Coach Bill Taylor of Northwest College

I don't know, but he was a good runner. Won a race that I ran in, in something like 28:44--out kicked Joe Lemay and Bob Kempanien at twilight series race up in Boston back in 1990. Then ran Asbury Park Classic in August of 1990--didn't run great, right around me in 29:54. Super nice guy from what I remember--use to live and Train in New Mexico. That is if this is the same Bill Taylor?

Different Bill Taylor I believe. He has gotten some tremendous results. He believes in the long (15 miles) run. Also long intervals 800-1200's. He is leaving NW though for lack of funding for the program. They are searching for a replacement.

Yeah, he also believes in squuzing the life out of his runners. He had a girl who should have won the steeple but he tripled her in the 4 x 800 and she lost. Good results dor him, bad for her. Good riddance

I'm "Bill Taylor's steeple girl" who finished second at Nationals this weekend.The 4x800 didn't effect my steeple performance. It was my fault that I finished second.

Coach Taylor is the best coach I've ever had, and without him I would never improve my PR's by so much. I can't imagine how my training/running will continue in the future (I'm leaving back to Slovakia this summer).

Thank you Coach for everything!

Kristina

You had a great season this year, Kristina, and at least got a PR in your last race. It looks like your team held it's own under tough conditions at nationals. Good luck in your future running.

Coach Taylor is one of the best coaches I have had the privilege of being coached by. I don't know where you are getting your information about our steepler and the events that took place at nationals. Coach Taylor did not make Kristina do anything she didn't want to do..she has a mind of her own. She wanted the team to be able to do well at nationals, so she decided to run the 4x8. It is not right for anyone to slander Coach Taylor's name in any way. I don't think anyone relizes the potential of this man's coaching abilities. I would appriciate it if you would find out the whole truth next time before you spout things off on the internet.

Thank you.

What convoluded logic you have Shoefull Joe man, how could a coach who supposedly "squeezes the life" out of his runners create a stellar 4 by 8 team that earned all 4 competitors All-American honors? Seems to me that 4 sucessful athletes in addition to Kristina's solid steeple performance would be the best combination. However, it would seem that logic is not your forte, but rather- trash talk. Speaking as one of his athletes and as one of his steeplers, he is a fabulous coach and a wonderful man.

AshleyRose

First of all we would like to say "Baugh" to shoefull joe cause all you have is a shoe full of pickled bologna rope. Enough of this nonsense...

Coach, you are a really really really ridiculously good coach, mainly because you put us before yourself. Thanks for all of the laughs and wonderful memories. We will take both your wisdom and humor with us!!

We love you Coach!

T and C

Hey Shoeful Joe Get of Coach Bill Taylor's Tip.

I heard they have a good program

I have been closely observing the NC's XC and track program for the last 2 years as an outsider and I can tell that Bill Taylor created a very successful running program. He is an excellent coach whose main strength is the interpersonal communication with his athletes. He was able to convince every runner that was under his tutelage about her/his strengths and that she/he should not stop striving for the excellence.

I have learned a lot from you, thanks. Thank you for all your effort and time you put into helping Kristina to become the true runner.

Going into the season, the NW College school 800m record was 2:15. In winning the bronze at NAIA, your 4x800 AVERAGED 2:15 per carry! What a better tribute to fine coaching and team spirit could there be.

And congrats Ashley on the *45 second* PR in the steeple!

Well, I'll start by asking Shoefull Joe who he is. I'm not aware of anyone who has a problem with me or what my program has done (it's been just the opposite), so it is startling to have someone post negative and untrue things. It's disappointing that the person is too cowardly to post their real name and instead makes false statements from behind the security blanket of anonymity. If you have a problem, 1) get your facts straight, 2) man up and state who you are, and 3) call or e-mail me directly...don't come on here and try to hurt the Northwest College program and me.

As for the original question about my training philosophy...I think the reason for our success has less to do with training philosophy than it does total coaching/program philosophy.

In terms of training, I have always used a version of the Daniels Formula modified to fit my coaching style and the type of athlete I have each year. Does it work? Well, we've got a 100% 5K PR rate for at least the past 5 years over whatever time each person came to NC with and have an average PR rate of 1 minute 46 seconds (so for those of you who doubt Daniels Formula, there you are). We also have a National Championship, five straight conference championships, etc. So the system is definitely sound. Additionally, we have performed very well at the respective National Championships, especially in recent years.

Training is not really rocket science though. There are many good training programs out there that work and the idea that someone has a secret training plan that is better is fairly far-fetched these days. I believe if you have a sound training program it is less about the training program and more about the belief in the training program and the environment in which the training program exists. (I will say we train very very hard though)

Thus, I believe that a great amount of the success of our program here has been mental. We don't have very many resources. No real weight room, a training room that was finally built a few years ago out of a small office that is probably 6x12 and inadequate, no track, miniscule budgets, no assistant coaches, etc. But we have made up for what we don't have by focusing on goals and by building a team environment that has to be among the best in the nation.

So to me, coaching philosophy is the most important aspect of our program. What does that mean?

First, you recruit great people who have great character, fun personalities, a joy for the sport and who fit with the nature of your school (in our case this is a strong Christian school). You only bring in people who fit with your coaching philosophy...if someone is Olympic caliber fast, but you know they won't fit, you don't recruit them...it will never work if you do. That's hard to do sometimes, and I learned some things the hard way earlier in my career...times can be very tempting, but you must have the character to go with the talent.

