Mike Smith, the head coach of Northern Arizona University men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams, Australian Sprinter, 16, Runs Record-Breaking 200m after the collegiate cross-country season ended. In a lengthy email, he explained to Runner’s World why he decided to work with Rupp, a controversial figure in American running, due to his longtime association with Alberto Salazar. Do you expect him to make the Olympic team in the marathon.
This is the full text of the email:
RW: Did you have any previous relationship with Galen Rupp? How did it come to pass that you are coaching him? How did he get your name?
Mike Smith: I had never met or spoken to Galen Rupp in my life. Probably like anyone who follows the sport, I’ve read about him as one of the most decorated distance runners in American history, but certainly with plenty of questions around him. The phone call I received from him last fall was a surprise. He introduced himself and the situation he was in, with a humble regard to its current context.
Because of its timing and the headlines I was reading like everyone else at the time, this was not a road I wanted to go down. To be honest, it was just easiest to turn it down. I’m actually—as crazy as this sounds—really proud I did not, however. And I’m also well aware of what comes with that. I think for both of our sake it’s best we were strangers; he needed a clean slate. I took a long time to think about this and got to ask Galen some hard questions.
Given the news out of the Rupp camp in recent months—with Salazar’s suspension and the shuttering of the NOP—do you worry about what working with Rupp will do to your reputation? Why did you want to work with Rupp?
My agreement to work with Galen on his running is as much in the interest of working with an athlete at the highest level as it is to call attention to questions such as this.
What is Galen accused of? And I honestly mean that; we should have to answer that question. Association? Where did we become so sure of this story around him? We should really care to get this right, for any athlete. If Galen Rupp is found to violate the rules of our sport, I’m the first one out, and he knows that.
For me to step forward in this, I would have to believe there is more worth exploring here. And that’s what I hope to call attention to, that [if] someone who has never met this person, with way more to lose than to gain, can still agree to work with him, maybe we should revisit what we’re so certain of. What I found out by getting to know Galen was that there was much more going on than the picture portrayed of him, and I wish the world knew that. I have never seen someone more all-in in my life.
I’m very certain of who I am and what I stand for—and this sport means the world to me. More important, each day I show up and look in the eye of a group of 19-year-olds at NAU who know the standard I ask of them and myself. I can’t wait to tell them about Galen. I believe there is no better time to be a college coach than now—we talk about tough subjects and I’ll love talking to them about this one. But it won’t be about how we write off anyone—even who the media has portrayed the villain. It will be about having the courage to question and listen, and how through that they might find [that] their own ways to challenge the sport they too love is also to demand the best of it.
All About 75 Hard after Chicago? February 29 in Atlanta?
Galen is training well right now. He has worked through a lot post surgery but is running pain-free. I like what I’m seeing right now, but we have a long way to go.
CA Notice at Collection since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books? Do you expect him to make the Olympic team in the marathon?
Yes, I expect him to line up in Atlanta on February 29th and contend for a spot on the 2020 Olympic team.
Did you give any thought to having him not race the marathon and instead aim for the track trials in the 10,000 meters?
No.
What do you think you bring him as a coach in terms of training perspective?
I’ve asked him to open his mind to what’s possible with change. He’s completing new types of training he’s never done in his career and been very coachable thus far in what I’m requesting of him. I imagine that can’t be easy with his age and experience. Change can breathe fresh life into an athlete, which can translate to reconnecting with joy in the sport, which is my wish for him.
I wish everyone could see what I get to see—there is a mindset inside Galen Rupp that is an immeasurable talent, and a willingness to step forward into a very uncomfortable place in his career. I’m going to match him with that commitment.
Foot Locker XC Results is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World The Top Celeb 5K Times of 2024, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
