I'm a somewhat casual follower of high school running. I ran through college, have a daughter that will be entering HS in the next couple years and live in LA. So, I see a lot of news around Newbury Park cross. I've read quite a few stories, watched quite a few interviews and closely follow their results. I saw this story on the front of Letsrun
https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/11/wtw-why-weini-kelati-may-be-americas-next-great-distance-star-and-is-sean-brosnan-great-or-just-lucky/
.
That led me to this thread. The author of the story is right on the money. Why can't the coach be lucky and great at the same time? I looked through all the posts and most seem to hint to that, but there are a few that refuse to believe the coach is lucky. I've never seen a reaction like this before about any coach and I have a theory that the coach perpetuates the belief that he's not lucky, but is completely responsible for the success. I don't recall him ever talking about the feeder program that seems to exist in his area or mention how unusual it is to have all of those kids show up at his school with the experience and times they've already produced. This interview is a perfect example.
https://ca.milesplit.com/videos/509533/newbury-park-head-coach-san-brosnan-interview
At about 45 seconds in, the interviewer asks a question about the combination of talent and culture. It's a perfect time for the coach to say, "yeah, I've been lucky to walk into a really great situation with some talented families", but instead he turns it into an answer talking about what he did. The amount of times he says "I" is pretty obvious. He says I wanted them to do this, I told them to do that, I think they'll do this, if they just trust ME, etc.
He seems to bring much of the criticism upon himself. He obviously follows these boards closely and hears the criticism because he refers to it in interviews many times. It clearly bothers him and constantly looks to discredit or prove the criticism wrong. It's almost like he feels that giving credit to others might diminish his contributions. Not that he'd listen, but my unsolicited advice would be, show a bit of humility and thankfulness for the situation you're in. Give some more praise and credit to the kids and don't make it so much about you. The accomplishments will speak for themselves and you'll be a much more likable personality and much of the criticism will turn into praise.