More beers less fears. wrote:
14:09 and 31:28 **
Oh I'm sorry. Are national titles on the track not good enough to be considered when you come out and say that he has not been on the track in years? Please define your criteria for "on the track" and we'll move forward from there.
Boorsma has not gone sub 13:40.
You're right. I brain farted and mistakenly thought he had. It was 3:39 that ran for 1500m.
Im just saying he has no one to train with in that club.
he also isn't going to get the altitude that he had at SUU.
its just a bad move for Levins.
a good move for dst thou as he continues his tyranny of Canadian running.
More beers less fears. wrote:
Im just saying he has no one to train with in that club.
he also isn't going to get the altitude that he had at SUU.
its just a bad move for Levins.
a good move for dst thou as he continues his tyranny of Canadian running.
Levins is not leaving Utah, and Houle will remain in his life in some capacity -- this is from Levins' Twitter page. So now, how is it a bad move?
because it's dst. ha
calls himself the creator of guelph running.
true in some sense, but there was already a solid team there.
look who was 2nd at CIS before he arrived?
and do you even know the real reason why he is at guelph?
he takes the credit away from the initial sparker, the man who gave him the team.
you probably have to personally know some of the guys from the current varsity team to see just how much development goes on under DST...
Proudfoot 350 to 341 in 2 yrs
Nixon 14 high to 14 flat in 2 yrs
Hendrix 14 high to 14:14 in 1 yr (clearly gotten better than that this xc season)
Romaniw not racing to 1:47 in 1 yr
Grieve high 3:5X's to 3:47 in 1 yr
Not to mention a bunch of guys running in the low 1:50s and mid 3:40's
If Cam did decide to train in Guelph he would have Olympic marathoners, milers and steeplers with him. How many other places can you get that?
And if not, getting coached by DST via email or whatever while he trains in Utah is a great decision. He is an excellent resource no matter where you train.
More beers less fears. wrote:
true in some sense, but there was already a solid team there.
look who was 2nd at CIS before he arrived?
Ok, enlighten us.
What year did DST start at Guelph?
Who was already attending Guelph and on the team when he arrived?
the youter wrote:
No doubt that DST is the best coach in north america right now, but I don't think Cam should change what was working for him. Dance with who brought ya.
No doubt that Alberto Salazar is the best coach in North America right now*
More beers less fears. wrote:
because it's dst. ha
calls himself the creator of guelph running.
true in some sense, but there was already a solid team there.
look who was 2nd at CIS before he arrived?
and do you even know the real reason why he is at guelph?
he takes the credit away from the initial sparker, the man who gave him the team.
Are you kidding me? I grew up in guelph. I was an HS stud and have followed the scene closely for the last 25 years as a CIAU competitor and beyond. There hasn't been a spark in Guelph since maybe Geoff Cameron - and that was one guy.
Are you thinking of the Grant McLaren days? Brian Stride? 70's man - a loooong time ago and no scene to speak of.
Sure along the way there have been some decent HS dudes here and there, but has anyone attracted talent from outide of Guelph? No. oh I mean DST has.
Has anyone raised funds for a proper track and fieldhouse - nope, oh wait, DST has.
Has anyone engaged the community so that Guelph runners get some press and some shoe deals, - yup, DST, no one else.
Sure there were some clubs in Guelph before Speed River, but Dave started with zero and built from there. Is he perfect? No one is, but who has done more in Canada or the US lately? Especially given what he has to work with in terms of recruiting (as compared to Oregon say).
Of course may be I am wrong - I would be interested in hearing more.
squirrelkiller69 wrote:
the youter wrote:No doubt that DST is the best coach in north america right now, but I don't think Cam should change what was working for him. Dance with who brought ya.
No doubt that Alberto Salazar is the best coach in North America right now*
You might be right. That said, he has better talent to work with. And he couldn't do anything with Webb.
More beers less fears. wrote:
because it's dst. ha
calls himself the creator of guelph running.
true in some sense, but there was already a solid team there.
look who was 2nd at CIS before he arrived?
and do you even know the real reason why he is at guelph?
he takes the credit away from the initial sparker, the man who gave him the team.
Actually I was there when he took over. I know the answers to all these questions.
1. He does not call himself the creator of Guelph Running.
2. Yes Guelph had a solid women's team when he arrived. They have since become just about unbeatable, every year.
3. The real reason he is at Guelph -- it was an opportunity to take over a program in a city he loved. He did it for $3,000/year in income at first. The budget was like $12,000/year for the team.
