Best 1500 coach in NCAA

It's a fact that doesn't need proving. Do you know who he knows? He's rubbed elbows with some of the best ever and has quite a distinguished past. I guess you just don't believe.

He's so good, even the 4x400 at UCLA broke the school record since he's arrived and he doesn't even coach them. It's the Brosnan effect. All are elevated when in his presence.

Ryan Vanhoy of Cal Poly SLO, no question.

He’s so good John Wooden gives him credit for his NCAA championships, decades before Brosnan even showed up in Westwood.

FTFY.

marcus reilly ran 403 in 2023. hes a hs junior. but he has run 151, so idk where the 152 is coming from. most probably troll.

Where and when did he run that? I don’t see that result anywhere

Congratulations to Aidan McCarthy’s new Cal Poly 800m record (1:47.24)

^ this. Find the programs with athletes who improve significantly from HS. High turnover from injury? No thanks.

The problem with a thread like this is that not every coach has access to great athletes and not every coach is a great recruiter. Some do better with 1500/5k guys and some do better w more speed based 800/1500. Regardless, if an athlete trusts a coach and is willing to follow a plan then that would be a fit.

Andy Powell, Univ. of Washington

His athletes have won 2022 Outdoor NCAA 1500m and 2023 NCAA Indoor Mile, different athletes. Nothing trumps that. Nothing.

Dave Smith, OSU.

He's so good Lew Alcindor seriously considered changing his name to Sean Brosnan before he ultimately decided on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Dark horse - Caleb Morgan - Lee University

Coached Christian Noble DII records 3:36 1500 and 3:56 indoor. Celine Ritter 4:14 1500. Titus Lagat 1:48.2 800m, and a bunch of other solid men from 4:18-22 HS to sub 3:50 1500s and a bunch of 5:18-5:25 HS women to sub 4:35 1500s.

Thanks, Caleb. Keep self promoting your business on here when you should be focusing on your college team. Nothing you just stated is impressive outside Noble.

Congratulations to Mia Barnett for her 4:10.2 (moving up to #2 on all time UCLA list)

Surely he’s gotten some grad transfers over the last few years, but both of his NCAA champions at Washington are in state products that he has developed.

Go on “tfrrs” and look through the ncaa ranking list. You’ll see a lot of great athletes but the top coaches are the ones that recruit well and build programs so look for a program with coaches that have good guys across the grades and those coaches have been there 3-4 years minimum. Also, look for schools with strong xc squads and have a distance head coach- that’s a sign usually more money will be dedicated into the events you’ll be in.

Some of the top distance/middle distance coaches in no particular order,

Andy Powell, UW

Jason Vigilante, Princeton

Marcus O’Sullivan, Villanova

Mike Smith, NAU

Ricardo Santos, Stanford

Dave Smith, Ok State

Other top programs in mid-d: Iowa State, UMichigan, Penn State, Indiana, and Georgetown.

Santos? Is this a joke. I have heard it all

you're just listing some random power 5 schools.

Yet hasn't her former UVA teammate Margot Appleton already outpaced her with a 4:08 in March?