Coaches Spotlight- Jack Coleman
Milesplit Interview with Jack Coleman
How did you two get involved with running/coaching?
I ran track at Macon County High School in Montezuma, GA. We didn’t have Cross Country so I played football in the fall and ran track in the spring. I continued to run recreationally after high school. In 1994 I got a job teaching at a Middle School and then started coaching in 1995 at East Paulding High School during my 2nd year as a teacher. In my 4th year (and last) I helped the Boys earn their first state championship appearance. In 2000, I came to Marietta and have been here ever since.
Do you have a mentor that has had a big influence on your coaching?
In the early years starting out at East Paulding, Lee Gower and Brian Robinson were both instrumental in helping me get started. I had a lot of questions and they were kind enough to answer them and help me along.
What have been some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the program from when you arrived at Marietta to now?
The runners on the team work much harder today than they did when I started out at MHS. We were fortunate to have some good role models for running come through our program in the mid 2000’s. Those runners passed those traits on and it has helped us to continue to improve as a team.
How has XC and track changed in Georgia since you’ve been coaching?
The teams are much faster and the kids are working harder than ever. Times that were competitive a decade ago will leave you sitting at home come the state championships now.
You guys have a unique arrangement where one of you has the reigns for XC and the other for Distance in Track. Can you explain the benefits of this set up?
For me it is great that Chad is the distance coach as it allows me to recharge after the grind of the Cross Country season. By the time summer rolls around, I am ready to go again. I try to make myself available to him to bounce things off of if he needs to. He does the same for me during the fall. Chad is an inspiration to the kids and is very knowledgeable running coach.
Your Boys XC team lost 6 of 7 varsity runners from the 2012 State Runner Up team, and yet still managed in 2013 to win the Cobb County Championship, Region 4-AAAAAA Championship, and place 5th at State (with your top runner from Region not even completing the race). What can you attribute your team performing beyond expectations to?
The desire of the boys combined with hard work got us back in the mix quicker than expected. That combination can do things you wouldn’t expect. They had higher goals than I did from the beginning of summer and showed me they could keep our team among competitive. The 5th place finish at State was in some ways more than we could have expected starting out the year, but still left the team disappointed.
Your boys have had their share of the spotlight, but your girls also won the Cobb County XC Championship, finished 3rd at State in XC, have finished 3rd in the State in Track the last 2 years, and this spring had the 1600 and 800 State Champion in Mary Jeanne Assinzo. Can you talk about the performances of the girls in the last year or two?
Members of our girls’ team started to make commitments similar to boys’ team. With that improved commitment success has followed. I am proud of Mary Jeanne’s success, but am prouder still of the commitment she has made to her running.
Moving forward, what are your hopes for 2014/2015? In particular, your boys’ team looks loaded for XC.
For the boys it would be great to get back on the podium and have a legitimate chance to win the state championship in November. To do that we will need to stay healthy and focus on the process. Realistically, 6A is always loaded so we just want to compete to our best ability on the day that it matters most. One of these years it may be enough. For the girls a return to the podium would be great. Our girls have never won region so that would definitely be a goal. My friends at Harrison though may have something to say about that.