Motivation techniques of Joe Vigil

that's something I'm interested in as well. It seems that the most dominant collegiate programs to date (Arkansas D-I, Adams D-II) feature charasmatic coaches and high intensity.

Is it possible that the main reason those guys don't run as well after college that they are out of the loop, and they lose the team cohesion and coaching confidence that really pushed them in workouts and races?

Curious, since you asked (and at the risk of getting drilled by non-ASC fans), here's a little insight into Coach Vigil's methods. As I said on another thread in this forum, I consider myself honored to have run for Coach Vigil at Adams State. The knowledge, stories, and challenges that he delivered with passion, intensity and humor each day before practice, not only shaped the 20 year old kid that I was back then, but still have a daily effect on me.

Before practice, everyone would be sprawled on the lobby floor at Plachy Hall stretching, and Vigil would call us into the classroom for our daily 30min. dosage of Vigilosophy (as Pablo Vigil termed it).

Here Coach would combine techical, and I mean TECHICAL talk of physiolgy of exercise, and why we were doing the workout that day. Not only did you believe in the physical benefits of the workouts because of the WAY he talked to you, but also because of all the science behind his methods.

He was able to get a lot of young men (mostly from Colo. and N.M.) that were pretty good in high school to dream of being the best, and nothing less.

Many of the things he said ring in my head today, 20+ years later....."Never be afraid of competiton. It will bring out the best in you, if you have it in you......When you are wearing the green and gold, you are running for all the guys back home and all the men who have gone before you.....He who would iginte a fire in others, must himself burn." And so on, and so on.

After those 30 min. meetings I was ready to run through the proverbial wall for Coach! All my former teammates would these same thoughts.....hope this helps a little in understanding a complex man.

sorry, but this should read:

"All my former teammates would echo these same thoughts."

Don't leave us hanging, how did you run for coach Vigil?

I am paraphrasing, and probably not missing his exact words by much, but one of Coach Vigil's great sayings for me was to "Have an unshatterable belief in yourself" or similarly, "Have an unshatterable belief in your teammates."

I believed in Coach Vigil, but equally he made us believe in each other and we drew strength from each other. Our "teammates" extended to the several post-collegiate runners who remained in Alamosa and trained (as well as all of the runners that came before us). Several of these guys continued to run well, but maybe didn't make the breakthrough to an Olympic team or reach the level of success that Pat Porter did. Peter DeLaCerda, Marco Ocho, Pablo Vigil, John Esquibel are a few guys that experienced a fair amount of national success.

This isn't intended to defend who's had the best runners post-collegiately. I'll speak for myself, as someone who lost the drive to compete at that level after college that Coach Vigil also developed people who were able to translate a passion for running into a passion for life. Part of that process was feeling at peace with making the break and going on to other life goals.

Very good post!

colorado stats, I ran a year at Adams State in 1983. Would you have any info on how Dan Hugill, Jack Sperber, and Caroll Ellington ran during their careers? Hugill was all-american as a freshman the year I was out there and I saw on the website Sperber was all- american his junior year, but that is all the info I could find. I transferred back to Ohio (the altitude did me in) ran 3 meets at Walsh College, got injured and never ran again until recently. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks, Dan

Dan, Hugill never finished at Adams although he was at our ASC XC reunion this summer. Evidently he never ran again anywhere? Mr. Sperber was my roomie for 2 years (his last eligible year and a year of graduate work). He had a myriad of weird health problems that kept him from his best, but his senior year he did great. Top 10 at NAIA cross, All-American in the 5,000 and also ran 14:02 in Boston when some of us went out there to try to get a 88 Oly trials qualifier. Didn't run post collegiately as he went right into law school.

Coach Vigils talks were and still are amazing. That's probably why we had at least a dozen non-collegiate runners sitting in the room on any given day with us. Some days he may chew us out for being idiots, but everything served to better us as humans and runners. I'm more proud of the successful HS and College coaches that have come out of the program than the runners in a lot of ways. I've stuck to running since college and have had moderate national success. I must say though, I was damn picky about having anyone coach me after being under Vigil. I had Mark Wetmore coach me successfully

but I moved away from CO. Vigil is still my coach in a lot of ways (although I've slowed considerably) and I frequently thumb through my notebook of handouts he gave us during my 4 years. Happy Trails!

