I'm going to put in a plug for Laura Schmitt at Redwood High in San Rafael. Much smaller enrollment, similar results.
I'm going to put in a plug for Laura Schmitt at Redwood High in San Rafael. Much smaller enrollment, similar results.
I hate these threads whose only point seems to be giving cranks a chance to dump on people who give 100% for the sport and for their athletes. I have nothing but respect for educated, dedicated coaches like Doug Soles. I wish there were more like him.
Coach Soles works tirelessly to create a culture of excellence--one in which athletes not only win races, but develop lasting friendships and a strong sense of personal responsibility. The fitness achieved by the Great Oak athletes opens doors of opportunity to compete in college. Yep, he's a great coach. And, off the top of my head, Collins, Cortez, and Fountain have all been running well at the collegiate level.
Destiny Collins best year of running was in 11th grade.
Running addict wrote:
All he does is win!
Well not everything how many NXN titles does he have?
How many FM and GO HS stars have gone on the achieve Div. 1 All-American status?
jeopardy wrote:
How many FM and GO HS stars have gone on the achieve Div. 1 All-American status?
This got a lot of replies, is it really 0?
silence is golden wrote:
jeopardy wrote:
How many FM and GO HS stars have gone on the achieve Div. 1 All-American status?
This got a lot of replies, is it really 0?
Who cares? How many all Americans has each responder of this thread coached?
Jeremy Mattern wrote:
Coach Soles works tirelessly to create a culture of excellence--one in which athletes not only win races, but develop lasting friendships and a strong sense of personal responsibility. The fitness achieved by the Great Oak athletes opens doors of opportunity to compete in college. Yep, he's a great coach. And, off the top of my head, Collins, Cortez, and Fountain have all been running well at the collegiate level.
Glad you can see the bigger picture.
People ought to be asking how many Soles-coached kids went on to get degrees that otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford college. And how many kids now believe they can do almost anything if they put their mind to it and work hard enough? The mark of a great high school coach has nothing to do with the running success of their athletes after high school.
The ironic thing is he is probably a better track coach than he is a cross country coach. Just look how many girls he has had under 5 min the last 5 years or so. His teams are balanced and always hard to beat. Remember that California doesn't have a divisional state championship in track or he might have 5 or more state titles there as well. Rumor is he has been looking at college jobs. Probably quite a few high school coaches in California would love to see that happen, LOLz!
Weezer down in Africa wrote:
I'm going to put in a plug for Laura Schmitt at Redwood High in San Rafael. Much smaller enrollment, similar results.
Yep. Great coach and program. Although Redwood High does draw from a rich, successful, motivated upper-class district. Basically a dream area for getting the right kind of cross country kids. And luckily she doesn't waste that opportunity.
Only Coach Vigil got 15 pts at nationals.
Marin County is highly wealthy, and soccer is huge out there so kids that end up switching to distance running usually come from backgrounds. Additionally, the vast network of paths and trails is second to absolutely nowhere in California. Sir Francis Drake (near Redwood) has also been solid at the state level as of late. I have to give Laura and Jake Schmitt the nod over Soles (who is also an excellent coach) because their athletes almost always experienced at least some degree of improvement at the college level.
If we are naming winning NorCal teams and great coaches, I would include Patrick McCrystle from Bellarmine, San Jose, and Phil Pompei from Saint Francis, Mt. View. Bell is a powerhouse D1 team that wins their section every year and finishes in the top 10 in CA for as long as anyone can remember. SF won their section the last 3 years, and the state D2 title last year. They also finished 9th at NXN.
All you guys do is name the coaches who win in your area. Do a quick check on Bellarmine and Saint Francis and you’ll see private schools with lots of “financial aid.” Schools without borders and lots of handouts.
Check your facts wrote:
All you guys do is name the coaches who win in your area. Do a quick check on Bellarmine and Saint Francis and you’ll see private schools with lots of “financial aid.” Schools without borders and lots of handouts.
