Coach Cook shares his thoughts on what happened with Flannagan and Donohue

The thing with training is that the rewards come later.

The athlete puts in the work and if successful is rewarded with higher appearance fees if she gets an Olympic medal.

The coach is also putting in the work early on with anticipation to hopefully reap benefits later.

Now she has the medal and just before she collects these better appearance fees she drops the coach and doesn't have to pay the 5%.

Coach Edwards will have 100% access to the same level of support staff since Shalane is under Nike sponsorship. Nothing has been lost. SO given it up. Things change in life. People make hard decisions. That's the way it goes. TS for Cook.

It takes a village... wrote:

Cook is paid a flat stipend from nike, a budget. He spends it all on his athletes - eg mexico training camp paid out of his budget. He doesnt need the money to live his life comfortably in FL. So, nice kick in the pants when coach/manager/naive waterboy Edwards fires him.

Another benefit that Cook provides for his athletes is a vast network of supportive friends who provide free services for his athletes - Cook has access to guys like dan pfaff,numerous therapists, several physicians who provide free advice and medical care to the athletes at no cost (Coach Edwards will soon realize that medical care and instant access to doctors is not free and ez), and the support of many other coaches around the country. Hard to put a price on that.

Hahahaha, you know nothing.

I just wanted to say that this is a classic thread for letsrun. Keep up the good work.

I will just throw my two cents into the bucket. I don't give a shit how much Cook knows about running. Any Coach who says "you can't do it" in regards to an athlete's goals is no 'coach' at all. If that's what the athlete wants to do, then you man up and do your best to help them do it. In the end, Cook refusing to coach Donohue proves that he was afraid of failing. He FEARED that if Erin did not medal/break 4:00 by 2012, she would blame it on his subpar coaching, not her genetic limitations or some other factors. This goes to show just how little Cook knows about Erin as a person and about what running truly is. Just because he knows what kind of workouts to give his runners doesn't mean he is a good track coach. That is such a small part of it. What a selfinterested piece of crap. I agree on Flanagan's part that this Edwards guy does sound a bit shifty, but I don't blame Flanagan at all for wanting to get rid of Cook. What the hell is wrong with videotaping workouts? HE WOULDN'T NEED TO VIDEOTAPE THEM TO REMEMBER THEM. OBVIOUSLY FLANAGAN HAS A RUNNING LOG IN WHICH SHE STORES HER WORKOUTS. The idea that Edwards' videotaping was somehow designed to copy Cook's workouts is absurd. Flanagan would already know them.

People like Cook, who understand the technical, and not the human, side of the sport, are what ruin track. Cook-like types can be found all throughout the collegiate and high school ranks. Coaches not in it for the love of the sport. Coaches who don't genuinely care about their athletes. Coaches who only see their runners as a means to an end. I can guarentee you that Donohue would not see Cook that way, if Cook did not see her that way. In this case, Cook is way off. I hope that Rowbury splits off as well and trains with Donohue because they are good training partners and obviously good people and do not belong with someone the likes of Cook.

I don't even think it matters, but that's the question you asked. Webb may have the tools or he may not, but he'll never know for sure while he has all that muscle strapped to his upper body that doesn't do anything to move him forward any faster. I don't care about published this or that, either, it's easy enough to detect by visual inspection.

Sammy123 wrote:

Shalane is on the track to win. Get her off the track and she is a class act.

You got it half right, at best.

2 more words: not quite wrote:

Webb may have the tools or he may not, but he'll never know for sure while he has all that muscle strapped to his upper body that doesn't do anything to move him forward any faster.

I know this isn't a Webb thread, but there's a lot of evidence that the above poster is correct. You run primarily with your legs. Your heart has to pump blood everywhere, upper body and lower body. Upper body contributes little compared to blood cost.

