Jeremy Sudbury | Iowa State Director of Track & XC | Big 12 Powerhouse & NCAA Title Contender - Airey Bros.'s Radio

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Airy Brose Radio, be there or B
Square because it's all killer, no filler. This is Jeremy
Suidbury and you're listening to Airy Brose Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Ladies and gentlemen, how do you Aloha? We are here,
you were there, and you are now rocking with the best.
Thank you for tuning into another episode of aery Bros. Radio. Tonight,
we're stepping back onto the cross country course with none
an other than coach Jeremy Sudbury, director of Track and
Field and cross Country at Iowa State University. But before
we get rolled, y' all know the drill hammer that
like button. Make sure you're subscribed on YouTube, drop a comment,

(00:39):
every view, review and share helps us grow and give
back to the sports we love. Follow us on Instagram, Spotify,
and Apple podcast. And let's not forget while we're here.
We're here to shine a light on programs, people, coaches
and stories we wish we had access to growing up.
If you were somebody you know was chasing their dreams
on the cross country course, in the wrestling room, or
on the track, please share this episod so with them.

(01:01):
Now let's lace them up and welcome coach Jeremy Sudbury.
A couple of Coach Sudbury's key highlights in twenty twenty one.
In twenty twenty four, he was the us TFCCCA Midwest
Cross Country Coach of the Year, guided Iowa State to
back to back NCAA scoring at the indoor and outdoor
championships the first time since nineteen ninety ninety one. He

(01:22):
oversaw a record twenty five All Americans in twenty twenty four,
plus twenty one in twenty twenty five. He led ISU
to a men's runner up finish at the twenty twenty
four NCAA Cross Country Championship, producing for All Americans the
first time since nineteen ninety four. Entering the twenty twenty
five season, the Cyclones men's program is ranked number one

(01:42):
in the USTFCCCA Preseason Coaches Bowl for the first time
in program history. Without further ado, it is an honored
pleasure to have you joining us this evening. We are
really appreciate your time tonight, Coach Sudbury. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Awesome, Thanks Rich and Jimmy. I really appreciate you guys
taking the time to interview me and be on the show.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, we were excited for it and got that junior
college connection. So we'll get into that a little bit
with you. But before we do get rolling and get
too far ahead of ourselves, anything you would like to
plug or promote anywhere we can send recruits. You know,
one of our goals is to get from New Jersey,
so we want to get a kid from New Jersey.
And I know you have a student athlete from New
Jersey on the team, but our goal is to get

(02:22):
a kid from New Jersey on every program with the
coaches that we interview. So anywhere you want us to
send recruits or find you on social media otherwise, the
floor is yours.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
I appreciate that. I think the biggest way to follow
us is just on socials, cyclone track the next ce
on Instagram, Twitter, even Facebook is usually our main place
to go. We have a great sports information department that
puts out great content, so even just work out some
things like that you can fall along the season. One

(02:53):
of the big things this year we're trying to promote
is we do have a really good men and women's
team this fall, and so encourage if you're a fan
of sport, this would be a heck of a time
to start fallowing the cyclones because we're about to embark
and I have a team that's really going to try
to cover us off ball and as much content as possible.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
So sweet, We're excited. We love content over here. We
are we are running geeks through and through, so we
get content of workout videos, workout Wednesdays, or whatever it is.
We're here for it.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Very cool.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
So coach, got a little icebreak before. I know you
spent some time in Norman, Oklahoma. I was a resident
of Oklahoma City for a handful of years. So I'm curious.
Do you have a favorite spot for an onion burger?

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Wow, you're throwing me out. I know it's been a while.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
It's been a while. There's a I think there's a spot.
It's called Smitty's Garage. Maybe I want to say I
had a really good burger even just downtown that little
student area there used to be a spot we go
get super cheap burgers. Gosh, the name of its spot
maybe called JJ's. That was that was down there. But yeah, no,

(04:05):
I can't go wrong with any those dive spots. I
think in Oklahoma they got some good ones.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, no doubt. Curious when you were in Norman. Did
Hurts Donuts exist at that time?

Speaker 1 (04:14):
I think so. I think so. We didn't get too
often over there. Our big spot was I think it
was called the Downtown Diner. That was that was a
really good spot. We would go there after every long
run and get pancakes and do it up pretty.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Big, nice, awesome, well coach way. We love to kick
it off here. We all have our origin stories how
we got into the sport. As I mentioned, we are
junior college athletes. We know you're a junior college athlete
as well, all American. What's your origin story to the sport?
I know you're you're went to high school in Las Vegas.
What was it like growing up running in Las Vegas?

(04:49):
How did you get into the sport? And from there,
how did that get you into coaching?

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, I appreciate the question. I think the biggest thing
for me was knowing my family ever ran. My dad
was a big baseball guy, and so growing up I
played Little League baseball and shout out to our Little
League World Series team. This past year, I think Vegas
went all the way to the championship but just missed
out on the title. But I think you know that

(05:14):
was how I originally found sport was through baseball, and
my freshman year of high school, our baseball coach told
us to go out for a fall sport. Just because
of my stature, football wasn't really in the card. So
I did cross country, and from the first step of
going to practice and running, I really fell in love
with the idea of, Wow, this is a sport you

(05:35):
can run, you can race, and you can have that
kind of you know, competitive spirit and drive, but also
the camaraderie of a team. And so when I came
to my freshman track season, it was between baseball and track,
and at that time I kind of like, man, I
think I'm pretty good at this. This might be something
I can really thrive in. And so broke the news
of my dad, who I think took it all right,
but yeah, I decided to start doing track and and

(05:57):
kind of fell into that. So being in Las Vegas,
it was super hot, so definitely learned how to how
to navigate. That had an awesome coach, Patrick Fitzgerald, who
actually came from Arizona a couple of years before, and
so he was actually the first coach that kind of
led our our cross country team, and he did a
great job I think with you know, just managing the

(06:17):
heat and understanding that something even today like we do
a great job with you know, monitoring that and trying
to run a little earlier sometimes in the fall of
the summer to kind of navigate that. So yeah, super hot,
but yeah, that's how I kind of fell into it.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
And from there you went to Paradise Valley Community College.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yep, So I was really uh kind of I described
myself as a journeyman uh distance running when I was
growing up. I think I ended up running I think
somewhere in the nine forties before I graduated, which was
solid but not definitely not to get recruited by any
big schools D one and so I kind of come
to the realization as at that time, I was like, man,

(06:58):
I really want to go to Vision one, but it
just wasn't in the cards. And I went to a
running camp called Anasazi Training Camp that my high school
coach was introduced to while he was in Arizona. And
through that camp, the guy that put it on was
named Dave Barney, and he actually coached at Paris Valley
Community College, and so through that camp he kind of

(07:18):
explained to me, hey, there's another option. You can go
junior college. You can have two years in the system
and if you can develop. We've had guys that I've
been able to transfer on to bigger programs, Division one
schools and you get that shot. So for me, it
was kind of a perfect match. It allowed me to
kind of continue to physically mature, but also just learn
more about the sport. Again, it was an opportunity that

(07:43):
you don't really know how, you know how it's all
going to go, but it just kind of ended up
being a perfect storm. My coach, Dave Barney, he ended
up running for John McDonald at the University of Arkansas,
and so he had incredible knowledge and obviously learned from
one of the best. Another one of his big more
mentors was Georgian who was a bronze that Nelson in
New Mexico City not New Mexo, sorry, Mexico City Olympics

(08:07):
in nineteen sixty eight, and so actually got to meet
George Young through that process and you hears some crazy
war stories. He would just absolutely punish himself on the
track in Costa Grand Arizona, and his wife would come
to the track and find him passed out sometimes after workouts,
which I don't recommend, but that just speaks to how
hard he worked. And so I just had a really

(08:28):
cool transition from high school coaching to that junior college approach.
And then we actually were very fortunate put together a
team in two thousand and eight, we won the NJCA
National Championships in cross country, really neat because it was
mostly guys from Arizona and two guys from Vegas, and
we took down some really really heavily stacked international talented teams.

