Catching up with Mountain View HS coach, Jonathan Hubbs

Today, we chat with current Mountain View HS cross country and track and field coach, Jonathan Hubbs. In his short tenure at the school, Coach Hubbs has turned Mountain View into one of the top distance running programs in CCS and California, and his boys' team is currently ranked 19th nationally according to tullyrunners.com in their pre-season rankings. Last cross country season, both varsity teams were section champions in Division I. Thanks to Coach Hubbs for a very thorough interview detailing his coaching journey. (Photo courtesy of The Echo)

1) Describe your background in running and how you got involved with the sport of Cross Country/Track and Field.
I started running cross country and track and field in middle school, then continued in high school at Silver Creek. Although I didn’t compete in college, I still ran from time to time. I’m currently stringing together a running streak: Today is day 239 in a row of running at least 20 minutes.

2) What was your coaching experience before Mt. View HS?  How long have you been coaching at Mt. View HS?
I’ve been coaching at different places since 2005. I started off at Evergreen Valley High School, where I also taught for 7 years, and had a brief coaching stint at Palo Alto High School. 

In 2013, I moved overseas to teach economics at a few international schools, where I also coached cross country and track and field. I started in South Korea, then Shanghai, and later Jakarta, Indonesia. Coaching internationally was incredibly fun: being able to travel to different countries for competitions and run in pretty amazing places. For example, we sometimes did our long runs at the zoo in Indonesia, running by all of the animals. There was a place in the zoo we would go to do some hills in the middle of the long run, right next to the hippos. We traveled to cross country and track meets in places like Guam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. However, the seasons were short and there weren’t as many opportunities available over there as there are here in the USA. 

I’ve always been the type of teacher and coach to learn and grow, but it was during this time overseas that I learned the most through reading books and articles and attending coaching clinics. I got excited to take what I learned and bring it to a school back in California.

The COVID-19 pandemic and some family issues brought me back to the US in March of 2020. I then coached at Gunn High School for 2 years, and then transitioned over to Mountain View High School to coach Cross Country in the fall of 2022. I am currently coaching here in what is now my 4th year. 

3) Who are the people that you consider as mentors for you that helped you become the coach you are today?
My high school coach, Frank Slaton, had a major impact on me as an athlete and eventually a coach. If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have started coaching. In 2005, I went on a run one Saturday morning in the summer and saw Coach Slaton and a big group of high school runners at a local park. I ran up to talk and asked if he needed any help coaching. This is how I started, and I have to believe that had I not gone running on that particular day and route, I may not be where I am today. Coach Slaton is one of the most genuine and kind human beings I’ve ever met, and I was honored to coach alongside him for 2 years until he retired. I learned how to be a head coach by watching how he interacted with the team and how organized he was.

Other people who have helped me either directly or indirectly be a better coach include Hal Daner, Steve Nelson, Tom Schwartz, Tony Holler, Joan Hunter, Lauren Fleshman, and many others. 

4) How was the transition for you and the runners when you became head coach?
Because I’ve worked at so many different schools in different places, I’ve had to introduce myself and my philosophy multiple times. The teams have been very welcoming to me, with very little resistance. When I took over at Mountain View in 2022, I was a bit apprehensive since the previous coach had been there for about 10 years. What I found was a team that was very open to the big changes I was making, and most of them immediately bought in. It's important to note that we built the foundations for an amazing team culture that year together, and we’re now seeing the positive effects of that groundwork.

5) How do you go about attracting students from your school to run Cross Country?  How big is the team? What else do you do besides coaching?
Word of mouth is the best way we get students to join our team. If there are athletes who are having fun and a positive experience, they can often convince their friends to join. I think our success lately has played a role in getting athletes to come out as well. When I first started at MVHS, our team had 50 athletes total. The next year, it grew to 90, then 115. 

Besides coaching, I’m an economics and US government teacher at Mountain View High School. I love to travel, especially to different countries. One of my favorite things to do while traveling is to try different kinds of food that I haven’t had before. Not that you asked, but one of my favorite countries for food is South Korea. Not only is the cuisine outstanding, but eating out in restaurants there is a very fun experience. (Photo courtesy of The Echo)

6) Describe your expectations for the runners on your team during the summer?  Is there a team camp?
I think my expectations for summer training are similar to many other coaches in the area. We use the summer weeks to build our base and establish routines for the upcoming season. Many on the team meet up 6 days a week for runs over the summer. There’s also an expectation that athletes who want to be their best continue to run even when they are on vacation. We sometimes like to take trips for runs, like to the Forest of Nisene Marks in Aptos. 

For the past 3 summers, we have had our running camp in Mammoth Lakes with a select group of our athletes. It’s a lot of work and commitment, but it has been incredibly valuable for building our team culture. 

7) Could you identify an athlete(s) that helped elevate Mt. View XC to the level it is today?
There are many athletes that come to mind, but I’ll share just a few here. 

