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http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics ... oach_N.htm

U.S. track coach resigns, says relays were not a factor

By Dick Patrick, USA TODAY
Veteran coach Brooks Johnson resigned last month as head of USA Track and Field's high performance division. Johnson, in charge of the U.S. relay teams since 2003, said the resignation "has nothing to do with (baton) exchanges or criticisms."
Both the men's and women's 4x100-meter relays dropped batons on the final exchange in qualifying at the Beijing Olympics. Johnson said the decision was a result of his coaching foreign athletes and consulting for other countries "that are a conflict of interest" with his former job. He earned a salary of $105,000 in the position.

Johnson's take on the relay debacle, which came a year after the U.S. won all four relays at the 2007 world championships: "It's amazing how fast you can go from a genius to an idiot. I could show you CD's from every practice we had. Athletes had batons passed to them and handed them off. They had to go up and down the line 10 times. Then they jogged (passing the baton) to get the exchange mechanism down.

"I think people need to come in and look at the (relay situation). Maybe there was something we missed. I don't think so because the thing that went wrong both times was the pass was in the hand of the outgoing athlete with the lead. Somewhere along the line, someone has to grasp it and go."

The U.S. men and women won gold in the 4x400 relays in Beijing.

Good morning..

Sorry to beat a dead horse.. but did anyone notice that Tyson “appeared” to be looking at the “Jumbo Tron” to get his timing and to know where the incoming runner was, instead of focusing on the rhythm and timing of the exchange from his level.

Side bar. Off topic.. did you also notice that Lolo was looking at the same Jumbo Tron just before she crashed… obviously she thought she could “peek” at the competition.. through he timing off and “Bam”.. Gold is gone.

Back to the relay.

And I think everyone “noticed” that it seemed the relays got worse, the more we (USATF) tried to “fix” them. And I have heard all the standard arguments… ego’s, athlete and coaches not willing to “come together”.. etc..etc

I do know that the correct most “natural” technique WAS presented in conference in 2001. and I do know that the correct “Timing” based on science was “brought up” BUT was not discussed because of “lack of time”. The consensus (main players) preferred to rely on “trial and error” in practice instead of knowing before they ever took a handoff as to where the “GO” marks should be by simply timing every athlete.

and I also know that a small part of that “natural’ technique was “adjusted” because of preference by one, and apparently more, (and not Brooks) of the main players. That “tweek” went away from the “natural” and takes more coaching and still will not be "right" because it is not with the "natural" rhythm and physics of the two athletes involved.

How do I know some of this??? First one of my coaches in college was one of the top five coaches in the nation that “believed” in the “Jet” pass that came out of San Jose… My coach was one of those rare individuals that not only had the “kinesitic” (physical) feel of what was happening in each athletes body and mind he hand the brain to figure out the “science”.

“ONE TRAIN LEAVES NY GOING WEST AT 50 MILES AND HOUR….. another TRAIN LEAVES CHICAGO GOING EAST AT 80 MILES AND HOUR.. BOTH LEAVE AT 9 PM.. WHERE AND WHEN WILL THEY CRASH HEAD ON?!!” by Eddie Spear.

He used that “feel” and brain (and ba//s) to figure out the details without confusing the athlete.. his 4 x 400 actually ran a 3:05.00 collegiate record AND used a blind pass! He took 6 maybe 7 athletes to the Drake relays and won the 4 x 100, 4 x 200, 4 x 400 and the 4 x 800.. and those same athletes ran a “world’ record for the sprint (mile) medley.. 100-100-200-400yds…….

And.. I was at the 2001 conference..

I feel that minor “technical change” or over coaching, prejudice, pressure and yes ego.. made the difference.

I thought Bubba, being the Olympic head coach would get it right.. Bubba knows the event. He made his career with the 4 x 100 at TCU. Apparently he didn’t have time for any input or he also was convinced the minor “technical change” (in the outgoing runners hand position by the way) would not have the impact that it has had.

Well there is a new “sheriff” in town (USATF) and he said we have to come together…

Hopefully he can get it done…

dj

good morning

anyone want to talk 4 x 1???

i have some pretty good info...

timing etc.. physics.. rhythm...

dj

Sure!

I'm curious... I never really thought about how complex a task like a (sprinting) hand-off really is! What went on at each handoff for the US at Beijing, and what was different from the winning team? What different hand-off styles are there? What sort of things come in to play with these different hand-off styles?

Maybe a new thread for this?

dj, try the message board on trackandfieldnews.com

hey

heard some interesting "juice"....

word is the head coach, who was a pretty good 4 x 1 coach himself (making his career with that event) had made the desision to NOT run Tyson in the final but was not going to tell him until later.

one of the coaching "assistants" decided to let the "cat out of the bag" behind everyones back and told Tyson before the prelim.

it is only my observation but looks like, when you study the film, that Tyson made no effort to close his hand around the baton.... i wondered about that when i looked at the film before, thinking maybe the incoming runner had not made the pass, but looks like it was there, in the hand and hard enough to be felt and long enough to be taken!!!???

go figure, i guess if you are not going to get to run wioth the big boys why be a team player...

dj

dj wrote:hey

heard some interesting "juice"....

word is the head coach, who was a pretty good 4 x 1 coach himself (making his career with that event) had made the desision to NOT run Tyson in the final but was not going to tell him until later.

one of the coaching "assistants" decided to let the "cat out of the bag" behind everyones back and told Tyson before the prelim.

it is only my observation but looks like, when you study the film, that Tyson made no effort to close his hand around the baton.... i wondered about that when i looked at the film before, thinking maybe the incoming runner had not made the pass, but looks like it was there, in the hand and hard enough to be felt and long enough to be taken!!!???

go figure, i guess if you are not going to get to run wioth the big boys why be a team player...

dj

Wow...if this is true then a lot of people will lose respect for Tyson.

powerplant42 wrote:Sure!

I'm curious... I never really thought about how complex a task like a (sprinting) hand-off really is! What went on at each handoff for the US at Beijing, and what was different from the winning team? What different hand-off styles are there? What sort of things come in to play with these different hand-off styles?

Maybe a new thread for this?

I dont know all of them but I think we have good sprint/handoff coach at ECU. He would make boxes on the track and when one of the foots of the guy with baton hit anywhere in the box then the guy taking the handoff would take off sprinting full speed (he either looked between his legs or under his sholder). They ran like 40.5 this year and only two guys on the team could consistently go under 11.