Should High School Cross Country Coaches Run with the Team?

Maybe pace on the bike for quality workouts but let them run free for their easy runs, especially the older kids. Having constant supervision all day when you're almost an adult gets old after a while. Let them cause a little havoc in the surrounding neighborhoods and talk about the dank nugs that they smoked last night. It makes running so much more enjoyable when you can relax and bullshit with your teammates.

Not only is it not appropriate for a coach to run (or ride a bike, scooter, etc.) with the team, he should not even be wearing running apparel! A coach should be instantly recognizable to even a casual observer from a distance. This means no track suits, sneakers, dungarees, etc. A conservative suit is best; a topcoat is acceptable for inclement weather conditions. A sensible hat can add a nice touch.

Man I tried to be reasonable too, but Flag ain't having none of that.. it is YES or NO in his brain.. Dude is a financial advisor too! He if anyone should know that circumstances in life are not that way.

Financially what is good for a retiree is probably not right for a person just landing their first job, the person with 4 kids vs DINKS... circumstances dictate what the "right" answer is.

Obviously the extreme case of a has been runner out there making the kids do what is best for his training, or a guy showing off for the girls team, etc aren't valid reasons, but those are not ALL cases.

10 pages though, pretty crazy this has gone that far.

How many miles did Rasko run with Webb? How many miles did Timmons run with Ryun? How many miles Irv Ray run with Ryan Hall? Al Sal and Rupp? Etc, Etc

Ever heard of "One tote road?"

I don't care if you run with them but high school kids must be supervised. If you prefer to have the seniors do it, I would still check on the whole team on a regular basis. Peer pressure exists.

Old Coaches & Health wrote:

And old coaches need to be careful out there...this is not good 😔

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article166409022.html

58 is not old. Most heart attacks can be prevented if the person stays in shape.

The coach had high school girls who could run 15 miles at 7 mpm pace!

Granted I wouldn't do that every day but it's certainly valid for any phase of the season.

Y5K wrote:

How many miles did Rasko run with Webb? How many miles did Timmons run with Ryun? How many miles Irv Ray run with Ryan Hall? Al Sal and Rupp? Etc, Etc

That's not a valid question since none of those coaches were fast enough to run with said athlete.

Timmons and Salazar were always with their athletes!

Flagpole wrote:

coachathlete wrote:

It's made it this far because Flagpole states that it is 100% never ok for HS coaches to run with athletes, and people keep providing counter examples, and then the cycle starts over.

True. And it is 100% never ok (unless there's a special needs kid and all are in agreement that the coach should run with him/her as I said before).

I'm not okay with that! If you have 30 kids you do not leave them to be with the one kid. It's also not okay to only coach the 4 minute miler!

Flagpole wrote:

depends on the relationship wrote:

I said the same thing back on the first page. Apparently Flagpole lis just going to ignore us and continue to claim that people with our opinion do not exist.

The two of you are in a very small minority. Maybe your towns were right under some big power lines or something.

You have not read ANY of my posts. You have also missed quite a few others have posted.

boring wrote:

Centrowitz it is...Yes! wrote:

That is another reason why coaches must supervise their teams. Why do you think dirty talk is okay?

I bet you're loads of fun at parties.

So character means swearing and having pre-marital sex. Interesting philosophy. Perhaps it has worked for some coaches but we will see where it get's you in the next life. Imagine permitting and even encouraging misbehavior among teenagers. Like they need it!

After doing it everyway possible (running, biking, car) coaching from the car is by far the easiest way. However not all schools are the University of Oregon. It is a fact that it's harder to win in some places than others. You must use 100% of your teams' talents to win. If that includes the coach running with the kids...do it. In addition it is a lifetime sport and you are encouraging them to continue after high school if you can run with them. Unfortunately in my case I was unable to do that.

How about this one "The pack will only go as fast as the lead horse!"

If the lead horse is not fast how do you get him there? Hire a young college runner to lead the way? Lots of teams do that. If the coaches can do it, by all means do it. There is certainly nothing wrong ethically with doing it!

