Is Jerry Schumacher the best American distance coach right now?

What makes a great coach? Are there any coaches out there that know of some magic training method?

Probably not, what makes a great coach is attracting great athletes.

If you coach 10 of the best athletes in this country and 4 of them run well, you look like a good coach. They would probably run well if their mother coached them. It is not magic. Just keep them healthy and the cream will rise to the top.

Yes!!!

Without a doubt

I will not claim to know whether Jager (and the other athletes) are doping or not. No elite athlete doping surprises me.

However, I will argue simply that talent-wise, Jager is the real deal. He always was. He's a freak. I rang against him in high school for years, and heard whisperings of how little his program trained or ran -- their coach did not come from a real running background. He use to pull CRAZY triples at the state meet on hot-ass summer days. Range from :49 splits in the 400 at the end of two days all the way up to his 8:47 two mile and 14:07 3 mile xc on 35mpw of training.

His senior year he was hurt throughout the winter and into the spring, not running, and then came back on that crazy 35mpw training and still doubled 8:47/4:05 two mile and mile at nationals, forced to run the B heat of the mile due to a stupid rule.

It was always going to be a matter of staying healthy and doing real training for Jager, and none of us were surprised to see what he was really capable of.

NOP Skeptic wrote:

great point wrote:

great point. Also worth noting that most of Jerry's really successful runners are ridiculously talented and likely would be running fast no matter who was coaching them. Just look at Houlihan, for example. You can give Jerry some credit for her insane kick at the end of races, but for the most part that's just natural ability right there.

I would say if anything, Houlihan had always had the type of kick, especially in collegiate races. I think Jerry developed her strength. After a couple years of messing with the 5k she now has the strength she needs to be a great 1500 runner. Then again, she ran 14:34 so maybe she is a true 15/5k hybrid like Hassan.

that is what I meant. Her kick is 90% natural ability. If anything, I am worried Jerry is screwing her up by moving up to the 5k so early in her career. She should be running 800s and 1500s this year, she can probably run 1:56 or faster in the 800. her immediate success is nice, but where will she be in 5 years? Hopefully not burnt out and perpetually injured like most of Jerry's other runners.

guarantee you he can't run a 49 anymore. Jerry ruined that speed, now Jager keeps getting blown out on the last lap of races..

Again, I have to disagree with you. It does not seem rare for track athletes to go to the road in their 30s (and be successful). To me, it appears to be a a recurring theme in this day and age.

Tirunesh Dibaba - became a full marathoner last year - age 31 ( last track event was the 2017 WC)

Vivian C. - Became a full marathoner last year - age 33

Molly Huddle became a marathoner last year - age 32 - ( still runs track as speed sessions)

Galen Rupp became a marathoner in 2016 - age 30

Mo Farah - became a marathoner this year - age 35

Kipchoge - became a marathoner in 2013 - and he was probably 38 at the time, because he is clearly about 43 right now.

Haile G moved to the roads at the age of 30

Bekele started his marathon career at the age of 32, four years ago.

And Flanagan moved to the road around the age of 29-30

We are in a new age where runners are getting faster late in their career. Amy Cragg at the age of 34 went from 2:27 to 2:21, which is unheard of. That is a 6 min pr in the marathon, so I think Taylor has a very good chance of dropping to 2:21. Yeah, and she just turned 32 today. And I think it is a plus that she came from the track, so she has speed in her legs.

Also, to add to that, in Vivian's marathon debut, at the age of 33, she ran 2:23. Well, this year, at the age of 34, she ran 2:18! That's a 5 min PR by a runner how has about a 11-12 years of track running on her legs. ....So that is a so called OLD runner PRing by more than 3 mins in the marathon.

Salazar today- hold my beer.

Lydiard Cerutty wrote:

Pascal’s love child wrote:

What’s Jerry’s training look like?

