1999 Columbia University graduates Tom Kloos and Jason Saretsky both decided to pursue careers in coaching. One at the high school level, one at the college level. 6 years later they coached a High School Footlocker Champ and a NCAA Cross Country Runner Up. Now that's impressive. Not to mention Kloos is an 8:30 steepler/USATF finalist in his own right. I'm proud of those guys. Keep it up fellas!
tom kloos is a class guy - great to see him having success running and coaching.
i look forward to seeing saretsky coaching his own team...he's still under byrne isnt he? i think he could do alot better on his own
any chance A.J. Acosta is looking at Columbia?
acosta listed oregon, wisconsin and colorado as his three choices in the san diego paper last week.
Better than 9th, 4th, 7th and 4th in the past four years? You're a duma**
AJ is a great kid and actually smart as hell. (I'm sure Harvard would take him) but if you had Wisco, Michigan, Colorado, ND, Stanford and probably Arkansas beating down your door with scholarship $$ in hand would you really go to an Ivy? I probably wouldn't. AJ, Tom, and Jason congrats on great seasons. You are making your friends proud.
RB
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Also, if you missed it, Tom deciced to run the NY marathon with some other Columbia people this year and ran 2:29:xx for his debut.
they are both great. Saretsky is getting top notch experience with Mick Byrne, and is also making a name for himself as a terrific recruiter. props to Jason
One more Columbia Alumni Coach who cannot be overlooked this year is Dave Leibowitz of Boulder Colorado who coached his HS girls team, the Colorado Lady Knights, to the Nike Team Nationals this year. Dave, Tom and Jason all graduated the same year.
RB
not that i was trying to diss saretsky, but i thought the comment was a smack in the face to iona's recent success
yeah, they were 9th, 4th, 7th, and 4th...they havent won it yet...i think jason has the characteristics/potential of a championship style coach
And Byrne doesn't??
I think the only program Iona hasn't beaten in the past four years is Wisconsin. That's not championship potential?
Really doubt whether Iona could win a national title. Still think too small a school to really get the big US names. Unless five kenyans come over running 13.50 as freshman it isnt going to happen.
I think the success of the team is a joint effort by all the Iona coaches. I know the team pretty well. Jason and Mick are both great coaches and great guys. Mick has done a fantastic job of peaking his guys over the years. How many times in the past 5-6 years has Iona been way underranked going into nationals? I would say just about every year. In Saretsky's defense, who do you think recruited those Kenyans at Iona? Without Jason no one at Iona would have gone to Kenyan to recruit Kiplagat and Iona would have been 15th or worse. The ALL the coaches at Iona deserve mad props. They are the Gonzaga of DI cross.
BUMP
"The Gonzaga of DI Cross"
Don't ever compare Gonzaga B-Ball to Iona. Gonzaga develops talent that other DI schools do not want. Iona does not develop talent, they manage it. Iona puts all of their scholarships into distance runners, therefore, THEY SHOULD BE GOOD IN CROSS COUNTRY!! What if LSU or UCLA or Texas Tech put all of their scholarships into distance events? They would be really good in Cross Country. Don't tell me these two guys at Iona are these great coaches. They have a lot of talent.