If I coached again I would certainly not run with them but that is mostly because I could not do it well enough. However I would not sit back and watch my team lose because they did not have an adequate lead runner. However I would be very careful on the selection of that runner. I do not believe that anyone from your community can fill that role.

By the way if you are thinking of returning to coaching, be very careful who you choose to be your assistant coaches. Many coaches have had luck with having their former runners do it. I made the mistake of allowing 3 volunteers to help me when all of them had been better runners than me at some time in there lives. Too many cooks ruin the pot. I learned the hard way. I would have been better off coaching by myself.

Bear Bryant wrote:

Not only is it not appropriate for a coach to run (or ride a bike, scooter, etc.) with the team, he should not even be wearing running apparel! A coach should be instantly recognizable to even a casual observer from a distance. This means no track suits, sneakers, dungarees, etc. A conservative suit is best; a topcoat is acceptable for inclement weather conditions. A sensible hat can add a nice touch.

Can I wear a boiler suit with a pair of Dr. Martens’ and smash my guitar over the head of the first coach I observe not following any of your recommendations?

Long Live Mockers!!!

Centrowitz it is...Yes! wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

The two of you are in a very small minority. Maybe your towns were right under some big power lines or something.

You have not read ANY of my posts. You have also missed quite a few others have posted.

Actually, I think that Flagpole thinks people on the side of "it is ok for high school coaches to run with the team" are in the minority because those people aren't bothering to post in this thread. Instead you have Flagpole and 2 or 3 other people who are somehow outraged that any coach would run with their team posting repeatedly.

It is kind of like gay marriage, the people most vocal and absolutely outraged are the people it doesn't impact in any way.

Flagpole, go ahead and not run with the high school kids that you don't coach. The rest of us know that it is ok for a coach to run with the kids, as long as they still have plenty of days they get to run without the coach. Where I coach in the SF area of California, about half the teams have a coach who runs with different athletes on different days, the other half of the teams have coaches who used to, but now are too fat to do so. I've never met any coaches out here at meets who are offended by the idea of coaches running with the athletes.

I agree that it is good for the kids to have some time running without a coach, but even that probably isn't as important as we might imagine. How much time does the football team have to practice without a coach? The softball team? The baseball team? None of those teams are ever practicing separate from their coach and yet they presumably are able to derive social benefits from athletics.

I don't know why I'm even responding to Flagpole, though, he's proven himself repeatedly to be somebody unable to listen to anybody else's viewpoint.

Flag,

How do you respond to my situation where we are required to supervise our athletes at all times everywhere. At that point would running be ok or is it still just biking or driving cars? As Head coaches we work our way through the different groups on different days. Then we have volunteers and alumni who will help cover groups as well.

Centrowitz it is...Yes! wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

True. And it is 100% never ok (unless there's a special needs kid and all are in agreement that the coach should run with him/her as I said before).

I'm not okay with that! If you have 30 kids you do not leave them to be with the one kid. It's also not okay to only coach the 4 minute miler!

I don't like that as a solution either...I just am saying that is the ONLY time a coach should EVER run with an athlete (would be POSSIBLE if there are many assistants). I have seen special needs kids needing someone to run with them before, and usually the family hires someone.

Centrowitz it is...Yes! wrote:

So character means swearing and having pre-marital sex. Interesting philosophy. Perhaps it has worked for some coaches but we will see where it get's you in the next life. Imagine permitting and even encouraging misbehavior among teenagers. Like they need it!

Man must be hard running with that stick up your azz.

Seriously you never talked about girls with your friends???

1.5 mile loop: How about if the team runs clockwise and the coach runs counter clockwise? Still seeing all of the kids. Not killing any joy. Coach still getting in a run, instead of sitting there like a lazy ass. Best of both worlds, right?

That is BETTER to the point of being acceptable (and isn't what I would call running with the team), but that doesn't solve the problem that many say exists which is that they have to run with the team to supervise. I don't really have any need for a coach to get a run in, so that part makes no difference to me (isn't any part of a win in my book).