1. Give us some background on you as a runner/coach and how you ended up at Trinity in the first place. You know how Ron Burgandy got involved with this Jogging thing (with a soft Y “yogging”) back in the 70s? So did my parents. My mom ran from Indianapolis to St. Louis one summer with a group of other runners. Thus my parents got me started, and when I was 10 I saw Chariots of Fire, ran a race right afterwards and realized I could be good at a sport finally! (Since I have a two inch vertical and no hand eye coordination I needed to find something that did not require a ball.) I ran at Floyd Central High School under Coach Don McWilliams. He was a second father to me. An inspiration. Actually there are several of his runners now coaching in either Indiana or Kentucky. One of them is Coach Brian Crumbo of Shelby County who has won couple state titles.
I had no intentions of going into education, it sort of became a pleasant surprise in my life’s direction. However, once I got into teaching at Marion County I volunteered to help out Coach Jim O’Hare when I was there and that was wonderful. Coach O’Hare is a brilliant coach and a great teacher (especially with the Pole Vault.) I came to Trinity in August of 1998 when Hall of Fame coach Coach Rich Rostel passed away. Even though I was from Indiana, all of us Hoosiers had the greatest respect for Coach Rostel and his program at Trinity. It has been a true honor for me to carry on his legacy as well as all of our former Trinity coaches.
2. With numbers like those your program tends to have, what have you done to try and cater to the very different needs of your athletes?
We know that our most advance runners who have a lot of built up miles on the soles of their feet can do drastically different workouts than a freshman who may have never ran more than what he did during recess. Therefore, we break up our guys into four different training groups. Each group has their own routine based upon their experience, talent, and strength. Our first group consist of about our first seven to 12 runners (depending on the year) and then we go from there. Our fourth group is also about 12 runners that are beginners and typically have no experience. At the beginning of the season our first group may run an eight mile workout under 52 minutes while our fourth group will go just under two miles which might be composed of walking and running. As our athletes develop they move up a group. If they are coming off an injury or just a little fatigued they may move down a group.
3. Being in the "private sector," what do you see as the biggest advantages and disadvantages from that perspective in the sport of track and field?
Our disadvantages are no different from those in the public sector. The primary disadvantage are students who are unfamiliar with the sport. Since cross country and track programs are not common before high school we have to really encourage students to give it a try. As they say, our sport revolves around running which oftentimes is the “punishment” levied by other sports.
Every program has advantages. We have been very fortunate to enjoy strong parent support. Our parents do so much work for the team that they are the reason we have been able to grow the Trinity Invitational to one of the premier cross country meets for Southeast / Midwest.
4. The boys at Trinity have been known to hit the roads for some competition on weekends in the spring. Do you encourage them to race on the roads when you guys are competing or is this something that they do on their own?
5. What are the aspects of the running program at Trinity that help to continue to breed success? How do you measure success from year-to-year when expectations tend to be rather high?
6. It sounds like the goal of the Trinity Invitational in the fall might be changing. Are you hoping to do something different with that event going forward or do you like the direction it is moving in right now?
Since we had to move the event from the historic Seneca Park to our current course at Tom Sawyer, we have been able to grow the size of the field which we did quickly. Then it simply became a thing of calling up other historical and successful programs from other states asking them to join us in the race which has allowed us to have a very competitive field. Now we have teams from other states calling us to get into the running carnival! (Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Kentucky have all been represented at the race.)
We had 19 young men go sub 16 minutes this past fall. 19!!! But we know we can get even more guys run even faster times. The course (which is home to several NCAA and NAIA championship races) is a terrific course. We have been fortunate in having favorable weather and Lord willing will continue to have so. This helps us with our times we see. We will keep calling schools from other states to challenge us here in the Commonwealth. My hope is that these great teams from other states will continue to cause us to push ourselves as a Commonwealth and we can get a Kentucky team back on top of the podium. A KY team that does that will probably be an NXN SE contender.
7. Anything else you want to suggest about the site, the KTCCCA, or any other point of interest in closing?
So is the genetics of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois better than what we have here in Kentucky? After all, I ran a 9:36 3200 as a senior in my Indiana regional and finished 6th. My track career was over at regional with a 9:36. The answer is no. Genetically there is nothing better from our Northern states than what we have here in Kentucky. So why are they so much better than us in depth? (After all, we have the individuals that can run with their best.) I believe it is because that those states have excellent junior high and elementary programs. Those states have kids that are coming into high school with experience. I believe that this is why we are also improving as a state. I like the direction our elementary and middle schools are going. I think it is a wonderful testament to the strength of character to those that are coaching our early youth. Those coaches are doing it with no recognition and most of the times as a volunteer. You want to make us better as a state, focus on developing those runners.