Further proof that coaching awards are pointless, Bill Aris doesn't win boys and girls coach of the year awards

Who?

Rojo always finds a way to subtly slip in 'When I was...' - something or other. Please, for once, don't feel the need to relate something to your own life.

I'm only going to post this for myself, because I know Bill Miles would hate for a petty argument on an online message board on his behalf.

Looking at the results, it was first vs. second place, not first vs. tenth or first vs. twentieth, or even first vs. third. Still, Aris did pull out the win.

Bill Aris is a fantastic coach, but he is nowhere near flawless. The psychology he impresses upon his athletes is...controversial and his training style is less than conservative on his athlete's bodies. However, it's undeniable that he has had many incredible seasons.

Does that mean he automatically deserves both coaching awards? You say yes, but I would argue that Miles was just as deserving.

Dynasty wise, Miles has been coaching at Wayzata for 39 years and has coached a team to nationals all but two of the years that qualification was based off of regional races (being on several of those teams, I'll readily admit that our finishes were fairly unimpressive, but I'd also argue that our training was meant for MN State which was 4-5 weeks earlier, something Miles changed this year). He's also coached eight cross country state championships and created, from essentially nothing when he started, a team culture that has bred and will continue to breed success.

Aris will undoubtedly "win" if the decision was based solely off of results, but anyone who has met Coach Miles will tell you his athletes don't love him because of the results he helped them earn. He's the type of coach whose motivational speech before sections is telling his athletes that there are more important things in life than the race, and if they race like hell, it doesn't matter. Miles' demeanor around his athletes, his respect for every competitor and his commitment to lifelong running is worthy of praise.

I'm proud to have been coached by Bill Miles, and I firmly believe he is deserving of the USFTCCCA Coach of the Year.

they're both great coaches and it's obvious that Aris deserved it this year for this unbelievable feat of bringing both boys and girls to national championships in the same year, while the Wayzata coach obviously should have a full trophy case of national coaching awards as well. All these coaches of top programs deserve national recognition, because they are proof that you can take a random group of high schoolers (okay, not quite random) and through the right training and motivation, get them to an elite national level.

tired of this tbh wrote:

Rojo always finds a way to subtly slip in 'When I was...' - something or other. Please, for once, don't feel the need to relate something to your own life.

I actually like it when he relates things to his past coaching experiences (I'm a fledgling coach looking for insight).