(08:51):
So we were pretty excited about that, and that actually
opened the door up to get recruited, and kind of
my recruiting process came down to Arizona State and the
University of Oklahoma.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
Okay, So first of all, coach, I must say that
George Young reference, that's going to get our dad to
listen to the show. He's going to mark out enjoy that.
So you went to the University of Oklahoma. I believe
that's where you started coaching as a volunteer assistant. Did
you know you wanted to coach?

Speaker 1 (09:19):
So I originally went to college to get a finance degree,
and ever since I don't know when, maybe thirteen, fourteen
years old. I just had this affinity for wanting to
be in Wall Street. I wanted to move to New York,
be in the big city and work on the stock Exchange.
And just I watched a couple movies and I was like,
that looks awesome. But then I was sitting in a

(09:39):
microeconomics class my junior year at Oklahoma and I was
bored out of my mind and I was like, maybe
this is not the right path for me. I was like,
so I kind of did some soul searching. I have
sticking it out, finished the finance degree, but thought maybe
there's a different path. And so I actually end up
getting hurt my fourth year of college. So my true
senior year, I got hurt and having a sacrum stress fracture,

(10:03):
and I was out for four months without really any running.
And I wasn't handling it well. I was just I
was down, and I was pretty I was pretty down.
And so my coach, Martin Smith, said, hey, so why
don't you come to practice and kind of help as
a student coach, just, you know, hold the clipboard and
kind of see behind the other side of the curtain.
And I jumped at the opportunity, went to practice and

(10:26):
got to see it the other side of it a
little bit, and I was like, Wow, this is pretty cool.
You can, this is a career. You can you know,
make a living out of this. And you know, I
was again very fortunate, i'd say lucky to kind of
stumble across Martin Smith, who had won two national titles
in cross country Wisconsin to at Virginia. He was a
head coach at Oregon prior to Oklahoma, and so you know,
again just kind of had a great mentorship and so

(10:49):
kind of that's where I made that that shift to
become a coach.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
You mentioned that when you were at Paradise Paradise Community
College when you guys won the national title, that you
guys are up against some heavily stacked international teams. You know,
it was teams with international runners. And I believe when
you first got to because you followed the coach you
were with Coach Smith to Iowa, stay correct, yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
So so he hired me at Oklahoma my first year
out of college as a volunteer for a little while,
and then our assistant coach at the time, Mike Spence.
He was actually fourth in the Olympic Trials and seepel
chase twice. Grab from Princeton, really super smart guy. Him
and his wife were having a first child and they
made a decision and moved back to Utah to be
close to her family. So I kind of got again

(11:40):
this next man up. I was there volunteer coach. Martin
slid me into the assistant role and then literally I
think it was four months later, he took the job
at Iowa State and we all shipped up to Ames.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
And in the podcast I was listening to today, I
guess he was a little reluctant of having some international
students on the team, and then you got one through
the or and then I kind of opened the floodgates
a little bit. Someone coming from the junior college experience,
and obviously at Division one there's a lot of teams
with international students. What is your philosophy on that as

(12:12):
far as having kids from the United States because you
know they can get it done. You did it at
the junior college level, but also kind of competing with
everyone else and having international.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Student Yeah, great question, And honestly, Jimmy is one that
I've fielded quite a bit. The last couple of years
because again my tutelage was from coaches that had done
it with just American athletes, I mean Dave Barney's American athletes,
mostly because they don't actually have full scholarships at Paris

(12:41):
Valley to be able to bring in international kids. Martin
Smith had built teams even I think one of his
famous teams was he had I think the national title
with guys within one hundred miles of Madison, Wisconsin, so
they're pretty much all from you know, Wisconsin, and so
so that was kind of pretty much instilled in me
as an athlete that hey, we got to you know,

(13:02):
really work hard and we can run with anybody, and
that mentality. And so when we got to Iowa State,
that was the plan. The plan was to kind of
follow that mold, and you know, I hit the ground
running recruiting those first four years and really trying to
reinvent Iowa State's brand in regards to getting the top
American talent to come. And we did pretty well. We

(13:24):
got quite a few foot locker guys that had gone
to nationals in the sport and had done really well.
But we kind of were going to hit a plateau
in year four where we finished sixteenth at Nationals and
I sat down, I really reflected on it. I did
a lot of study and kind of figured out that
Iowa State had never done it with just American athletes.
They always had some level of foreign talent. And so

(13:48):
I actually just picked up the phone and called Bill Bergen.
He's a Hall of fame coach here at Iowa State
recently had passed away, but he had won two national
titles here in cross country countless Big eight conference type
and basically, I mean they built a statue of them.
It's at the outdoor track, kind of an icon in
our sport from from this part of the country. And
I asked him. I was like, coach, why did you

(14:09):
Why did you go the route you did? And we said, honestly,
it's about knowing where you work. And I think that's
the one big message I took from that, and understanding that,
you know, I don't know how many times I got
my buck kicked in recruiting against Oregon or Washington or
Colorado in regards the head to head with American domestic talent,
and so I think for us, it wasn't necessarily to
pivot from that. We still have quite a few American

(14:31):
kids on the team, and our team will always have
American kids that develop and that will transform, you know,
for us, Gable secret has been a guy that was
instrumental to our success, Ryan Ford, Thomas Pollard right now,
it's Ryan Watts, even Devin kit Diego's from Rhode Island,
Hannibals from Arizona, you know, Seth Levenger from New Jersey.
So you know, we have a really good nucleus. But

(14:54):
I felt like we were going to battle with one
arm time behind our back because we weren't opening up
our recruiting and so it initially started with junior college.
I think what I identified for being a junior college
athlete was there's a ton of talent in the junior
college ranks that just were not getting the right opportunities.
You know, I'm not going to say any specific schools
because I think I don't want to put anybody down,

(15:14):
but there's certain schools in Iowa and Kansas that maybe
don't have the resources that a Division I school does,
or even Arizona like Paris Valley. So you have an
athlete that runs pretty well in junior college at those places,
and they really can just blow up the next year,
and I think you know, for us it was Festis Lagatt.
He was in Gillette, Wyoming at a small junior college.

(15:36):
I don't think they have the program anymore, but I
mean an example is he ran one point fifty and
this year in the Diamond League he ran three twenty
nine to fifteen hundred. He's run to twelve in a thousand.
Is one of the top five guys in world history.
That guy was in junior college literally, uh in twenty nineteen.
So so I think again it's one of those things

(15:57):
that it kind of just was opening it up. And
so I really can a three prong approach and out
of recruiting one domestic, two international, and three transfers specifically
with how much the transfer portal and red share and
all that kind of stuff has opened up the game.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, I can remember back in the day, I think
it was ninety four, it might have been ninety three.
It was Jonah Koch from Iowa State one. I believe
he won the NCAA across country title that year. And so,
like you were saying, Iowa stayed back in the day,
they always had a rich tradition of getting some some
top international students and I believe the year that I
was in ninety five when I did JUCO, there was

(16:39):
there was one or two athletes that went from the
junior college ranks to Iowa State after that. So I
remember seeing their names in the programs and the results
and I'm like, oh, that guy's at Iowa State now.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah no, And I think we had so many alumni
that also were consistently reaching out, and you know, it's
all funny, like so those guys they had children, now
their children wanted to come to US. I mean, Barnabas's
career is a good example of that. He's a big
time official now at Athletics Kenya. But his nephew is
Hillary Boorr. Hillary Boorr ended up turning into a really

(17:13):
great athlete at Iowa State, eventually got his US citizenship
and made countless Olympic teams for US. Well, his uncle
was the Arnabo's career who came over and ran for
Bill Bergen back in the eighties. And so it was like, well,
how do you not tap into that and be stubborn
by open not opening up? So that was something Martin
and I had went round and round on back in
twenty sixteen. We kind of eventually figured out that okay,

(17:37):
let's let's embark on this new journey because it was
very new for both of us.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah, well, we finished second last year at the CIA's.
As soon as you get the totals in italies A,
is your wheels already turning for next cross country season
or are you looking at indoor?

Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah? Absolutely. I think if if raddy coaches say they
don't worry about that stuff or look forward, then they're
their nuts. You know. For us it was it was
bittersweet because we felt we had a team on the
day that could maybe run for a title, and that
was validated by losing by thirteen points. To actually go
out and win it last year we thought might be

(18:16):
a little a little bit of a perfect storm if
it all the cards aligned, and certainly there was definitely
a moment where we thought we might actually have gotten
it done. So certainly, right out right away, I was
reflecting on, Okay, what we could what could we have
done better? What what's our roster look like going next year?
Obviously we graduate Sie Mitchell, who's one of our our

(18:36):
top guys. He's from Spain, and that's a a super
low stick to try to replace but also we have
some guys that we didn't even run at the Nationals
that were sitting back getting ready to take their chance
to move up. So so yeah, so definitely it was
it was right away kind of thinking about that. But
then also you gotta wear a different hat sometimes and
be also the director of track, and so shifting over

(18:57):
to okay, cool, how do we use this success in
cross entry and translate that to the track. You know,
something that's been newer in our sport is almost immediately
after Nationals you go to Boston and try to run
a really good five k to qualify, and so you
can't really be down too much because you got to
go right back to it, and you also can't stay
too high because you gotta you gotta get right back
on it.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
So yeah, and then I hear you say you had
a couple of guys that ran at regionals that didn't
run a Nationals. Did I hear that correctly or no?

Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yep, yep, So we had we were so deep last
year and we'll probably be in that situation again this
year where we're able to actually rest a couple athletes
from the regional meet to kind of avoid having two
ten k's in their legs within ten within eight days.
And so again it's also like, you know, a good
example is Ryan Watts.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
He's a guy this year where we're expecting to take
that big jump up being the national roster. He ran
and he was all region and so for him to
get that chance to get that experience, maybe a year
earlier than he was probably ready to be on the
national team, is invaluable. Now he knows what it feels like,
he knows how to run that late in the season,

(20:07):
understand the periodization of Okay, you don't really want to
be ready on September eleventh, but you got to be
ready on November twenty second. And so for him it
was a real big breakout season and he obviously was
able to follow that up on the track. So that's
real reason we try to do it as well as
you know, save some guys' legs for great days later.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
Coach, you said last year at the national meet, you
knew what you had coming back this year and you
start off the season in that number one position. When
you see that ranking come out, do you say, oh, man,
they know, they know we're here. We got the target
on our back. Were you guys expecting that.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, So historically we've always been maybe a little overlooked,
I think a lot of times going into the postseason,
you know. I think in twenty twenty three was a
good example. We were ranked seventeenth before the national meet
and we got fifth. In twenty twenty one, I think
you're a ranked six or seventh and we end up
getting second. Even last year, I think we were kind
of pegged more like fourth or fifth kind of ranking

(21:04):
going in and we got second. So it's definitely a
new challenge is that the Cats out of the bag.
There's no more sneaking up on anybody this year, though.
I think there's three kind of I'm calling them super
teams that are just kind of maybe a little bit
cut higher than the next category in the rankings, and
I think on any given day, any of those teams

(21:26):
have the chance to win. So for us, we're looking
at as we have two really direct adversaries that we're
going to focus and concentrate, making sure that we don't
get ahead of ourselves and maybe make a mistake. Let
them come in and take the championship.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
And you mentioned that, you know, thirteen points, you know
you're right there but hey, I'm the director of cross
country track and track and field, so I got to
focus on indoor. How do you manage all? Right, I'm
the I'm the head cross country coach, but I have
the tracking to worry about up to during cross country season.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
Have great assistance.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
I think that's the one thing, you know, when I
when I got this opportunity to become the head coach
in twenty one, I was very fortunate to go out
and build my own staff. It was kind of a
unique situation because I hadn't been a head coach before,
so I didn't really have my own people to start with.
So I had to kind of organically go out and
find people I thought that I would work really well

(22:26):
with but also challenge me and and definitely be really
good in their own area. And so I feel like
I got lucky again with that with that process hiring
you know Curtis Brondike, he's our associate head coach.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
He and I have a partnership with kind of the
track team in regards to when I'm kind of maybe
more a little bit in the cross country mode. He's
got me covered in terms of fall track and making
sure that we're all on in a good spot. The
beauty of our our sport is that it is so diverse,
and so you get a chance to have you know,
the throwers kind of being throwers world, get the sprints

(23:01):
jumps to be kind of in sprints jumps world, and
obviously the distance middle distance and their kind of own
a little bubble. And so when you can kind of
you know, have assistants that are really bought into your vision,
your model. Uh, they ultimately become an extension of you.
And so you know, we have staff means every week
we talked through kind of where we're at, how everybody's doing.
I'll show up at practice every once in a while

(23:23):
just to check in. And you know, I have kind
of a policy as a as a as a head
coach is you have to say Hi in the hallway,
so you know, we're walking down the hallway, whether you're
a thrower, jumper, a sprinter coach, you know the expectation
everybody says hi and kind of interact. So I've done
really well with that in regards to just having that
interpersonal you know, connection with the athletes and obviously just

(23:45):
being present. I'm in my office so they know where
to find me, they can call them and I'll have
my numbers, so I'm always available.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Coach. So I'm curious you mentioned those those kind of
upper echelon that tier one. You know, maybe you call
it team that are kind of the true contenders, but
some of those teams are in your conference as well.
So what's your approach to the Big Twelve? You know,
knowing that you got to your site set on end

(24:14):
of November, is is there some strategy involved maybe holding
some guys out for that or are you going guns
and blazing and trying to get the Big Twelve title?

Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yeah? So I think we always are trying to do
really well at two meets, the Big Twelve Championship in
the NCAA's I think the last couple of years we've
gotten maybe caught off guard by not necessarily being as
ready as we needed to be at the conference meet,
but then that ultimately paid dividends in the national meet,
and so again, I think my strategy is we've always

(24:45):
been so committed to this really big strength base phase
and holding the line on that as long as possible,
even into October, and so I think occasionally we've been
maybe not as sharp as we needed to be at
the conference meet. You know. I think a good example
was that was in was in twenty three we end

(25:06):
up getting fourth at the conference meet, but then fifth
nationally and we were beat by a Texas team that
ended up getting seventh at Nationals that year, but on
the day at the conference meet, it looked like we
were probably a fifteenth kind of team at Nationals. And
so again it's a it's a little bit of a
chess game. You know, you obviously want to be ready

(25:26):
to try to win a Big twelve title, you know,
this year for us, we definitely are. It's on the calendar.
We want to make sure we have it circle that
we do really really well there and can take Oklahoma
State head on as well as by U. And so,
you know, I think it's something that it's we always
want to do well there, but for some reason, if
we don't, we we can always spin it and make

(25:47):
sure that we bounce back pretty quickly and then maybe
back off a little bit in training for November.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, where's Big twelve this year?

