2019 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion

Track Scout wrote:

OWUOHNO wrote:

Wait? Does Sarah know she actually has to coach and can't tweet about her own running 24/7?

Wait ... that's a good thing. Once a coach gets too old to run with the team, they lose a certain amount of respect ... especially if they are overweight and look like a couch potato!

Dumbest post i've ever seen regarding coaching.

How do you let a good throws Coach go, and hire a coach with no experience in three of four throwing events? Looks like she was an Air Force grad and that is about it.

good grief d2 wrote:

Groyyy wrote:

Omg good grief this is horrible!

do you think she will have the XC team come out of the blocks for the start of races?

Coaching distance is by far the easiest event group to coach.

Questionable1 wrote:

good grief d2 wrote:

do you think she will have the XC team come out of the blocks for the start of races?

Coaching distance is by far the easiest event group to coach.

Anything is easy if you don’t really care about the results. Tell em to go jog everyday... they will suck. Tell a kid to sprint Everyday... if he doesn’t get hurt, he’ll run well. Sprints are easier... see how stupid you sound!?

Get this man a dunce cap wrote:

Questionable1 wrote:

Coaching distance is by far the easiest event group to coach.

Anything is easy if you don’t really care about the results. Tell em to go jog everyday... they will suck. Tell a kid to sprint Everyday... if he doesn’t get hurt, he’ll run well. Sprints are easier... see how stupid you sound!?

Talk about calling the pot calling the kettle black

Get this man a dunce cap wrote:

Questionable1 wrote:

Coaching distance is by far the easiest event group to coach.

Anything is easy if you don’t really care about the results. Tell em to go jog everyday... they will suck. Tell a kid to sprint Everyday... if he doesn’t get hurt, he’ll run well. Sprints are easier... see how stupid you sound!?

You are a fool and a liar. Coaching someone in the 5K, 10K or mile is simple compared to the pole vault or 400H or triple jump. If you think differently then go coach the pole vault with zero experience or knowledge. Also I never said just go for a jog. I said coaching distance is by far the easiest event group to coach, which it is.

Coaching distance is definitely the hardest. For one, you have an extra season to navigate, XC. You have to peak your athletes 3 times per year for different distances based on the season. You need to master all energy systems. Other event groups only use one energy system.

Training for the 10k and 800 is polar opposites. Those runners will never do the same things at practices, while most sprinters/jumpers overlap a lot in practice. Same with throwers, they overlap a lot.

Questionable1 wrote:

Get this man a dunce cap wrote:

Anything is easy if you don’t really care about the results. Tell em to go jog everyday... they will suck. Tell a kid to sprint Everyday... if he doesn’t get hurt, he’ll run well. Sprints are easier... see how stupid you sound!?

You are a fool and a liar. Coaching someone in the 5K, 10K or mile is simple compared to the pole vault or 400H or triple jump. If you think differently then go coach the pole vault with zero experience or knowledge. Also I never said just go for a jog. I said coaching distance is by far the easiest event group to coach, which it is.

The fact that you can’t comprehend what this guys is telling you just proves him right about your lack of intelligence. Someone as dense as you are, I hope you don’t have some of these “harder” events athletes career in your hands. Maybe it’s just hard for you to coach because of you mental capacity, and you probably would tell distance kids to Jog. Let me guess “5k guy do 5 mile repeats, oh you a 10k guy, do double that.” Haha ?

Falsehoods wrote:

Coaching distance is definitely the hardest. For one, you have an extra season to navigate, XC. You have to peak your athletes 3 times per year for different distances based on the season. You need to master all energy systems. Other event groups only use one energy system.

Training for the 10k and 800 is polar opposites. Those runners will never do the same things at practices, while most sprinters/jumpers overlap a lot in practice. Same with throwers, they overlap a lot.

Having been a distance and mid-distance runner myself, and having been an assistant coach in every event group over the years (sprints/hurdles/horizontals, mid- and distance, throws/verticals/multis), I absolutely agree that distance coaching is the easiest of the bunch.

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Or rather the *simplest*: Some things can be simple, but not necessarily easy. Of course it's possible to get completely enmeshed within any event group, but distance training is generally the most straightforward.

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Some of the statements by "Falsehoods" are so outlandish that I have to wonder whether s/he is trolling--or maybe is using "truth in advertising" by calling them falsehoods?

"Other event groups only use one energy system."--I'm not even gonna start with how ridiculous this one is.

"Training for the 10k and 800 is polar opposites. Those runners will never do the same things at practices . . ." [emphasis mine] --Any of us distance coaches can easily refute that one. NOTHING they do is similar? GTFO.

--And the idea that sprinters/jumpers overlap "a lot" in practice? Okay, Imma let it go--I'm getting myself worked up here.

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It's perfectly okay to be ignorant about other event groups--nobody is *born* knowing that stuff--but why *advertise* your ignorance?

