Q&A: Ben Rosario on How He Built NAZ Elite, Why He’s Leaving, and the State of the Sport in 2024

On Wednesday, nearly 11 years after founding the Northern Arizona Elite professional team, Ben Rosario announced that he is leaving for a new venture. Rosario, 44, launched the team in January 2014 with his wife Jen, self-funding the team before Hoka ONE ONE signed on as the team’s sponsor in February 2015. Rosario served as the team’s coach until April 2022 and remained the team’s executive director and a member of NAZ Elite’s board of directors (NAZ Elite operates as a nonprofit) until resigning the latter roles in October.

During Rosario’s tenure, the Flagstaff-based team, which featured athletes such as Scott Fauble, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Stephanie Bruce, and Kellyn Taylor, gained a reputation for openness as the group built support by interacting with fans and sharing the highs and lows of the elite running lifestyle. Both Fauble and Taylor finished 4th in the Olympic Trials 10,000m final in 2016, and Fauble finished as the top American at the 2019 Boston Marathon by running 2:09:09. One year later, the group experienced its crowning achievement when Tuliamuk won the Olympic Marathon Trials (with Bruce and Taylor also placing in the top 10).

When Rosario stepped down as coach in 2022, the group hired Alan Culpepper as his replacement, but Culpepper never moved to Flagstaff full-time and barely lasted a year. NAZ Elite named former University of Portland assistant Jack Mullaney as its new coach in October 2023.

The team is poised to look very different in 2025. Flagstaff Running News reported that, in addition to Rosario, veteran marathoners Aliphine Tuliamuk, Kellyn Taylor, and Stephanie Bruce will all be leaving the team at the end of 2024 and that 2023 US steeplechase champion Krissy Gear has already left.

Most of the group’s success in 2024 came on the men’s side in events shorter than the marathon, led by Adrian Wildschutt, who set South African records in the 3,000m (7:32.99), 5,000m (12:56.67), and 10,000m (26:50.64) and placed 10th in the Olympic 10,000m final. In addition, Olin Hacker placed 5th in the World Indoor 3,000m final, Ahmed Muhumed won US road titles in the 5k and 8k, and Wesley Kiptoo won the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. Taylor also finished 6th in the Olympic Trials 10,000m.

Rosario said he would announce details of his new venture on December 18 but said that it will still be in the running world in the event space.

“It will be a venture that allows me to build a brand once again, which I think ultimately is probably what I’m best at,” Rosario said.

In an interview with LetsRun.com on Tuesday, Rosario reflected on how he built the NAZ Elite team, his fondest memories from the group, how the sport is structured, and why now was the right time for him to leave.

You can read Rosario’s full public statement on his departure here.

This interview has been lightly condensed for clarity.

LRC: Why leave now?

Kellyn Taylor and Ben Rosarsio after Taylor won the 2018 Grandma’s Marathon

BR: The biggest reason that I chose now is really because I was ready. I’ve been thinking about some other projects for a while and I decided on what I was going to do moving forward in August. And come October, I realized, okay, if I want to launch this new project, then I need to work on it full-time. And so I ended up resigning from NAZ actually October 11, and then did a little bit of pro bono work for them for the next three weeks or so through New York [City Marathon]. And since then I’ve worked completely on this new project. And so it was really just getting excited about a new venture and needing to spend my time focused on that venture.

Do you regret resigning as NAZ Elite head coach in 2022?

Yes and no. On a personal level, it was much more fun to coach. But I felt at the time that the organization needed a change and I was a bit fried on the coaching front. And so given the exact same situation again, I think I would do the exact same thing. So that’s why I say no. 

But of course I say yes because I’m really good at coaching and coaching is a lot of fun. Coaching is also incredibly stressful and not terribly great for your mental health. But nonetheless, I enjoyed it and hope to do it again someday down the road. But I think at the time, it was the right decision for me and for the organization. And so in that regard, I can’t regret it too much.

So, what has it been like for you the last three years being the executive director but not the head coach? How have you managed that and following the team?

I think it’s been a process. The first year was a little bit out of the ordinary because obviously the first head coach we hired (Alan Culpepper) didn’t stick around and never made the move to Flagstaff full-time. And so it required me to spend a lot of time with the athletes at practice and that was difficult because so much of coaching is the passion and the emotion and the care you have for the athletes. So being around them all the time still was difficult.

It’s been much easier over the last year with Jack as the head coach. He’s done such a phenomenal job and I have total faith in him and he’s just really good. And really, I’ve chosen to not be around very much in terms of the day to day. I chose to just kind of stay behind the scenes and that made things easier.

So I want to rewind almost 11 years to when you started the team. Why did you start the team in the first place?

