Final Count: Who were the most successful distance coaches this Olympic Cycle?

this would have been much easier to discuss if you had listed the athletes with their coaches. otherwise we're just guessing who you think is coached by whom.

Has anyone done this for previous years? Wonder what the numbers looked like for Bowerman or NOP at their peaks.

But how did Jason Karp, professional coach, do?

And then show the money per athlete qualified ratios. Some big players with a ton of money support barely did anything.

The poster's count is of spots earned, so the 2 on there both appear to be Schweizer. Ahmed makes it 3 or 4. any other foreigners? Tuntivate? so that's 5 or 6 spots...

I’m not super in the know on who coaches these college kids, so if someone has more insight please let me know and I’ll change it.

And I thought it would be obvious but this list is just accounting for the 36 American Olympic spots. Somebody else can make one that includes foreigners if you want…

Mike Smith Elite (Nico, Woody, Nur, Hiltz)- 4
Ed Eyestone (Mantz, Young, Rooks, Corrigan)- 4

Very Nice TC (Hobbs x 2, Hoppel)- 3
New Balance Boston (ESP x 2, Mackay) 3

Brooks Beasts (Akins, Miller)- 2
Mike Scannell (Fisher x 2)- 2
Dark Sky (Kelati, Wilkinson)- 2
Bowerman TC (Schweitzer x 2) 2

OAC (Nuguse)- 1
Alex Gibby (Blanks)- 1
Sova (Hocker)- 1
Jared Cornfield (Cranny)- 1
Heartland TC (Wilson)- 1
JJ Clark (Whittaker)- 1
Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs (Constein)- 1
Diljeet Taylor (Wayment)- 1
Will Palmer- (Valby) 1
Pat McCurry (Howard)- 1
Amy and Alistair Cragg (O’keefe)- 1
Scott Simmons (Korir)- 1
Ray Treacy (Sisson)- 1
Chris Lundstrom (Lindwurm)- 1

Idk how you can consider two Olympians and all three athletes setting a PB (one of them doing so by almost four seconds) underperforming. They have a small team, but every single one of them showed up in a big way.

I do agree somewhat on ESP, after her indoor 3k she seemed completely untouchable domestically, but I think it speaks to how good Cranny/Hiltz/Mackay are that they could be that close to her. I also think she will crush Hiltz and Mackay in Paris without the 5000 in her legs and without leading the entire race.

Olympic cycle. I see what you did there.

I think St. Pierre was freaked out by her yellow card in the semi and decided to front run to avoid traffic and another yellow.

She went out a little too fast (61.19) and zapped her legs. She also underestimated her opponents.

All things considered, she solo ran a 3:55 after two 5k rounds and two 1500m semifinals. That's damn impressive.

Hiltz can't solo 3:55.

Could add one more to Ed Eyestone... Rory Linkletter's college coach was Ed Eyestone and made the Canadian Olympic team in the marathon.

I don't know if Hoppel is fair to count as VNTC. His college coach Michael Whittlesey seems to be calling the shots while coordinating workouts with VNTC in Flagstaff. Also, it's weird to list Gibby over Whit. Probably list both, or have Valby as 2x and ESP as 1x because these are all but confirmed.

If you wanted to make some "homegrown" distinction, you'd probably give New Balance Boston and Ed Eyestone as the biggest winners of all. Of the groups with multiple athletes Hiltz, Woody, Fisher, Hoppel (if you're counting him for VNTC) were all pretty accomplished before joining their current setups. Hiltz probably the lowest degree of that group.

Including foreigners training in the US, I think Gibby has two athletes as Ramsden qualified based on her work under his tutelage and not Dathan's. OAC should have additional athletes though as Ollie, Morgan, and George are all likely to go, and potentially Helen Obiri. Treacy also has Kimberly May. Danny Mackey has Kerr on the Beasts.

Hoppel still has his college coach as his official coach. He's not a Warhurst/VNTC guy. He did do his altitude work in flagstaff with them, but he has a different coach.

As for NB Boston "underperforming" as some posters are mentioning, ESP ran to maximize her shot at making the team not maximize her shot at winning the trials. Smart choice for her. Both Heather and Emily made big moves in the race. Hard to fault athletes that ran their fastest time ever for not performing or a coach for not doing their job.

Last point, lots of Nike athletes, but no singular Nike training program currently.

NB Boston still stands out to me because they accomplished so much in such an insanely competitive event. Not to trash on the Mormon crowd but the steeplechase and marathon are far and away the weakest events for the USA right now. Heck, we BARELY got 3 athletes in for the marathon, and the steeplechase was relying on rankings for 2/3 spots. Meanwhile NB Boston has three women who were all good, but not world class before joining (Purrier 2:03/4:26/8:55, Mackay 2:03/4:08/8:54, MacLean 2:03/4:36/9:03) and they ran 3:55, 3:55, 3:58, sending 2/3 to Paris in the greatest women's 1500 in American history. That would be like if Mantz and Young both ran 2:05 and there was a third guy coming at 2:08, or if Rooks and Corrigan both ran 8:00 and there was a third guy at 8:10. Just craziness.

did Jack Mulaney from NAZ Elite get anyone thru? I know Krissy Gear was their best shot but was a DNF in the steeple and Olin Hacker underperformed in the 5K. I think Abby Nichols made the 5K finals but was a non factor. can't think of anyone else.

Among the biggest success story of foreigners training in the US is Under Armour Dark Sky coached by Stephen Haas. I'll probably miss some but:
Gourley -GB
Kurgat - KEN
Yee - CAN
Ejore - KEN
___
Lokedi (alt) - KEN
Herrera (pending ranking) - MEX ~ suspect he falls short, kinda unlucky Mexico's trials are at 7,000 ft.

Wildschuut will go internationally, but nobody domestically.

Fair enough. I thought Warhurst was more involved in his training but after looking into it, it does seem like his college coach is still mostly in charge. I’ll take one away from vntc

Hoppel is coached by Michael whittlesey but yes he trains with the other VNTC guys

Scannell's got the best ratio of athletes coached to teams made - just saying