RECENT DISTANCE/MIDDLE DISTANCE CHAMPIONS/RECORD HOLDERS WITH RELATIVELY SLIGHT UPPER BODIES

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Haile Gebreselassie

Kenenisa Bekele

Hicham El Geurrouj

Daniel Komen

(Buffer full, list terminated)

RECENT DISTANCE/MIDDLE DISTANCE CHAMPIONS/RECORD HOLDERS WITH RELATIVELY LARGE UPPER BODIES

============================================================================

(sound of crickets chirping)

Avocados Number wrote:

This idea that you can eyeball a 4:05 runner and determine that she'll never run 4:00 is nonsense.

Plenty to respond to on this thread.

First of all, Cook coached Donohue for a couple years and should have a decent idea of what she is ultimately capable of. Hardly "eyeballing."

Secondly, this is not the first example of Team Flanagan's "parasitic behavior." When Flanagan had problems with her navicular she went to Alberto who hooked her up with the best podiatrist in the game (sorry Dr. Fullem) - Amol Saxena. As soon as everything was on the up-and-up she went back to NC. Should any medical problems arise she will surely run back to Alberto. As someone said before, Nike will pay for everything. Especially after the medal.

Finally, Cook is a jerk. Great interview and kudos for telling it like it is, but he's not getting off so easily. Perhaps one of the George Mason guys can tell the story about him stealing literally tens of thousands of dollars from one of his athletes.

Can anybody tell me which agents represent the 3 athletes, and if it is possible that the agents had any influence on the decisions taken ? Where did the women train, and who with (other than Cook of course) ?

All of those top runners are Africans, if you look at the top European runners you may find a different story. And Gebreselassie does not have a slight upper body.

this is stupid wrote:

Gebreselassie does not have a slight upper body.

Yeah, every time I see a pic of either Webb or Geb I have to read to caption to tell em apart. Their physiques are so similar.

If Geb put a few pounds on his arms and shoulders like Webb, he might run 2:02 for the marathon. NOT. Wouldn't break 2:06.

AS someone else said, lots to comment on. First,whether it is ultimately true or not a coach should not unilaterally tell an athlete that she has no hope of the success she is aiming at. So Cook was wrong to do so.

The story goes that Marty Liquori's hs coach told him he didn't have the stuff to be a miler. Good call!

On the bigger issue of Shalane and Cook, I would defer to Shalane's judgment. The husband may be a bit of a distraction, but if Shalane were otherwise happy and had faith in what they were doing, she wouldn't change, and certainly not for 5%.

However, I do think that anyone that thinks she can do it on her own is wildly mistaken. Coaches earn their money in the rare situation that they are actually being paid.

I'm no fan of Cook but the success Shalane achieves has been and will be despite her "teammembers". Way too many chefs in the kitchen. Too many people offering advice as to what is in her best interests without knowing what is truly best for her. Some of the advice is wholly serving the individual giving it. Unfortunately a sinking ship ...

Anyone who knows anything about the actual situation knows that Edwards is NOT trying to coach her. He doesn't claim to be a coach, an agent, anything like that.

He will help pace her, time her, etc. Edwards will tell you flat out that Shalane knows more about running than he does.

He is just filling in and trying to help out. SHE LIKES HIM TO RUN WITH HER. HE IS FAST AS F*** AND CAN PACE HER DURING THE SHORT STUFF.

You people are clueless.

It is laughable to think about Edwards trying to sneak his way into a coaching position. He couldn't care less. He just wants his wife to be happy.

Um, he was named to replace Stubbs as Shalane's agent, so he is indeed claiming to be her agent. What, you think she just forced him into it because he's her husband? Eh, maybe.

You moron, obviously someone has to be the interim agent/coach/whatever before she gets a new one. Just because he's taking that role right now doesn't mean he or she have any intention of him continuing full-time. That's what the previous poster was indicating.

There was no "interim" label used with respect to Edwards taking over agent duties, only with respect to him doing the coaching. You and your other handle are still wrong, idiot.