I think maybe the athlete with the biggest impact from the beginning was Evan Markelz, who was a senior my first year coaching at MVHS. That year was mostly a rebuilding year for our team, and Evan responded very well to the new training philosophy. He ended up being the fastest runner that year at Crystal Springs with a 14:51, then ran 9:01 in the 3200 in track. While his results certainly did a lot to inspire his teammates, it was also his emphasis on the TEAM over the individual that made him stand out. He always said he wanted his team to go to state, not just himself, and he would slow down and run with the rest of the boys on easy days. Evan is currently running for Lewis and Clark up in Portland.

Olivia Backholm had an inspirational amount of improvement. She went from a 20:40 at Crystal Springs her junior year to 18:50 her senior year. Her 3200 PR in her junior year was 12:06, and she brought that down to a 10:48 the following season. Olivia is now competing at Harvey Mudd College.

Maya Eisenberg inspired the rest of the team because she came out for cross country for the first time her junior year, and her 1600 time dropped from 5:43 to 4:59 in the span of 1 year. She also qualified for state in both cross country and track and field that year, then led her team to state in cross country her senior year, and also qualified for state in the 3200 in track. Maya is beginning her college running career at Johns Hopkins this season.

Ryan Chen, a current 12th grader, has an amazing story of improvement. He came out for the cross country team because water polo didn’t work out for him. He ran 19:35 at Crystal that season, then had a major breakthrough between the XC and track seasons. The following year, his Crystal time dropped to 16:21, and he ended up winning CCS in D1 in 2024 with a 15:16. 

In addition to all of the mentioned athletes, we have a great group of students on our team who are amazing leaders and highly supportive of one another. Everyone on the team, regardless of how fast they are, contribute positively to our team culture and have helped get us to where we are now. (Photos below courtesy of The Oracle)

8) Looking back at last school year, what were some of your highlights for your teams?
The biggest accomplishment for us last year was winning D1 CCS for both our girls and boys' teams. MVHS hasn’t done that since 2009, when we had a state-ranked program. 

Another highlight for us was our boys winning the Rated race at Woodbridge. We had won one of the varsity races the year before, then stepped into a more competitive field and took the win. This year, we will try our hand at the Sweepstakes race. Our girls at Woodbridge were missing one of their top 5 because of illness, and they still managed to take second in their race by just 2 points to Newbury Park.

Our boys also ran the 15th-fastest team time in Crystal Springs history. That’s something we are very proud of.

9) In regard to your training program, are there key workouts that are considered important to your team's success?
We do a lot of similar things that other programs do: progression runs, fartleks, 1K repeats, and a lot of hills. We go to Rancho San Antonio once or twice a week and take advantage of the hills there. The long run is one of the most important staple workouts we do, not only from a training perspective but also for team bonding.  With that said, I don’t attribute our success to any one workout, but rather to the culture we have built around our training and working on the aerobic engine. 

I like to create semi-chaotic workouts that involve multiple parts and can be very lengthy. These take a while to plan out and manage because we individualize times for each athlete, but we've had a lot of success with them.

10) Who are the toughest challengers in your league, CCS, and state in Division II for your boys and girls teams?
For the girls, our main league competitor has been Los Altos, and that will be the case again this year. At CCS, we are facing a very competitive St. Francis team, which will benefit from a talented transfer. Other CCS teams that will be competitive this year are Branham, Piedmont Hills, and Gunn. 

For the Boys, it is preseason, but we are looking pretty good in terms of our league and CCS. Los Altos has some good returners this year so they could push us for the league title. For DII CCS, Serra, Piedmont Hills, and Gunn could be very good. At the state level, DII is looking very competitive this year. We are watching Jesuit, Matilda Torres, and Dos Pueblos, with those first 2 appearing on some nationwide preseason rankings.

11) What would be your advice for a coach just starting out their career?
If you have the option, coach somewhere with a head coach whom you respect and who has built a positive team culture. Don’t make the mistake of simply copying a successful team’s workouts and expecting to have similar results. There’s a lot that goes into building a great program, and most of it revolves around culture. Also, beware the win-at-all-costs philosophy that can do some serious damage to our athletes’ bodies and long-term development. Build them up in a healthy way and prepare them for what happens next, whether that’s running competitively in college or just running for the love of it. And finally, be a lifelong learner. I’ve never stopped learning as a coach for the past 20 years, and I don’t intend on stopping for as long as I’m still doing this. Part of this has involved reaching out to other coaches for advice. I've literally flown out to other states to speak with other coaches and see some of their practices. This may sound extreme, but I've learned so much from doing this. 

12)  Anything else you would like to add?
Despite my moving around to different countries and schools, and how much I’ve grown as a coach and teacher as a result, I do think it’s best that I stay in one place for a while. I’ve really enjoyed my time here at Mountain View so far, and I hope to continue improving the program and taking it to places it’s never been before. The students here are incredible, and they inspire me every day to be the best coach I can possibly be. Good times. 

Thank you very much for your time, Jonathan! AC