Lots of high school coaches REALLY suck

This is exactly how it works. Except that there is no experience necessary. I was bumped out of a position because a newly hired teacher wanted to coach and I was not a teacher in the school district. He had no experience and only coached for two seasons and then coached football when a position opened up.

OK, you said it. This is precisely why I whine about it. The KIDS think they are not getting better and they get injured, but it's the schedule and training. In effect, the track season is set up such that you need 100% base and specific training laid down as of 1st day of track and the next 7 weeks is some sort of weird extended peaking/speed work(races) training! That's sort of the concept of periodization I get it, but not at this age group. And the season is too long to "hold a peak", so really its the worst of all worlds. 1/2 the kids are coming for another sport and have not been base training 20-50 MPW. I see these kids for a year now not getting better. That's hard to do. Coaches care about total points in as many meet as possible. It is not about the kids at all. The coaches will claim its not their fault they have to do league meets, but then why do they schedule invites all over the place every week?

When they train with me for indoor (club) 80-90% of them get sig better. And Im doing pretty down the middle distance coaching, nothing unique. 1 meet every 2 or 3 weeks. Setting PRs all indoor and then nothing during outdoor. Should be the opposite. How do people mess up running?

Have you offered to help out with the team?

If a coach has a good TEAM then they expect everyone to perform for the TEAM. Crazy concept but track isn't just about training for 5 mo. and going to race one big meet and PR. You are supposed to help the team win.

distance guys get cooked by head T & F/football coaches who demand that we go to the meet together as a team and we leave as a team. F#ck that noise. I've got six kids running the 1600...we out after that is over. No disrespect to the rest of the squad but this is a 12-month obligation for a lot of good high school XC coaches.

In the area I live, I would say that percentage has shifted because many of the better coaches have quit, because of bad admin/ADs that have forces coaches to deal with situations that affect the overall program they don't want to deal with such as forcing them to NOT have an attendance policy, not being able to throw kids off of the team, not allowing them to go to more competitive meets and we are here in So Cal so just imagine being told no, not being able to charge for off season programs forcing them to do it for free, the transgender stuff, not being able to require athletes to fundraise putting it all on the coaches, etc. This list goes on and on. A successful local coach gave it up because of parents and he says it best when they say, "Well I think..." or "Well first of all..", then they will ruin your season. High school coaches work for pennies or pay to do it out of pocket and to not be able to do it on your terms.....Peace Out! I see more coaches that suck taking programs over for the small stipend and it might be worth it to them.

How many threads on LetsRun through they years on this topic? Sheesh. Most public school systems don't really care who coaches the 'non-revenue' generating sports. (Even if your school charges for fans/parents when hosting a meet, it's pittance compared to one home basketball game or home football game revenue). That's it in a nutshell - money. The local high school near where I live is great example. The athletic directors there over the last 15-20 years would hire the school janitor near retirement to coach a running or track team over anyone in the community who might have experience or offer help. Just the way the system is set up - hire in house first. Public school teachers are basically on a government jobs welfare type project. I know. I taught high school three years. My mom taught 32 years. My dad was on a local school board 22 years. It's a government welfare project for 'teachers' to condition your kids to obey the will of the State and is modeled after Prussian/German school systems of the late 1800's. Look into it. You'll be amazed. You think they care about you or your kid running fast, earning scholarship, breaking some record that only a few people will ever care about? No. You think the system cares about threshold workouts, preventing injuries, etc. No. Your sport doesn't really produce a financial return on the investment.

That being said, I have never met one running coach in the 19 years I trained, at either high school or college level, WHO ACTUALLY HAD ANY BACKGROUND IN ANATOMY/PHYSIOLOGY, KINESIOLOGY, BIOMECHANICS, PHYSICAL THERAPY, etc. I'm sure some do, maybe a B.S in sports medicine/management, or a M.A. in something, but not many out there. I mean some of them don't even have a class or course or basic armchair knowledge because they watched some YouTube videos. I trained under a hall of fame coach my first two years in college who was also an Olympic alternate coach and the 'head' coach of the USATF Jr Cross team one time. (More of a formal title I recognize, but he was tabbed for that temporary position that year.) He didn't know that much either! Knew how to plan workouts and training, and help you with the psychological approach ('believe' in yourself, which is important) but not as much as you'd think if you asked a few basic questions into the science of it all.

