Sutton coaching: anyone??

He seems to be pretty successful in his coaching, but in the big picture, he crossed a line with me...

per wiki

"In 1999 Brett Sutton pleaded guilty to five times child sexual abuse charges with a 14 year old female triathlete in Australia during the late 1980s including one case during a massage and one oral sex case in a car.^"

He certainly seems to know his stuff, but I doubt his "coaching" is actually done by him. Personal coaching with him would be very expensive.I think you'd get better value from paying a personal coach without the big name (and baggage) of a guy like Sutton. If you look closely, you can find incredible coaches in any number of places, including here on BT. I'd take most of those coaches over Sutton ANY day of the week!

X2.

Athletes are successful usually despite their coach!

If Brett's coaching isn't done by him, who do you believe is doing it?

I've worked closely w/ a # of Brett/TBB athletes (most recently James Cunnama & Scott Defilippis who placed 1st & 12th at IMF this weekend) & can assure you, they're in touch w/ 'The Doc' w/ virtually every element of their training.

Based on the OPs question I *think* Andrew meant if one was to get one of the generic plans or even coaching through ironguides that you wouldn't be getting coaching from Sutton; instead you get coaching of one of the associates based on Sutton approach,/philosophy/beliefs, at least that's my understanding.

How many athletes does TBB have?  Outside of the select few that are in contention for top finishing spots like the two you mentioned, do ALL of the TBB athletes get personal coaching by Sutton?  It's not possible.  Any coach has a limit on the number of athletes they can handle before the amount of time/effort they can give to each one erodes.

I'm sure all the TBB athletes benefit from his coaching "philosophy" and the generic plans may be okay, but that just backs up my point that if you're going to shell out money for coaching, you'll be much better off hiring a coach who can give you a large share of his attention and really get to know you as an athlete.

Exactly. 

I have always wondered if coaches who work with high level pros can relate to a typical AG athlete.  The genetic gifts that the top pros posess are different from the average guy/gal.

Opinion piece from letsrun.

Note: the author is himself a coach of some repute.

A coach is a coach. A good coach should be able to coach a person regardless of standing. People don't start out as elite athletes; they have to be discovered, then cultivated, usually over years. In the meantime, those coaches help lots of other athletes along the way. So yes, a coach that trains elite athletes should absolutely be able to train others as well. The fundamentals of endurance sports are the same no matter what level you're at.

Yes a person who has coached elites can coach non-elites.

Of course, it's as much up to the individual being coached as it is the coach.

But maybe I don't understand what you mean by "can". Are you wondering if an elite coach will get results with non-elite athletes?

I feel like this EVERY time one of my athlete's has a great race.  Well said.

My point is simply that a coach who is used to dealing with top tier athletes may have trouble relating to someone who is not geneticly gifted and/or not as motivated?  Not saying that he can't but I feel an average AGer shouldn't look at a coach and get stars in his/her eyes just because the coach has Chrissie in his stable.  As someone else stated, there are lots of good coaches on BT who don't coach the top 2% but might do a better job.  That's all.

I think it depends. Some athletes indeed succeed in spite of their coach and some do so because of their coach.
Some might have the talent but failed to get to that next level and a simple 'push' or a 'tweak' from their coach get them there; something they might not have achieved on their own.

I told you to stop talking about me in public!

Meaning...you have given me the tools and I keep forgetting them at home.  {sad face}

A good coach can.

You left out the athlete who receives good coaching but fails to achieve the results they probably should.  Call it failing in spite of their coaching!

Bottom line, give me a coach who gets to know their athletes and can pay attention to the nuances of coaching and make those minor changes that really help the athlete maximize their training over the overhyped big name coach who uses his name to pull money from AGers who will never actually receive his coaching.