Thanks for the info. Caroll Ellington was more middle of the pack his freshman year, so I didn't know if he stayed and improved or not. Any one have any info on him?

I had a great time the year I was out there, but I just wasn't good enough to compete at that level. Getting a cold for 3 days every time I traveled there or back didn't help, but it was a great experience.

djc wrote:

Caroll Ellington was more middle of the pack his freshman year, so I didn't know if he stayed and improved or not. Any one have any info on him?

djc, when I was tracking down former Vigil runners for a reunion this past summer, I talked to Carroll. He's back in Bloomfield, NM, married with kids....In the early 80's he was here for a year or two and then re-surfaced at Ft. Lewis College in Durango about 7+ years later.

Ellington was at ASC at a time of great depth on the team. Not only did you have great runners up top (Rob Hipwood, Bob Ferguson, Jack Sperber, Rick Roybal, Dave Cuadrado, Peter Graham, etc.) but they ended up having a total of 16 runners break 26:00 on the old 'loop' course that many of the old timers are familiar with.

....I watched the national xc qualifying meet in Alamosa 7 years after he left Adams, and Carroll finally made it to nationals that day (with Ft. Lewis)! I was happy for him- Carroll was a great guy....djc, we should hook up, so you can join us in our next Vigilante reunion. This past August we had 70+ former Adams runners attend, along with Coach himself!!

All I got to say is that Vigil is the man. I was the scronniest lil runt runner as a HS frosh, never run a mile in my life. Luckily we had an ex-Adams St runner meet up w/ our coach and hook us up w/ Vigil. He came to our school and everything. Helped out with our program a lot. I met him for the first time myself at Mt SAC relays before my squad ran the 4xMile and my whole team was motivated by him enough to win the race by a bit over 30 secs.

colorado stats, I sent you an e-mail so you can add me to the list. Thanks for the info.

Something I recall in regards to the success of ASC runners post college of significance. In 1988 prior to the Olympic Trials Track and Field News listed the top 10 times in the 10K of those who had yet qualified. 6 or 8 out of those top 10 who were either present ASC runners or alumni! Even though many of us wrote in to point this out the magazine never said anything about this cool fact...though they did mention something about a Division 1 school having someone in the trials for a second time or the like. Big deal.

If someone out there has copies of T&F news going back to '88 look it up and share the details.

The guy who can really motivate is Mr. Joe Newton of Elmhurst, Illinois (and Arizona in the winter. This guy gets 10% of the student body out for Cross country and keeps a lot of them out for all 4 years.

That was a good year for ASC but we didn't have 6 in the top 10. In the 10,000 meters ASC alumni, Pat Porter, Dave Cuadrado and Sam Montoya plus current ASC runner and junior Rick Robirds qualified in the same race for the trials with Porter eventually making the Olympic team. I was off the 5,000 meter standard by 4 seconds that year. Current ASC coach Damon Martin, who was training in Alamosa, qualified in the 5,000. Maurice Smith made it in the 1500 meters. Any ASC alums remember if we had someone in the '88 marathon trials? Rick Roybal?

ASC had 4 American alumni ranked in the top 10 in the 10,000 in the US TnF news end-of-the-year listings.

Pat Porter, 27:46

Rick Robirds, 28:22

Sam Montoya, 28:34

Dave Cuadrado, 28:35

It was a hell of a crew, but there are other programs which have fared as well with their Americans.

Do one of you have the actual listing of the top 10? 4 is impressive though I could have sworn there were a couple more alum as well. Thanks

Long Green Line...Hmm...who do you think Coach Newton got those "peaking workouts" from? A quick look at York training in their last few weeks will look a little familiar to ASU runners (2 mile time trial...15 minutes...repeat miles...). Newton counts Vigil as one of his biggest influences, and the two of them have done several clinics together. The guy can make just about anyone want to run.

Any one interested in some handouts regarding marathon training and the training methodologies of Coach Vigil in general, check out my website at

http://www.eteamz.com/mpsports

and click on the label "Vigilosophy" on the left. Bare with me as I just began work on the website early this week and working with a dial up connection has been a slow process. I know the welcome page is weak, but I'm still working on it.

-Ryan R. Shay