Shalane Flanagan Parts Ways With Coach John Cook

Fired agents are Peter & Andy Stubbs, not Ray Flynn.

jesus christ, on some incommunicable level, at least with my limited grasp of writing, that seems wrong. we call that getting thrown under the bus.

I am surprised by Cook's naivete. I am not saying he is wrong but if he knew about Edwards then forewarned is forearmed. But what can he do? Kick Edwards off the track and piss off his wife? No way. Its unfortunate but thats the way the world works. Edwards won't get any love in the coaching community but he does not need it; his athlete is his wife and he is not looking to branch out. Period.

fair point, but i wouldn't have expected this to happen in the american distance running community; consider me naive as well then--well, at least until today.

Cook has always been a douche, everybody who has ever been his athlete for more than a year has put up with him because they got results. He's a fine coach, but a class A dick. I am sure the relationship with Edwards wasn't good from his UNC days, and it sure as hell didn't get any better when he started coaching his wife. Like was said before, Edwards just wants to manage his wife's career, while it is risky on so many levels, his intentions are what they are, nothing more nothing less.

The whole Donahue thing isn't totally surprising after the fact, as she will clearly never run under 4:00, some coaches tell their athletes that straight up, others will sugar coat it and let the athletes find that out for themselves.

The fact is, there are the Gags types who are adored by their athletes. The Salazar's who are greatly trusted by their athletes, and only coach a select few. And then Cook is an example of a guy who is great when things are great, is shit when things are shit. Unless you are truly running for yourself and don't blindly trust your one coach the way it seems so many runners do, Cook will never be your guy, but I don't think he sells that product anyway. Situations where he works with Manzano, in conjunction with Vig are the perfect set up. Leo will never get pissed at Cook b/c it isn't just him, and he can always walk away to something else.

Yesterday Cook was being praised as a class act for taking the high road and not airing his dirty laundry. Today he ook splitting. Erin shared all of this with Shalane. Shalane realized that this ame dillema would be in the cards with her in her future under Cook. She made the decision to part ways.

just.give.me.some.truth wrote:

"[(Flanagan's husband Steve) Edwards] has always had insidious intent to coach,"...I was too trusting and they had a plan - learn, copy, use all my training system and then take over."

I'm guessing that Shalane will run well for a time then start to run poorly without Cook. As for the husband-what a dick!

a quote from flanagan included in a june 08 running times piece written on the team:

"I talk to my coach probably twice a day, by phone or email," she says. "In the few months he's actually with us, he's unique in the sense that he can just look on and see what works for each of us, what makes us tick. He's extremely intuitive. We're at our best when we are all together, but having some separation isn't bad. He won't coach us forever, so what he does is give us the tools we'll need and the chance to absorb as much knowledge as we can."

rtarticle wrote:

He won't coach us forever, so what he does is give us the tools we'll need and the chance to absorb as much knowledge as we can."

No wonder they were having "personal problems"-Cook probably just asked the hubby to stop filming or if he could talk to Shalane alone, and that gave them the excuse needed to dump him-they had what they needed, and had been planning it for some time.

On the other hand, it's hard to completely blame them-they were probably looking at the checkbook and thought-why pay full price for a coach that is hardly ever there, and whose job you think you can do just as well? Still, they come off looking pretty bad-the word "parasitic" used by Cook might be the best one.

Yeah, there's a little bit more to it than just the workout routine.

J.R. wrote:

that lazy leach Edwards

"leech"

Donohue should choose Centro as her coach. If she thought Cook was tough.....

He is a class act. Old school, brilliant and passionate. And a carmudgeon.

What do you expect him to do though? Just stay quiet when Shalane is in her spin zone and saying things that just aren't true? She implied that Donohue and her split were for the same reasons, they weren't. She claims it's not about the money, it is. And she claims they are looking for another coach, they aren't (but a clever move so if/when her running does blow up she can go get another coach and say that was the plan all along).

She can do what she wants, but there are better ways to handle this. Especially after all he did for her. I guess when you coach for free some people think you're worth it.

There are a lot of runners turned coaches, but it is a different thing. There are a lot of pretenders out there. It's not just running ladders and intervals....

awe12 wrote:

I am surprised by Cook's naivete. I am not saying he is wrong but if he knew about Edwards then forewarned is forearmed. But what can he do? Kick Edwards off the track and piss off his wife? No way. Its unfortunate but thats the way the world works. Edwards won't get any love in the coaching community but he does not need it; his athlete is his wife and he is not looking to branch out. Period.

I don't think Cook was naive. He was just doing his job and making her the best he could (mission accomplished). What happens afterwards happens. Yu can't be worried about that.

Plenty of people already trying to immitate him. If a 26 yr old kid who never has held a real job wants to give it a shot, what can he do?

But being Husband/Coach/Agent/Grunt is not something I would want to do. She already had him on a pretty short leash. He should pick 1 or 2 of these ...

Being coached by your husband in this scenario is not a good idea. I'm sure when Cook saw Shalane he would correct the way she was doing her exercises and could see her weaknesses. What happens when her husband, who obviously has no experience, tries to point these out? And when Shalane doesn't agree? They are either going to have a lot of fights or Edwards is going to be a bitch and let Shalane coach herself. Not good for a new marriage.

One word "EGO" the flanagans will find out that some things in this world you just need. Without a good coach, defeat comes hard. Causing turmoil in the home.

Am I the only one that thinks Flanagan will be just fine without some kind of mystical guru directing her every action? It's running, and she's been doing it at a high level for what, a decade now? I mean how many good runners can you name who basically coach themselves? I can think of a few and they do fine.

Also, wouldn't a contract have been a good idea at some point during Cook's early days with Flanagan? If you're going to be a professional coach, shouldn't you act a little more professional? I mean, did Cook seriously not make any money during the last two years?

Could be, she's an amazing talent, hard worker and gutsy racer. But why fix something that isn't broken? He was obviously doing something right because she shot up from where she was.

Seems like a huge risk. She'll always be a good runner, but this was about becoming great.

There are contracts I'm sure, but usually outs in them for either party. No one wants to be tied into something if the other party doesn't want it.

I'm utterly confused why so many people act as though Shalane dropped Cook as a coach for the sole reason of having her husband coach her full-time. That's not the case! She's stated multiple times in interviews over the past week that she's out there looking for someone new, one that can give her more hands on attention. She's said that her husband is only coaching her in the interim period until she can find a new coach. They've already been asking around and talking to people to try and figure something out that will work. Lastly, she even said something to the effect of, "I respect my marriage too much to have my husband be my permanent coach."

Sure, her husband might be a control freak, and maybe Cook resented having him around so much. But why is everyone ignoring the reality of her situation?