Who are they?
Who are they?
Randy Hassenbank has had a lot of success in that dept.
Sean Cleary WVU
The guy is great!
In college we refer to them as women.
larry greer of golden west college in huntington beach california has had a lot of success with girl distance runners all his life.
What college is Hassenbank at? I thought he was a HS coach in the wichita area?
Who is the best - Vin Lananna at Oregon
Who maximizes his teams talent - Cleery at WVU
Mike Whittlesey at UNC has had a lot of success with women runners.
Pat Shane at BYU.
Tegen at Stanford---you dont get all those titles that easily...3 years, 3 NCAA XC titles, nuff said.
I know he coaches DIII, but does anyone know anything about Ray Appenheimer? just curious.
Patrick Shayne and Peter Tegan are the best when you think of coaches who have specialized in coaching women. Sure, Tegan coaches both now but he traditionally has been a women's coach. Mike McGuire at Michigan is a name that rarely gets thrown around in these conversations but look at his results. He's up there with about anyone right now. Gary Wilson is another top women's coach. He has really improved his game the last few years and has started to take advantage of the potential his teams have. I'm sure some will say otherwise but the last few years for him have been on a different level than the previous 10. There are others like Wetmore and Lananna but they are traditionally thought of as men's coaches first.
I believe that Mike McGuire at U. of Michigan has been the best women's collegiate coach for some time. He has a nack for developing no-name high school females into top collegiate runners.
Peter Tegen at Stanford has had most of his recent success due to the prior recruiting efforts of Vin Lananna when Vin was Stanford's head coach. It should be easy to recruit at Stanford but Stanford's womens team is going south since Tegen arrived. Nearly all their talent is graduating this year. Find out why the Trotter Twins left the team after Tegen arrived. Also you should read "The Silence of Great Distance: Women Running Long" which will give you a good insite into how Tegen coaches.
Some knowledgable people who know Oregon's Vin Lananna fairly well say Vin is a great recruiter but not so good a coach. I personally have no idea if that is true or not, but I've heard this from two top track people who command a lot of respect.
Another top women's coach is Ray Treacy at Providence College. Most of his top performers have been overseas recruits. Neverless nearly everyone says he is one of the top female collegiate coaches.
UNC's Mike Whittlesay hasn't had a good performing team since Shalane Flanagan graduated. I don't know BYU's coach, but BYU hasn't done well recently and when they have done well it is often because the average of their runners is near 25 -- due to the mission work their students are required to do.
If you want a strong academic school with a top coach, U of Michigan can't be beat. If you want a weaker academic school try Providence College or Colorado (but only if you think you can handle Coach Mark Wetmore's very high mileage program). Cornell has the best Ivy coach (women's side) followed by Princeton.
Ron Davis, The Ohio State University.
Psyche.
stony brook guy
McGuire is a good coach, but what the heck happened during the cross country season this year? MI placed sixth of six Big Ten teams at NCAA's:
5 Michigan State
6 Illinois
10 Iowa
12 Minnesota
20 Wisconsin
21 Michigan
kdien wrote:
Find out why the Trotter Twins left the team after Tegen arrived.
They graduated.
Michigan had tragedy strike their team just before the race. A track teammate, Joi Smith, died from a ridiculously rare form of cancer -- I can't remember if she passed that Saturday or Sunday before the Monday race, but it was definitely on the weekend. Michigan is a very integrated team in terms of distance/sprints, etc., and Smith was an ebullient and dedicated young woman. You can google the story -- you'll find out that she initially collapsed during Big 10 indoors the winter before.
As you can imagine, real tragedy (such as dying young) tends to place what we often think of as important (athletic competitions) in a different (and more appropriate?) light. The Michigan team was certainly deflated by the news, and it showed in their results.
Watch out for them at Big 10s this week and at NCAAs. They are on a mission and have dedicated this season to Smith's memory -- they had quite a moving tribute to her at the Silverston Invite.
About McGuire -- he is not a typical coach of females (not a hand-holder, doesn't address the emotional/mental side of competing as much as I know others do). I think he is an amazing coach (full disclosure: I am an alum). As pointed out, look how far he takes his athletes given their high school times (Tauro excepted for the time being). As of last week, who has the best NCAA times in the nation in the 800 and mile (and near bests in the 3000/5000)? Look at the pro athletes he is currently in charge of: Gallo, Willard, Erdman, Uceny, etc... quite a nucleus of talent in a place with terrible weather in the winter and sub par access to trails, etc. He is definitely doing something right!
This should be renamed "best creepers." I mean who wouldn't want to see thin girls running around a track wearing.. you know..
Wow. Just wow.
"Stanford's womens team is going south since Tegen arrived."
Three NCAA XC titles in three years as a coach. Really going south. You know the award they give to the best NCAA Division 1 Women's XC coach? Look up what it's called.