Haverford Coach profiled in NY Times

old old school wrote:

3rd guy from left is a Tom Donnelly.

NCAA XC championship team from 1966.

Can anybody name anybody else on this team??????

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/8120/temu4mw8.jpg

charlie messenger, dave patrick, frank murphy

I ran against his teams while I was at gettysburg for four years.... and his teams always rocked. Always real nice guys too. They would hand it to you, but would always be good winners! Dont know about that Goat though....

8.4 miles...eehhh? Ahhh, the River loop...right? Good days! I still have some of the shirts.

dig those jackets

Why haven't people mentioned that his team lost conference this year for the first time ever, and has pretty much fallen apart, with no strong runners.

Bad timing for the article.

Very impressive Mr Fanelli.

Jack O'Leary, sixth man, who's had a long and successful HS coaching career in NJ, most recently at Monsignor Donovan. Essex Catholic grad... school that was known to product a few milers, a few of whom went to Villanova. Craig Nation (I think)? or Ian Hamilton? Watched this team score <30 points (26 or 29?) against the entire IC4A, when that was probably the finest field save for NCAA's. Patrick kicking from 28th to 12th as fifth man, on the flats at VCP. Donnelly yelling at Messenger as they crested Cemetary to go after Sharkey of Michigan, who he did catch, Tommy third (IC4A's had a broad membership back then). Quite a team.

I was a contemporary of "Tommy" from his HS, College, and road racing days, and while I can't comment with precision about his coaching at Haverford, I will try later today to add a few stories about Tom. For now, I will just say that the many positive things noted in this thread are accurate... a true appreciation for the depth of his influence would come with multiplying the experiences by hundreds, no thousands of instances.

Is it still true that he runs like 70 miles a week? If it is, that is totally badass.

Don't know that it's 70, but a close friend in Philly area says he does still run a significant amount... I would have said 50-ish, based on what I recall of the discussion. Pretty decent for someone 60+... and that all joints are still working after many years and miles. He always was very smooth, not a lot of knee lift, a glider. Maybe easier on the joints. Too many of my friends from that era are not so fortunate... I feel lucky to be "still running" (though nowhere near 50mpw), and happy that Tom is still at it as well.

Did you even read the article? They mentioned the loss and how Coach Donnelly saw it as a learning opportunity.

As far as no strong runners, I\'m fairly certain they have a soph with a 14:5xpr, a senior with a ~30:55pr, a soph with a ~4:15pr, a senior wth a 1:54pr, not to mention a few others with 15:low and 31:low credentials. It might not be their strongest year but to say that there are no \"strong\" runners would be misguided.

Mez,

As I was digging thru some memories about Tom in that era, one thing I recalled was that for years Tom held the course record for "The Loop" (8.396 miles is what I remember one of Tatreau's people telling me), a distance which was a measuring stick for any runner in Philly... what's your PR for the loop? Tom's record, was in the mid-44's as I remember. I recall following Kevin McCary around the course (in a car), the year after he graduated Villanova, and before heading out to Athletics West (2:13 or so), break the record... god, he was a beautiful runner to watch... just not sure if it was Tommy's record he took down, or if Buckheit was the holder at that point...

I do not doubt that he may have had that record, but it had to be faster than 44's, that is only 5:14/mile. When that race (still held, courtesy of Dave Thomas, Lasalle HS/Temple grad) was in its heyday, the winners were running around 41 minutes. I think Buckheit does have record now (set in 1981), it is low to mid 40:??.

In late 1987, when TD was almost 41, I watched him run 15 400's indoors with some of his top kids, early winter season workout, he averaged about 63 seconds. Rest was about 275 meters (because Haverford's indoor track then was 225 meters around then).

Sorry, wrote too quickly, mid-42's is I'm pretty certain where the record was when Tom held it. With your memory-jogger, I've re-found Dave Thomas' excellent site (http://www.gopacsports.com/), and see that the current record is still by Buckheit, at 40:08. I understand he does some great things for the sport, including working to resurrect the five mile course at Belmont... how could that have been left to deteriorate? Also, that there is a memorial XC run over the course (had heard that it would be the five, now not certain, it might be loops of the existing 5k course?) in early December, for Jack St. Claire, one of the icons of xc/t&f in Philadelphia. Fitting, in that legend has it that he and the late Jim Tuppeny of Penn laid out the original course in the mid-60's.

poking around the site a bit...race details:

http://fastcatsports.com/JSCRacepage.html

If they do run the original 5 mile course, or close to it, it is true XC, not a golf course; and it is quite difficult.

this is what it is all about wrote:

To the poster who said because of TD he will continue to run for the rest of his life - this is what it is really about. If you leave college with no love for the sport then what is the point? ...

Actually, while Tom is no doubt happy if the students he teaches in phys ed go on to be fitness runners, as far as his athletes are concerned, it is my impression that he is much more interested in what they do with their non-running lives. If they never run again post-college (or a few years after) but go on to have fulfilling lives, he is more than fine with that. One reason is, I think, because he himself was a great runner and is more impressed with people who go on to do things well that he could not (or did not) do.

It is an aspect of the Irish Catholic self-loathing that makes him so irresistible.

Bob Reynolds wrote:

Tom is a extraordinary coach whose programs cannot be boiled down for the masses a la Jack Daniels because so much of it is his own intuition and experience.

How about some details about his training program?

We've heard lots about his character and influence but not so much about specifics of his program. I'd love to hear about favorite workouts, progression, mileage, how he develops runners, etc. I'm sure I speak for many of us who are following this thread with great interest.

Haverford guys speak up!

Why do you say he is not a great coach? In the last 18 years in cross,indoor and spring track, his teams have won 51 out of a possible 54 championships and have gone to Nationals as a team in cross country for the past 16 years. What does a man have to do to qualify as a great coach in your mind? Best wishes. Tom Sexton

Here's an interview of Don Letts, a multiple time all-american from Haverford that graduated last spring, and an a short section that is espeically relevant to Donnelly's training. http://trackshark.com/blogs/division3blog/2210/Interview%3A+Don+Letts+of+Haverford+College.html

Encharito,

Thanks for the heads up on this interview. There are so many qualities that make Tom a special person and coach.Two that come to mind are his keen intellect and his off-the-charts work ethic. He feels a responsibility to give people his all. I first called him 35 years ago when I was a new high school cross country coach and he was gaining a wonderful reputation as a local high school coach. I asked him for some advice and he immediately invited me over to share his workouts with me. I felt like I had struck gold. Now 35 years later he is one of my closest friends so I really did strike gold. Best wishes.Tom Sexton