D3 Atlantic Region 2014 XC

Data that I have already considered. But OVERALL Woodsie is the #1 coach. Yes, I am considering track because that is an inherent part of distance coaching, which translates to XC. All of the following performances are the result of Woodsie's coaching:

124 AA performances from 51 AA's

1 Women's NCAA XC championship team 2005

Two national champions (Melissa White 2003 NCAA Indoor 5k Champion and Alyssa Smith 2014 NCAA Outdoor Steeple Champion)

Two Olympic Trials qualifiers post-collegiately (Melissa White for the marathon and Anthony Gallo for the 5k)

Notable School Records

Men

Outdoor 1500m: 3:49

Outdoor 5k: 14:21, 14:23 (Indoor)

Outdoor 10k: 29:32

Indoor DMR: 9:53

Women

Outdoor 5k: 16:17

Indoor 5k: 16:39 (National DIII Record for a long while)

Indoor DMR: 11:34

Outdoor Steeple: 10:17 (National Champ)

Outdoor 10k: 34:13

5 of the past 11 Atlantic Regional Men's Individual champion titles

2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012

I may be wrong but I don't think that there is a school in the AR with the same credentials with the same current coach that helped achieve them.

My final point, as a disclaimer, I believe that Scott Slade was won of the region's best coaches before he left.

It should probably be noted that Howard returned to coaching cross country in 2008. He has always been the director of the program but stepped away from cross country and only coached track and field from 2001 to 2007. He started back coaching the women in 2008, that makes the argument much different.

I didn't realize that Howard was not coaching XC in 2001-07. That heavily skews the data towards Howard as a cross country coach. I understand that it is a small sample size to compare averages, but Howard's success in the last 6 years rivals Woods' success in his entire 23 in cross country. 2 trophies to 2 trophies. 10 SLU AAs in 6 years in 1 gender to 20 Geneseo AAs in 23 years in 2 genders. Geneseo has 1 national team title, SLU has 2 individual national titles.

Woods has definitely coached some great athletes over the years to fast track times and some very impressive school records. That said, I don't believe that he has developed very many athletes in the past 2-3 years. Maybe he has lost the touch, and maybe he hasn't. When you look at the guys/girls on the current team, their collegiate bests are really quite weak when compared to how good they were in high school.

I've said it several times in this thread. D3 running has progressed dramatically in the past 5 years. I'm not quite sure that Woods' coaching has.

Steve Patrick has to be at-least a top 5 AR coach. Doesn't even bring in the top talent in the SUNYAC, yet constantly gets 1st/2nd at the conference/regional meet every season.

Plus, most of his runners actually run well during track unlike the rest of the AR.

I have definitive proof, stored in a manila envelope, that Mike Woods is the best coach in the region. I'll release it if President Obama calls and asks me for it. I'm just trying to help, Mr. Obama.

Lets not forget that Howard has a sidekick, or perhaps...he is the sidekick? Kate Curran at SLU is a former distance runner, a firecracker and an all around beast of a recruiter. Those two combined form a great coaching and recruiting duo and is the main reason why SLU is who they have been since Wendy Pavlus walked through their door. If you mention Mike Howard it is hard to ignore Kate Curran.

Just another thing to think about. SLU has 3 full time distance coaches on staff...Geneseo, 2....everyone else 1.

Geneseo has two as of this year (and look how well that worked out). Before that though it was Woodsie with either a recently graduated volunteer or whoever was willing to work for 3k a year. Only one full-time distance coach for his most successful years.

True Cat wrote:

Lets not forget that Howard has a sidekick, or perhaps...he is the sidekick? Kate Curran at SLU is a former distance runner, a firecracker and an all around beast of a recruiter. Those two combined form a great coaching and recruiting duo and is the main reason why SLU is who they have been since Wendy Pavlus walked through their door. If you mention Mike Howard it is hard to ignore Kate Curran.

Just another thing to think about. SLU has 3 full time distance coaches on staff...Geneseo, 2....everyone else 1.

I also hope everyone knows Howard coaches the women, and John Newman coaches the men...he should be mentioned as one of the top coaches as well. A lot of AA's and regional titles. Not to mention they have never lost a Liberty League title, and has a podium finish in 2009.

Actually watching the races wrote:

RPI, a team who was a joke 4 years ago

Hey man, Jen Adams took me from a 30-minute 8k at Saratoga to a 26-minute one. If you're tempoing races instead of racing tempos, you just aren't hardXcore.

NJCU XC wrote:

Don't sleep on NJCU. They have been building a power house over the last few years under their new coaching staff. They haven't raced their A ids yet but don't expect them to sit them out again at Regionals this weekend. Rumor has it they have 7 Kenyans all capable of breaking 24. They might run away with 15 points.

Don't Sleep on Stockton!