reply to 'individual':
good points and i can see how you might come away with your impressions. however, you conclusions are incorrect.
a great deal of teaching and learning occurs daily in our program. to have a kid not know why he or she is doing something would be a total waste of time in my opinion. just doing 'whatever he says' blindly would not prepare them to think for themselves in high school or beyond if they run in college.
lydiard often said that the best way to motivate someone is to explain to them why they are doing something. i try to do things that way every day.
if our kids come away with anything (aside from running their best and having fun in the process) it would be that they learn the sport, learn basic to intermediate training principles and learn how to apply them if and/or when they are on their own. this also applies to understanding several different coaching approaches due to the likelihood that they will have a coach who is different in approach than yours truly. they must need to know how to succeed in whatever program they become a part. that is the aim anyway.
what i try to accomplish is educating the runners in our program for both the present and future. many who have graduated and gone on to run in college have shared that their college coaches have been impressed with their overall running knowledge and ability to think for themselves.
our practices are not merely 'do what i say', but more of 'this is why you are doing this and this is the effect this type of training will have on your capability as a runner/competitor'.
i agree with you in another respect...it would also drive me crazy to be on a team where the coach explained nothing and just said do it. our kids do think for themselves, in school, in practice, in competition, in life. while at times complicated, our approach runs smoothly and efficiently with all team members well informed, at least those who want to be informed and pay attention daily. the 'why's' are definitely provided in an understandable way.
i've written on here far more than originally intended, and far more than i wanted to. so, i'm done for a while. hope i cleared up any misconceptions.
bill aris
ps- i'm not sure if the intent of this thread at its inception was to teach or learn anything new, but for my part, to respond to questions or comments about our program. that was done. enough for now.