Fox is a great coach, but Lennon won the NB indoor 5K, Hubbard was a FL Finalist, and Bennie was an individual NXN qualifier.
It's not like Fox is bringing in a bunch of 9:30 kids and winning NCAAs with them, he's bringing in stellar recruiting classes too. Doing a great job of developing them, yes, but not making miracles.
Oranges and Apples wrote:
Fox is a great coach, but Lennon won the NB indoor 5K, Hubbard was a FL Finalist, and Bennie was an individual NXN qualifier.
It's not like Fox is bringing in a bunch of 9:30 kids and winning NCAAs with them, he's bringing in stellar recruiting classes too. Doing a great job of developing them, yes, but not making miracles.
One of the things that Fox has done consistently well is keep his guys improving. Yes, the kids he gets have huge marks, but the attrition rate, even among the very best recruits, is very high across D1-D3. Fox's dudes come in good and keep getting better. That's the difference between training kids and coaching them.
giggle test wrote:
Slopenguinrunner wrote:HS running is just so much deeper now. In the 90s, only 7 runners went sub-9:00 in the 3200. In the decade following, it was more than 100. I had a teammate in HS who ran 9:18 and it was one of the top 20 to 30 times in the country. Now, it would be lucky to be in the top 250..
That's an exaggeration by 300%
In the 90s 17 runners broke 9:00 for the full 2 mile.
Only because 7 did it in 1999. It was ten total from 1990-1998 inclusive. Aside from 1990 (3), no more than two people broke 9min in a single year between 1987 and 1999. A lost decade of talent if there ever was one. In '93, '95, and '98, not a single high school boy in the United States broke 9:00.
Congrats to Coaches Fox, Bell, and Smith. Good for the fans to have another strong contender in XC and distance.
Syracuse would have perfect scored regional and scored under 50 at natty's this year if Brien Bell had been able to bring in Eric Holt and Albert Gallatin. Two studs that could have benefited greatly in the Fox/Bell tandem system... really a shame
I've heard a few coaches explain Syracuse's success as Fox and Bell the complementary tandem. If you saw them after the race they appear to genuinely love each other. A perfect storm of passion, intelligence and personality. As long as they are together we can expect more success from the program.
Don't they also have Palamar who broke Kevin Sullivan's 1500 Jr. Record.
not bad adding a 3:38 freshmen to the mix
Fox also really helped develop MJ Erb, who had PRs of 4:25 and ~9:30 for the steeple coming out of high school (but was top 25 at NXN). He ran 8:50sc, sub 14:20, and 23:45 at Cuse before transferring.