I often say that kids vote with their feet. If a sport offers them the opportunity to learn and grow within a sport, they stay and attract others. If they have a negative experience, then they stay away, and spread the word to avoid a sport and coach.

This coaching staff has to be doing something right to attract and retain such a huge turn-out. I tip my hat to them!!!


School's cross country 'army' has more than 200 runners

By Jim Halley, USA TODAY

October 14, 2008


Green Hope (Cary, N.C.) cross country coach Michael Miragliuolo doesn't always cheer for each of his runners in a meet.

"The hardest thing is when 10 of my kids run by in a meet — I know the names but by the time I can think to shout them out, they're by me," Miragliuolo said. "I try to learn my whole team, but I don't really get to know them as well as I'd like."

While many schools struggle to field a full cross country team, Miragliulolo has 205 boys and girls runners. The team's unofficial slogan is "An Army of One," team members train in camouflage tops and are broken down into companies, each led by one of 20 team captains.

The girls team is ranked No. 2 in North Carolina and the boys are ranked No. 3. The school is only 10 years old, and the boys have won seven consecutive district titles while the girls have won five of the past six.

Despite the military overtones, the reason for the team's success may be more social than strategy. At Green Hope, being a cross country member has become the thing to do, with more than 10% of the school competing in the sport. It's as if a party was thrown and a cross country team broke out.

"One of my friends that I played soccer with, her sister ran on the team," said senior Carly Roos, 17. "She said to just try it out and I ended up liking it. As a freshman, it definitely was an easy way to meet people. As I got more into it, I became more competitive. I think we get a lot of runners who come to meet people and also to get in shape and they end up being very competitive."

Though only five or seven runners count toward scoring (depending on the meet), every runner will get to run in at least one meet a week during the season. The night before meets, team parents host pasta parties that typically draw 160 runners. At some meets, the team takes two buses for all the runners. Miragliuolo said he is hoping that with parents and family, the team will have 1,000 fans at his conference meet Oct. 15.

"We position our fans all over the course," he said. "It's also for the other teams. When other people get to run with that many people watching, it's more exciting for them."

Miragliuolo is also Green Hope's baseball coach. When he first began coaching cross country eight years ago, he didn't want to have to make cuts, as he did in baseball.

"It would be easier if I cut the bottom half of the team, but that's a sacrifice I'll never get myself to make," Miragliuolo said. "I always wonder if our top runners would be better off with more attention if the team was smaller, but we've been really lucky that our kids have bought in with the coaching philosophy. I think there is peer pressure to finish the right way. We've had great seniors who have showed the other ones how to do things."

His first year, the squad had 25 runners. As more runners joined the team, they invited their friends and the effect has been exponential.

"The whole atmosphere is really accepting," said senior Scott Hefner, 17. "We look for all types of people — acquaintances, anybody who would enjoy being part of the team. Somtimes, it's about getting into shape. Probably the biggest thing is the way the team has bonded over my four years. I've been running with the same guys and we've really become competitive and we're growing relationships."

Two years ago, Will Craigle, battling a brain tumor, got permission from his doctors to keep running for Green Hope. He'd fly to Boston for chemotherapy but return in time for meets. His teammates, impressed by his drive, wore T-shirts to meets that said, "You may have the talent, but we have the Will." Craigle is now a sophomore at N.C. State, but his younger brother Matt is a sophomore on the team. Another runner, Nathan Baker, is deaf and has cerebral palsy. Despite frequent falls while running, he's cut his time by eight minutes in a 5-kilometer race, recently running a personal best of 24:18.

Miragliuolo will choose three separate workouts, depending on ability and his captains carry out the plan. Many of the runners get together for weekend runs when they don't have a meet and the squad often does team-building exercises, including games of Ultimate Frisbee.

"I get a workout from coach Miragliuolo and I try to guide them," says Hefner, one of the captains. "It helps us with experience. I think it makes cross country what we want to make it. Instead of a function of a teacher or coach, we as runners are able to figure out what we want to do."

By having three different workout plans, fewer runners leave the team because they can't keep up.