Speaker 1 (25:55):
Lawrence, Kansas?

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Okay? And was that rim rock yep down at rim Rock.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
And it's pretty cool they got the silhouettes of like
Jim Ryan, those guys on the on the ridge.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah, you guys have a pretty spectacular course as well.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah, so it's uh, it was something Bill Bergen was
really committed to building. It hosted actually the two thousand
National Championships. It's gone down in history of maybe one
of the coldest National championships of all time. But yeah,
it's beautiful. We've actually updated it quite a bit since
the original it was built. We've we've kind of really

(26:31):
consolidated our training loops to be a mile and two
k loop on the on the course, and back in
twenty thirteen we actually had the Athletic Department go in
and put irrigation in on those areas. So the footing
is a spectacular as like a golf course. It's it's
flawless fairways. It's really nice to get a lot really
spoiled in the fall because we do almost a majority

(26:53):
of our work on the grass. Even the eight hundred
runners will get out there. And as I was driving
by coming the office tonight, I saw the sprinters doing hills.
So our whole team really you know, utilizes that that
course quite a bit.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Do you guys host the home meet?

Speaker 1 (27:07):
Yep, so every year, we have an early season meat.
Next year we're gonna do the NCAA Regional, so we'll
host that and I'm in the process. It's tough in
the Midwest because there's some really good meats that have
some great histories like Royd Griac and Nettie Comb. But
we're in the process within a year potentially putting on
a really big invitational. I kind of feel like I

(27:28):
finally got the program in a place where I can
put some energy into maybe creating a meat or building
a meat. You know, as you guys will appreciate, as
a track coach, sometimes you got to wear multiple different
hats and so you know, usually if I want to
move the needle, I got to kind of do it
myself or my staff does. And so we've really focused
the last couple of years on just making sure the

(27:49):
team's good. But now that we've kind of got it
in a really good rhythm and a flow, I feel
like we can maybe put on a meat that could
rival Greact or take on a Nettycomb type situation.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
I was gonna say, you got a lot going on
and figured but on another happy coming meat director, I'm
putting my toe.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
In the water really slowly. I'm not totally committed, but
but yeah, we I think it's too nice of a course,
not too I think it's it's something that we probably should.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
And you mentioned that one NCAA's was probably the coldest
on record. I think the two most coldest were probably
both held in Iowa. One year it was in northern Iowa. Yep,
it was quite quite frigid. I think maybe Keith Kelly
might have won that year from Providence.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yeah, no, I had great memory, I know, and I know,
oh gosh, the other Providence guy was second at Army.
He lost to the Arkansas kid and it was Yeah,
it was absolutely freezing.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
I was told, ye, so, how's the season going so far?
You had any meat?

Speaker 1 (28:46):
Great? Yeah? Great. We just opened up with our our
home opener, a cyclone preview, and we ran basically our
number eleven through seventeen guys held out our top ten
and it was really awesome because last year it actually
acted as a meet for Ryan Watts and Devin kit
Diego to kind of have their first big breakthrough performance,

(29:08):
and we had actually a couple of guys that equaled
basically what they did a year ago. So I think
again it just kind of speaks to our depth and yeah,
they guys look good. Practice has been awesome. We're really
starting to ramp it up. I work in different cycles
from you know, sometimes going Tuesday Friday workouts, so sometimes

(29:29):
mixed in some Tuesday, Thursday Saturday sessions. This is week
it's week four now for us actual together training, and
we just shifted to a Tuesday, Thursday Saturday cycle. So
we had to work out this morning, the little part
lockout on the grass and we could definitely tell the bodies.
Retired guys are feeling it, but we have some mega

(29:50):
talent where we're pretty excited. I don't know if I've
worked with the group that's been it's good.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Before coach, we've been talking a lot about the men,
because there's a lot to talk about the men, but
you're also the the head coach or the director of
the women's program as well. How are they looking this year?

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Really good? We're we had a little bit of a
challenge last year. Lost our women's coach in early August,
so I had to go through that whole process of
hiring a new women's cross country coach. Actually did a
national search, made a lot of calls basically spent seventy
two hours NonStop on the phone just trying to figure out,

(30:29):
you know, who is going to come in this late
and kind of lead our program. And I ended up
deciding to go with the guy that was already here,
coach Cal Wallace. He's our associate head women's cross country coach,
and he's he's a big reason why we're in the
position we are. On the men's side, we did an
incredible job recruiting and it was kind of that that
was kind of the next step in his evolution and

(30:50):
his development. And so again he's gone out this last
year and he's he's put together a really good team.
We have three brand new athletes that are going to
really much pretty much move the needle for us, as
well as quite a bit of an older returning talent.
So even though the women aren't totally ranked yet, I
think they're kind of a sleeper team and maybe finish

(31:11):
top fifteen this year.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
A Nationals speak on having to have a have a
hiring campaign for a new coach. Is that something that
you ever thought about, you know, when you got into coaching, that, oh,
I'm going to have to hire a coach to run
my other program for me, What was that like?

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is you got to
learn the D word, how to delegate. I think I
think that's that's something that is easier said than done.
I think again, the nature of a lot of us
coaches is, you know, you're you've gotten really used to
being able to do everything yourself or or do that.
But uh, but again, when you when you hire staff
that is really good and maybe even better than you,

(31:50):
sometimes it's it's it's easy to pass that, you know,
responsibility on. You know, I think when you get into coaching,
especially as assistant coach, it's never on your mind that
you're going to have to potentially be a coach of
coaches or even be a person that's in the hiring
or firing process, which is awful sometimes to have to
kind of evaluate and do that stuff, but it is

(32:12):
definitely part of the business and something that I've slowly
kind of figured out and definitely have relied on quite
a bit of mentorship and other coaches that have kind
of taken me under their wing over the years.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
So a Rich said at the beginning of this podcast,
we know I always stay because of wrestling. I know
there's a good football team there. What's it like being
a part of an athletic department that has teams that
are that good?

Speaker 1 (32:37):
It's really exciting. I got here in twenty thirteen, and
that was not the case. We were struggling athletic department
that football was not doing great. Basketball has kind of
had a hot streak and was doing really well with
coach hoy Bird. Wrestling was in a little bit of
a transitional period. Coach Dresser hadn't gotten here yet, and

(32:57):
so to see the transformation of the athlete department from
twenty thirteen and now has been unreal. And as I
share with our recruits, this is like the best time
to be a recruit. To get recruit iostate because we're
kind of rocket. I mean, football is good. They're on
national television getting over four million views a game. You
got basketball, who's set to make a deep run again

(33:17):
this year, and coach Osenburg is doing an awesome job.
Coach Dresser is doing great, and I think there'll be
another team that should be on the podium this year potentially.
And obviously we got cross country and track rolling a
little bit. Volleyball is awesome. Soccer is doing well, so,
like I think, when you look at the whole picture,
I think it's something that, like I said, it's a

(33:37):
good time. It's a good time int Idowa state.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
Have you been to some Iowa State Iowa wrestle matches?

