Dana Coons leaves Team Minnesota

sooo hot. want to touch the hiney!!

wow, that's an underhanded way of displaying your displeasure with Team MN. Keep it to yourself blowhard, especially since Coons ran a lot of PR's there.

hottest chick on the circut--mmmm, yummy

She's NASTY - what are you talking about?

Considering more than just a couple of athletes are running well (Tollefson, McGregor, Gabrielson, Lehmkule, Deatherage, Watson), I find the comment regarding coaching hard to believe. Was it the coaching situation, or the fact that she was always battling injuries... something she came to MN with? It's hard to coach someone who is struggling just to run from Day One. If comments about coaching have been made on her behalf, I would surmise that they were made out of frustration with injuries and that the coaching was the scape goat. Don't know her personally, but best of luck to her. Hopefully she can find a stretch of good health and reach more of her potential.

Photos, please.

Stamen wrote:

Photos, please.

you're an idiot if you cant find a picture of just about any female runner on this message board from the past few weeks, coons included.

My computer won't let me search "coons."

Finishing 2nd at New Haven '04, probably her best performance of last 2 yrs.

Having met her briefly, she doesn't sound like the type to badmouth TM.

Incidentally, she mentioned she helps coach a boys HS team - I would bet their attendance is over the 100% level. Darn, I don't remember my coaches from HS looking like that.

Don't know as I'd want to see Mosely in that outfit Jim.

I once drafted behind her in a race...best 3 miles of my life.

Why is it that anytime a program has an athlete leave that it is in some way the fault of the program? Did you ever think that it might be the problem of the athlete? Team Minnesota does a great job. If it wasn't a good fit for Ms. Coons then fine. It doesn't have to be someones fault. Besides Team Minnesota is providing chances for athletes to continue their running careers. THEY ARE THE GIVER. I find it funny as hell when an athlete who has been given charity (any athlete receiving any type of financial support) can then criticize the GIVER. I see this happen in several of the elite programs. I don't know if Dana Coons is guilty of this or not. Hey athletes when you leave a program or a sponsor ask yourself, Did I give more to the program or did the program give more to me?

Fantastic bod...brownbagger though.

Andrew Carlson has joined the mens' team now too. He must have changed his mind? I thought he was going to be with Hanson's or a different team???

He lasted 2 weeks with Sev.

Not sure who or when you are referring to these athletes that end up leaving a given program and and in turn, criticizing them.

I have known several people involved in the Team USA programs. Most that left, left because it wasn't a good fit or they ran enough to see they didn't have what it takes.

Anyone can critize these programs if they want though. Just like the college you may go to/will go to or the government that you live under, it is all the same. You give them something and they give you something back, although you may not feel it is enough. These programs are the same type of deal. You put your time and focus into the program and they provide you with coaching/travel and others. These people involved in the programs, coaches and athletes, are all adults and can make decisions and opinions on whatever they choose, usually with very good logic guiding them.

Point being, not every Team USA program is going to be a good fit for everybody. You don't go to Team Minnesota/Monteray Bay if you want to be the best marathoner, just like you wouldn't go to Hanson's if you wanted to be at your best in the Mile - 10k. The same can be said for going to Mammoth to be a great cross runner, they don't run cross much. If you happen to make a bad decision by going to the wrong group for your abilities or you don't fit in good with the training philosophies or the coaches/athletes, than it is probably a good time to go. Should you be able to voice your difference of opinion? I would say sure as long as you don't put the program down.

With that being said, if the athletes get to the right programs and there is a good mesh with the training and coaching, great things can and will happen. They already have actually (Meb,Deena,Sell).

Dana had mentioned to me before that even though she lived with Sara Wells for a good while, they never ran together. That was clearly a sign of something not right. What, that is not for me to assume, just that there was not a good team training situation there. From the comments in the beginning of this thread, said to be Dana's, it doesn't appear that she made any comments that bashed the team. She didn't like the weather and she didn't think there was enough focus on her side of the training. She made the decision to move on, good for her. If she was not happy than Team Minnesota wouldn't have been happy either.

Best of luck to all the programs and athletes former and present.

A fan of the sport

You make some solid points and I think that the most important thing to remember is that all of these groups are an opportunity that none of us had ten years ago. Whether or not the athletes show their appreciation now or 10 years from now is unimportant. The only thing that is important is to remember that all of these programs are a welfare system for struggling athletes.

Team USA Fan wrote:

You give them something and they give you something back, although you may not feel it is enough. These programs are the same type of deal.

What does the athlete give to the program? Please don't tell me their hard work. In other words Pat Goodwin and Dennis Barker give Katie McGregor (just an example) a chance to pursue her dream. This directly helps Katie. What does Katie do for Pat or Dennis that directly helps their lives?

For the record: Katie was just used as an example, you could insert any athlete from any of the programs name.

These programs are great, but they are great because of the coaches and volunteers and donators, not because of the athletes.

Those Michigan winters don't seem to bother the Hansons. Cold weather is a great excuse to get in solid long miles without the urge to race every weekend.

Alan