LetsRun.com Investigates: What Makes Mark Wetmore So Special?

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  • LetsRun.com
    your benevolent dictator
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 4:38pm CDT
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    What makes Mark Wetmore special?

    Jonathan Gault spent a lot of time on that question in writing feature on Mark Wetmore. We hope you enjoy it. Gault with some key help from Mitch Kastoff has tried to figure out what makes Colorado's coach so successful.

    They talked to the likes of Chris Lear, Brad Hudson, Jenny Simpson, Emma Coburn, and Jorge Torres but also went much further than most as Gault went back to the beginning to Wetmore's start as a HS coach at Bernards HS in Bernardsville, NJ.

    Did he find the secrets to Wetmore's success? Read and find out for yourself.

    http://www.letsrun.com/news/2014/09/wetmore-formula/

    At a minimum, you'll almost certainly learn stuff you didn't know before - like the fact that Simpson didn't leave Wetmore for Benson after her collegiate career was over. No, Wetmore told Simpson he no longer wanted to coach her.

    -LetsRun.com

    PS. We also took have another piece that takes a look at the this year's men's CU team:

    http://www.letsrun.com/news/2014/09/gunslingers-boulder/
  • Montesquieu
    registered
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 5:27pm CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    Wonderful story--thanks so much.
  • Chris Chavez
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 5:33pm CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    Excellent work by Jonathan and Mitch!
  • Jubilation T. Cornpone
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 5:37pm CDT
    re: Chris Chavez
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    I think the main reason for his success is his incredible resemblance to Freddy Krueger (!) :)
  • kipisfast
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 6:04pm CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    Hopefully you guys are paying Jonathan Gault a living wage for his hard work. Very impressive!
  • We need more of this!
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 6:56pm CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    These articles were great. They are informative, detailed, well written and discuss things I didn't already know about. I want so more.
  • El G Jepthree
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 7:00pm CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    Gault is a great writer. Sepia background would make the reading a bit less of a strain.
  • kmaclam
    registered
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 8:57pm CDT
    re: El G Jepthree
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    A great read. So interesting to learn more about the personalities of these 'legendary' coaches. I bet a write-up on Joe Vigil would make for a compelling piece.
  • ohyeeeuh
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 9:21pm CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    Strong piece of work. I wouldn't say it captured wetmore, but then again this is nearly an impossible task. He remains somewhat mysterious even to those who have known him for some time. Some fixate on his shortcomings, others on his strengths. I guess I myself have always fixated on the fact that I can't seem to fit him neatly in a box like everyone else.
  • sahearn
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 9:25pm CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    Great article and right on the money. Known Mark since the early 80's and my family has known him since the late 60's from Bernardsville. I will add although some of his training has changed as you mention, he hasn't changed much at all. Even with all his success and busy schedule, he answers my emails within a day. Those who ran for him at Bernards were so fortunate to be in the right place at the right time surrounded with the right people. Love those days! Mark, Ed Mather and Larry Sullivan continue to influence many of us today, whether we still log miles or not.
  • Running On Empathy
    registered
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 9:26pm CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    Surprised there was no mention of Jerry Quiller, the former head coach at CU who hired Wetmore as an assistant in the first place. Was there some friction between the two that would prompt such an omission?
  • sahearn
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 9:50pm CDT
    re: Jubilation T. Cornpone
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    In high school I thought he resembled Sting. Our team's fond nickname for him was King of Pain after the song.
  • fan of US distance running
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 9:57pm CDT
    re: Running on Empathy
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    Running on Empathy wrote:

    Surprised there was no mention of Jerry Quiller, the former head coach at CU who hired Wetmore as an assistant in the first place. Was there some friction between the two that would prompt such an omission?

    no
  • George Atlas
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 10:08pm CDT
    re: Running on Empathy
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    Running on Empathy wrote:

    Surprised there was no mention of Jerry Quiller, the former head coach at CU who hired Wetmore as an assistant in the first place. Was there some friction between the two that would prompt such an omission?

    Well before Wetmore was at Colorado Jerry Quiller coached an individual NCAA Cross Country Champion and had a top 5 team place in 1985.

    From reading "Running With the Buffaloes" I gathered that Wetmore and Quiller coached different groups at the start and Alan Culpepper greatly improved with the more Lydiard style under Wetmore and the team shifted allegiance. But that's just my speculating from reading one book.
  • get my mind out of the gutters
    5 years ago 09/30/2014 10:22pm CDT
    re: Jubilation T. Cornpone
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    Jubilation T. Cornpone wrote:

    I think the main reason for his success is his incredible resemblance to Freddy Krueger (!) :)

    OR the fact he has a great name?
  • thanks
    5 years ago 10/01/2014 8:05am CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    Thank you for the fine article on Mark Wetmore.

    I did not attend Bernard's High School but I was fortunate enough to run with Mark's Mine Mountain Road Department in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

    Mark is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. So many articles about him depict him as a "mystery." There was some of this I suppose.

    However, I remember Mark as a fascinating and hilarious story-teller, a great educator, as well as a compassionate person. I was glad to see Emma Coburn's comments on this point in Mitch Kastoff's article that appears next to the main article.
  • wait a min
    5 years ago 10/01/2014 9:28am CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    What they dont say is that he is certifiably crazy
    He hids in trees and bushes while watching races so he doesn't have to have human contact !
    No human personal skills at all. Unless your on the I side
    And where do they mention the attrition rate

    Please
    Dont look at this guy as an icon !
    He is down rt spooky. !
  • Homonculus
    5 years ago 10/01/2014 10:01am CDT
    re: thanks
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    thanks wrote:

    However, I remember Mark as a fascinating and hilarious story-teller, a great educator, as well as a compassionate person. I was glad to see Emma Coburn's comments on this point in Mitch Kastoff's article that appears next to the main article.

    I thought it was a great, interesting article, but I had to laugh at that scene being described as "Mark Wetmore Does Show Emotion Behind The Scenes." His two athletes just qualified for the Olympics on his 59th birthday and come over to him in tears. He does not cry and they do not describe any specific reaction from him, but they could nevertheless tell he was "very proud." Very emotional indeed.
  • more by gold
    5 years ago 10/01/2014 10:57am CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    Does my memory fail me? Thought Jenny leaving was covered in the NB More Than Gold video, and explained as Wetmore's decision.
  • ttc
    registered
    5 years ago 10/01/2014 11:15am CDT
    re: LetsRun.com
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    I've said it before-

    Wetmore is a very good coach.
    But coaching at altitude is a HUGE advantage.

    Wetmore is a very good coach.
    He does better than other programs that are also located at altitude, which obviously says lots. But he also gets the best recruits of those schools.

    Wetmore is a very good coach.
    But to coach at CU with the best recruits- you do not need to be a legendary great coach to win.

    Wetmore is a very good coach.
    There is the live-high, train-low deal that cancels out altitude benefits- but not so much in XC, where it's a distinct advantage being at altitude vs sea level. Plus again, the **world's best** distance runners have disproportionately lived at **altitude** the majority of their lives.

    Wetmore is a very good coach.
    But if he was the coach at a sea-level location, lots would be different.