Well, my wife and I had moved to Flagstaff in 2012 simply because I was burnt out from my previous gig, which was six years of nonstop work owning and operating three running stores in St. Louis. So we moved out to Flagstaff just for a change of pace, different lifestyle. and the first year and a half or so, we just relaxed, I did some work for Greg McMillan, enjoyed the town, and got to know a few people. And before long, I was coaching a couple of athletes, Matt Llano and Jordan Chipangama, and we were having success

There was nothing planned in terms of starting a group until I would say the fall of 2013 when Greg McMillan’s group, adidas McMillan Elite, was dissolving. Greg was a friend of mine and he had let me know that that was going to happen and there were several athletes in town that I knew through Greg and through his team that really liked that group structure. People like Stephanie Bruce and Scott Smith and Ben Bruce and Kellyn Taylor, and they were going to be obviously without a group. Amy Van Alstine as well. 

And I was having so much fun coaching Matt and coaching Jordan, that’s when we decided in the fall of ‘13 to start the group because there was going to be a void in Flagstaff and I felt like I could do it right. I felt like I could not only coach, but I felt like I could build a brand around the team and take advantage of social media and storytelling. I felt like we could make ourselves valuable for a sponsor. And so that’s why we launched it back in January 2014.

And how much of your own money did you put into this? And was this something that you had to convince your wife to sign off on or was she fully on-board with it?

We’re usually on the same page. We knew that it was a business and we knew that it was going to require capital. And so we ended up spending $40,000 of our own money in that first year on travel and gear and small little bonuses. But the real cost obviously was much more than that because we also didn’t work that year – we didn’t get paid, either of us. And so it was a pretty big financial commitment to spend an entire year of our lives without making any money and spending $40,000. But of course, I had some money from my buyout from the running stores when I had sold my half. So we had the money to do it at the time. I don’t think we would have done it a whole lot longer – we weren’t going to spend our entire life savings – but we were able to sign a deal with HOKA in February 2015 and that sort of changed everything.

What was the hardest part of launching the team and then running the team for 10 years once you got it going?

The hardest part of launching it was simply the uncertainty around the financial viability of it because obviously we weren’t going to be able to do it forever unless we secured real sponsorship. And so that first year, there was that. And then moving forward, I would say the hardest part was actually the same thing that made it so great, it’s just the highs and lows of coaching. You have the highest of highs when you win national titles and qualify for world teams and win races all over the globe. That’s incredibly exhilarating. And then you have these terrible lows when you finish fourth place at the Olympic Trials or the athletes don’t accomplish what they had hoped to accomplish. That’s incredibly um devastating. So I think the coaching was the toughest part. But it was also the best part.

Was there a moment when you thought NAZ Elite had made it?

I always felt like we were doing a good job. I always felt like we were growing. I always felt like we were doing things the right way. I remember feeling like we made a real impact in 2016 by running so well at the Marathon Trials and at the Track Trials. We had two 6th-place finishes in the marathon and two 4th-place finishes on the track. And I think that was kind of a moment where we were certainly knocking on the door.

But then if you look at the history, I think from 2018 to 2020, gosh, we were really clicking. That’s when we signed Aliphine Tuliamuk and that’s when Scott Fauble was really crushing it and Stephanie Bruce and Kellyn Taylor and Scott Smith. There were a lot of moments I felt like that led to the biggest moment, which was Aliphine winning the Olympic Trials. But Scott Fauble running 2:09 at Boston and getting 7th and being right in the thick of it, I thought that was a huge moment. I thought that Kellyn and Steph at the 2019 USA 10,000 champs when they were battling Molly Huddle and Emily Sisson, two of the best US runners of all time, I thought that was a cool moment. So there were several. But the culminating moment, obviously, was when we won the Olympic Trials.

Was that your favorite memory from your time at NAZ Elite? Or is there another one that stands out?

That was my favorite because it was just everything that was going on. It was not only Aliphine winning, but it was everybody running well – Steph getting 6th, Kellyn getting 8th, Scott and Scott finishing in the top 20. Our relationship with HOKA had grown so much and they were so much a part of what we were doing. All of their employees had taken over a bar downtown and were going crazy and we had a great party that night with them. My family was there, my old high school coach was there, and so many of my really good friends had made the trip to Atlanta. So it was the best moment for all sorts of reasons. I’ll never forget it.

What is something about professional running that you didn’t know until you began running a professional team?

I had the advantage of having run for the Hansons team in the early 2000s, and so I knew a lot about the day to day and the emotions of the athletes and the ups and downs. So I don’t think any of that surprised me all that much. I guess getting into the weeds of the business side of things with the agents and the various relationships that the agents have with certain brands and some of the potential conflicts of interest that exist. And it really is quite…mmm, how would you say? There’s a way things are done that I wish was a little bit different. And I hope to have at least played somewhat of a role in changing some of that. I think there’s a limited amount of people with a lot of power and I think that is beginning to change but maybe I didn’t realize how much that was the case until I was really in the thick of it.

When you say there’s a way things are done that I wish were a little different and that you hoped to have played a role in changing some of that – can you expand on that? What do you mean by that?

I think that – and again, things are better now – but there are so few power agents in the game. And they have such deep relationships with certain brands that there are situations where if a college athlete signs with a certain agent, you basically know you don’t have a chance with that athlete because they are absolutely going to go to this one brand. Or maybe one of two brands. And I think that’s unfortunate for the industry and for the athletes because it ultimately hurts the athletes in terms of their bargaining power. 