4. The man who "gave him the team" -- first, nobody handed him a championship team, as evidenced by Guelph not having won CI's since 69. Second, my memory tells me that Tshirhart was the Guelph coach before DST.
a good point there about recruiting in Canada. While there is some talent in Canadian running, the depth is just not the same as in the States (understandably so). Putting together a solid post collegiate training group as well as coaching a very strong (by NCAA standards yes) collegiate group is pretty impressive.
I just don't see how you can say DST gets talent handed to him when he has to compete with the NCAA consistantly getting half of the best runners in Canada, which is also a small pool to begin with.
The guy has done more with less talent than 95% of the Div 1 NCAA programs are doing today.
For those asking who DST is, he coaches Guelph University and Speed River TFC. Guelph is by far the top Canadian University for running and would fit into the top 20 of the NCAA .
I didn't get for sure from the article that Levins will be moving to Guelph. I think DST now coaches Chris Winter, who is in BC. With Levins being a mostly self coached athlete at the moment, it might make sense that he continues to coach himself with DST functioning primarily as a mentor.
I think this would be a good fit, although i found it surprising, largely because Levins is sponsored by Nike. Not sure if anyone knows exactly how this works, but New Balance and Speed River seem to be linked very tightly.
As to those who are calling DST overrated, I would reinstate that he had nothing when he took the Guelph job. In Canada, with less scholarship money, it's tough to build an elite school program. By building it up through the club-school affiliation, he's done that successfully and therefore deserves a ton of credit for getting talented people together to create such a program. While I don't know the details, I understand that a long time back, he proposed a similar club/ schol setup for Queen's and was rejected by admin. Looks bad in hindsight because that's now how all the better CIS programs are developed, including Queen's.
Another point is that him and his support staff seem very capable of moderating training so their athletes peak at the right time. With a long cross country season, it's tough to train at a level where you're pushing yourself hard and still handling the training enough for a strong peak in November. Every year, CIS (and NCAA's) have a crowd of very strong runners that blow up. Never seems to happen to Guelph athletes, though. For a guy like Levins who has a history of pushing his own boundaries so intensely, being coached by a guy with such a strong record of moderating his athletes' training is definitely a good thing.
Just my two cents.
the youter wrote:
squirrelkiller69 wrote:No doubt that Alberto Salazar is the best coach in North America right now*
You might be right. That said, he has better talent to work with. And he couldn't do anything with Webb.
Yes he does have better talent to work with. Nobody can do anything with Webb though.
"Another point is that him and his support staff seem very capable of moderating training so their athletes peak at the right time. With a long cross country season, it's tough to train at a level where you're pushing yourself hard and still handling the training enough for a strong peak in November"
And what effect do you think that 190 mile week will have on him when he races Nationals in 2 weeks. Is 2 weeks enough time to recover from 190 miles? Where's the work at race pace?
There is no doubt that DST is "the man" in Canadian distance running, and has been for some time. Whoever mentioned his stint at Queens many years ago was correct, but there was a phase of his development as a coach which has not been mentioned in this thread. In the mid '90's he went out to Victoria, did his year at the NCI (National Coaching Institute, and spend a couple of years coaching with Fougner and Bowker. Then the opportunity came up to build his own program at Guelph, and the rest is history !
alejandro wrote:
There is no doubt that DST is "the man" in Canadian distance running, and has been for some time. Whoever mentioned his stint at Queens many years ago was correct, but there was a phase of his development as a coach which has not been mentioned in this thread. In the mid '90's he went out to Victoria, did his year at the NCI (National Coaching Institute, and spend a couple of years coaching with Fougner and Bowker. Then the opportunity came up to build his own program at Guelph, and the rest is history !
And I am pretty sure he would give those guys a ton of props.
Knowing now that Levins is staying where he is, and understanding that he may be somewhat "self coached", working with Dave may not be a bad choice - even if just to have someone with international coaching experience to bounce stuff off of, etc.
DST is seriously overrated. He's just a "star" because Canadian running is terrible. Being the best Canadian really doesn't mean anything.
Waster of time wrote:
DST is seriously overrated. He's just a "star" because Canadian running is terrible. Being the best Canadian really doesn't mean anything.
Your opinion is valid, but I would like to see some evidence to back it up. How many US coaches qualified multiple distance athletes to the olympics? How many US coaches routinely coach a successful top 20 NCAA team on zer scholarship dollars?
Yes Canada is a small pond, but that doesn't totally negate his results.