There's a "talent" in that no, Rodgers wasn't a 5:00 miler in college, but there's "talent" like German Fernandez running 8:34 in high school despite being injured half the time.
I read the whole article, and no, I don't doubt what Squires claims. He might not be the greatest communicator of the 20th century, but I challenge you to name one coach who has had more consistent success in terms of coaching marathoners than Squires. You could make a pretty good argument for Bob Larsen, who addition to Meb coached Kirk Pfeffer and Ed Mendoza to sub-2:10 marathons. The Hansons have done a great job with 2:15-2:16 guys, but I think Sell was the only one they've had under 2:12 so far (though I don't mean to sound like I'm criticizing them, I think they do a great job and will continue to do a great job). What other coach can we even bring up here? Plenty of coaches have had one off success, but as the number of great athletes a coach guides rise, surely it reflects better and better upon the coach?
I think your attempt to trash Squires makes you the fool.