Former Kenyan Olympic 5000 champ and 5 time world cross champion seeks coaching job in USA

That was a short gig lasting about 1 week only and he wasn't really called on to do a lot of coaching - it was more presentations on his training etc so he wasn't really tested as a coach per se but anyway let's hope for the best for this guy, John Ngugi. He deserves the best. In any other sport, this guy would have loads of opps. Running is a weird sport in that respect.

A career in coaching is a bit like a career in running. You have to put in hard work and toil for little or no money for many years. Then, after years of experience building your resume and earning qualifications, you can apply for paid coaching gigs as they come available.

High school coaches are teachers, coaching as a supplemental activity in addition to their regular teaching duties.

College coaches need a university degree, some now require a masters degree, in addition to extensive coaching and athletic administration experience.

There are no handouts in coaching, just like there are no handouts in running.

No. But let's be real, that's not the issue here. I don't think a college is going to take him on as essentially a charity.

Why doesn't he become an online coach like the Magic Wizard? The average monthly salary in Kenya is $630. Does anyone think a former Olympic champion would struggle to attract clients, even if just American hobby joggers, willing to pay $100 a month for structured training plans and a weekly Skype chat? Ghost1 could help him get set up. Or is he just wanting to live in the USA?

Coevettcram:

The figure you quote $630 is a decent middle class income in most places in Kenya. Most Kenyans I met in places like Nakuru, Kisii, Keroka, Eldoret, Iten and Kericho were earning far less than that. In fact most of the runners I was with in those places had zero income coming into their pockets! Frankly it does not make sense how they buy food to eat, but I think friends and family pool their resources so that everyone has 2 squares, mostly Ugali and greens, and ample cups of sweet milky chai, every day.

He didn't refuse to be tested. You're posting false information.

What an ignorant thing to say. For more than thirty years, I've said that I'd take training advice from an illiterate world-class Kenyan runner over the advice of the average Ph.D. in exercise physiology. Admittedly, the average Ph.D. in exercise physiology sets a pretty low bar. But the main point, still true, is that unschooled world-class distance runners are generally athletic geniuses who have an exceptionally nuanced understanding of training and racing. (The lesser point, perhaps, is that scholarship in exercise physiology has tended to be pretty crude stuff over the years, although I don't doubt that some exercise physiologists have overcome the shortcomings inherent in their academic field to become fine coaches, primarily by actually running and coaching in between classes, lab experiments, and publishing books and articles.)

What you say is correct. Ngugi did not refuse to be tested but rather the testers did not give him time to get ready and then they took off which was an egregious way to treat a former world champion. If this had taken place in America for example, Ngugi could’ve won big money in a lawsuit against the testers and for damages and continued damages over the years which resulted from this 4 year ban. His life has been extremely damaged by the actions of those testers.

I wonder about this business of not having time to get ready. What do you need to do to get ready to pee? Anyway, not having a degree is going to keep him from getting hired.

This just sounds desperation. Not sure why US have to find a support for him. It's T&F. Nobody was gonna be set up for life just because they were great runners at one point. Did he have steady employment in recent years?

From my conversations with him on WhatsApp I think he has been more in "survival mode" in Kenya the last few years. Sad that he does not have an official function in Kenya. Ex NBA players in the USA are usually taken care of in some capacity I believe. From what I understand Ngugi doesn't even have a pension. Sad times

There is no MBA pension and there are plenty of brokeass former professional athletes over here. We don’t need any more. Thanks for asking though.

70 percent of US professional athletes end up broke:

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Why So Many Professional Athletes Go Broke—and How I Avoided It - YMV

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The cost of living in Kenya is so low, even lower than I thought as you pointed out, that I find it hard to believe that a former Olympic Champion couldn't monetize his fame and knowledge in some way online. Couldn't the Brojos pay him to be their 'Kenyan correspondent' or something? Maybe the Kenyan athletics federation needs to start educating their athletes how to use social media to market themselves, both during and after their careers?

No, you wouldn't.

Yes I would.

Apparently Said Aouita is in unfortunate financial straits due to his costly divorce. I wonder how much he could be paid to 'tell all'?