Simmons blasts an 8:36 at Utah State Meet

more babies wrote:

Top Chart wrote:

Brosnan was a teacher and worked in sales for years and coached years before NP. I remember Mike Smith working a few years at Georgetown and then worked odd jobs in flagstaff before taking a job at NAU. think you’re posting misleading information on purpose. Not sure you fully understand how and why coaches are great. He was by far the most dominant coach in HS ever seen. The thing Brosnan did was develop HS athletes. Both Boys and girls breaking national records and top times. The only coach in HS similar is Timo M from AF. They understand it’s not about grinding but actually developing. Brosnan spent one year at UCLA and had more success in one year then UCLA has seen in past years. They had a large number of Distance NCAA qualifiers in a very short time. From what I’m hearing and from reliable sources Brosnan is set for the fall and is back coaching. Exactly where he belongs and should be. The US is better at distance running because of his coaching contributions. I’m never surprised to hear negative comments about a successful coach. It’s just what people do.

You are totally underselling Mike Smith's path to coaching and the "odd jobs" he had in Flagstaff, working under Jack Daniels at the Olympic training center and founding Team Run Flagstaff.

"Smith began his collegiate coaching career at Georgetown University. He spent four years there, serving as the Director and Head Coach of the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field programs during the 2015-2016 season. Smith found great success with the Hoyas, coaching the 2016 NCAA Champion Women’s Distance Medley Relay. In 2015, the Georgetown men’s cross country team won the Big East Championship, later placing 10th at the NCAA National Championships. During his time at Georgetown, Smith coached 47 All-Americans, 23 NCAA Championship qualifiers, and two Olympic Trials participants.
Prior to Georgetown, Smith lived in Flagstaff for six years where he founded Team Run Flagstaff, while also working under Dr. Jack Daniels at NAU’s Center for High Altitude Training – a U.S. Olympic Training Site for long distance running.
Smith is a 2003 graduate of Georgetown, where he was an All-Big East, All-Region, and All-American cross country runner. He was a 2007 qualifier for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon, competing in November 2007."

Coach Soles wrote:

zxcvzxcv wrote:

Coach Soles, your handle still mentions Great Oak. NP was Great Oak's greatest competitor. Why would you give credit to American Fork being a competitor in your area as having an effect on your program and not give it to NP, which was your greatest competitor in Southern California and during its brief reign surpassed your program and every other one? You have a claim to greatness at two different programs but give credit where credit is due. NP raised the bar everywhere and American Fork and others are responding to it.

I don't know how to change it from Great Oak. Any thoughts on that?

NP was not our greatest challenger while I was at GO, that was Dana Hills.

American Fork is our Utah challenger and they are extremely well coached and competitive.

Sean is a great coach and I have no issues with people believing his teams raised the bar. Did my coaching change? Not really. Did AF's program change because of a 4 year run by NP? Not really. The hardest people to take on are the Timo Mostert's of the world. He seldom makes mistakes, his kids do everything he asks, he is extremely smart and experienced, and he isn't going anywhere.

Just wait until everyone realizes the top 2 teams in the country for XC next year are actually AF and Herriman again. ;)

My Updated 2024 Boys XC Rankings:
1
Herriman
SW
UT
2
American Fork
SW
UT
3
Niwot
SW
CO
4
CBA
NE
NJ
5
Southlake Carroll
S
TX
6
Belen Jesuit
SE
FL
7
Coeur D'Alene
NW
ID
8
Mountain View
SW
UT

more babies wrote:

zxcvzxcv wrote:

Coach Soles, you're a great coach, for sure, and have very much elevated high school distance yourself, so whatever works for you is fine. It seems to be healthy for you to believe that NP didn't blow past your program in California and set a new standard for what was possible as a distance team in high school in the United States. The fact that California has multiple divisions didn't make anyone think that you weren't competing with, and losing to, NP while you and Brosnan were there, both in the merge and the national championships.

If, in all your posts, you replace "Brosnan" with "the Youngs and Sahlmans" I have no issue with your opinions. Brosnan has never had results on any level, at any other time of his life without the Youngs and Sahlmans. You can talk about UCLA success, but in the grand scale, it was OK, but far from dominant or spectacular. Maybe he would have had better results with more time, but we'll never know. Until he has similar results to his brief run at NP without the Youngs and Sahlmans, he will always be the coach that was made because of them, not the other way around.

Now, let's give some kudos to those two families. It is unbelievable how much they changed the entire landscape of high school running. Whether you liked the L&L YouTube channel and all of the social media stuff, they had a HUGE impact on high school running. Brosnan should be grateful he got to be a part of something so special.

Bro The Goat wrote:

more babies wrote:

If, in all your posts, you replace "Brosnan" with "the Youngs and Sahlmans" I have no issue with your opinions. Brosnan has never had results on any level, at any other time of his life without the Youngs and Sahlmans. You can talk about UCLA success, but in the grand scale, it was OK, but far from dominant or spectacular. Maybe he would have had better results with more time, but we'll never know. Until he has similar results to his brief run at NP without the Youngs and Sahlmans, he will always be the coach that was made because of them, not the other way around.

Now, let's give some kudos to those two families. It is unbelievable how much they changed the entire landscape of high school running. Whether you liked the L&L YouTube channel and all of the social media stuff, they had a HUGE impact on high school running. Brosnan should be grateful he got to be a part of something so special.

And the girls who broke National records and tons of other athletes Brosnan coached. He created the best team ever seem. A GOAT coach for sure.

Sawer T Run wrote:

Hes a bust wrote:

Why weren’t the girls team the best ever? A couple National meet appearances and a fringe record that hardly anyone runs. All the transfers on the girl’s side and they still were just OK. The Youngs and Sahlmans probably had more impact on the girls side than Brosnan by their example.

it’s cultish how a small group of people view him. Why has he never had success anywhere else before or alter the Youngs and Sahlmans? Guy is in his 40’s with zero accomplishments before NP and a mid single season at UCLA and somehow he’s the greatest. Super strange.

Anytime you see greatness from a coach or athlete it’s natural to try and bring their accomplishments down. Sad but true. What Brosnan was able to do at Newbury Park in 5-6 years and what he did at UCLA in one year was unprecedented. Definitely considered the greatest HS team in History. Had those HS kids running college times and breaking and demolishing records. Brosnan is polarizing but a damn good coach. You don’t have to like him , but he’s one of the best