OnePieceToe wrote:
As someone who ran for Cal State San Marcos, I can say, Steve really made running fun and enjoyable. He instilled the passion he had for the sport, while not compromising the integrity of over training and racing. Some of my best running memories were from that team, and that lead me to continue running post-college. I've seen Steve here and there over the years, and with all his medical conditions, it's nice to hear that he's retiring. So many wonderful athletes have been coached by Steve, and I'm sure everyone has plenty of positive things to say, and a few may have some downers.
Since Steve lived in Carlsbad, he was basically handed the job at CSUSM by Bob Mangrum (some rich dude that wanted to fund a sports at CSUSM). There wasn't much pressure from the Admin for him to excel, and being NAIA, it was a perfect fit. Many of his athletes from the time I was there stayed in the sport either: sales reps, elite level running, athlete reps, etc... It seems like Steve had so much pressure to perform well while he was competing, that he didn't want to put that pressure on his athletes. We never ran super high mileage, and many of the school records are modest at best. Steve loved coaching and I'm sure he will miss it very much!
Cheers Steve on your next chapter in life!
Well said!