I think a lot of people put insane results as the qualifier on who is a great coach and who is not, but truth be told, a lot of great coaches never get the same level of talent a lot of the better known coaches do. The true test of a coach is taking what public school zoning gives him and improving those runners, not recruiting, or finding lightning in a bottle with insane talent.
I think this is the best answer.....if your school has 1500-2000+ kid enrollment it isn't very hard to have a good program.
I coach at a school with an enrollment of ~250......we routinely beat schools that have 1000-2000 kids.....I don't get transfers into my school, I don't get to offer scholarships to anyone.... I'm lucky to get 10-15 kids out per gender.
I'm not claiming to be a top level coach but give me a school with 2000 kids and I'd dominate my state, full stop. (BTW, I'm not complaining, I chose to coach where I am)
I'm sure you are a good coach, but I think this thread really is about the coaches that have decided to go after it. They put themselves in a situation for success population wise. They learned how to coach great athletes and big teams. They took on the stresses of big states races and Nike Nats. Those are the coaches that said they want all the MF smoke. Lots of good coaches out there, and plenty that think they are amazing. The question of this thread should be who the top 10 boys coaches are and who the top girls coaches are in high school today. Use MF's could do an all time list too if you wanted. But lets cut out the my coach was the best ever but my team only had 5 kids sh!te. -Ron the Destroyer