Best Coach in the NCAA

The "best" coach is hard to define. If you look at what Joey Woody has done at University of Iowa, they had 3/8 finalist in the men's 400 at indoor championships. He consistently has 1-2 hurdle finalist, 1-2 decathlon finalist. And consistently has a top 5 4x400. Doing so with absolutely 0 instate talent is quite impressive. I'd argue in the hurdles and 400s, there is not a coach who can get more from less. Obviously Iowa is not the best program, but hard to argue that any other coach could do what he has done, where he has done it.

It's definitely difficult to quantify because I know from experience that there's so many factors that play into the end results that fans see.

Texas definitely benefited from some transfers and truth be told, that's been somewhat the theme with Floreal in general. Now of course, that doesn't mean he's not every bit of the coach that we might assume, but it doesn't say anything about him as an actual coach. Leader, director, general, etc absolutely. He's up there with the best.

I don't know much about Woody but I don't think he coaches the 400 runners. If I remember correctly, he coaches the mens short sprints and the hurdles. Jason Wakenight coaches the long sprinters. Now I have no idea about the finer details of the arrangement but I sort of agree about the talent that they bring in. I can't say that it's been lacking but it hasn't been in state.

Wakenight received USTFCCCA region coach of the year honors for coaching the 400 runners at Iowa.

Penny Hardaway

Nick Saban and/or Dawn Staley are the best coaches in the NCAA. Floreal and his dirty ways are nowhere near the upper echelon of NCAA coaches.

You’re saying the coach who just won NCAA indoors could be the best in the nation? Piping-hot take there.

What dirty ways? This is the first im hearing of this.

Yes, Woody has steadily built that team over the last 5 years, but it is not as complete as Texas. Iowa is mostly long sprinters and hurdlers, while Texas won the DMR and was runner up in the 4x400. Texas is a complete program and scored in all event areas and both genders are at the top. Floreal and Woody have both done great work!

No argument that Texas is the better team/program. They also have a vastly superior location and resources. Simply saying that Woody has been super impressive given the location, that's all.

I ran for Iowa, done now but Woody was there when I was there and took over the head coaching position while I was there. Yes he spends most of his time with the hurdles and short sprints. But his training philosophy is very present with the 400/800 crew, which also has done very good. They always have multiple sub 1:50 runners in the 800, often a 1:47 runner. And as others have said, they're not really getting the top of the top recruits. They are bringing people that are pretty good and making them some of the best. And they have done a good job at keeping people healthy, a lot of top recruits seem to be plagued with injuries, Iowa's people in these events rarely have injuries. You could add that their 4x100 is quite competitive given the types of recruits available to them. They have made the NCAA final in 4x100 more often than not while Woody has been coaching it. A couple hurdlers still train there who were just in the indoor world championships, one for USA and one for Australia. They've got a woman who won silver at Doha world championships 200 meters.

I'll add that I think a huge part of the success is also the strength coach. The strength coach that works with these events is one of the best in the business. Very specific and well thought out lifting program. Lifting is very important for these event groups.

Texas benefited from Florida and Iowa both having 3 members of their 4x400 in the open 400 finals. Those guys were gassed and couldn't do much in the 4x400 even though they came in with the top 2 teams. I'll say that Texas is the flashier program, with a long history of being competitive, so they get better recruits at the moment in many events. Iowa doesn't have that luxury, so to be dominating the Big Ten in recent years is very impressive. Woody joined Iowa in 2006 when they were 8th in the Big Ten out of 10. Then by 2011 they won Big Ten for the first time in like 40 years. Now they've won 2 or 3 outdoor titles and one indoor title in the past few years and look to do it again this year, and looked to be the favorites in 2020 but the outdoor season was cancelled. They are starting to get better recruits which will only continue to improve their chances. If this continues they will likely be nationally relevant in team standings for the first time maybe ever, not just a conference competitive team. They were 7th at NCAA championships back in 1967 and nothing better since, being at their best 12-18th in recent years nationally. They could reasonably beat that 7th place finish in the next year or two since some of their key guys are underclassmen at the moment.

Thats no excuse they weren’t the only relays that had athletes run individual events but still place better than them on the relay ie Texas a&m and Kentucky. Its all about who wants it, the whole meet was crunched for time. Why iowa cant seem ti get recruits is beyond me especially since their 4x400 is consistently a contender. Maybe recruiting isnt all that well there

It's because of the location, most people it's a culture shock to go to small town Iowa and they don't even consider it. It's easier to persuade young people to go to a big city in Texas, or southern california, or some other flashier place than Iowa.

Dawn Staley has won 1 championship in how many years as a coach? She might get her 2nd in a couple of weeks but she's not even the best coach in her sport.

Pat Henry

I agree! Splitting up the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor meets by gender on different days is foolish in my opinion. All it does is hurt the most talented athletes who qualify in multiple events. Even with that being said, Texas had people in all event areas, Iowa didn't. That is not to take anything away from Woody and the outstanding job he has done. Looking forward to seeing both programs reach new heights this outdoor season and beyond.

Let’s not underrate the Iowa 4x4 here, they had one guy who obviously was too tired to run and split a 50.x, the rest we’re all 46 low.

I’m willing to bet those other three could’ve ran faster if they were in contention, the 50 split was the first runner. McKiver in particular, is a great talent and will be dominating for years to come once Randolph Ross has graduated.

Iowa had 8 men run sub 48, Texas had 5.

sure the Texas distance program is a lot better than Iowa’s, but I doubt floreal or woody have much control over that. And it’s not like Iowa’s distance program is headed in the wrong direction either, they had two guys score in the 5k at big tens and their DMR looked like it could’ve been too 4-3 if not for getting tripped.

Best coach or best recruiter? Which coach helped his athletes improve the most at NCAAs. In my mind Coach Duane Ross of NC A&T has to be in the conversation (he was USTFCCCA National co-coach of the year in 2021.)

Danny stults best coach you've never heard of