“I got involved in (USATF) Coaches Ed, and of course was concentrating on endurance.
But then I went to Level 2 also in sprints and hurdles, which definitely helped my endurance background.
But it was there, I kind of got noticed. It’s like, this guy’s a distance coach, but he’s…. you know, does pretty well in the sprints and hurdles type stuff.
So, the same year I got married, at age 40, they asked me to be an instructor in the program.
And I’ve been going full steam on that ever since. I mean ever since; teaching all levels, 1, 2, and 3 (USATF Coaches ED)
But more importantly, I was always in the room.
What I loved most about it was I was in the room where the great scientists and great coaches, great track and field minds were just talking about stuff. Not a clinic, ‘I’m in front of you type thing’.
But just sitting around talking about stuff. Like, just for example, I’m huge on flying 30s and things like that. I teach it a lot because it reduces ground contact time.
That just came from work with sprint and hurdle coaches and showed that at all distances, reducing ground contact time is what you’re striving for to get faster. Even at max velocity, all the way down through sub max velocity, which is what distance (running) is.
So I was trying to always be in the room when these folks were around and coaches ed gave me that opportunity. Because I was at the schools, I was at planning sessions, I was at curriculum rewrites, doing camps down at Chula Vista (CA).
I got to lead the U.S. national team twice to World Cross Country in Switzerland and Scotland. So I was staying with the Kenyans and Ethiopians in 2003 in Lausanne (Switzerland).
Kipchoge won the junior race. (editor’s note: Eliud Kipchoge held the marathon world record between 2018-2023 and is widely regarded as the best marathoner of all-time)
I was the junior coach, the under 20 coach.
So, I ate breakfast with Kipchoge every single day.
Just by happenstance, all of that stuff, I was in the right spot, have always been in the right spot at the right time.
So having the time to devote to my team, the expertise from coaches ed and just being in a big enough school to sustain success.
And just having the right athletes at the right time.
You know, I think those are the four things that led to what we’ve done here.”