Role Reversal
April 21, 2008 12:13 AM | General
April 21, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sean Cleary was in a conundrum. He had just been named head track coach at West Virginia University and the euphoria of getting a job he admittedly always had one eye on was tempered by the sobering thought that he needed a lot of help.
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| Marty Pushkin is back on the track and he's got another prized pupil to work with in freshman hurdler Chelsea Carrier.
WVU Photography Services/Dan Friend photo |
His area of expertise has always been in the distance events and he has done a remarkable job of transforming the distance program at WVU. That success has even seeped down into the high school ranks where the area high schools today are producing some of the best distance runners in the country – some of whom also just happen to be running at West Virginia.
Cleary knew that in order for his program to avoid becoming one dimensional – strong in just a few areas - he needed to hire a staff of coaches to come to WVU who knew what they were doing. That point was driven home when All-American heptathlete Abbie Stechschulte decided to follow Jeff Huntoon to Indiana. Huntoon coached her event at WVU and Stechschulte wasn’t sure if Cleary was going to be able to get someone with Huntoon’s expertise in here in time for her final season of eligibility. It was a legitimate concern.
Two of his coaches, Jennifer Davis and Rebecca Stallwood, were distance standouts at West Virginia. Former Auburn national champion Shelly Galimore covers the jumps and Tim Sullivan works with the pole vaulters. That still left sprinters, hurdlers and quarter-milers unattended.
Before leaving Huntoon had recruited 11-time state champion hurdler Chelsea Carrier from nearby Buckhannon to WVU and Cleary was worried that Carrier might also choose to go with Huntoon to Indiana.
That was when Sean decided to call an old buddy that was living over on Hickory Ridge Road who was spending his golden years working in the garden and making more than enough wine to drink himself. Morgantown’s No. 1 gardener also happened to be its No. 1 expert on sprinters, hurdlers and quarter-milers: Marty Pushkin.
“I called Marty and asked him if he wanted to come over and help out as a volunteer coach. He jumped at it,” Cleary said.
The roles were completely reversed. Pushkin was Cleary’s coach at WVU and he was also the man who gave Sean his start in the business.
“When I first started with him he was much more hands-on with me - as he should have been,” Cleary remembered.
Pushkin has a slightly different recollection.
“I let him pretty much take the guys (distance runners) and I stayed with the girls,” Pushkin said. “He was recruiting some really good Canadian girls but he worked with the guys.”
What Cleary and Pushkin are doing today at WVU isn’t without precedence. Auburn coach Ralph Spry has managed to win a national title and produce five top-five finishes with former Tiger and Olympic coach Mel Rosen hanging around the track as a consultant for the past 14 years. Rosen coached the 1992 Olympic team to its best showing in 36 years with eight gold medalists and five Olympic records.
“I think it’s invaluable to young coaches … to not use those resources personally I believe is silly,” Cleary admitted.
The reality is Cleary had little difficulty prying Pushkin out of the house. Pushkin may be pushing 72 but he still looks like a man who is 52. And he thoroughly enjoys being around young people. When Marty was younger and still full of vim and vinegar he would sometimes test the limits of his khaki pants and loafers by giving personal demonstrations to his hurdlers.
“Those days are long gone,” he chuckled. “I have a new hip. It may have a 30-year guarantee but I won’t live that long. It’s like buying a house with a 30-year mortgage when you’re 75.”
What is remarkable is that both Cleary and Pushkin are completely comfortable with the situation. Pushkin spent nearly 40 years of his life making all of the big decisions. If one of his assistants messed up it was his neck. Now that burden falls on Cleary.
“Sean is secure,” Pushkin said. “He doesn’t have any problems with confidence. If he were the type of guy that was always worried about somebody looking over his shoulder or saying something or having their nose in his business … but he’s not and I’m not the kind of guy that’s going to do it. If I have suggestions I will take him aside and we talk. I say, ‘Hey, if you don’t mind me saying …’ He will say, ‘No, no I want you to tell me.’”