I think winning is the name of the game. The “borders” and “handouts” (meaning scholarships) giving private schools an advantage are BS arguments. Nobody gets money to run for a private school in CA, period.
There is no doubt Soles is the greatest. His runners love him and he gets them to buy into a tough sport. Big school or not he’s sold kids on a sport where you have to push yourself to collapse. He is special and can’t believe this man is not celebrated. College is not guaranteed, not can an athletes success be measured. I’m sure his college runners do better than most and his mission is accomplished in a major way. He’s celebrated nationally but sometimes people are not respected in their own backyard. Shame!
Running addict wrote:
There is no doubt Soles is the greatest. His runners love him and he gets them to buy into a tough sport. Big school or not he’s sold kids on a sport where you have to push yourself to collapse. He is special and can’t believe this man is not celebrated. College is not guaranteed, not can an athletes success be measured. I’m sure his college runners do better than most and his mission is accomplished in a major way. He’s celebrated nationally but sometimes people are not respected in their own backyard. Shame!
There are some who think pushing adolescent athletes to the point of collapse is not in the best interest of their longterm growth in any discipline, but especially in running where there is more impact stress on an absolute scale than any other sport. Even then, pushing the body to the point of collapse as a fully mature adult is not healthy, but it does become a necessity eventually if one is to find their limit as a runner.
Peak fitness coincides with an erosion of health. That is why it's so difficult to be in top shape year round all through high school and still have the vitality to do it another 4-5 years in college. The body will only take so much abuse before the internal governor turns the screws on our ability to hurt ourselves. Call it burnout if you like. It's what happens when a 15 year old who is still about 10 years away from reaching peak bone mass is running and cross training as much as their body can absolutely handle.
Is it worth it to sacrifice one's potential physical strength in the long term if it means a better education? I would say probably so for most people because having an extra 5-10% more power is meaningless to most. If a potential Olympian comes along I wouldn't want Soles coaching them, sorry. Everyone else I'd feel comfortable sending his way.
Jeremy Mattern wrote:
Coach Soles works tirelessly to create a culture of excellence--one in which athletes not only win races, but develop lasting friendships and a strong sense of personal responsibility. The fitness achieved by the Great Oak athletes opens doors of opportunity to compete in college. Yep, he's a great coach. And, off the top of my head, Collins, Cortez, and Fountain have all been running well at the collegiate level.
Collins has stagnated or gotten slightly worse (she came in fast though). Cortez is doing horrible. Fountain is a smidge better than high school. He is the only one to have improved and he probably had the most talent IMO.
If you are judging the dude on his HS success (which we are) then he is a top 3 coach in the United States year in and year out. But let’s not pretend that a lot of his athletes do poorly at the next level. That’s not the fault of the college coach. It’s the fault of the guy who prepares them for the next level. Maybe some of these kids wouldn’t know they had it em them without Great Oak though. Valuable life lessons of hard work were learned. Also, maybe none of them would have even had the opportunity to go to college without their running? Still, for all the good the program does at a grassroots level for the sport, is it really worth it if you just kill a bunch of potential stars dreams in the process? We already got too many like that in the college ranks to begin with.
NorCal Powers wrote:
Check your facts wrote:
All you guys do is name the coaches who win in your area. Do a quick check on Bellarmine and Saint Francis and you’ll see private schools with lots of “financial aid.” Schools without borders and lots of handouts.
I think winning is the name of the game. The “borders” and “handouts” (meaning scholarships) giving private schools an advantage are BS arguments. Nobody gets money to run for a private school in CA, period.
Yes, but both Bellermine and St. Francis have schools that require all 9th and 10th graders to do an extra-curricular activity. So if you're not a drama nerd or don't play football, you do cross country. Bellarmine itself has over 75 freshman boys join the team each year. That's massive. And I've known great kids who were rejected from Bellarmine admissions. These schools get the cream of the crop.
But yes, they are in any case both doing a fantastic job in XC. Kudos for that.