Centro, trash. Likely hurt or burned out.
Karissa, burned out.
Cranny, more burned out than even Karissa.
Houli on the juice.
I could go on.
No one has had a worse 60 days than Jerry Schumacher. Centro was clearly cooked, or injured during the semi. His stride looked like he was broken. Centro was his prize.
Jerry should be fired immediately following this absolute embarrassment of an Olympic performance.
I’ve always thought Jerry was overhyped and better at getting athletes to time trial than race. I really do think this is a situation where the emperor has no clothes.
So yes, I agree
Weird that you didn’t mention Frerichs and Fisher.
This wasn’t Jerry’s year that’s for sure. I do think he keeps his athletes too long at altitude and absolutely runs them into the ground. They never look fresh. He also didn’t do enough heat training with them.
Rough. Look at the American 5000m list both genders. He certainly nails the 5k and his athletes produce fast time trials. World Class 5000m time trial coaching.
Remember Al Sals early days the NOP didn’t produce anything of note, only the altitude house. Then he took things to the next level after a few years of learning and honing his craft: Gold from 1500-10k and ‘Thon medal. His crew being a factor in all GLOBAL championship distance races. Big results.
Jerry certainly has room for improvement:
Race tactics
peaking to win BIG meets
Kicking to win
Mental game
Red lining
Gear changing
Injury prevention
Speed work/development
I think coaches should learn different training systems... Multiple styles of training, multiple event training-sprints to distance. That will help keep things fresh and keep them from being set in their ways.
Strength is speed is true to a certain extent and takes care of 99% of the race. It’s gets you from the start to the final lap but you still need that extra overdrive sprint speed gear to win.
“We aren’t out here for ribbons, we’re here to win.” -G Rupp.
emr0129 wrote:
This wasn’t Jerry’s year that’s for sure. I do think he keeps his athletes too long at altitude and absolutely runs them into the ground. They never look fresh. He also didn’t do enough heat training with them.
Because they can't fire the the players. MLB team owners will fire the manager after the season. This thread is kind of the same thing.
I don't kmow about the others , but I believe Centro is a bit past his prime and the 1500 is more competitive than in 2016. It didn't surprise me that he didn't make the final.
We don't know the story behind each BTC runner's performance in Tokyo, but not everything is under a coach's control.
What does a "fresh" runner look like? How much time did the BTC spend at altitude between the OT and the Olympics? What heat training did they do and how does it compare to what distance runners from other countries did?
I believe they went to Hawaii.
OP should slide into the DMs of BTC athletes and offer their coaching services. It’s so amazing how a world class coach manages to convince elite runners to buy into his program when they can just go onto LRC and get free advice/coaching.
Even Courtney's race was poorly handled from a coaching standpoint. Her acceleration was too sharp and aggressive and cost her a gold IMO. As a coach I would emphasize a smooth and strong turning of the proverbial screw.
Soy What? wrote:
Even Courtney's race was poorly handled from a coaching standpoint. Her acceleration was too sharp and aggressive and cost her a gold IMO. As a coach I would emphasize a smooth and strong turning of the proverbial screw.
She came 1 lap from pulling a Billy Mills and you're criticizing the coaching? Tremendous, A+ all around with her.
I'm definitely no expert on anything distance related, but I do know that sprinters often train with their college coaches at the University where they competed. Why doesn't Nike designate a few college coaches to co-coach these teams. It'd be a great recruiting tactic for the university (come train with these professional athletes twice a week) while the athletes would have access to the facilities and the college coach gets a large stipend for coaching them.
Again, sprinters do this, but it's not like an entire flock of sprinters like BTC. I'd think a few programs like BYU, or Oregon would love this.
Soy What? wrote:
Even Courtney's race was poorly handled from a coaching standpoint. Her acceleration was too sharp and aggressive and cost her a gold IMO. As a coach I would emphasize a smooth and strong turning of the proverbial screw.
This is such a bad take. Did you even watch this race?
Soy What? wrote:
Even Courtney's race was poorly handled from a coaching standpoint. Her acceleration was too sharp and aggressive and cost her a gold IMO. As a coach I would emphasize a smooth and strong turning of the proverbial screw.
This is a terrible take. Everyone knows Courtney has strength and no speed. She ran to win and ended up with a fabulous silver. Who have you coached to championship success?
She ran the greatest race of her career and it was perfectly executed .
