Lydiard and his disciple Wetmore were not 1500 stars either.
Ritz as a beloved icon has access to any coaching mind he wants to ring up. Obviously Wetmore a source. He's probably pieced together lots of ideas to form his own programs.
Ironically Ritz probably would have been a better miler had he ran at cu during the Klecker/Herrera period, as Wetmore put more emphasis on those guys running 1500/mile than in the old days.
No it is not strange. There are a lot of coaches of top athletes who never achieved that level of success. Steve Kerr was a good NBA player, but not as good as Steph.
I just reminded my brothers of just how very bad that movie was. But the runner yelled at by his coach was the former British milkman. Ryan O'Neil played the 400-meter runner who had no competition so decided to move up to the marathon
The only time Bill Russell was a successful NBA coach was when he succeeded Auerbach and was player/coach. Once he had to coach without being able to have Bill Russell play center he was mediocre at best.
Love it. Although as a former runner who ran up to 90 miles per week, I would love to have been more successful as a coach. But coaching is collaborating and producing something beyond what you did as an athlete!
"Williams took tennis lessons from a man known as "Old Whiskey" and decided his future daughters would be tennis professionals after seeing Virginia Ruzici playing on television." from Richard William's Wikipedia and proof that he did play tennis.
Not to mention when he busted out his huge 12:56 pr, he probably was in sub 4 shape and def better than 7:39 3k shape. It shocked everyone when he dropped his 5k so far after switching from Hudson and marathon training.
I’m not positive but I don’t think Ans Botha ever even ran sub 44.
Look guys my point is Ritz wasn't even aware of how to train for 1500 or mile. It was never his event. At least Tiger Woods's coach was probably decent at golf
He's been around running most of his life and was coached by professionals. He even trained with top milers (e.g. Webb). There's no reason to think he doesn't know how to train for the 1500.
I bet he can even do a pretty good job training sprinters. People are clueless. Athletes are not trusting Ritz to coach them well because he was a successful runner. Should all aspiring sprinters form a line to get coached by Bolt?