My Growth as a Head Coach
by Steve McGill

I just completed my second year as head coach of my school team, and while it wasn’t a smooth ride from start to finish, it got continually better as the season went on, and i can say that the last three weeks or so of the season were about as enjoyable and fulfilling as any coaching experience I’ve ever had. Looking back over the last two years, I can see how being a first-year head coach, even for someone like me who has been coaching for decades, is like being a first-year teacher. You don’t really have a style yet, you don’t really have an identity yet, and therefore the team doesn’t really have an identity, and the only way to develop one is to figure it out as you go.

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In my first year as head coach I somewhat resented the fact that I was head coach at all. I took on the role because the previous coach had retired, and our small private school of less than 200 high schoolers and no track to train on certainly wasn’t a destination spot for any up and coming coaches. Certainly I was more than qualified to coach a team that consisted of less than 20 athletes, even though I had no background in coaching events other than sprints and hurdles. But I was enjoying my semi-retirement from the sport, living a life where I could go home from work at 4 o’clock every day, and only doing private coaching on the weekends — with athletes who were super self-motivated. Going back into coaching for a team, as a head coach no less, sounded and felt more like something I was doing more out of a sense of obligation than out of any genuine desire to expand my coaching horizons by taking on a new challenge. 

I have another percentage theory, similar to my 70% nervous energy theory discussed in another article, but this one has to do with the athletes who come out for a typical high school track team. Doesn’t matter if it’s public school or private school; doesn’t matter if we’re talking about big successful programs or a smaller program that barely makes a dent at the state meet. Here we go:

Generally speaking, about 60% of the athletes on a typical team are just out there to be out there. In daily practice sessions, they’re just taking up space on the track. Sometimes they complete workouts, sometimes they don’t. They use every little ache or pain as an excuse to cut a workout short or to beg out of running in a relay. All the team rules regarding attendance, varsity letter requirements, etc. are geared toward this 60%, because without rules and potential punishments they’ll show up late and leave early every day.

Then there are the 25% who aren’t committed to track but do the work. They have another sport that they consider to be their main sport, but they possess a solid athletic sensibility. They know what hard work is, and they’re not afraid of it. They come to practice on time and they complete workouts. If you put them in a relay to replace someone who is injured, they’ll step up without complaint. These athletes won’t run track in college, they won’t win any coaches’ awards, and they won’t show significant progress through the  purse of a season. Among this group there will be some who could really thrive in track if they made track a priority. But when you make such a suggestion to them, they’ll take it as more of a compliment than a challenge. I have a girl like that on my team. She runs the 800, and is stuck in the 2:40 range. She does theater in addition to running track, and always misses a chunk of time due to the spring musical. With a small school like ours, we allow students to do more than one thing during the same season, which drives me crazy, but there’s nothing I can do about it. One day I told this girl that if she really devoted herself to track, she could run in the 2:25 range, which would put her in contention for a state title in our little private school state meet. When I said this to her, she smiled and gasped with excitement. “Thank you!” she said. But I could see she had no intention of giving up theater, nor of putting in the kind of work necessary to run a 2:25. So I took my L and moved on. 

Then there are the 15% who are all-in. The reason the end of the year is so much fun is because these athletes among the 15% are generally the only ones left, as none of the 60-percenters qualified for states, and maybe a sprinkling of the 25-percenters did. The 15-percenters are the athletes who love track, love competing, are always looking for ways to get better. They study their events on their own, they’re watching collegiate and professional athletes on YouTube. They enjoy conversing about racing strategy, running mechanics, training philosophies. So, to use a round number, if you have 100 kids on a team, about 15 will be like this. And these 15 make all the headaches caused by the 60% worth it. With the 15%, you feel like you can be a coach, and not merely a babysitter or aftercare instructor. You feel challenged to step your game up and make sure every workout is helping these athletes to improve and prepare. And that’s where the thrill of coaching lies — in guiding people who put their trust in you to help them reach their individual goals. 

The two female hurdlers I’d been working with in the off-season — Grace and Marie — both had outstanding seasons. Grace started the season at 18.90 in the 100h and got down to 18.06. In the 300 hurdles, she started in the 56-mid range, and finished at 51.81. Marie, who had a bout with mono that caused her to miss several weeks at the beginning of the outdoor season, focused more on the 300 hurdles. She started the season in the 57-low range, and finished in the 52-low range. We had a freshman who ran the 1600 and 3200 who got down to 4:47 in the 1600 after starting the season at 5:07. Our female 3200 runner started the season barely under 13:00 and dropped all the way down to sub-12:00 at the state meet. An 8th-grade female sprinter started the season at 13.97 in the 100, and got down to 13.15 at the state meet. So I’ve got a nice little group of warriors. All of them will be returning next year, so I’m excited to see how much more they can improve. 

While neither Grace nor Marie, who will both be entering their senior year, are talented enough to be among the best hurdlers I’ve ever coached, they are already among the favorite hurdlers I’ve ever coached. The joy of coaching doesn’t come from coaching talented athletes; it comes from coaching dedicated athletes. When I invited them on weekends to train on tracks that were more than an hour from our school, they came every time. They learned how to lock in and block out distractions. 

One of the greatest “proud coach” moments I’ve ever had occurred at the state meet, when I went to help Grace warm up for the 100 meter hurdle final. She had her air pods in her ears as she walked well ahead of me to the far end of the track where the start line was located. In previous meets, I’d always set up the hurdles for her when she practiced her block start, and I’d determine how many reps she’d do over how many hurdles. But on this day, Grace was doing all of that by herself. As she was setting up a hurdle in her lane, I called out to her to ask her how many she wanted to put up. She totally ignored me. She walked right past me without even looking at me. In that moment, I knew she was going to run a great race. I had coached her up to the point where she didn’t need me anymore. Sure enough, she ran that 18.06, which was good for second place, and a huge personal best, dropping from 18.62 in the semis. Last year, her personal best was 19.92. So while 18.06 doesn’t sound like much, and though you wouldn’t think that someone like me, who has coached kids who have run in the 13’s, would get excited about an 18, I felt so proud when I watched her cross that line in second place. It’s all about the journey. When I see where she is compared to where she came from, I get emotional. The goal next year is to three-step the whole way and get down into the 16’s. I know it’s possible because I know she’s willing to put in the work.

As I look back on this past year, I can see the value in being a head coach. In that position, I have the opportunity to provide the team with an identity — one that reflects my personality and my love for the sport.

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