Can Bobby Kersee coach the 800?

For one reason or another, he chose Sydney M L as his favorite. I am sure Coach K knew and knows Athing Mu is a 400/800 athlete. It would be similar to the same coach coaching S Ovett and S Coe then placing them in separate events. In this case, it worked out for neither. Bol received a couple gold medals and Coach K's two best female athletes received zero gold medal.

The only thing I can point at that absolves him from the status of can't coach middle distance is that both Mu and Miller were God tier junior athletes that reached their peak at age 19.

Hard to coach someone that is checked out. If Mu gets her motivation back, let's see what happens next year before we judge.

I think Bobby Kersee knows the workouts and can develop (or at least not screw up) 800 meter runners. He needs to learn how to make them race. Morra and Hodgkinson raced a lot this year. Hodgkinson screwed up because she peaked too early. Morra peaked just right. They all ran 1:56.xx, but Morra got her tactics right and Mu did not because she had not raced. The 800 effing hurts. The only way to know where the red line is is to race enough to know. Mu didn't know. Hopefully she learns her lesson. I will not feel sorry for her if she does not race a lot again next year. Morra and Hodgkinson simply wanted it more this year.

Uhm, i'm sorry but posts like this are why Athing is so wary of "fan" attention.

Did everyone forget that she ran 4:03 at USAs and made the team in the 1500 after going through the rounds as well? I can't think of much better evidence that a sprints coach is capable of coaching middle distance.

She didn't fulfill the world's expectations in Budapest, yeah ok, she still got a bronze medal in a race that she was likely dreading to run at all. Seems to me the Coach prepared her body just fine. Granted, racing would help her not go out too hard and manage a pack, but if she doesn't want to race, it doesn't help the overall picture. As a Coach, just like you would manage an athlete with a nagging injury, you manage this as another imperfect situation and adapt - probably knowing she'll be underprepared, but hoping she'll get excited for the one big thing and deliver by being physically ready.

She's not a race horse, she's a college-age woman who got a proper "job" at age 19.

Mu's 1500m was Non-Event of the Year. It ranks no. 50 and is behind both Reekie and Tracey. Mu beat them in the 800m because she is better at 800m.

This isn't just an issue of fitness, the 1500m is way more forgiving on the tactics front than the 800m. Why else would 3.58 Reekie fade down the home straight and get passed by Rogers!?

Well, we can assume it's B, unless there was some sort of freak accident or vitiligo, but how do you know it's B?

I have consulted the rule book and can find nothing that disqualifies Bobby Kersee from coaching the 800m. The answer to your inquiry is yes.

I still blame Bobby. Can you imagine an athlete telling Salazar that they weren't going to race? I think the coach needs to say "you're running race A, race B, and race C, etc or I am not your coach".

I don't think he can. Sprint coaches generally find it hard to coach middle distance runners as they don't believe in interval training or tempo runs.

Not a popular opinion but this is true of most sprint coaches. I would not rule out that he could coach a decent 800 runner but why would someone like Mu have someone training her on a potential learning curve?

Per the question asked):

No.

He should get out of coaching altogether. He is a disgrace to the sport. There has always been a suspicion regarding his coaching "methods"' dating back to the Flo-Jo days.