Jenny Simpson Moving Back to Boulder to Be Coached by Mark Wetmore

Jenny needs a head coach. She does well when an underdog and no pressure but has not done as well when the spotlight is on her. Therefore, she is due for a good year.

reer wrote:

Damnnnnn, big news. I was just thinking about her the other day and wondered how she would address her sub-par 2012. It's tough b/c, yes, Benson coached her to a World Champs gold, but she also led her through a disastrous 2013. Wetmore really created her though.

I'm curious what's different now than when Simpson first left Wetmore and talked about how he didn't have the time to focus on coaching a professional athlete in addition to a college team.

This certainly is an interesting development. My thoughts are as follows and I'm as big of a Wetmore fan as there is.

1) I wouldn't say Wetmore made Simpson or any runner. Her talent makes her - maybe he helped mold it. A stud is going to be a stud no matter who coaches them. I always find it amusing (but enjoyed it when I was a college coach) that a college coach gets credit for 'making' runners. It's so arbitrary - why not the HS coaches? People don't like to think of it that way as people don't like to think about the role that talent/genes play into it. In reality, the runner is the star - not the coach.

It's true in other sports. Take the NFL for example. Is bellicheck great? Yes, but without Brady as a starter he was 36-46.

2) I thought it was a mistake to leave Wetmore in the first place but no one can deny that with Benson as her coach she won a world title. No one would ever predict she would have won that ever so it's hard to argue with that.

3) Wetmore fans need to remember that under Wetmore, Barringer finished 163rd as a 3:59 runner and heavy NCAA favorite. So she has struggled under both Henner and Wetmore.

4) I think moves like this are good for the sport. It creates drama and gives us something to talk about. An NFL season only takes 48 hours to play but people talk 40 hours a week on the radio about it for 52 weeks of the year.

rojo wrote:

but no one can deny that with Benson as her coach she won a world title. No one would ever predict she would have won that ever so it's hard to argue with that.

Jenny won the WC title, but it is impossible to argue that she has no regressed substantially under Benson.

I hate to call it a fluke, because Jenny lined up and won a race against the best in the world, but it was kind of a fluke. That season, overall, was mediocre (for her) and the races prior to the WC and immediately after followed that path.

This is NOT taking anything away from Jenny, it is merely pointing out that her win was almost in spite of Benson's coaching, not because of it. Jenny is a supremely talented runner who belongs in global championships every year and I do not believe Benson is the coach to help her get there.

It wasn't a problem for Clyde Hart with Michael Johnson. I don't see it being a problem at Colorado

If she's going back to Boulder, why doesn't she just join the Boulder Track Club? Is Lee Troop not an option?

Good point. Why doesn't she just do something other than what she wants to do.

Also, odd comment from a coach that a stud will be a stud no matter who coaches her.

If the people at Colorado are smart (and by that I mean everyone from the AD on down) (and I tend to think they are), they will do everything possible to try to make sure this works. If done right, this is not a negative for anyone.

It's good for Jenny because she will be returning to a place she apparently loves, and getting the top level coaching she clearly needs. Not to mention, coaching that has worked well for her in the past.

It's good for Wetmore because it gives him the opportunity to again work with a tremendous female track talent, and remind people he's much more than just a fantastic mens cross country coach.

It's good for the CU program (and the school overall) because, as rojo pointed out, it will get people talking and paying even more attention to CU and Wetmore. This is not a negative for CU runners. Anyone who thinks Wetmore and his team can't handle this is crazy. He's not exactly a rookie in this business. And even though his primary focus is development of talent rather than simply recruiting it, this will no doubt make the CU program even more high profile and attractive, especially for girls.

Last but not least, from a media and marketing standpoint, this has the potential to be a great story. It's the perfect homecoming for one of Team USA's golden girls.

Of course, all this depends on things working out well in the day-to-day grind on the track and roads... not to mention eventual success.

Happy for Jenny. Now the drama continues. Jenny didn't enjoy getting beat by Martinez.

Rumor around Beaverton is Martinez is leaving New Balance for Nike.

Now she will have a great training partne(s) with Emma and Shlaya. Quite the stable of great women runners.

I have two thoughts here. 1st, as someone mentioned previously, if Coburn and Kipp both stay in Boulder with Whetmore, they have the makings of a very nice training group. 2nd, I'm wondering if this is part of a move up in distance for Simpson. I think the 5000 would be a great distance for her.

BoulderTC wrote:

If she's going back to Boulder, why doesn't she just join the Boulder Track Club? Is Lee Troop not an option?

You should try stand-up.

Alumni cannot train as much as they want to with the team. They can train every once in awhile, but that tends to mean more like maybe once a month or, stretching it, once every couple of weeks, not every day. It's specifically not allowed by the NCAA for alumni to train on a regular basis with the team. Thus, she'd have to be on the coaching staff to be able to freely run with the team every day.

Jenny didn't want to move from Colorado Sprints or Monument or leave Juli. She had to make this decision if she wanted to make the big bucks at New Balance. Thank you Josh Rowe. Poor Juli in all this.

Go back back to the stepple.

I find it strange that she's going back to Wetmore, and I think this could potentially be Alan Webb Syndrome here. She left Wetmore in the first place because she had a meeting with him where they both came to the conclusion that he would not have enough time and resources to coach her. Odd that 3 years later, Wetmore all of a sudden has time for her.

There is no way Jenny will return to the steeple. She will quickly get back into 3:59 form, like she was before under Wetmore, and go after the AR.

BoulderTC wrote:

If she's going back to Boulder, why doesn't she just join the Boulder Track Club? Is Lee Troop not an option?

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!

This is becoming Webb like. Keep chasing coaches , looking for the magic.

Wetmore has a full plate and he has said it before. Other elites from his college ranks have not stayed under his umbrella post collegiate. Training with the team isn't going to cut it.

She went from Wetmore to Benson back to Wetmore. Two coaches is not "chasing coaches."