By Bryan Green

Ritz left Brad Hudson for Alberto Salazar, and hasn't looked back.

Whenever an athlete changes coaches, the inevitable reactions occur, as we've seen in the case of Ryan Hall's announcement this week.  "It's about time he made a change, he was stagnating!"  "Why would he leave Mahon, who coached him to such fast times?"  "Nike made him do it so Alberto Salazar could give him PEDs!"

(Okay, I made up that last one.  At least until a letsrun poster proves me wrong.)  

As I argued in May, 2009, I think coaching changes are often a good thing.  About 18 months ago, we saw a number of high profile athletes change coaches, including Jeremy Wariner, Shalane Flanagan, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Erin Donohue.  I wrote about their moves in an article titled, "Coaching Changes: Why Not More?" and outlined the four main situations in which I think athletes are justified (if not compelled) to change coaches.

Since that article was written, all four of the above athletes have gone on to experience varying levels of success.  Wariner returned to Clyde Hart and was the #1 400m runner in the world this year (with some help from LaShawn Merritt's suspension).  Flanagan ran close to her best on the track, debuted in the half marathon to US #4 all-time, and is preparing for the NYC marathon in a couple weeks.  Ritz broke the US 5,000 meter AR, finished third at the World Half Marathon champs, and is also preparing for the NYC marathon.  And Erin Donohue broke 2:00 in the 800 meters and continues to prove doubters wrong.  Their moves appear to have worked out.

But their moves also had clear motives.  If you had asked what each of the athletes wanted, we could have answered pretty clearly.  Wariner wanted to get back to World #1.  Ritz wanted to stop underachieving.  Donohue wanted a coach who believed in and supported her goals.  Flanagan wanted, as near as I can tell, to get away from John Cook.

I guess the big question is: What does Ryan Hall want?

Joe Battaglia at Universal Sports thinks that Ryan wants to experience spiritual euphoria in his running, and that winning is not his top priority.  I disagree, primarily because I think it's not an either/or distinction for Hall.  I think Ryan Hall truly believes that spiritual euphoria isn't just the end goal, but it's the means by which he will land atop the victory stand.  For Hall, the two aren't separate goals at all.

With that said, I'm afraid Hall may be confusing means with ends.  When he broke the half marathon AR and won the US Olympic Marathon Trials, he just went out there and blew everyone away.  They were joyous, euphoric romps.  In the process, he ran away from the competition and won in dramatic fashion.  But was it the feeling of running free and the euphoria that led to the win, or was it the way in which he won that generated the feeling of euphoric "freeness"?  (And was it the years of speedwork preceding that year that led to his ability to run that fast in the first place?)

The more important thing about Hall is that he feels compelled to live his life and pursue his career on his own terms.  He is his own man, entirely comfortable in his own skin.  I don't have any direct experience with his training group, but I've had discussions with others who live and train in Mammoth.  I've always had the impression not that Hall followed Mahon's coaching plan so much as Mahon created a coaching plan that Ryan Hall would follow.

There's a slight difference between the two.  In the first, the athlete ultimately submits to the will of the coach.  In the second, the athlete dictates the boundaries within which the coach can perform his job.  

Hall's fans--including myself--often wonder why he never goes back to the track and why he races so sparingly.  If he were in Alberto Salazar's group, for example, we wouldn't wonder that.  We would know it is because it's not part of Alberto's plan.  But with Hall, the more likely answer is simply that he doesn't want to, and coach Mahon was never going to change that.

Could Hall have beaten Merga had he not been "running free"?

That's why it's hard to figure out what Ryan Hall wants.  If he really wanted to be the best in the world, the approach we would expect is for him to find the best coach and then allow that coach to chart the path.  That may eventually happen, but for now he plans to coach himself.  And that makes me believe this isn't about what Ryan Hall wants, but rather what he doesn't want.

My suspicion is that Hall doesn't want to be told things he doesn't want to hear.  

After all, that's pretty much a coach's job, right?  To tell you not to overdo it even though you feel great.  To tell you to do another rep even though you feel exhausted.  To keep those days when you just don't have it in perspective.  To provide the framework that allows you to be successful, despite how you might feel at any given point.  In short, to save you from yourself when you are at your weakest.  

To be fair, Hall may not need that.  Or maybe he can get that guidance from friends and family.  I'm skeptical of any athlete who thinks he can do a better job coaching himself than the best coaches in the world (whom Hall would surely have access to if he so desired).  For me, the concern isn't that he left Mahon, but that he's going it alone.  But none of this makes his decision right or wrong.  It all depends on what he wants.



Whether that's spiritual euphoria, to train completely on his own terms, or simply to no longer have to hear whatever Mahon had to tell him, this will give him the chance to realize those goals.  But if his goal is to realize his own potential, I'm dubious but willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

As the best marathoner in the US, I can only hope he has made the right choice.  I hope the next time we see him he is rejuvenated and challenging for the lead within a pack of Africans.  I hope the Ryan Hall we see at the 2012 Olympic Games is the free spirit that we glimpsed back in 2008, whether he's accompanied by a coach or not.