Here is a sample of Jager off season training. About 90+ miles a week some mile reps and 200m reps.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=8539375

Also lots of workouts like 4 mile tempo + mile repeats, K's, 800s, etc. Lots of volume within these strength workouts themselves. Long runs can be structure or unstructured. Usually around 2 hours with fartlek our cut-down in pace the second half.

Definitely Salazar. Schumacher is the Galen to his Mo.

Going way back I recall Jerry wanted nothing to do with coaching women yet now it seems his greatest success has been on the women's side

Change post title to -

best coach in world.

When you consider the huge volume of records, medals and podiums BTC is cranking at every conceivable part of the season-

Indoor

Outdooor

Marathons

XC

And any space in between-

Schumacher is in my humble opinion the top coach in the world.

And I unabashedly say that as a point that stands on its own and also that I feel, as we all know, a key contingent of runners ahead of BTC are “asterisk runners.”

IE. They are in the process of popping or will pop due to past and continued current ped life.

The sad part is, those asterisk runners are indeed world beaters, but how sweet and exciting would the state of the competition of the sport be if they weren’t given such a ped “head start” on the field.

Greedy. Foolhardy. Poor moral culture.

Their time always eventually comes, but the vindication is procedural and robs the reward of the real talent like Flanagan’s 2008 Olympic upgrade.

BTC making the sport fun again!

Hdjsjddhsj wrote:

Jerry has also broken more top talent than other coaches.

German Fernandez

Sammy Silva

Chris Solinsky

Chris Derrick

Emily Infeld

Colleen Quigley

Lopez Lomong is coming back around but has been up and down under Jerry

Tegenkamp was often hurt under Jerry

Brent Vaughn

Andrew Bumbalough

Many of the above have shown flashes of greatness but lacked consistency over the long term with Jerry. He has a cookie cutter type of system. High volume and pretty intense. You either survive and thrive or break.

^this.

Plus, Jerry is a sneaky sketchball. Always in the shadows. When was the last time we saw him give a public interview?

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Naz???? wrote:

Agree that a Alberto is still on top but how the hell can you put NAZ above Jerry? NAZ doesn’t have anyone sniffing a medal and never will.

WE are talking about right now! read the thread. And Gwen causes his stock to go down.

Stephanie Bruce

Taylor

Tulimak ( wrong spelling) ...

They are all killing it right now.

Those you mention are fantastic runners. But they don't even come close to touching what runners like Shalene, Jager, and Cragg have done. Get back to us when any of those are capable of Olympic or world champ medals. Not even the same level.

For Salazar he has a lot of good runners right now but several were already studs before they got to him. Rupp has been his prodigy from the beginning and he did a ton to improve Hassay.

I would give the edge to Schumaker because I feel his athletes have been more consistant at reaching their potential. I think Salazar is a better at maximizing a few athletes he cares most about like Rupp, Farah, Goucher back in the day, Centro. But this leads to some flameouts like Goucher(male), Levins, Webb.

Salazar coached Webb? News to me. ?‍♂️

No disrespect but comparing NAZ to BTC is just trolling.

Devil Dog wrote:

Ignoring foreign runners, I'd say Jerry is the best American coach of American runners of all time.

Tegenkamp 12:58 and 4th a Worlds

Solinsky 26:59, 12:55

Jager 8:00, 13:02, Olympic Silver, World Bronze

Frerichs 9:00, World silver

Houlihan 3:57

Infeld, World Bronze

Cragg, 2:21, World Bronze

Shalane, NYC winner

What club has better credentials among its American runners?

I agree. I feel privileged to have met and chatted with him for a few minutes back when he was coaching at Wisco. It's like I got to talk to Rommel or U.S. Grant in the flesh.

What's funny is that initially he didn't coach women...until Shalane. Since then he has blown up U.S. women's distance. Shane deserves a huuge assist on that.

Yadup wrote:

Since then he has blown up U.S. women's distance. Shane deserves a huuge assist on that.

Of course she deserves credit -- he was just applying her motto: "Let's f**k s**t up!"