Speaker 1 (33:43):
I have, I actually have. I made it over there,
and I think I was blown away my first one
because I really had no idea what to expect. When
those guys are coming out in robes and they got
fire and everything else, It's like, whoa, this is more
like w W E than I thought it was gonna be.
But no, it's really cool. I think our marketing team,
our department uh has, does a really good job with

(34:04):
promoting that. Obviously, I didn't grow up in Iowa, so
I didn't realize how big the sport of wrestling was
in Iowa until you get here. But since being here,
it's it's neat, it's its own culture, it's it's its
own uh entity. I think the coolest part about you know,
again just kind of by chance or luck, is you know,
we share a facility with wrestling, So wrestling and track

(34:26):
are in one building and we have the same locker
room area, we have the same uh you know, training
room area, and so we actually get to spend quite
a bit of time with those guys, and I think
there's kind of that unspoken bond through working hard. They
see us grinding, they're grinding. It kind of almost lists
each other up a lot of time in the out
there in the sauna and that kind of thing. So it's, yeah,

(34:48):
it's a it's a it's a neat, neat sport.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, And there's some parallels to cross country, track and
field and wrestling where it's, you know, it's an individual
sport in some ways, but it's also the individuals come
together to make the team competition. So there's that unique
aspect of like you're out there by yourself and you know,
whether you're running on the track or on the wrestling mat,
there's not much your teammates can do for you necessarily

(35:13):
in the moment, but you know you're fighting for them
to get put points on the board and bring home
a victory for the team. So it's it's kind of
unique in that that regard, and it's interesting that Jim
and I kind of flourished in both of those sports.
But it's also two sports that allow for for little
guys to where size doesn't necessarily matter because when you
got your own weight class, and runners come in all

(35:35):
shapes and different sizes. You know you mentioned the D word.
I'm curious. One of the questions we love to ask
all of our directors and head coaches is who who
do you delegate the expense reports to?

Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, so this is actually you'll laugh listen. So when
I was assistant coach, we had a director of off.
He's actually my best bud, your teammates in college, Eric
Garrison brokes four minutes in a mile. Him and his
wife were moving to get closer to her family in
rapid city, South Dakota, and he was kind of transitioned

(36:08):
to a different type of job and everything. So Martin,
my head coach, was really big on towards the end
of his career of making sure you hired people he
kind of knew and really trusted. That was kind of
his kind of his thing, and was a super loyal
guy and a kind of with people within his organization.
And so when we were looking for a director of ops,
my wife, Maria, she had actually been working in hotel

(36:31):
sales and did a lot of planning and things like
that for actually the football team at a local hotel
and everything, and so she had a pretty good understanding
of kind of the operation stuff. So Martin ended up
hiring Maria, my wife, to be our director of ops.
So we actually worked together when I was an assistant coach.
Then when I was turning to become head coach, we
were having our first child, and so she decided to

(36:53):
take a step back from working. So I hired a
direct different director of ops. I must have done such
a great job, and she had done such a great job.
She got she got scooped up and hired and left
us to go to another institution after a year, So
I hired a new director of ops. Same thing. He
got a great job and actually got into coaching a
year later and moved on. And so after two director

(37:16):
of ops in two consecutive years, I went across the
kitchen table and I was like, I was like, Marie, please,
you got to come back. I need some continuity. So
so yeah, so she's actually our director of ops again,
my wife, and she's phenomenal. The joke is she's the
real boss. She she handles all the expense accounts, she
handles all the behind the scenes stuff. She makes it

(37:38):
super smooth. And yeah, So I'm very lucky in that
regard that I have a somebody that's, you know, part
of the family that's kind of managing that, but also
enjoys doing it as well and has no interest in coaching.
I think that's the hardest part when you hire operations
people if they want to coach, Yeah, they just want
to be at practice all time instead of actually doing

(38:00):
the stuff in the office.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
So, chach, does that ever come home? Does that ever
get talked about at the dinner table? You guys ever
arguing over you or anything like that.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
A lot of that stuff I really don't care too
much about. I'm pretty laid back when it comes to
that stuff. I think the only time it's more so
comes home is maybe if there's some venting going on
about something that got screwed up with some contract or
this hotel or that, which then her and I usually
laugh about it, is like, all right, why are we
talking about this at seven o'clock. We've got two children now,

(38:33):
so they usually keep us pretty busy. When we get home.
There's not too much time to dive into work stuff.
We usually say it for the day to day.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Now coach, when the programs came together. Are you guys
practicing at the same time, and is it like one
big family now?

Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah. So I think for again, what has made us
unique and I think successful is when I look at
our infrastructure and what I always do can be I
really tried to compartmentalize our resources in the three specific components.
So one is kind of speed and power sprints or jumps,
and coach Brondyke and coach Cocanau Brondyke his wife, they

(39:13):
kind of really managing that area and doing really well.
The other big area I look at his throws, and
then the last one obviously middle distance distance. So with
that kind of concept, I'm able to kind of put
more coaches into roles that gives kind of a coach
to athlete ratio to be a little bit lower. So
technically on staff we have four distance coaches, myself kind

(39:35):
of working primarily with the men coach Patrick Peterson, who's
kind of my right hand man. It helps you with
middle distance and helps with the men's side. Cal Wallace,
who was my kind of primary assistant, is now shifted
over now he's the kind of our head women's cross
country coach. And then we just this past year, went
out and hired him assistant Katie Oseka, recent grad from

(39:56):
Michigan State, was all American to kind of bring in
a different type of I think recruiting kind of style,
if that makes sense, and so so yeah, so with
that we're able to actually not practice together, we practice separately.
It was really important to you that both teams have
their own identity. I've seen sometimes unfortunately that if there's
one program that's maybe doing better than the other, that coach,

(40:18):
if he coaches both both might gravitate to one versus
the other. In this case, it's not the case if
if the women are rocking, obviously I'm technically over everything.
So I'm gonna be super supportive. And you know, I'm
a big cheerleaders. What I always say for everybody. I
don't coach, but coach Wallace is the day to day grind.
He's in there, he's in the trenches. That's his group.

(40:39):
He gets the credit. I made sure he gets the bonuses,
so you know, that's that's his that's his thing. And
so so that's how we kind of set it up.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Okay, gad jam.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Coach in the Landed Division one. We know some of
the best runners in the country and even the world
with the international students, what makes Iowa State stand out?

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yeah, wow, great question. I would say that's a tough
one because I think there's so many good brands now
and there's so many different advantages. You know, if you
look at an NAU or New Mexico, they have altitude.
If you look at let's say, at California school, they
got weather. So I've really had to kind of think
about what it is. How do I sell athletes to

(41:23):
come here, how do I get them to stay here
during the winter time when it's super cold and windy
and sometimes not the best condition you run. And I
think it goes back to ultimately what our whole university
and their whole objective kind of is, and it starts
from there. There's all these coaching cliches, you know, five
star culture, work in the dark, you know, those types
of things I think coaches say. But for us, I

(41:45):
think what it really is is just the personal relationships
and the connections that we make with the athletes. You know,
we have kind of a family atmosphere where you know, ultimately,
some of these international athletes that come over, they there
are million you know, excuse that million, thousands of miles
away from home, and so it's a chance to kind
of really take them under wing have them over. I

(42:05):
think our success is also now that we have it
rolling has also attracted athletes to see that not only
if you run at Iowa State you can be great
in college, but it will open doors up for you
to go to the next level. We've had a lot
of athletes that have gone to the next level and
continue to really improve and grow. So yeah, so I
think if there's any message I have, as I said,

(42:26):
you know, the state of Aims in terms of the city,
the university, it's really a place that you can come
get that big school kind of perks, but it's still
a small enough atmosphere that you're going to be taken
care of. We're not an athletic factory. People actually care
about you, and yeah, it's a place you can grow

(42:46):
and learn and obviously still be able to compete at
a high level.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
I'd imagine that three hundred meters into a track kind
of helps in those cold days in January and February.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
Facilities help, facilities help up. I say, three tracks awesome.
You know it just got a new paint job, not
too too long ago, so it's looking nice and fresh
and bright. We'll use that quite a bit. We've been creative.
We'll also use the indoor football field, maybe do some
diagonals and kind of just mix it up on certain
cold days. Another big trick we've learned is to bundle

