I Wonder if this Harry Marra coach guy is going to work out for Oregon...

I wonder how much of coaching could he possible have done in 3 months lol....

Lets be serious!!!Most likely he trains some weights and training plan as before....

The new old fart is just lucky for now

"The new old fart is just lucky for now"

It would be easy to come in and hurt an athlete. Developing a rapport can be difficult.

Harry has the respect of those who understand the sport. Obviously you don't.

Who really did the work here?

The coach that made Eaton what he is for 3 years???Or a guy that shows up and picks up the results????

I understand the sports well enough to KNOW that DEVELOPING an athlete is the best work a coach can do. Harra didn`t develop shit, or even recruited Eaton. The only thing he did was traveling together with Eaton at the NCAA.

When this guy will discover, recruit and develop a WR then I ll give him the credit don`t worry. Until then I hope he stays quiet and sends a big Thank you letter to the people that made Eaton what he is now

Next topic please!!!

"The only thing"

really?

I never claimed Harry developed Ashton but he certainly hasn't had a negative influence based on yesterday's result.

You sound angry. Why?

I am "angry" at people as yourself that don`t really understand what s behind somebody great performance.

To mention this Harra guy at this point in time in regard to Eaton success, its a huge travesty.

But oh well it is very typical in NCAA for real coaches to do the work, and then clowns getting the laurels!!

In my humble "not understanding the sport" opinion, kudos to whoever discovered, recruited and coached him his freshman, sophomore and junior year. Eaton WR is 99.99999% because of that!

Harry Marra is an amazing "young man". He has developed a rapport with both Ashton and Brianne Theissen that has allowed both of them to keep their confidence and to keep getting better. Harry's technical knowledge has led to amazing pole vault and shot put improvements for Ashton, without which he would not today be a World Record holder. Dan Steele was fabulous for Ashton, in many of the Decathlon events. Harry just adds to the base that Ashton has built with his attitude and work ethic. Still without the technical and moral support of both Dan Steele and Harry Marra, this incredible performance could not have happened. Those are the facts.

ok. harry did nothing to help ashton this past fall and winter. now i understand, right?

No -why oh why.

Looking at the whole picture, He did 00000000000.000000000000000000000001%

Good job Coach Congratulation Coach, you are definitely the best Hep/ Dec Coach in the World.:)

Nike will forever be grateful.

ok. you don't like nike, the university of oregon or harry marra. well done. you win. and keep posting under many names. good for you.

I've noticed the same thing from this fella who uses many different names, and jumps from thread to thread (initiating a good number of threads). His theme is consistent, hate Oregon, hate Nike, hate, ridicule, hate, hate, hate. Maybe he'd have a little more positive attitude about life if he'd get away from his tirades and do something for himself.

thanks for your comment. i used to work with a william peterson. he was in advanced concept design. a good man

This is a terrible thread. Harry Marra deserves a ton of credit for Ashton and Brianne this weekend. Stepping into a situation like that was very difficult and Harry has done a great job. He used his own system through a seamless transition from their previous one. That isn't easy.

I am thrilled with Ashton's WR and think credit should be given to the guy who was actually there coaching him through it. A big congrats to Ashton, Brianne, Harry and the Oregon Ducks.

Dan Steele wrote:

This is a terrible thread. Harry Marra deserves a ton of credit for Ashton and Brianne this weekend. Stepping into a situation like that was very difficult and Harry has done a great job. He used his own system through a seamless transition from their previous one. That isn't easy.

I am thrilled with Ashton's WR and think credit should be given to the guy who was actually there coaching him through it. A big congrats to Ashton, Brianne, Harry and the Oregon Ducks.

class post. thank you.

I'll bite...the guy instigating this thread sounds like the guy who posts claiming that Nike is really being run by the Chinese in Beijing, and wants Doug Logan to move USATF to Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, and home to the most Olympic and world championship medalists.

Marra knows what the hell he's doing, given his work with the Visa decathlon program in the 1990s.

Kudos to Dan Steele for putting both Ashton & Brianne in the position that they're in. Harry's just building upon the foundation Dan's established.

whys that wrote:

I wonder how much of coaching could he possible have done in 3 months lol....

Lets be serious!!!Most likely he trains some weights and training plan as before....

The new old fart is just lucky for now

Yeah, it is impossible for a young athlete to improve in any technical event in 3 months time. --Let alone a handful of them.

Oh, and especially in non-technical events like the kind Ritz runs.

And of course, it is not like Harry has a lot of experience or knowledge or anything. And of course he is such an inattentive coach with no personality.

Oh wait, you're clueless.

Seriously, if you saw Mr. Marra at work, you'd have a real different opinion.

As the starter of this thread, I would like to add that Harry's contribution -- as any logical adult athletics fan would know -- certainly doesn't obviate coach Steele's contribution, or Ashton's individual efforts.

Also, as to coaching tweaks. My favorite coaching moment, I think illustrates that small tweaks can reap great rewards.

...One summer I regularly ran into two Ivy League football players running repeat 100's at the track, walking the turns, running the straights. The first athlete, was smooth, great form, clearly a natural athlete. And he was "blessed" with being a great looking guy -- but he knew it and acted cocky and smug "schooling" his friend on every workout.

After a few days of watching this guy lord his superiority over his friend, I noticed that his friend had CRAP form, and and even worse start.

So I offered the second guy a few tips on his start and form. He was a quick learner. He instantly beat Mr. Smug on every 100 meter repeat session they did the rest of the summer. And every time Mr. Smug saw me at the track he shot me the evil eye. The second dude was grateful and always shot me a high five as we passed.

Ashton does more than a few events that are much more technical than running repeat 100's from a crouch start.

Great coaching in the pole vault can be a game changer for an athlete. I've seen guys go from mid 16 feet to clearing 18 feet - in just a few weeks after getting a new pv coach.

Of course Ashton's success is the sum total of all his coaching and efforts over the years.

My point was that Harry has clearly done the most important thing a new coach can do - make a smooth transition with the athlete, and do no damage.

I knew diddly about Harry Marra until I watched him coach one day -- and my response was "whoa, this dude is focused and intense. Not that all coaches aren't, but there just isn't a coach more focused and attentive than this guy. He clearly cares about his athletes; seems like an obsessively focused guy, but with a great attitude, and great motivational abilities.

I attended the meet and am writing this from Fayetteville. It's obvious that Mara has great rapport with both Ashton and Brianne. Ashton consulted Mara after nearly every throw, jump or vault. The only other coach/athlete relationship that seemed to approach the Mara/Eaton relationship was Curtis Beach and Coach Wilbourn, at least in terms of discussions during the events. What Mara brings to Ashton's game is a different critical approach which should make Ashton an even better athlete. While the huge improvement from last year's indoor to this year's WR can mostly be attributed to Ashton, I think Mara deserves some of the credit.

It's a crappy world where a coach can get bashed for helping something to a world record...imagine if Ashton had not improved at all? Talk about a lose/lose situation when being judged by some people...

As many said obviously steele and ashton deserve a lot of the credit, but Mara could have screwed Ashton up, he could have helped him make tiny improvements, he could have got him injured....but no, he basically did the most anyone could have expected out of a coach. He made him drastically better. After Ashton improved by 315 points last year...who would have predicted it was even possible for him to improve by 325 the next year and break a world record? Mara obviously also deserves a lot of credit. This was an unreal improvement, with Ashton peaking insanely perfectly for the meet.

...

I started this thread ("instigated?") (Otisburg???) in reply to all those naysayers who were speculating that the Oregon multi's were doomed by Dan Steele's late in the game departure last year.

So far, so GREAT, with Marra.