Second, you build a culture...a family, where the members of the team are able to unite with common goals and where each person has a vested interest in the success of everyone else. You also build a culture were the athletes have fun and understand that running isn't everything. And you build a culture where everyone, from the slowest to the fastest, is important, receives attention and is given an opportunity to impact the team positively in some way (it may not be by running, but by supporting the team in other ways). Everyone on the team is an equal member of the team.

Third, (probably the most important aspect) you give each athlete belief in their ability. You tell them what they can accomplish, both in the short term and long term. You are truthful with them. You DO NOT get angry when an athlete performs badly (unless they didn't try at all), but you do tell them exactly what you think. It's not bad to fail; it's bad to fail again and again the same way. The goal is not to win, the goal is to learn and improve. Winning will take care of itself. All coaching behavior must keep in mind what the coaching goal is.

Fourth, you keep your focus and your athletes focus on process, not result. It?s not bad to have goals, but you cannot control what someone else does in a race. All anyone has control over is their own performance and their own decisions. You can?t worry about winning a national championship, you can only focus on running a great race and putting everything out there, then seeing what happens. Too many coaches and athletes, myself included until the last few years, focus on result. You can?t control result, you can only control process, and if you control the process in a positive way, the result will be the best result you are capable of that day.

Fifth, your athletes push each other in training and meets. The nature of a good team is to make itself better. People get faster because they train with people who are faster. The training and competitive culture of the program raises the level of performance throughout the program. As a coach, I can ask or tell an athlete to do something in training, but the belief is often not there until they see a teammate do it first.

Sixth, you coach because you care about people. If you are all about you and your personal glory, you are in the wrong profession. Even though coaching is unfortunately filled with coaches that appear to be all about themselves, it is the last place you want people like that. I have been a coach because I had such amazing experiences as an athlete...learned so much about myself as an athlete, and wanted to make an impact on other people so they could have amazing experiences too. When I saw I could make a positive impact coaching, it was the greatest feeling and I wanted to keep making an impact. It's about the athlete first, second and third. When you find yourself being more concerned with the results as they reflect upon you, you need to change immediately. The athletes know when you are about them and when you aren't and it affects their performance and their enjoyment of the sport.

Seventh, you need to keep perspective. I tell our runners all the time that running is not life. True, I want them to give their all at it while they do it, but they also know that running isn't that important in the scope of things. It is something they do, and they should try their hardest, but they are not defined through their success or their failure. Once they understand that, they free themselves up to enjoy the experience, delight in the victories and learn from the defeats. Coaches and athletes who lose perspective cannot win and don't have any fun.

Eighth, you keep your team healthy. Athletes can't run fast if they can't run. We have an unbelievably low injury rate here. Across my coaching career of 15 years, I have only had two runners with a stress fracture. One was a reoccurrence from the same injury in high school and one was a compensation injury. Two total in 15 years is very low. Why is the injury rate so low? Soft-surface training, weight training and ice baths help a lot. Most of all though, when an athlete comes to me with an injury, we problem solve immediately. If the injury is not just the little nagging things that come along with training, we immediately find alternative training and give the athlete injury rest time. Better to take a day or two now than lose weeks later. And to keep the athlete in shape physically and mentally, they train twice as hard on the alternative as they would doing impact training. The athlete does not train conventionally again until the injury is dealt with. Dealing with injury quickly and correctly also has an impact on individual and team psyche. This is very important.

Ninth, you work your butt off. You spend 70 hours a week or more at coaching. Those coaches that expect to wander into a program, give out a few instructions, and instantly have a top-level program are nuts. Even if you have all the resources in the world, you still have to work at it. True, I've probably had to spend a few more 90-hour weeks at Northwest College because the resources were so miniscule, the college is small and specific and nobody knew who we were. But if I coached at a major program and had massive resources, I would still spend massive hours because that's what it takes to be better than everyone else. And it isn't just the time it takes to recruit, train, travel, etc. I've spent many hours over the years editing papers, hanging out with the team, talking about what is going on in a persons life, etc. It must be the biggest part of your life. I think it is funny how many people who haven't coached think that coaching is easy...you just roll in, tell the athletes what to do, they automatically do it, and "poof" your program is great. If it were that easy, everyone would be winning National Championships.

I?m sure I could add more to all of this. The summary is that coaching success, in my opinion and experience, is way more than a training program. That is probably the easiest part of the equation.

Bill Taylor

bill.taylor@ncag.edu

(for at least a few more weeks)

Who are you "1500m runna"????

Congratulations, Coach, to you and all of your athletes on your success, and I wish you the best in the future.

This is what I love about this site. Unlike some forums, the REAL coaches and athletes who make up our sport spend time here. So we all can get a real understanding of what is going on with running and T & F. What other site brings you so many great coaches and athletes right into your own home with advice and the latest results?

The fools who spout off without knowing what they are talking about need to be a bit more careful, because the target of their vitriol is often listening close by.

Ken

For Coach Bill Taylor

Thanks for sharing your ideas on this forum

As a middle distance coach, you've given me plenty of things to think about. Many thanks.

Eddie

Bill,

Well stated. But where does the EPO fit in?

Bill,

I couldn't help noticing how well you write. Did you have another life before coaching?

Jesus ain't lying Bill Taylor, he smacked up one of my bitches last week. Watch yourself.