(43:19):
up and we'll take two vans out and drop you
off on a dirt road with the window your back
and pick you up so you don't have to ever
turn and run into the wind. That can make almost
a ten to fifteen degree different sometimes, So yeah, you
get you get used to it. I always joke around
with with athletes from warmer climates that come and tell them, hey,
don't worry, we're gonna have a class on how to dress,

(43:39):
so you know how to properly wear the right clothes
and grind it out without getting cold.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
Yeah. Jimmy and I spent the winter in Leadville, Colorado,
so we learned real quick that there's no such thing
as bad weather, just bad gear. So I say that
to the kids all the time.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
It's amazing you get the right gear on. You're like, oh,
that's actually not that bad.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
That's not And I love it the fact that you
mentioned diagonals because when of the kids see me setting
up the cones for diagonals, they're like, but now I
can say, well, they do them at Iowa State, so
you got nothing to complain about. We're on the right track.
Just keep listening to me.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
There you go. And the best part of coaching is
a lot of it you can you can kind of
just invent and as long as you're targeting a certain system,
there's so many different ways to do it. So diagonal
is a fun way to do it. You can do
a lot of different variations of it too. We do
horseshoes sometimes and we kind of mix it all up.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Yeah, but with the winter being what they are obviously
teaching kids how to dress, but you do have some
kids coming from warmer climates other countries where it's a
much different environment. You know, you always see the workout
Wednesday stuff where all the American kids are in shorts
and T shirt but all the all the East African
athletes are in sweatpants and long sleeves and you always like,

(44:51):
why is that and it's like, well, it's probably pretty
chilly for them. So do you have is that a
conversation that needs to be had sometimes with some of
the international students about the winners in Iowa. They get
a little more homesick at that time.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Absolutely, And I think it also helps when you have
a great alumni. You know, we have guys like Edwin Kurgatt.

Speaker 4 (45:11):
Who a lot of these new athletes look up to,
or Wesley Kiptoe, and you know, even Festus who did
their hard time and aims in the winter time and
can speak to hey, don't worry, it's gonna make it tough.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
You know. I think we've used it to our advantage.
You know, even last year when Nationals was in Wisconsin,
it was pretty cold, and you know, I think two
days before we had a big blizzard and the whole
course was covered in snow, and I think a lot
of teams that weren't used to that were kind of
freaking out. And so, you know, for us, it's again
it's it's kind of almost like a mindset. We use it,
we kind of talk about it. It's what makes us tough.

(45:46):
It's kind of our adversity. And then ultimately sometimes it
sounds crazy, but some of these guys that are from
maybe Kenya or South Africa, they come to really like it.
They said, you know, I'd rather be cold and hot.
And you know a lot of times when they all
are bundled up in those workout Wednesday videos that you're referencing,
it's not necessarily that they're cold, it's just it's a

(46:07):
way for them to get sweat. And that's I've learned internationally,
that's a big thing where you don't really believe you're
working hard until you're sweating really hard. Even our Spanish
athletes said last year, I mean he would be ducked
out in jacket and pants, and you know, I was like,
I was like, all right, so this is not just
you know, a continent thing. This is maybe a little

(46:27):
more global in terms of maybe we're the ones that
aren't getting as warm and sweated up as maybe we
leud to sometimes. So you know, we did it a
lot last spring. Regionals was at Texas A and M,
and obviously we're a little bit cooler than there, so
we had actually would use layers as a way to
train for the heat. I had talked to actually Andy

(46:50):
Pollette Washington about it, and there's all kinds of different
scientific things you can do, but both of us came
to the conclusion the simplest way to mimic that is
just wear more clothes. So I think it also is
another way you can kind of get some heat, acclamation
and kind of some training there.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
That probably carries some weight with the wrestling team too,
because we love to wear layers.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
I'm gonna say, between the wrestlers and the Kenyan guys,
they're all bundled up the same going out the door.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
So Missioner Man yep, yep. Coach. One thing. One thing
we like to cover. We like to cover the schools, campuses, academics.
Is there any majors that are unique to Iowa State.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yeah, I think when you think of Iowa State, I
think some of the big majors that stick out is
obviously engineering. That's a We're a really big engineering school
from anything from agricultural to aerospace to mechanical. You know,
a fun fact not too many people to know is
edwin kergat n cla champion for US. He graduated an
industrial engineering degree, which is a big flagship moment for

(47:56):
US because I think it speaks to hey, you could
be a great runner, but you also get a great degree.
The Department of Kinesiology is pretty excuse me, the language badass.
They got a lot of really cool labs, and we
have quite a few kind of world renowned professors and biomechanics.
I've actually gotten a chance to kind of go down
there and check it out. They have a couple of

(48:17):
these labs where they have all these different cameras set
up and they put these different sensors on from little
kids in line up shoes to actual professional athletes, and
they kind of do wear tests on the shoes and
and determine. And I know one of our professors is
kind of a consultant for quite a few shoe companies,
so they'll send him shoes and he'll actually do like
a wear road test kind of situation and give his feedback.

(48:39):
So some pretty neat stuff there. Again. Obviously, anything with
agriculture is massive, I think for ranked top three in
the world and that that major. But also business, I
think that's one that I've seen a lot of student
athletes come in be able to do a business degree
and then actually go out and get really good jobs
right away. So so yeah, so I think our big

(49:01):
ones would be those. I think vet med is another one.
Anything with vetinarian science is small or large animal as
a dog, owner. It's kind of neat to have a
world class that, you know, building on campus down the
street that if your dog gets sick, you can take
it over there. So so yeah, so I think those
are the big ones obviously. I think we have pretty
much every major you can think of, from you know,

(49:23):
pre health professions to CAM to physics to lebart so,
but yeah, those are kind of the big ones I
think that really stick out. And we've had quite a
few engineers throughout the years.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
Is there any majors that a lot of the kids
are in or is it all over the place for
the team, I.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
Think kinesiology is probably our most popular one, then probably
business and then engineering. I think those are our three
big ones. And then for athletes that maybe you just
want to get a degree but don't know what to do,
then they'll kind of go more open option. There's actually
once called Leber Arts and Sciences that you can kind
of pick three different categories that can kind of help
you kind of maybe you figure out what you want

(50:00):
to do, and then a lot of those athletes will
end up going on to go to grad school and
maybe specialize a little bit more in a certain area.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Coach one other question, we'll be reminiscent. We didn't get to.
But the double t the double threshold is a hot
topic with with programs and who's doing it, who's not
doing it?

Speaker 1 (50:20):
What are you?