Plus, Pushkin believes Sean will one day master all of the events. He’s that good of a coach. Pushkin offered some personal insight.
“We all started from nothing and learned,” Pushkin explained. “The first time I ever went to Virginia Tech to coach down there I went as a head coach and I had never been to a cross country meet. I was a multi-event athlete. Don’t you think I didn’t start learning quickly – even learning how to score cross country meets? Eventually I felt that I became a pretty competent distance coach.”
This happy reunion brings us back to Chelsea Carrier, a tremendous talent that is really starting to blossom under Pushkin’s watchful eye.
Carrier was the top point-scorer at the state high school meet all four years she was at Buckhannon-Upshur. She owns one West Virginia and three state-meet records. Despite having an athletic family – her father Rick was a football and track standout at West Virginia Wesleyan College and her mother Andrea was a high school gymnast - Chelsea says she knew next to nothing about hurdling in high school. She didn’t plow through the hurdles, but she wasn’t exactly gliding over them either.
“I got over them but I was always a little too high,” she said.
Carrier learned how to hurdle by watching the hurdlers that she liked on television. Her best time of 14.22 in high school was basically the result of hard work and natural athletic ability.
When Huntoon recruited her to West Virginia he figured he could mold her into a solid college hurdler by the time she was a sophomore or junior. Also, because she could hurdle the opportunity was there for her to compete in the heptathlon because hurdling is the most difficult part of that event to master.
Yet Cleary said even Huntoon was surprised by how much Carrier has improved in such a short period of time. Trimming nearly a half-second off her PR in the 100 hurdles is almost unheard of.
“Is Marty the best hurdles coach in the country or is Chelsea that good?” Huntoon asked Cleary.
“You know what? When good kids are good it makes it easy,” Pushkin smiled.
The freshman’s best time so far of 13.78 is the 55th fastest in the country and she expects to reach the mid 13s by the end of this year. That puts her in contention for NCAAs. Carrier also is a national-caliber performer in the heptathlon. Cleary believes she will come close to scoring the necessary 5,300 or 5,400 that it will take to qualify for NCAAs in that event.
“She’s very quick,” Pushkin said. “Some of the quickness she has will make up for her lacking strength right now. She has to have the proper technique but she’s learning. Our coaches have done a good job with her. It’s hard for a heptahlete to get around to all of the events in a week’s time because you’re trying to get ready for a meet. That’s why it takes a couple of years.”
Pushkin doesn’t travel to meets and he relies on telephone calls from fellow volunteer assistant Jason Jones for updates. They also bring back video tapes for Pushkin to watch.
“I’ll call him at the meet or he’ll call me to get some feedback,” Pushkin said. “We’re all working together with it. We have pretty good chemistry as coaches. They let me know what she’s doing and I always talk to her.”
“He knows what he’s talking about,” Carrier said. “He’s been around for so many years. I don’t think I could have anyone better than him right now.”
Carrier admits that there are times when Pushkin references a past athlete or uses an expression that she’s not familiar with.
“He tries to use different words so that it soaks into my head,” she laughed. “He reminds me of my grandpa. He wants you to understand it more and he makes us work harder – it’s definitely old school.”
“I think coaching has gone through so many changes in the last 25-30 years and old-school is exactly right,” Cleary added. “Old school worked. Hopefully I’ve got some new ideas and all of us can create some of the best track teams that have ever participated here.”
Although he refuses to travel, Pushkin said he will think long and hard about going to nationals should Chelsea qualify.
“No deals – I haven’t made any deals,” Pushkin said. “I have a phobia for busses. I will fly but I won’t get on a bus. We’ll wait and see but she doesn’t need me. When a kid goes to a meet they are taking all of the knowledge and all of the wisdom with them.”
The entire WVU women’s program is gaining a lot of knowledge and wisdom with Marty Pushkin once again spending his afternoons at the track. Besides, there is still plenty of time in the mornings and the evenings for an old track coach to get his gardening done.
