MAGNESS'S NCAA team < Woodlands High school team

I don't know Magness at all. But I do know that coaching is a combination of science, art, and motivation. The problem with many of the science wonk coaches is that they lack the capacity to master the art of coaching, and they have problems motivating their athletes. This kind of coach tends to see science as the end all and be all because they are quite good it.

The same problem holds true for the coach that is a master of the art and motivation of coaching. This type of coach often seems lacking in the science aspect of being a good coach. And they tend to give too much credence to the art and motivation of coaching. The really good coaches have a great balance between the two, and they are usually not nerdish or bookish types.

Scuba Diving wrote:

LOLz, why is everyone judging Steve Magness based on athletes improvement from high school?? OF COURSE THEY ARE GOING TO IMPROVE GOING FROM 18 TO 22-23 YEARS OLD! If you are simply running and doing workouts, improvement from high school is a given.

That is not true at all. There are tons of kids who stagnate or get worse from HS to college. Even at top programs. I had a 9:0x teammate who ran for a top NCAA DI team, never ran faster than 14:30 for 5k. Had another teammate at 9:1x who didn't even break 15 in college. Teammate of mine in college ran 15:00 for 3mi TT on the track, never broke 16 for 5k in college. All of these guys were "doing workouts and running." The fact that basically all of Steve's runners are improving, and improving a lot, means he is very good at what he does.

Nobody can reliably turn a 9:40 guy into a sub-30 10k guy. As JK says you can't turn chickenshit into chicken salad. Unless that 9:40 guy didn't train at all in high school, or is exceptionally well-responsive to training stimuli.

And if he did do that, I'm sure you'd be whining about drugs or something.

Some of our teammates failing to improve doesn't make Steve Magness 'very good' at coaching. Great coaches take a program and make it successful. We've yet to see that from Steve.

Well....being Caleb Beacham I would say that I probably have the best insight on this...first off..You're right...my times have not got much better at Houston..But also if you wanted to put that on Magness you obviously are oblivious to people like Brian Barraza, Blake Contreras, James Broussard, Matt Parmley, Gabe Lara, etc. SOOO with that being said...Steve Magness is the best coach I have ever had...If I did not believe in what Steve was doing here or didn't believe in this program I would be gone...Steve has completely recreated the distance running atmosphere at Houston and it's going nowhere but up...The time will come ;)

Well....being Caleb Beacham I would say that I probably have the best insight on this...first off..You're right...my times have not got much better at Houston..But also if you wanted to put that on Magness you obviously are oblivious to people like Brian Barraza, Blake Contreras, James Broussard, Matt Parmley, Gabe Lara, etc. SOOO with that being said...Steve Magness is the best coach I have ever had...If I did not believe in what Steve was doing here or didn't believe in this program I would be gone...Steve has completely recreated the distance running atmosphere at Houston and it's going nowhere but up...The time will come ;)

beachum 26:00 for 4 miles- flat xc.

If it weren't for Magness Im sure youd be at 27:00 for 4 miles.

Go to the woodlands with those times and see if the GIRLS let you on.

Update: Steve Magness coached athlete Neely Spence Gracey became the 11th best performer in US history yesterday at the HM running 1:09:59

Still the worst coach ever wrote:

Update: Steve Magness coached athlete Neely Spence Gracey became the 11th best performer in US history yesterday at the HM running 1:09:59

If the Woodlands girls' ran a half marathon instead of xc, she'd be pushed back to 22nd. God, letsrunners are idiots and Magness should be coaching a preschool.

Anyways, Magness' men were 3rd at Conference with 4 guys under 25, 1 under 24. They'd have gotten trounced if the Woodlands had been at the meet though...

laskdl;jkfljks;jklkkd wrote:

beachum 26:00 for 4 miles- flat xc.

If it weren't for Magness Im sure youd be at 27:00 for 4 miles.

Go to the woodlands with those times and see if the GIRLS let you on.

Caleb you are 20? And run 26:00 for 4 miles? You run for D1 school? My 65-yr old aunt is faster than you.

Stop kicking a dead horse.

Magness has realized the difficulty in getting MEN to run fast. It's not easy. It's a challenge he is working through and having very little success.

One runner does not make a program.

His men stunk, don't look into the times too much it was a short course. His women stunk it up even more though. If you were trying to imply that he actually knows how to coach women based on Neely Spence's race, look at how his women did in their conference championships......

You probably wear Nikes.

both sides wrote:

His men stunk, don't look into the times too much it was a short course. His women stunk it up even more though. If you were trying to imply that he actually knows how to coach women based on Neely Spence's race, look at how his women did in their conference championships......

He also had another female run 73 and another run 76 and change for the half in Philly according to his twitter. He really sucks at coaching women. I wish I had a coach who sucked so bad that I ran big PR's!

Solid performance. 3rd place on the men's side, only a few points out of 2nd.

No one is touching Tulsa in that conference because of resources poured into the distance teams. So every year it's a battle for whose best of the rest and Magness men's team has been 3rd each year. Looks like they are top heavy and have no depth.

Which if you look at this thread, makes sense. I bet it's a few kids on a little $, a bunch of walk-ons and some half-milers hanging on for 5 miles.

And Wade...grow some balls man. You're past your prime, no one cares about 80yr old men running women's times and trolling message boards.

Bak That wrote:

He also coaches Neely Gracey who has been running very well under him since she left Hanson's last winter.

With it being UH and having a sprint dominated program with coaches like Leroy Burrell and Carl Lewis does he get any money to spend on distance? Agree that the program isn't all that great compared to the hype he has within the distance community though. I just find it hard to fathom Magness has much support scholarship wise to actually recruit talent that can compete well at the NCAA D1 level when they are bringing in top sprint recruits on full rides. If he doesn't get much scholarship support than why doesn't he apply for a head coaching job where he can focus a team solely on distance?

Simply put, knowing HOW to coach at the collegiate level is the least required skill when it comes to success.

Bak That wrote:

He also coaches Neely Gracey who has been running very well under him since she left Hanson's last winter.

With it being UH and having a sprint dominated program with coaches like Leroy Burrell and Carl Lewis does he get any money to spend on distance? Agree that the program isn't all that great compared to the hype he has within the distance community though. I just find it hard to fathom Magness has much support scholarship wise to actually recruit talent that can compete well at the NCAA D1 level when they are bringing in top sprint recruits on full rides. If he doesn't get much scholarship support than why doesn't he apply for a head coaching job where he can focus a team solely on distance?

I think this is the key point. Maybe he doesn't want to be a head coach somewhere?

People make assumptions that everyone wants to climb the ladder. But look at it from another direction.

What other program would allow Magness to focus on coaching Pro's? Or write a book? Or do his PhD? or whatever else Magness has going on.

You look at his blog and his twitter, and he must have 10-15 post collegiates he works with ranging from purely road people like Hall and Spence to mid-distance athletes like Lea Wallace and everything in between.

What if he uses Houston as a job to pay the bills, have fun coaching with the resources he has, and live in his home town?

I

Results from the NCAA South Central Regional, won by Arkansas:

Place

Name

Year

Team

Avg. Mile

Time

Score

1

Barraza, Brian

JR-3

Houston

4:50.8

30:07.4

1

Magness's team overall didn't finish very high, though not bad, but you have to be impressed by his guy winning regionals. Barraza was 4th at the regional last year, but his high school results, while very solid, were pretty far from the top results in the nation, with 1:57/4:13/9:05.

http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Athlete.aspx?AID=1960571