Speaker 2 (50:20):
What's your take on? Or are the cyclones teeing it
up twice a day a couple of times a season.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
Yeah, so little background Martin Smith. Take a lot of
training principles from him since I ran for him, and
obviously it worked really well for me. I had massive
improvement when I got to Oklahoma, just from I think
a couple of things, one nutrition to just kind of
actually learning how to undertrain a little bit. So we
were doing I think a lot of lactic threshold training

(50:48):
when I was at Oklahoma, but we didn't really call
it that. It was just, hey, we just kind of undertrain.
We don't really understand it, you know. I think the
first time I broke fourteen minutes in the five K,
I hadn't broken seventy five seconds in a workout, which
is nuts because I couldn't even believe it when I
when I ran that fast. And so I think for us,

(51:10):
we've always had this kind of foundation of the lactic
threshold and kind of that building. The biggest thing that
I've adapted and updated our kind of software to do
is just more and so you know, for example, every Tuesday,
we'll do a double session where morning's typically on grass
and it's something long, you know, whether it's a straight

(51:30):
seven mile tempo or three times four k Later in
the season and they drop it down to two k's.
But the idea is to try to get for our
older guys, maybe twelve thousand meters of volume seven and
a half miles of actual quality, and then we come
back in the evening. I'll typically throw them on the
track a little bit of a faster surface, allow them
to kind of really get a chance to get a

(51:51):
little bit more return off the ground. We'll use the
super shoes of vapor flies and all that stuff, so
you kind of feel good too, but we'll kind of
hold them back for us. Seventy two's three flat per
k has kind of become our sweet spot for just
kind of that great conditioning, that lactic threshold, to say
the least. You know, we brought in guys and have

(52:12):
done the blood tests to kind of give me ideas
or ranges. We've done heart rate training where we kind
of really target zone four kind of borrowing the Tour
de France and kind of the levels that those guys
want to stay in. But for the most part, it
ends up coming back to I'm a big believer in
kind of just the eye test and being able to
watch the athletes see how they look, and you know,

(52:34):
using some of the scientific data that we've learned, but
also more so adapting it to hey, let's let's also
maybe not overthink this and just work hard and stack
workout after workoutfter workout. I think one of the Ioris
State brands is there's never any one workout that is
necessarily super difficult, but it's accumulation of those and so

(52:54):
by the time when you add up over the course
of you know, we've started, like I said, four weeks
and there's thirteen weeks in our season. By week ten, eleven, twelve,
you're going to have all the fitness you possibly need.
And it wasn't done overnight.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
You mentioned the depth, you got the number one preseason ranking.
Who are some of the cyclones we should keep our
eyes out for, both on the men's and women's side.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Yeah, I think on the women's side, I think there's
kind of four athletes that really are prominently kind of
sticking out this year for us. You know, you got
Mayel Porchet who is returning as kind of our top person.
She had a really big breakout year in track. She
had running in fifteen thirty for five k. Just absolutely
one of those kids that you just watch every season

(53:41):
just get a little bit better, a little bit better,
a little bit better, a little better. So as she
kind of approaches her senior year in cross country, she's
the first I think we're ready to see become an
All American and take that role and have that big
breakout on the cross country course. Another one is Betty
Kip Kray. She was a freshman last year. She had
dealt with an injury right when she got here, but
she was able to get back to health and we

(54:02):
read shirt the whole year, but she had up running
sixteen minutes by the end of the outdoor track season
off of very very little training. She's had a big summer.
She's done every workout with may L up to this point,
and she looks like she's about to have a really
big breakout year and maybe surprise a lot of people
that may not even know she's on our roster, and
then we had two really big additions in the last
two weeks, actually arriving a little late to school. We're

(54:25):
having some challenges with their visa's Mercy Cobet. Mercy Cobet
and Mercy Lynn Her while both from Kenya just got here.
They are incredibly young and inexperienced, don't have a ton
of I think racing experience, especially in big meats. But
just when you watch them run first couple of workouts,

(54:46):
she's like, oh my gosh, there's something there. So I
think coach Wallace's big job will be can he get
them to understand and conceptualize that it's a long season.
Then they build through each race, and I think their
ceiling is incredibly high. You know, they're relying on a
fifth person in Bellahikis, who's also run fifteen fifty six

(55:06):
for five k. So when you have five athletes that
are eventually all sub sixteen, I think that's a great
nucleus to have a great season this fall.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
I when is when's the first true test for the cyclons?
Do you guys go to Kreyak or Nuddycombe.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
So this year we're going to go September twenty sixth,
We're going down to Columbia, Missouri the gans Creek Imitational.
That's where the nationals are going to be this year.
So I like to go there early in the year
and get a chance to kind of see the national course.
We'll actually probably run you know, the ten k course
and the warm ups the ten k course the day before,

(55:44):
maybe cool down to do the ten k course after
the race. So it will be a big, big volume
for us, a lot of case yep, because I really
want them to understand and learn it. I mean, it
took it to another level this year. I called the
guy that designed the course, the landscape architect, and spoke
to him about how he built the course, what he
was thinking about, areas that he thought were difficult, areas

(56:06):
that he thought were easy. There there's a five hundred
meter hill in the men's ten k course. You had
to go up twice, and the second time you hit
it is really late in the race, and so that's
something that we're going to go study and check out.
Maybe a couple he'll repeats on just to kind of
feel what it feels like in the legs. So so yeah,
so we'll go there and that will be a big
one for us, you know, men and women, a big

(56:29):
chance to see some really good national competition. I think
I heard of the thirty teams that are ranked twenty
two will be there on the men's side and I
think seventeen on the women's side, So it will be
a really really big test. I don't know if we'll
be one hundred percent full strength yet at that meet.
We just got a new guy, say, Mayshak Kim new

(56:50):
Tie also just got here and he's early indications he's
he's really, really, really good. But I've always liked to
kind of give those athletes maybe five or six weeks
before they get a chance to erase just kind of
soft open and kind of see where they're at. So yeah,
so I think we'll really probably see it all come
together at Medicomb this year. It gets that October second

(57:14):
weekend of October, three weeks after Dan's Creek. That's what
we'll probably start to put the pieces all together.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
And is the meat at Dance Creek is that one
considered pre Nationals or just a meet on the course.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
So yeah, so that's just a meat that's kind of
their imitation they have every year. Pre NAT's will actually
be three weeks later. The same weekend we're going to
Meddicombe in Wisconsin. They have their pre nationals, so I
like to go to the earlier one. I think for
us it just is good. And then we have a
really good rhythm with Medicombe. We've done it the last
I think almost probably thirteen straight years, so it's just

(57:50):
a trip that we know. We know the course. It's
really difficult, real cross country, but also just the atmosphere
is really cool for the athletes and nice parts on
about four.

Speaker 3 (57:59):
Hour drive right now, Coach, is there anything about the
cyclones that we haven't covered that you want our audience
to know about?

Speaker 1 (58:09):
Yeah, I think I think when you look at the cyclones,
I think again, it's it's a team that is built
this year on both men and women's teams to have
a really good run. I think the one thing that
I think I'm proud of in our program is we
look at it as it's not how you start, necessarily,
but how you finish. And so I think again, I

(58:29):
think when people look at our program and you're looking
to develop improve year to year, all of our athletes
do that. I think everybody's prs come later in their
careers junior senior years and usually their first couple of
years here, we are committed to that kind of building process,
but also you know, having a result while you do it.
So so yeah, it's it's a good place. I think

(58:52):
we're well taken care of, and it's obviously somewhere now
I'm going on my thirteenth year, I really enjoy here.

Speaker 3 (59:00):
How do you stay present knowing the team you have
and what you guys can do at Nationals? But you
know you got to take care of right now?

Speaker 1 (59:10):
Uh that was brainwashing to be by Martin Smith. Process. Process, process,
you know, focus on the day to day. I think
you know when we when you have such a good team,
there's that feeling in your belly you can't wait to race.
I think the athletes all have that right now, and
so I think when you when you have that, it's

(59:30):
it's actually makes it more fun to almost deny them
and hold them back and force them not to get excited.
So I think as a coach, it's a it's a
way to kind of when you when you know, if
you start to feel that way, you can only imagine
the athletes feel that way, and so you almost have
to take that super leadership role and make sure that
they are not getting too excited, too ahead of themselves.

