Brian Alessandro is the Head XC Coach and Head Girls Track Coach at Highlands High School in Ft. Thomas. He has also coached collegiately at Northern Kentucky University and Thomas More College. His full biography is below along with his blog post about “Building a Program”
Education
1998 Highlands High School Grad, Ran XC/Track at Northern Kentucky University
NKU Graduate - 2002 Bachelor's in Speech/Journalism
NKU Graduate - 2007 Master of Arts in Teaching (5-9)
10 years Coaching Experience
Highlands High School – 4 years - (Assistant for Cross Country/Track)
Girls Team State Titles: 2002, 2003, 2004
numerous boys individual state champions in track.
Distance – 800m 1:56/1600m 4:20 State Champion Breylen Derrick
-One year as an Assistant Coach at Northern Kentucky University under Coach Steve Kruse –
2006 Men’s Cross Country NCAA DII National Cross Country Meet appearance
-Coached Zack Koehler – 2006 NCAA All-American
4 years – Head Cross Country/Track and Field Coach at Division III Thomas More College
Started the Program – In my second year, the women finished 3rd in the PAC conference
Coached the first All-PAC runner in school history – Sarah Miller
Coached school records in cross country/distance track events
2012 Girls Track and Field – Highlands High School
6th at the state track meet
2012 Regional Champions – nearly 1st and 2nd in every distance event
Every varsity distance runner ran a PR on the track.
Lauren Ossege lowered her own school record in the 3200m by 16 seconds (11:35.13)
Running Experience
Highlands High School
Northern Kentucky University
Post Collegiate
Currently for Brooks Running Company – PACE ID Program
2004 Debut Marathon – Cincinnati Flying Pig 7th place
2009 Flying Pig Marathon – 9th place
- 2010 Melbourne and Beaches Marathon – 1st place – 2:39
2010 Louisville Marathon – 5th place
2012 Houston Marathon – 2:37
In Ft. Thomas, the Highlands football team molds our community. How can it not? They’re successful. Insert 21 state titles, numerous national rankings and several past and present NFL players. You get my point. However, Fort Thomas is a running community, too. You don’t see adults throwing footballs in the street, or kicking soccer balls in their back yards. However, you see people running. A lot. So… what’s the point, coach?
The point is that the Highlands football program has always been successful. They rarely have “down” years. I have witnessed this throughout my entire life. I want this for our cross country and track programs. I would assume many coaches want this same thing. Who doesn’t want to win? In every aspect of my own running and coaching, I have been involved with “Building a Program”. My blog is to share my experiences while hoping to improve our sport.
As I remember back to the fall of 1998, you should know that I only ran cross country for two years in high school and I was mediocre at best. Concentrating on high school and club soccer left me little time to train properly. I was inexperienced to say the least. So, when I decided to run at Northern Kentucky University with my brother instead of soccer, I didn’t know what to expect. The first day of practice at NKU I nervously sat in Regent’s Hall with my brother (who coaches at Spalding now) and 5 other guys to make up a collegiate cross country team. Five freshman and two sophomores on the roster, that’s all. Coach Kruse said, “Alright. This is it. Don’t quit and don’t get hurt.” Perfect! We were not very successful that season, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I found myself running minutes faster than I ever had in three miles during a 5 mile race. But, even though we weren’t very good, we had a true “team” in the social sense. I forged relationships with my team that I still have today. We trained hard the rest of that year. We went to indoor and outdoor track meets at the University of Cincinnati, Butler, Indiana, and many other places to lower our track times. Many times, there were just three of us. We helped coach recruit local runners to come run at Northern, and for the next four years, Coach Kruse, my brother, Joe Zeinner (who coaches at Oak Hills in Cincinnati) and I began truly building the track and cross country programs. When we left, the program was bustling with runners. The building of this program came from hard work, a clear vision, friendship, team building, and a fun atmosphere. This was a lesson I would use for the next 10 years as I coached teams of my own. My brother has done the same. His vision of building from the ground up has yielded a very fine running program at D3 Spalding University in Louisville.
After competing in college, I helped Dan Baker at Highlands from 2002-2004. They had not won a team title in over 20 years. Then, we won 3 straight girls cross country titles in AA starting that year. We had a very close group of athletes, a lot of kids out for the team, and really embraced the team concept. The training had changed a bit in regards to summer training and tempo-based workouts. We had talented athletes. We trained smart. We didn’t do too much. We rested when we were tired. We met for spaghetti dinners. We had a summer team camp. The kids hung out together on the weekends. It was fun. These are all of the things that contribute to having a winning team. Since then, they have not been close to winning a team championship, besides track. The cross country program has slowly been dying.
Then, it was back to NKU, where I was an assistant coach for a year and a half. It amazed me that the talent and program had grown so much just 8 years after I sat in the gym at my first practice. The first year I helped Coach Kruse, the men made it to the NCAA D2 National Meet in Pensacola, Florida (their first appearance in nearly 30 years). It was incredible to see how it all came together. Again, the concept of “TEAM” was evident through the socialization and commitment to the season. You can’t be successful without team cohesiveness and a trust in the coach. Which is why I enjoyed Coach Sowder’s blog on trust, because it was spot on and athletes don’t buy in if they don’t trust the coach.
The next summer, I was training with some of the NKU athletes, and looking forward to the upcoming season (which ended in another national berth). Maybe building a program was more than just fun. Maybe I needed it? The AD from Thomas More College called, and almost instantly, my first head coaching job was at the collegiate level. Coaching a HUGE team of three guys my first season! Challenge accepted, again. By my third year, (2nd with a full women’s team) the women finished third in the conference and the men’s team had nearly 10 guys. The team was fun, the team had smart runners, and they were all local runners from Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati schools. I learned how to recruit effectively and realized being a salesman helped with in cross country. Imagine that.
Let’s skip ahead to September 18th just last week. Where was I? Oh yeah, The Campbell County Championships cross country race. “A high school meet?” I thought. “How did I get here again?” Just last year I had resigned from college coaching, quit my teaching job in Boone County, and ended up back where it all started. I took a teaching job at Highlands Middle School. But, I wasn’t coaching. In fact, I only went to a few meets last season to see my alma mater getting trampled at races. Outside of a few runners who were competing well, the team was not very good. When I left they were nearing a dynasty. What happened? Last year at the state meet, the girls finished 7th and the boys were 11th. Subpar performances for sure, especially in a town that expects to win. The poor performances from last year were also the reason why pre-season polls had no idea of our potential. I took the over the girls track team at Highlands, and last spring stepped into the cross country job after Coach Baker retired.
So there I was, watching my team finishing the girl’s race at AJ Jolly… 1.2.3.5.6 in a race with some solid Northern Kentucky running schools. I had even sat out a few of them. It made me wonder why programs have ups and downs? How is the football team constantly atop the state? To start, it’s the energy and expectation of success. If I look back to when we won our string of titles, Lloyd Memorial, Rockcastle, and Warren East gave us challenges back in the early 2000’s. Now, other schools are found in the top of the rankings: North and South Oldham, and Bullitt East, to name a few. Oh, and now Highlands. I might also add that all of these schools are public schools, which is apparently a hot debate on this site, and probably a great blog topic from someone else. J
The point is that running a top program is all about mixing in proper training and coaching with energy, enthusiasm and fun. I have learned that recruiting and being persistent is a huge indicator of success because the more athletes you have, the better chances are that someone will be a star. In every aspect of my own running and prior coaching experiences, I have taken those things and they have helped me contribute to “Building a Program.” Actually, building several.