus!!! Many of the folks on this thread need to spend more time running and less time talking!

Bottom line: no one owes us a four-minute mile, so quit griping like we are being cheated if an athlete/coach indicates they would rather do it in a competitive race than in a set-up race.

Furthermore, the coach saying he was already a sub-4 type sounds like an honest statement about his physical condition. “He's a 4:02 miler, nothing more, nothing less,” except that if you’ve ever seen a fast mile race, you’d know there are different types of 4:02s. A 4:02 on an evenly-paced effort behind rabbits is a lot different from a 4:02 run in a tactical situation like this: 61.5, 62.0, 60.1, 58.4. Do you remember his 1:59 last 880y at New Balance Indoor? Or his 26 second finish in the Brooks 2M? Or his 1:58.1 closer at the USATF Junior meet?

It may be arguable, but I think a sane person could make the case that he was in sub-4 shape last season and we would have seen it HAD he been in a set-up race.

So let’s just chill. If you’re old enough, have a beer. We may see sub-4 indoors, we may see it outdoors, we may see it after he goes to Stanford, or we may never see it. No need to be attacking his coach and calling names. They’re doing a pretty damn good job.

Private coaches are salesman. They take a little bit of what they know and really sell it. But that is essentially what all coaches do on some level. Does anyone know who Fisher's HS coach is supposed to be? Does he train with the HS team? Was he poached away?

Private, for pay, coaches are usually a-holes. They recruit top guys for a resume, bad mouth the coaches in place (even if they are outstanding), and try to steal the limelight. Remember it is their livelihood.

And long term plan? Is he pulling a Salazar and plan on coaching him in college? Because he is heading into the machine. A place that sub 9 and 4:05 kids quit. The plan there is to race fast now.

So... ya. Talk is nice.

Thank you all for your assessment of who I am and what my motivations are in coaching.

I'm only writing to clarify the statement that was made about the 4:00 mile.

The question was: Is Grant Fisher a sub-4 miler? And I said 'yes. I'm a 100% certain of it. Whether he does it this year or next, he can run under 4.' My answer had NOTHING to do with running sub 4 in High School (I thank Weldon for changing my quote and adding the high school note to it) but it was simply a question regarding his 'cap' and I have confidence that he hasn't run as fast as he will....yet.

The remainder of my answer makes much more sense if the high school timeline is removed. I said, 'I don't have any motivation to put him into a race just to break 4, etc.'

So, there you have it. Good luck coaches and athletes with your seasons. It's always a pleasure seeing kids compete and strive to progress.

Merry Christmas,

Mike

Flashback to.... wrote:

Seinfeld "The Race" ...I choose not to run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L8U5tKTTWo

10/10

Perfect video clip for this thread

So you are not confident he will get a 2.04 second Improvement this year?

I understand these are politically correct coach to media type questions. I get that and that's cool. And the private coaching comments I made above are not at you but general observation. I don't know you, though it sounds like you are more down to earth than most private coaches.

That said tell us about Fisher's HS coach? Does he train with the team? Or just you? How do you make that work?

Just because you don't understand running or how good GF is, and how CHASING a sub-4 might impact him doesn't mean his coach doesn't or that the rest of us didn't understand his coach.

skinnbones wrote:

Thank you all for your assessment of who I am and what my motivations are in coaching.

I'm only writing to clarify the statement that was made about the 4:00 mile.

The question was: Is Grant Fisher a sub-4 miler? And I said 'yes. I'm a 100% certain of it. Whether he does it this year or next, he can run under 4.' My answer had NOTHING to do with running sub 4 in High School (I thank Weldon for changing my quote and adding the high school note to it) but it was simply a question regarding his 'cap' and I have confidence that he hasn't run as fast as he will....yet.

Merry Christmas,

Mike

Mike doesn't need me to defend anything he says or does so I'll let his comments above suffice. The man is very much the opposite of 'arrogan't or 'full of himself'. If anything, he's one of the more understated yet driven & passionate guys around. He parks his ego by the door on his way to work w/runners like Grant (whose dad Dan is a co-worker & former college teammate of Mike's). In all, mentors & athlete alike's feet are firmly rooted to the ground - when not in motion.