I wish so bad there was a possibility of making a comprehensive study on this subject. It's impossible due to so many factors.
1. Recruiting - This already completely skews the game
- High profile school with tons of perks? (ie Oregon) or some no-name school like Chicago State?
- Lots of in-state talent with little competition (ie Minnesota) or way too many D1's with little population?
- Academic scholarships easy to come by? Or difficult?
- Average cost to attend a specific university, after scholarships and grants, as a walk on
- Weather/geography (ie Flagstaff vs Fargo vs San Diego)
- Roster size limits? BYU with 40 men's distance runners? Or an SEC school running xc with 800m guys?
- Scholarship funding - obviously a huge factor. Fully funded? Zero athletic aid?
- Roster make up - Is the distance coach allowed to use all 12.6 men's scholarships? Or walk-ons only? This piece alone makes up most the differences in top coaches vs mid-tier.
- Staffing - Is the coach running around with 3 assistant distance coaches or just a single volunteer (or less!)?
- Budget - Is the coach flying to Euro Jr's and east Africa every year to recruit and flying international kids in for official visits? Or is it all Zoom calls and Instagram?
- In-state talent pools. Is the coach recruiting out of states like California or Utah? Or Louisiana?
2. Coaching - the question we're actually asking but still has variables
- Travel budget - is the team getting to all the fast meets so their athletes get multiple changes in perfect California race conditions?
- Altitude - inherent benefits for coaching distance runners?
- Weather - the inverse of the above with most altitude programs dealing with snow through April and sometimes May. On the other side of the coin is the deep south with humidity and heat.
- Facilities - Indoor track? Outdoor track?? Trails or all pavement?
- Staff - Does the coach do everything alone or do they have help during workouts and on the road to make things operate more smoothly?
- General support - Does the coach have people to take administrative tasks so they can devote more time to coaching?
Control for all these variables and you MIGHT be able to come up with a good idea who actually coaches the best.