(59:52):
So quote unquote you kind of be the bad cop
and uh and burst their bubble every once in a
while and humble them. And you know, I think the
fun part about being a young coach is we're you know,
able to have that banter and that cambaraderie and that
that you know, partnership versus where they actually like, Okay,
this guy's not not you know, too far removed from

(01:00:12):
the board or too far removed from when he was
in college. So you know, as I get older, I
start to lose that a little bit, but still got
it now and I'm going to hang on to it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
So I appreciate that insight. Thank you for sharing that
with us. Rich Do you have anything else for Coach
before we get in the final four.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
I was just curious, Coach, you still run it all
a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
A little bit. I try to get out at least
every couple of days just to do something. I'm super
active though, just with having young kids and walking every
day with practice, so I get my steps in. I
think I need to start lifting a little bit. I
think that's my next goal is to maybe get in
the weight room. I don't need to get Jack by
any means, but I'm starting to notice, like, you know,

(01:00:52):
I'm getting a little sore here and there, and just
be nice to maybe, you know, not not completely lose
all that muscle mass eventually.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
So want to come back next season looking like Ryan Hall.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Just Jack yoked out, Well, I got a question for
I got a question for you, Rich. So one of
my great battles as a coach I was super young,
was with Dylan capwell mana yep, with Edward Kemboy. Did
you know Dylan at all?

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
Or I know I knew him a little bit. Actually,
I did another podcast solo before we got this really rolling,
and I had both Dylan and Ali Wilson on, and
I'm pretty good friends with Dylan's coach. That was a
mom with Chris Terrell. Yeah, so yeah, that's a small world. Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
No. I remember the year before Brandon McBride had beaten
Ken Boy and we had a plan to beat McBride.
I had it all dialed, Kim Boy, We had a
hold this master plan. We're going to take the lead
at four hundred and kind of shock branded, and he
was going to have to figure out how to respond.
And right when we were about to execute our plan,
I know where this kid, Dylan Capwell is in the way,

(01:02:02):
and he was doing the same move, and I was like,
first off, who is this guy? Second off, what in
the world's going on? And thankfully, if you go back
and watch that video, Kimberley kind of like squeezes in
between the two big guys and gets the lead and
hangs on. But I was sweating bullets with Capwell right
on his heels all the way to that last lap.
So so yeah, it was that was my that's my

(01:02:23):
one moment story. I was.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
I was, he said, Mama, yeah it final four rich,
let's do it, coach. Are you a coffee drinker?

Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
Absolutely? And I take it black?

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
How do you brew it?

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
I got this really really old, like mister coffee just
I mean it's like you can have two cups. That's
It's it, all right, coach.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Do you have any daily practices or rituals you do
on a regular basis to show up as the strongest
version of yourself?

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Yeah, I drink coffee and and I usually give myself
about five to ten minutes in my car before I
walk through the door, just to kind of take a
deep breath, not bring any baggage into practice. It's something
that we preach to the athletes. We have a stretch
session before every practice, and that stretch session is meant

(01:03:18):
to be kind of get a chance to clear yourself
all the all the craziness sometimes outside personal lives or whatnot,
and try to do the best you can bring really
good energy to practice. So I kind of do that
myself in the car and usually works.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
I'm gonna steal that, coach. What are you listening to
right now? Music? Podcasts, audio books? Are you reading anything?

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
So? I read this summer. It's actually it's actually behind
me there on the bookshelf. It's called SWUSH. It was
kind of the what do you call it? The U
the unapproved biography of how Nike got started. I I'd
been giving it quite a few years ago, but never
really been a big reader. But I forced myself this

(01:04:06):
summer read a book, and that was the one I chose,
and it was awesome. I learned so much about that,
just the how cutthroat business can be, and just a
whole other side of what you think of Nike in
terms of their their their growth. So I did that
and then I'm a big u, a big a Vchi fan.
I love so I I even that's another thing. Maybe

(01:04:28):
a ritual wise is I'll listen to Vichi in my
car before I get.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
Out you before you go to practice levels.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Yeah no, I got them all. I mean I just
let go. And I even forced the athletes to listen
to it during the indoor practices because we got the
big speakers in the indoor track and I just put
my pandora on. It's just a Vichy and E D
M and I just after after a while, they're just like,
all right, Coach, We're we're cooked. I'm like, we'll suck
it up. That's what I like.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
Hey brother, that's our song.

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
Hey brother, Yeah that's a good one.

Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
Yeah. We've done some good training sessions to levels, haven't we, Jim, Yes,
we have, Coach. Last week, we got for your closed
ass a lighthearted one. Maybe there's a unique food item
in aimes. Maybe it's a delicious craft beverage. You know,
you've got some kids at home. Maybe you're a closet swifty.
Do you have a guilty pleasure?

Speaker 3 (01:05:21):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
Man? So yeah, So my first move to Ames. My
wife and I went out and we had a beer
and we were leaving the brewery. We were walking the
street and there was this like hot dog stain and
it smelled really good and it was called a super dog.
And basically a super dog has pineapple on it mustard

(01:05:44):
like crushed up chips. But my favorite part about super
Dog is it's not always available. It's only available like
certain days at certain random times. And so yeah, organically
I like to run into superdogs sometimes and Ames and
middle of day or late night whenever it is, and
you get a super.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
Dog, Okay, you first hot dog?

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
Yeah, added to the list of places we need to visit.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:10):
Actually Dave Dave Portnoy just did a review on it actually,
so oh really yep. He was just an Aims for
that big game last week against Iowa and he did
some pizza reviews and they did a super Dog review.
So he said there was too much mustard on it.
So super Dog came back the next day and said
they made a Dave Portnoy dog, which is just a
little bit less mustard.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
I know he's not a fan of cases.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
No, no, unfortunately, Uh, my wife isn't easier easy either.
So she's but she's from New Jersey, so she's a
hardcore on on pizza.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
So we're from New Jersey.

Speaker 1 (01:06:43):
So she's from Williamstown, just across the bridge from Philly.
We actually vacation every summer. We do a beach house
in Sea Isle City, so we were just there in
early August. So yep, she's a she's a Jersey girl.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
All right. Well, so let me ask you, coach, is
it pork Roll or Taylor Ham.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
Beach? You my poor crawl worried coach and.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
Uh and my favorite gas station by far is oh Man, Dude,
I loves man. They're the best. I get an Italian
sub there every time I go.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Thank you. We'll be screaming loud for the cyclones come
in this year for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
Coach.

Speaker 3 (01:07:24):
Thank you so much for your time this evening. Thank
you for taking a chance on the area, bros. And
like Rich said, we are going to be cheering for
you loud this season and I can't wait to follow
you guys the rest of the season up into Nationals.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
Appreciate it. Thanks again, guys.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
Yeah, Jeremy, I'm a pleasure to chat with you. Just
even have have your time and get to know a
little bit more about you in the program. And yeah,
you got us there at the end there with the
Avici and the pork rawl. So we are. We were
already on board with the Cyclones as wrestling fans, but
we'll be we'll be cheering for the Cyclones. Come come nationals.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Awesome, that's good to hear.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
Awesome. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that is coach Jeremy
Sudbury from Iowa State University. Make sure you go give
the Cyclones some love. Let them know the area Bros
sent you. That is it for us this week. We'll
be back next week. We'll be back on the cross
country course and we've got all Texas next week. We
have Christopher Bean from Odessa College joining us on Monday

(01:08:25):
evening and then Jesse Parker from Blynn will be joining
us on Wednesday. So enjoy the rest of your week,
have a great weekend. We'll see you back here next week.

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Jeremy Sudbury | Iowa State Director of Track & XC | Big 12 Powerhouse & NCAA Title Contender

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Jeremy Sudbury | Iowa State Director of Track & XC | Big 12 Powerhouse & NCAA Title Contender