Would you hire a slow guy to coach HS or college track?

I would not exclude a candidate based solely on slow times. Bill Belichick wasn't very good at football.

Slower people are sometimes the most informed on how to get faster.

At the highschool level, not a lot of the fast guys do all that smart of training, simply cause they beat everyone off of mileage and interval work, so there’s no reason to go deeper.

Someone that maybe was slower but wanted to maximize their potential will often have a lot more research and knowledge on how to train to get faster and stay injury free.

How about starting with his/her coaching record first? What are the simple numbers? Growth of participants, parent references, admin references, opposing coaches references, former athlete references, etc....

Did they support other programs on campus in a positive fashion or were they an island? Are they coach centered or athlete centered in philosophy? What is the rate of retention over an athletes 4 year experience? What relationships have they developed with feeder programs? What have they done to prepare athletes for post hs experience other than train them? What is their record of professional development? Have they managed and mentored other adults/beginning coaches? Any former athletes become teachers/coaches at any level? Experience with budgets, facilities, appropriate meet schedules, travel arrangements etc....

How do you build a successful program that will sustain itself for a long time?

Etc...Etc...

I know some are dazzled by their athletic record but that doesn't make for a great coach. Plenty of examples of that in the college ranks. Of course athletic achievement is important to relate and give confidence to athletes but it doesn't mean squat in preparing athletes for the best experience at the highest level or the novice level. Bottom line is, can you get them engaged, on the important starting lines healthy and happy and do the athletes OWN IT!

Those who can't ask these questions probably just take whoever they can get. It all evens out.

PS...

Some of my best leaders were of the best character and influence on those around them but not that talented.

Meanwhile, some of my best athletes were the worst teammates anyone could have.

Most school AD’s won’t be able to tell/don’t care how fast a person's PRs are, so it doesn’t matter. It really comes down to the enthusiasm of the coach, if they’re willing to give it their all, they’re worth a hire.

Anyways, as long as the coach knows what they’re doing they have the potential for greatness. Doug Soles has probably never run a step in his life, but he built one of the best HS programs ever from the ground.

Would you hire a basketball coach that can't dunk or is a < 80% free throw shooter? Would you hire a football coach that can't throw a 40 yard pass, can't run under 5 seconds for the 40, or block a 250 lb lineman? Would you hire a baseball coach that can't throw a 90 mph fastball or consistently hit it over the fence in batting practice?

snails, sloths, and turtles wrote:

So let's say that there's an opening for a coach at your school, and candidate X has submitted his resume. He ran track and XC in HS but had horrible times, so he couldn't walk on in college and competed unattached instead. He has little to no experience in the hurdles, jumps, and throws, but has trained for and raced everything from the 100 (lifetime PR is in the low 12s) to the mile (lifetime PR is in the low 5s).

Would you interview and consider hiring him as a coach, or would you keep looking for someone else who's faster?

This question comes up all the time. I wont rehash every idea out there, but there's two things that always concern me about hiring someone based on how fast they were.

- Some fast athletes can't see past their own training that made them successful and miss that they may have been an outlier athletically that would have improved with anything

- Applicants that list their PRs in a resume or focus on those as a talking point in an interview rarely have anything to bring to the table -- If they understood coaching/training they would also understand that discussing their PRs doesn't tell us if they can coach at our university

There are plenty of reasons to hire a fast person. It's instant credibility for many athletes and recruits, but it's short lived if you only made the hire so you could write a cool press release.

I'd hire Vigil or Gagliano to coach distance

My coach in JC wasn’t even a distance runner, yet he coached over 20 conference championship cc teams, including 16 straight, 3 USA Junior champions (steeple, 5k, 10k) and one Pan American Junior Champion.

I would never hire someone based on their PRs.

A lot of great athletes don't understand why other people aren't as good as they are and assume it's because they don't want it or don't work as hard as them. These people generally make poor coaches where development of neophytes is important.

On the other hand there are athletes who understand and value the struggle related to hard work and that not everyone responds similarly to the same stimulus. They know how to be organized, supportive, and communicate well with athletes, peers, parents, and administrators. They know how to put together smart training plans tailored to the individual.

But... They don't know how to win. They lack the confidence necessary to achieve at the highest levels. They look for a reason for poor performances rather than see them as anomolies to be forgotten.

In my experience, former elite athletes (not wannabes) have a mindset that sets them apart. If I'm looking to create an elite program, I am more likely to consider an elite athlete than a hobby jogger, but I am still looking for the other traits that make a great coach. Some of those traits can be learned while you are coaching. I don't believe that a champion's mindset is usually one of those.

However, given an elite athlete who isn't organized, interested in the development of all athletes, etc., I will take someone else who does have those attributes regardless of PRs.

I think someone who is genuinely interested in the sport and who has maximized their own potential would be a good coach. I had a D III national 10K champion as my high school cross country and track coach one year. He was fun to run with but not especially insightful about helping us develop to our potential

I agree with what u said.

It would depend on their coaching philosophy. I’ve had coaches that were amazing runners who thought 3-4 miles as hard as we could go every day was good training. Also some of them had big egos. We sucked.

In contrast I’ve had coaches that couldn’t break 5 in the mile. But had us run 6-8 miles and go both hard and easy. We obviously ran faster on this. This coach also had more humility and was more enjoyable to be around.

So is the coach humble and connects with the athletes positively?

Dues the coach have a good training philosophy?

If yes to both then I wouldn’t care if the coach was only ever a champion at ping pong.

I would not hire the user- high school xc coach . Perhaps whoever did hire him would have some answers to this riddle

Sonetimes the guys at front Ie fast runners make horrible coaches...for whatever reason...usually they want it to still be about them rather than their runners.

Carl Lewis seems like its always about him. And yes his teams at Houston are good buts it’s always about Carl.

Sometimes the guys at back are more team oriented and more focused on those kind of things plus they know all the basics etc, they make it about their runners and team.

I think I saw Vin Lannana was the 5 man stony brook Xc (anyone know the details?).

Look at his teams at Stanford Oregon

Now UVA

Amazing teams.

100% true

How fast you are or were has absolutely nothing to do with your being able to be a good coach. Nothing.

snails, sloths, and turtles wrote:

So let's say that there's an opening for a coach at your school, and candidate X has submitted his resume. He ran track and XC in HS but had horrible times, so he couldn't walk on in college and competed unattached instead. He has little to no experience in the hurdles, jumps, and throws, but has trained for and raced everything from the 100 (lifetime PR is in the low 12s) to the mile (lifetime PR is in the low 5s).

Would you interview and consider hiring him as a coach, or would you keep looking for someone else who's faster?

The job isn't to run for the team, the job is to coach the team.

With YouTube

You don’t really need expert coaches these days

Google

Julius yego

The YouTube world champion at javelin

From Kenya

Years ago

We watched instructional vids in library before practice

The coaches knew nothing

About some events

But they supported the team’s pursuit of competitive goals in the events nonetheless