And that has begun to change because there are more agents in more powerful positions now than when I started. And there are more brands spending more money now than when I started. And I hope that that continues because it’s not a good situation for the athletes when their opportunities are so limited.

Are there any other things in the pro running world that you’ve learned from being involved for a decade plus now that you don’t think fans either know about or appreciate enough?

I think we’re too heavily reliant on the shoe companies. Theoretically, the athlete’s job is supposed to be running and competing at the highest level possible. And if they’re at a high level, you would think that their livelihood was largely then based on their results and prize money. But it’s not actually that way. Their livelihood is almost completely dependent on their shoe contract. 

And I think part of that is because prize money hasn’t really increased in any significant way in 30 years. And so you could have an athlete run some of the best times in the whole world, literally be one of the top 25 or 50 distance runners in the world, and their prize money cumulatively at the end of the year could be less than $50,000, even if they ran really well. Now they may make a lot more than that, and they probably do from their shoe contract, but I would love to see that change eventually where we’re not so reliant on those shoe contracts. I don’t know that that time is near, but I would like to see it eventually. If a top golfer, not the top golfer in the world even, but if a top-50 golfer loses his apparel sponsorship for whatever reason, he or she is still fine because they’re making plenty of money in prize money. But the athletes in our sport, that’s not the case.

What do you expect from HOKA NAZ Elite and the team moving forward?

Adrian Wildschutt was the team’s best runner in 2024 (Kevin Morris photo)

I think there will be a big reload. And my understanding is that the brand is very committed to reaching the next level. And I know that Jack is very committed to that. When you look at what he’s done with Adrian Wildschutt, he’s very calculated in his approach and very good with the highest of high-level athletes. So I think if HOKA provides the resources to the team – which that’s my understanding – and they’re aggressive in recruiting the top athletes out of the NCAA, I think the team can compete with any group in the country, including the new group that’s coming to Flagstaff.

So that’s the Mike Smith group?

Yeah, I’m referring to the Mike Smith group. I’m excited that the team will have such a friendly rival in town. I think that will be good for the team and good for the athletes and the coaches. That sort of competition really brings the best out of people. Obviously there were a couple of groups in Portland for a while sponsored by Nike that pushed one another. And there were some strange things, of course, that occurred, but there’s no denying that those teams wanted to beat each other very badly and they pushed each other to great heights. And so I’m hopeful that that can that can happen here. I think it will.

I have a few quick hitters here. Your favorite race to go to?

It’s either Boston or New York. I love Boston and New York. I love the big marathons and we’ve had so many great memories there. The emotion and the intensity during those races is unparalleled.

Favorite workout spot in Flagstaff?

I love the work that we did on Lake Mary Road. Because my favorite event was the marathon. The long sessions that we did out there on Lake Mary where I was driving along and pulling over every mile and giving them fluids every 5k, that was my favorite.

Best workout that one of your athletes ran?

No question: Scott Fauble in 2019, three weeks before the Boston Marathon, when I took him out to a place called Sunset Crater and had him run 16 miles on this ridiculously hilly course. And he ran his last four miles in the 4:45 range and I knew that he was gonna crush it at Boston. It was my favorite workout. And the best workout that I ever saw anybody do.

(Fauble did crush it at Boston, running a pb of 2:09:09 to finish as the top American in 7th. Rosario shared more details about the workout in this 2019 LetsRun article).

Best accomplishment during your time with the team?

Because of the context, I would say Aliphine Tuliamuk winning the Olympic Trials. But I do think that there were other races that I think you could put up against it physiologically. But look, this is sports and you have to perform on the biggest stage. And that was our biggest win on the biggest stage.

The strangest place you visited with NAZ Elite?

That’s a good question. We did a race once during the pandemic in a suburb of Nebraska that a group was putting on and they wanted to get some pro athletes there and we didn’t have many opportunities. This was 2021. And so we did that race and the course was just around cornfields, basically, this really flat area in suburban Nebraska. But it was fun! I enjoyed it. Rory Linkletter won the men’s race and Stephanie Bruce won the women’s race. It was not New York or Boston, but it was fun.

(For the record, this was the Valley O.NE Half Marathon in Valley, Neb. – population 3,037).

Is there anything else you wanted to say? This is your chance to get on the soap box and say whatever you want.

I guess if I would say one more thing, I think that in addition to the performances, one of the things that I’m really proud of with what we did over these last 11 years was we always had building fans and building our fanbase at the forefront of what we were doing. And I am proud of that because I think in this sport, sometimes we stay in our bubble and we’re very, very focused on times and performances. But we forget that in order to grow the sport, we have to create fans and we have to engage with our fans. And I believe that we did that. 

Humbly, I believe that we did that better than most. And I’m very proud of that and some of those fans have become good friends of mine. So if I have any hope for the team besides great performances moving forward, I do hope that they continue to build the fanbase because ultimately that’s what makes you valuable.

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NAZ Elite – Major Changes Coming in 2025