Sean Brosnan's Book on Newbury Park's Success

brosnan is a very good coach and was 100% dedicated to the job. I may or may not get the book. but I agree with the sentiment that he can't be considered a Mt Rushmore type coach not having done it without those two hyper talented families

to those saying he sucked all the joy out of it for the average kid on the team, I'd say that's true of almost every coach that leads a great national level program. but I could be way off there.

If this is real then grow a pair! Life is f@cling tuff and you need to learn to work hard. If cross country was too hard or serious for your kid then join the band. Although that might be too serious for your snowflake parenting.

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been coaching for over 15 years in California and if you make everyone happy you’re a bad coach who gives participation trophies out.

Soft parents has driven a lot of great coaches out of the sport in high school. its a sad truth today.

3 upvotes in 1 minute. Thanks for announcing your presence, Sean

I think that happens when you’re at the top of the message boards. I’m in AZ and have been coaching for a long time. I up voted a few of these posts right when I saw them. Parents are ruining high school sports and those are facts

Parents are not only ruining schools sports they are ruining schools too. I’ve seen more and more home schooled kids each year.

That largely depends on the coach and how they treat JV athletes. If an acclaimed coach has a staff of assistant coaches that are actually coaching the younger and less developed runners, then it is OK for the head coach to focus on his championship varsity crew.

If that head coach works only with his star athletes, never interacts with the JV runners, and puts no effort into the bench (no assistants, just posts the workouts on a bulletin board but does no actual coaching, lets the JV run around unsupervised like feral cats, or tells them to ape the varsity training and wishes them good luck not getting hurt, then it is a problem.

I've heard a few stories about the Brosnans being less than interested about runners outside of their top seven. FWIW based on personal observations, Brosnan seems like a sleazy car salesman or scammy investment manager while his wife has the personality of wet cardboard.

In Texas we don’t let snowflake parents have a voice.

we say ““All hat, no cattle”

Newbuy Park won at all levels on girls and boys JV and Varsity. I know Steve Hawkins was Sean Brosnan’s long time assistant and he was great when the JV kids along with the Brosnan’s. Newbury Park is a fairly affluent area and I don’t envy those parents one bit. They basically did the best job asked of them. They had major buy in and that’s key.

We are this same in Florida. Maybe we don’t use that All hat, no cattle phrase but we sure put out the BS fire with parents.

We like to call it “California soft”

Why did Brosnan get blood cell monitors?

"Brosnan sometimes uses a device to measure their hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that doubles as an indicator of aerobic capacity."

Via the New York Times

Do you know what a hemoglobin monitor test is? It’s a laser and it’s an accurate way to see if they are overtired. Good for them for watching out for those kids. This is actually very smart. Hemoglobin is a safe ( non blood sample) way to measure fatigue.

The situation with Newbury Park is different then almost all high school teams. Newbury were the best cross country team ever seen. Maybe the best high school sports team ever seen. They got tons of attention anyplace they went and when they were at races kids wanted them to take pictures and sign autographs. This is not normal for your typical championship high school team. So naturally the JV parents want their kids to get this attention too. Even though the JV were dominant at their level you’ll still get the bitter parents. They want their kid to get attention like the top boys do. I bet you the kids that showed up everyday and worked hard got attention. No matter what you do as a coach you have a few sour grapes. It’s part of the job. Welcome to a high school coaches life.

How creepy is it?

Not creepy at all. I think it’s a great cover.

I see on the book website, the books are still discounted. Anyone know why? I thought that was a limited time. Is that the new price forever or when does the price change?

BS Joe Newton, the best hs cross country by a lenght, was invested in every one of his runners. Sean may have been a good coach, but Coach Newton was a true educator.

That helps keep the athletes healthy and checks if they are too fatigued for whatever is happening later in the season.