You think high school teachers tabbed to coach your beloved 'non-revenue' sport are going to know what sarcomeres are? The difference between anaerobic and anorexic? Or what sarcolactic acid is? Or LTVO2 training? Or plyometrics and how to incorporate them? Or PNF training? Or how to periodize? Or even PRICE injury rehab? Most are required to watch a concussion training video, maybe get First Aid certified (like it takes "x" hours or so depending on state you're in), and that's about it. The guy coaching the track teams at the local high school doesn't know anything. Literally, he doesn't know anything! Even the beloved, now revered and worshipped 'strength coaches' who got a 100-300hr 'certification' somewhere, don't really know much! Most of them have no running background either if they end up the 'coach'.

Point being, not to insult those people honestly trying or knowing enough to help kids: realize the public high/middle school coaching/sports world is not there for your kid to become some future great - it's there to provide a nominal paid position to babysit kids after school a few hours a week to further justify the 'need' for public schools under the guise of 'providing opportunity'. You want your kid to be good at something, or you want to be good at something - you're going to have FIND the people who have the skill set to help you.

The majority of High School coaches suck

Why is it low key?

what pace do you want it to be?

I have not. Maybe that makes me sound a bit like an armchair warrior, but I have no connection to any of the school, don't have time for that, and also would feel like I am impeding on the coach if I tried to get involved.

The OP is right. Many coaches are bad.

But this post explains why. Being a HS track coach is a hard and mostly thankless job. Many meets are oversubscribed and way too long. 13 heats of the 200, boys and girls, with 3-4 minutes between each heat. Ad infinitum. All day long, week after week. If you do the math on the time commitment, it's literally less than minimum wage for most coaches.

No matter how much you love track, that's a lot to ask. And there aren't that many people that love track so much as to give away so much of their life for so little.

What's shocking isn't that some coaches are terrible. What's shocking is how many of them are good.

All that's to say, if you or the one you love has a semi-decent track coach that cares, cherish them and say thank you a lot!

Well the main point of this example was that 3 x 1200m @ mile pace isn't really a possible workout to complete, which emphasises how little the coaches know. The other point was that there is no focus on aerobic work (long runs, easy runs) and LT1/LT2 stuff. All the sessions (of which there are far too many) are not beneficial for improving, they just run fast for the sake of it. 400m repeats, 200m repeats, v02 max stuff etc, I don't even think 3 x 1200m @ mile could be considered v02 max, it's probably more intense than v02 max.

There's no focus on aerobic long runs, or bread and butter threshold workouts.

You're broadly right on the training analysis. That workout is ridiculous. And a coach that focused on aerobic fitness and thresholds would be a better coach. YOU would likely be a better coach than this person. But YOU would also be a better employee than the average Taco Bell cashier. The Taco Bell cashier is probably better paid than the track coach. YOU don't want the track job because the conditions (pay, time commitment) are insufficient to motivate you. The same applies to almost everyone. And so YOU shouldn't be that shocked when the the track coach is something less than Mike Smith or Marius Bakken in their understanding of training systems.

That's the tough part is most people that know what they are doing don't have the time or desire to take on a High School coaching position. It takes a special person to put in the kind of time that it takes to be a good High School coach. Not many people are available right after school and do this type of coaching just for fun and not much money.

I do agree there are some awful coaches out there but until their is a solution I don't see what the point of continuing to put them down is.

I don't know about now days in the states but in the mid 80's the coaching at the middle school and high school level where I went to school was average at best. Too many races, too many hard intervals and not enough recovery.

When I was a senior went out and found a private coach as school didn't offer coaching indoor and went from nobody to winning an indoor and outdoor state titles. I had a little bit of talent but i really needed someone coaching me who knew what he was doing.

For those that think coaching doesn't make a difference I would disagree. Coaches set up great culture, sessions that allow progression, and always a focus on long term development.

What I will say about the whole...situation... was that at the time no one seemed to care. Like no one really talked about it or mentioned it or was bothered by it at all. But I should add, this was a loooong time ago, over 20 years ago now that this happened.

I think now, people are more aware of when things are inappropriate. Back then we let it slide. My coach was also just a charming, likable sort of guy. Everyone liked him, but generally being a young male teacher, people just like those people.

But as an adult I think about stuff that happened and how, and I think, yeah...that was really weird.

They need to do something about indoor track if they haven't already. Those meets were marathon meets, just not feasible or enjoyable for anyone involved.

in outdoor, there are dual meets and all invitationals have qualifying times. We had about 100 kids on our outdoor team but only about 15 or less would compete at invitationals.

Indoor track needs a structure like this so people aren't stuck there for centuries. Manage time better!

Coaching is hard, especially in American high school track and cross country because the communities don't care enough to help you reinforce positive outcomes.