I always enjoyed running during PE as a kid but I started doing CYO track and field in 8th grade and started doing cross country my Sophomore year in high school since I played football my freshman year. I was also on the Freshman basketball team at College Park.
Besides track, football, and basketball, I played baseball when I was younger.
2) You ran at College Park for Chuck Woolridge. What do you remember of your high school experience? Standout races? Any good stories about Chuck?
My high school experience was great. Chuck Woolridge is one of the best coaches in the nation and I was lucky to be coached by him. He taught me a lot about running and made my high school running experience fun and challenging at the same time.
I loved running the Dipsea Trail and attending Humboldt Running Camp in the Summers and doing Orienteering Runs and the King of Pain workout during the seasons.
For Cross Country, my favorite/standout races were:
- The State Championship my Senior year (1997). It was my first and only time making the State Championship and it was also the first time a team from College Park had made the State Championship in any sport so it was pretty memorable, and I am glad I got to share that experience with David Vigil, Jeff Wang, Roy Holtman, Sina Aboutalebi, Chris Rust, Eric Henry and Justin Patute.
- The Ed Sias Invitational, my Junior year. That same group of guys won the Varsity Boys race, and it was really exciting for us to win our own invitational. Coach Steve Nesheim was still working at College Park as the ceramics teacher, and he made an awesome ceramic chalice-like trophy for the fastest Falcon at the meet, and I was lucky enough to be that Falcon on that day.
- The Stanford Cross Country Invitational my Senior year (I ran it when the course still had the hill in the back section). It was the first time I had ever raced on a golf course so that was pretty cool. I wish they would bring back more invitationals on golf courses in the Bay Area. (Totally agree with this. Losing the Stanford XC Invitational was a huge loss for our sport-A Caruana)
In track:
- Going to the Mt. SAC Relays my Senior year was so much fun with my team. If I recall correctly, we set school records in the 4x1600 and Distance Medley Relay. What made it even more memorable for me was that I was a little nervous before one of the races. I remember getting ready for the starter to get us lined up when I heard my mom yell something supportive to me from the rail. It caught me off guard as I wasn’t expecting my family to make the trip to watch the meet since it was a 6-hour drive but there they were, my parents, my two brothers and my sister cheering me on.
- Every Bob Warren/Charlie Eaton Relays meet was a blast because it was the last invitational before the postseason, so it was the final chance to run a distance relay with my teammates (4x1600 or 4x800) before the focus became on individual events for me. We didn’t have the 4x800 at NCS or State like they do now. If you can’t tell, I am a big fan of relays.
There are a lot of stories I remember about Chuck but I’m not sure I can point to one that I’d want to share. I will say that having Chuck and Jonathan Spiros (former sprints and hurdles coach at College Park) really helped me grow up in a lot of ways and I am thankful for that.
3) You next ran at Cal Berkeley. How did you end up choosing Cal and what was your experience at Cal? Who was your coach? Highlights?
I got into the University of Oregon, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley (Cal). Although I was a good runner in high school, I wouldn’t say I was a top tier talent so it didn’t make sense to pay the cost to go to an out of state school just for running when UC Berkeley and UC Davis were both closer to home and academically really strong schools that I could still run at. I ultimately ended up at Cal due to its strong academics and the opportunity to race in the PAC-10.
My college coach was Tony Sandoval and his strength was more on the track with the middle distances. I find myself adding elements of his training into my current training plans as well as using many quotes that he used to help hammer home a point when guiding the team.
I’m not sure I had a lot of highlights but one of my more memorable races in college was when I placed second in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Woody Wilson Invitational at UC Davis. It was one of those races that felt really good and was a lot of fun. Side note, I finished the race, and I looked up and saw my parents on the rail again to my surprise. It felt just like Mt. SAC Relays in high school as I didn’t tell them I was racing but they figured it out anyways and made the trip to watch race. I think it was one of the only races they were able to come watch since my siblings played sports as well.
4) What made you decide to get into coaching? What was your first coaching experience? What did you learn from that experience?
I really love running and I knew when I graduated that I still wanted it to be a part of my life. Chuck reached out to me and suggested that I come help out at College Park along with a couple of my former high school teammates, Laura Andersson (Danner-Baird) and Ruth Dowling. That first experience coaching with Chuck, Laura, Ruth, and Jonathan Spiros shaped a lot of my coaching philosophies and expectations of how a highly successful program should be run. The culture of that team (2003-2004) was at such a high level that it almost felt college-like. It was serious but also a really fun group.
5) Aside from coaching, what else do you do? How did you end up choosing that profession?
I have worked for Santa Clara County as a Forensic Scientist (Criminalist) for 20 years. I graduated from Cal with a degree in Biology. During my Junior year, I came to the realization that I didn’t want go into biotech or go the med school route. My mother worked at College Park and one of the teachers there had a spouse who worked in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Crime Lab. I was invited to visit the Crime Lab and after the tour, I knew that was the field I wanted to go into. After I graduated from Cal, I interned at the Oakland Crime Lab which made coaching at College Park doable.
6) Where else have you coached after your first coaching stint? Highlights? Proudest accomplishments?