"There's a lot of leeway we give them," Miragliuolo said. "We try to give them a lot of success. Our rule is we're not going to let you move down a group. I don't want anybody to lower their expectations."

About The Coaching Toolbox


The Coaching Toolbox is a site authored by two former Indiana high school basketball coaches. It was launched March 1, 2008 with a theme of collecting and posting the best available basketball tools for players and coaches of all levels. A new tool is posted each weekday. Some of the features of the site are a teleseminar featuring coaches with specific areas of expertise, animated plays, free video clips, drills, checklists, and many other great tools. There is a daily e-mail with a coaching thought or a new tool that anyone can register for.

You can't tell the high school coaches without a program

By Bob Frisk | Chicago Daily Herald Columnist





Published: 9/5/2008 12:06 AM | Updated: 9/16/2008 10:33 AM


When I first started in this job, I knew every coach at every level at every area high school.

Of course, it wasn't that difficult. We only covered a few schools, and there were no girls sports.

I knew the coaches' names, their backgrounds, even something about their friends and families.

When I made my regular visits, I would sit in the offices of the coaches or athletic directors for a couple of hours and meet with everybody as they came in before or after class or practice.

That's how I got my information for this newspaper, which was a weekly at the time and also carried extensive coverage of underclass sports.

Personal visits replaced the telephone, and we would kick around a lot more in those casual meetings than just high school sports.

I really got to know someone beyond the X's and O's and felt like I was the student, learning from the experienced teacher/coach.

That really helped me as a young reporter. You obviously don't want to get too close to the coaches or teams you're writing about, but you do want to develop associations that can help you do a better job.

How times have changed.

Today, the Daily Herald covers approximately 100 high schools that have ambitious programs in boys and girls sports. You can't tell the coaches without a program - or name tags.

Just think how many head varsity coaches alone we have at those high schools. Now add in all the assistants and even volunteer coaches.

I can attend a high school event and walk right past important coaches without even knowing who they are. And I feel bad later that I didn't even say hello.

I'm at a distinct disadvantage because my picture appears in the paper on a regular basis.

I think about this when I start looking through the fall sports programs at each school. I always hope they include pictures of all the coaches, so I can have some reference if I see somebody heading my way.

In my rookie days in this job, I was the student who was learning from the coaches. Now in my 50th year at the Daily Herald, I feel like the teacher who has something to offer to the men and women directing our young people.

What would I tell the younger coaches if we had a chance to sit down at the school?

I'd start by telling them they have to be realistic about the responsibility that goes with the job of coaching.

No matter how well-prepared you are and how energetic you may be, there will always be more to the job than what you expect. Don't begrudge all the time you must spend with the young athletes.

I would tell the young coaches to keep a journal early in their careers. Record your activities and your immediate and retrospective evaluations of their outcomes.

Smart coaches will always coach to their personal strengths and make sure that is part of the practice plans.

You have to be organized with well-planned practices, and you should never hesitate to seek advice from other coaches, particularly the veterans at your school.

I would tell coaches to establish a basic philosophy that will let your players know what to expect, the kind of rules you have and how you will enforce them. You must be up front with the athletes.

I would tell coaches to always be consistent because inconsistency will undermine your authority and credibility. You have to strike the proper balance between being a coach and a friend. That can be tough.

I would tell coaches to listen to your athletes at all times. They are telling you things they believe in, even if it isn't what you want to hear. Expect the unexpected.

I would tell every young coach that coaching in high school is a privilege. You should never casually dismiss the meaningful role you play in your athletes' lives.

In a way, you are the father or mother of a sports family, and that's why every action you take is important.

Don't ever take that influence for granted or stop working at it.

Don't let the long hours discourage you because the rewards in coaching are enormous. You just have to look for them in the right places.

It has to be very satisfying to play a role in helping somebody mature on the way to receiving a high school diploma.

Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who guided the United States Olympic team to a gold medal, says, "The coaching, I love. The kids, I love. It's the other stuff you have to watch out for."

High school coaches must learn to deal with "the other stuff" to find real happiness in their career.

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