Soy What? wrote:
Even Courtney's race was poorly handled from a coaching standpoint. Her acceleration was too sharp and aggressive and cost her a gold IMO. As a coach I would emphasize a smooth and strong turning of the proverbial screw.
This is bogus, more or less. She ran an incredible race and nearly separated from Chemutai for good. I suppose to you, anything less than Olympic gold every time out is a coaching failure.
Counterpoint:
Silver for Frerichs through sheer performance (i.e. not because the leader missed the water jump).
Got 3 athletes in the 5000m final
5th and 6th in 10000m final.
Helped turn around Cranny from constantly injured/overwhelmed by eating disorders into a US champ but more importantly a healthy human.
Woody Kincaid US Champ.
9/24 possible distance spots on team USA taken by BTC athletes.
DeBues-Stafford being barely off her PR in the semis.
And tbh RE: Centro, 4 months ago half this board was ready to stick a fork in Centrowitz and declare his career over and would have laughed in your face at the suggestion that he would run 3:33 in an Olympic semi. If it's on Schumacher that he didn't make the final, then he also gets credit from turning around a car crash of a season so quickly.
I think there are quite a few coaches who would love to enjoy that much success in a 60 day window.
chogeeeeee wrote:
Centro, trash. Likely hurt or burned out.
Karissa, burned out.
Cranny, more burned out than even Karissa.
Houli on the juice.
I could go on.
No one has had a worse 60 days than Jerry Schumacher. Centro was clearly cooked, or injured during the semi. His stride looked like he was broken. Centro was his prize.
Jerry should be fired immediately following this absolute embarrassment of an Olympic performance.
You should put your application in for the job…stop working at McDonalds and apply
Soy What? wrote:
Even Courtney's race was poorly handled from a coaching standpoint. Her acceleration was too sharp and aggressive and cost her a gold IMO. As a coach I would emphasize a smooth and strong turning of the proverbial screw.
Alberto it’s OVER…Alberto it’s OVER…move on
Soy What? wrote:
Even Courtney's race was poorly handled from a coaching standpoint. Her acceleration was too sharp and aggressive and cost her a gold IMO. As a coach I would emphasize a smooth and strong turning of the proverbial screw.
Terrible take.
Frerichs almost certainly would not have made that move without preparing that specific race plan. She doesn’t have incredible top-end speed, which is one reason why Coburn has edged her out so many times. If she hangs with the pack for too long, she probably gets blown away in a kick finish.
If the goal was to maximize her podium potential, Schumacher came up with the absolute best possible race plan. Conveniently, Jager used a similar strategy for international success, also under Schumacher.
I’m not a huge fan of BTC’s way of doing things. Lots of athletes don’t succeed under their system. Many have had chronic injury problems and haven’t made it to the starting line of major championships under Schumacher’s system.
All that said, Schumacher has consistently produced high performing athletes. Many didn’t have much elite success before being coached by him.
Jerry's performance is at least as good as any other US coach at the Olympics. Team Boss produced nothing. Pete Julian has no notable finals performances. The US Army/Very Nice Track Club/On/etc have no distance medals or good finals performances.
Centro just didn't have the legs to make the move this time off a quick pace. He also doesn't have a track record of big, world beating kicks in fast races.
Cranny has had a fantastic last 12 months and is showing all the talent she demonstrated in high school. She has minimal experience against the top talent in the world, so not being able to hang with Sifan Hassan doesn't exactly scream burned out. I'd expect her to be more in the mix in a final next summer at worlds. Karissa had her top performances keying off Shelby Houlihan in the last 2 years. She pulled it together and made the finals but wasn't able to hang with Hassan either. No one should be surprised. Woody went for a medal in the 10k and died rather than trying to run for 6th or 7th. Marc Scott got out kicked by a faster runner. Keiran Tuntivate was never a medal threat, making the olympics was a huge accomplishment.
Fisher and Frerichs have had great finals performances. Debues-Stafford looked strong through the semis and should be in position to take a shot at a medal.
Jerry is a good coach, but he's not the right fit for everyone. With as many athletes as BTC has, he's had good success with most of the athletes at some point and failures at others. I certainly wouldn't fire Jerry if I were Nike, but I might consider offering his runners the opportunity to work with another coach for the Worlds cycle if they are still under contract at Nike to give all the athletes what they think is their best chance to maximize their potential. Assuming they still think it is with Jerry, Shalane, and Pascal then Nike has no reason to fire any of them.