My first high school coaching experience was at College Park with Chuck. The commute to Pleasant Hill got a little tougher with interning in Oakland after a couple years so I was fortunate to coach one Cross Country season at Campolindo with the great Chris Walsh, Dino Petrocco, and Allison Adams before I started my job at the Crime Lab in Santa Clara County. Chris was great to coach with as he had a very different approach to coaching than Chuck. If you’ve never met Chris Walsh then you are definitely missing out on some great running stories and life lessons. “COACH!”
After a couple years of working at the Crime Lab, I was allowed to start coaching again so I took a job coaching at Notre Dame of San Jose since it was close to the Crime Lab. Coaching with Chrissy Malfino and the students on the team was fun but a very different experience than coaching at College Park and Campo. It was a good experience that helped prepare me for coaching at other private schools. I ended up leaving coaching for a year as my mother got sick and passed away from cancer that break year
I next became an assistant coach for the girls team at Archbishop Mitty where I was fortunate to be a part of teams that won CCS and continually made the state championship. I met my wife, Lynn Lee (Wilson), while coaching at Mitty when she coached at Presentation HS. I eventually started coaching at Presentation HS with her and Catherine Aquino. Winning CCS in 2017 while coaching with Lynn and Catherine is probably my proudest coaching accomplishment. When I look back at that time period, it was such a joy to coach alongside them as it really felt like family. When COVID hit, Lynn and I stopped coaching as our son, Cade, was born.
In 2022, I got the coaching itch again and Lynn gave me the go ahead to start back up. I had been coaching girls Cross Country for over decade at that point, and I really want to coach at a school that would let me coach both genders. I looked at coaching openings and Branham happened to be close to our house so I applied for the open job and got the job starting with the 2022 cross country season.
As I stated before, I wanted to coach both boys’ and girls’ programs at a school and Branham was a school that was close in proximity to my house making my commute home pretty quick as my son is still pretty young.
Chris Jensen was the previous head coach and he did a fabulous job navigating the team through the COVID era. I tried to build off of what he had been doing but did make some changes to team expectations and culture. Training wise, the coaching staff of myself, Chris Franco, and Chris Clima implemented a little more structure and it seems to be paying off as the team has experienced some great success in the last few years.
8) Aside from Chuck Woolridge, who else have been your coaching mentors and what have you learned from them?
I have been lucky to have some really great friends who happen to be coaches. Although they may not be mentors in the classical definition, Steve Nesheim, Jonathan Spiros, Chris Puppione, Joey Woolridge, Jason Oswalt, Tony Kauke, Chris Williams, John Pelster, Tim Hunter, and Eddie Salazar from the NCS have all given me or continue to give me great coaching and life advice.
In the CCS, Sunday long runs around Lexington Dam with Chris Cozort were always interesting explorations into training philosophies. Tacos and Training Talk with Josh Small were always a post meet highlight for me. My group chat with Jorge Chen and Albert Caruana have been pure coaching gold. Zoom call round tables with Nick Alvarado and Al Berrin always sparked great discussions.
In college, Tony Sandoval and Alan Kolling gave me great guidance and formed a lot of approaches to training and coaching.
Lastly, my wife, Lynn, is a great sounding board for me regarding balancing life and coaching.
9) From your first year coaching to now, what are you still doing the same and what major changes have you made as a coach?
I think one of the major changes I have made from my first years coaching to now is that I stopped running with the team. From a personal fitness perspective it sucks because I am not in any great running shape but I do find that with the range of ability level I coach now, I have more time to check-in or spend with all my students than I did before. I try to bike alongside for some of the runs or workouts when I can so I still get out there on occasion. I also feel like the team bonds together better on those daily runs when no coaches are around.
Other than that, I haven’t made any major changes to training. Subtle adjustments or progression in training are done based on the group we have and how the prior season went.
10) From looking at your cross country training program, what do you feel are the key components that enable your runners to be successful?
I don’t know if I can point to any specific training component that makes the runners I help coach more successful. I think we use the same training philosophies or elements as most other programs with the only possible difference being how much/little we may do of something and when we do it. Through the summation of these components, we have been able to achieve a lot of success.
11) What would be your advice for a new coaching just starting out?
My advice to new coaches is always to first decide what kind of coach and team you want to be a part of. If you want to be serious with training and competing then you need to set those expectations right away. Team culture is everything when it comes to performing at a high level. You might lose student-athletes because of your expectations but those who remain will likely be committed to training and competing at a higher level. Conversely, if you want to have a team that is more relaxed or less serious about winning or training then that’s okay too. Just make sure to set expectations right away so everyone knows what they are getting into.
Second, talk to other coaches. The old NorCal Roundtables were great places to talk with coaches about training philosophies and other aspects of coaching. Attending coaching clinics are another great way of expanding your knowledge and coaching connections.
I am pretty loquacious, so I used to just go up and chat with coaches at meets or if we practiced at the same places. I think you can learn something from every coach as everyone has their own experiences and approaches.
Third, try new things. You can read books about training or articles online, but most acquired knowledge comes through trial and error so don’t be afraid to test a theory. You don’t necessarily have to make drastic changes to your training plan or philosophy but if you keep getting a result you’re not happy with then you should probably change something.
12) Anything else you would like to add?
Thanks for the opportunity to share my experience and background. We all started somewhere as coaches and I hope the people reading this are able to take something away from it that might help them in their journey. Talking with others in the coaching world really does help with learning and improving. Most coaches want to chat about that stuff so don’t be shy and go make new friends!
Thank you very much for your time, Craig! AJC
No comments:
Post a Comment