Falsehoods wrote:

Coaching distance is definitely the hardest. For one, you have an extra season to navigate, XC. You have to peak your athletes 3 times per year for different distances based on the season. You need to master all energy systems. Other event groups only use one energy system.

Training for the 10k and 800 is polar opposites. Those runners will never do the same things at practices, while most sprinters/jumpers overlap a lot in practice. Same with throwers, they overlap a lot.

Jumpers and Throwers do not overlap a lot, if you want to be successful. Distance is about working your athletes thresholds. The field events take much more, technically involved, knowing what works with your athletes (each is different), there’s more than 1 way to jump, vault, throw, also knowing your athletes different peak windows, different cycles for each event, i have t even scratched the surface.

Physically, Distance running is about finding the quickest and most consistent way to run as many miles as possible a week, stay healthy and have a little bit of speed work. Mentally it’s about keeping them from falling asleep or running another persons race.

Physically Field events is about creating massive amounts of power, remaining healthy, and consistently executing proper technique. Mentally it’s about getting them to attack an early attempt and then to improve in finals.

Physically sprints seems to be about creating great mechanics and power. While mentally keeping they ego levels high but still being coachable.

Okay, now that we've beaten this dead horse and stomped on the hide a couple times, can we get BACK TO THE JOBS?

Coaching distance is by far the easiest event group to coach.

It's not the easiest; it just looks that way because the technical aspects are more subtle. If one consistently loses, they are doing something wrong. E.g., if one team is just 1% better, then over the course of a 5000 meter race, they will win by 50 meters .. .which is a significant margin at the finish line. On the other hand, if the other team is 99% successful, they will still lose by 50 meters. They have to figure out what that 1% is they are missing ... some never do. Figuring out that last 1% can be incredibly difficult!

So is Saginaw Valley just not going to hire a distance coach or what gives? They were 6th in D2 last year, I'd be a little harsher on them but after seeing how long Stanford waited I guess this is what you do these days.

Questionable1 wrote:

good grief d2 wrote:

do you think she will have the XC team come out of the blocks for the start of races?

Coaching distance is by far the easiest event group to coach.

This all started because I questioned this hire and someone said this? ^

I don’t care how “easy” it is to coach distance, this is a horrible hire! They would have hired this girl no matter who applied though. Mark wetmore could have decided he wanted to move to middle of nowhere Louisiana and start over and wouldn’t have gotten an Interview. Of course, I’m exaggerating the point, but that point still remains. Don’t try to downplay it by trying to say it’s easy to coach. No it just isn’t something they care about.

My 2 cents on which is harder or easier. When it comes to facilities, by far distance is less challenging. I couldn't imagine coaching sprints, jumps, throws or pole vault without facilities. No pit, track, circle or weight room and you are in a pretty bad situation. However for distance, none of those things are needed. A knowledgeable coach will make big things happen.

Questionable1 wrote:

good grief d2 wrote:

do you think she will have the XC team come out of the blocks for the start of races?

Coaching distance is by far the easiest event group to coach.

By far. And it’s not even close. Doesn’t apply to this situation, but that’s why admins choose to load programs up with 3 distance coaches who crap away all the scholarship money. Simplifies everything and they hear less noise. Going distance heavy is an excuse to not have to build an actual program and work hard. I know the distance coaches will cry about this, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m right.

Offering zero commentary on the actual hires, there have been successful coaches that changed event areas.

No event area in college track and field is easy. To think that is not doing the sport any favors. Speaking to actual coaching and what is the most "difficult", I personally think coaching the throws is the most difficult. All event areas have their own unique challenges from training systems to tactical/technical to recruiting and motivating. However, the technical aspect of the throws and the training/lifting periodization is tough to maintain. They get the least amount of scholarship money to work with (usually) and the least amount of respect (sadly). I actually love the throws and love watching the throws and the throws coaches working through their events. I never had a lot of throwers because that wasn't a focus for us particularly with no indoor facility in the cold Midwest.

Off-topic slightly, the throws coaches are the most fun to hang out with on a personal and professional level. They tend to be true track and field fans outside of their event area. They tend to be more down to Earth. There are exceptions, of course. They tend to get the short end of the stick a lot in this profession and their ceiling is sadly low for them to move up compared to the other event areas.

~Kevin

You are actually horribly wrong and I feel bad for your athletes. Sprints/jumps/throws are anaerobic. They don't do any aerobic training. Distance runners do aerobic and anaerobic, so coaches have to understand everything.

Donovan Brazier's training is NOTHING like Kejelcha's or Sifan Hassan's. I bet you think they are all just going out for jogs at 7:00 mile pace together.

Successful distance runners have to be competent sprinters, too. Even in college runners are closing 5k races in 52-53 seconds. Do you think it's easy to coach a runner doing 100 miles per week to be able to break 50 in the 400?

Do you think jumpers play in the sand every day? Hint - they don't. They train as sprinters. Just look at someone like Carl Lewis. Best in the world in long jump and 100. Was he doing double the training - one for sprints and one for jumps?