Coach Meklus

Frank Gagliano was a college quarterback. After his career, he was hired to start a football team at a high school. While waiting, he coached track. They never started the football team. Gags went on to become one of the greatest American distance coaches in history: 15 Olympians, 140 All-Americans, 43 sub-4 milers. He passed away this week. We often think that you've got to have done it or experienced it to coach it. Gags was never a runner. He just wanted to coach, the true essence of the word, helping people out. “I don’t have golf clubs. I have a stopwatch." And like the best 'old school' coaches, he'd help whoever showed up. I was a former high school phenom, struggling in college. Then I got a call from an unknown number. "Steve. We've never met. It's Gags with the Farm Team. I just wanted you to know that you're great. Talent doesn't go away. Stick with it. You've got people who believe in you. If I can ever help, let me know." He called a struggling 19-year-old out of nowhere, while running the best professional team in the country. In an era where training got really complicated, Gags kept it simple. His philosophy was strength + speed, consistently for a long freaking time. “Everyone has to be patient in development. Everyone has to enjoy the sport, have a lot of fun, and work really hard.” More than the workouts, his real secret was the one every great coach shares. Relationships. His son Ralph put it best: “As a track coach, you have very large teams, many participants, and he carried over the years very special relationships — not only with the great ones, but even with the ordinary athlete.” He was still coaching into his late 80s. “As long as my mind is in the sport for workouts, so I don’t deprive the men and women that I’m coaching, I’ll keep coaching.” And this summer, at 89, when they named a national championship race after him, “I’m not a cocky man. I’m the guy that just coaches, and the athletes mean everything to me, everything.” He was a coach’s coach. Someone who lost his first meet 112 to 15, and then went on to become an all-time great...despite never having run. Because the point was to help people....even those he didn't coach. RIP Gags.

The longer I coach, the more I’m convinced that it’s mostly about putting people in a place where they can perform out of joy, curiosity, exploring their potential, and taking on a challenge. Too often we let fear, protecting our self or our ego take over.

I don't understand the "stay in your lane", "stick to sports" people. As I teach anyone I coach, we're people first. Athletics is just something we do.