Smith is intelligent, yes.
However, he is impatient as a coach. I do like the guy and understand his situation. However, we did WEEKLY 10 mile tempos, and he let German roll 10 mile tempos next to all out at sub 50 minutes his FRESHMAN YEAR. His longest tempo in high school was 4 miles.
And I'm sorry, but Dave doesn't really have "thought out training".
Let me tell you OSU's training,
Meet all days except Friday. Meet twice Monday-Thursday.
Monday- Do whatever you want, just be there. Most guys did 70 minutes. Some 90, some 30. It was honestly whatever.
Evening, met for practice, double simply IF you wanted to.
Tuesday, 4 mile tempo. Start out at 21.40, knock off 20 seconds each week to 19.20-19.40. Warmed up as much as you want, cooldowned as much as you want.
Met in evening, double if you wanted too.
Wednesday, the high mileage guys would wing 90, but again, do as you please, there was ZERO constraints or individualizing.
Double as you pleased for evening practice or not run at all.
Thursday: Fartlek workout, 1 hard, 1 easy, 2 hard, 2 easy, 3 hard, 3 easy, times 3. This was all out. Same situation for warm up and cooldown.
Double as you pleased or not run at all.
Friday: it's whatever, most guys met for an easy hour.
Saturday: 10 mile tempo, by the 3rd one, it was a race. This is why OSU has no depth by end of season. Double as you pleased or cool down as long as you want.
Sunday, go as long as you want for long run, just be at practice.
We didn't do core much, and they still don't. They do A LITTLE lifting.
And we repeated this ALL 5 YEARS. It did NOT change. So scientific and indualizing.
I love my team and I would not trade it for anything, however, what happened with not investing in German and seeing his previous background, and I assure you, Dave just assumed a talent like that would be firing all 5 years and it was too anal to look at German's high school training to see what previous worked.
In German's defense, he did what we all did. If we were inspired add more. He honestly is a ridiculously motivated kid, therefore 40 to 90's for mileage jump instantly went without question when Dave assumed he'd pan out none the less.
I wish all my OSU brethren well, but serving as a coach and under another prominent D1 in the country, definitely has opened my eyes to running/training philosophy, or lack there-of with my previous team.
I hope no fellow OSU alums take offense to my post, but did feel obligated to defend my stance against non-OSU runners claiming my 1-1 experience was ignorant or wrong. I'm just observant, and intuitive, therefore, I learned quickly on my own.