Former Ducks Distance Coach Still Training Cole Hocker, And Others, In Eugene

By David Woods for DyeStat 

Phil Yearian photos

The reorganized Oregon Track Club closely resembles the previous Oregon Track Club.

That’s the way Ben Thomas sees it. He is coaching a new Eugene training group that does not have a sponsor, but does have Nike pro Cole Hocker.

“It's an opportunity for OTC to get back to its grassroots organization past and give Oregon alums and friends an opportunity to continue to train after college in Eugene,” Thomas said in an emailed Q&A with DyeStat.

The Nike-sponsored OTC Elite, begun in 2006, was disbanded last year. Mark Rowland, who had been in Eugene since December 2008, left to become a coach for Athletics Canada.

Meanwhile, Thomas lost his job at the University of Oregon after head coach Robert Johnson was fired. Thomas stayed in Eugene and continues – under the OTC banner – to coach Hocker and six others: Reed Brown, Jack Yearian, Jackson Mestler, Matt Wisner, Aidan Tooker (ex-Syracuse) and Carter Christman.

Led by Hocker’s victory, OTC finished second to Hanson-Brooks Distance Project in the USATF Club Cross Country Championships on Dec. 10 at San Francisco.

OTC opened indoors Friday in the Lilac Grand Prix at Spokane, Wash., where Hocker won the 3,000 meters in 7:51.59. Thomas said the team’s focus is the outdoor season.

Thomas said the OTC runners missed three successive NCAA championships during the pandemic, so this allows them to revisit the chemistry they once enjoyed on a college team. “Not to mention the often much-needed comic relief to enjoy the process,” Thomas said.

In Spokane, Hocker told DyeStat’s Keenan Gray the runners know how to work together and push each other.

Thomas is mindful of the history of the OTC, which was started by Bill Bowerman in 1958 as the Emerald Empire Athletic Association. Goals then were to promote youth programs in track and field, provide training assistance and facilities for those of all ages, and to sponsor one major meet each summer to raise funds.

Those are essentially the aims of the new OTC, too.

In 2021, Thomas said, he began exploring formation of a post-collegiate group for Oregon alumni, apart from OTC Elite.

Thomas, who formerly coached at Appalachian State and Virginia Tech, called Eugene “an amazing place to train.” He said OTC runners don’t have access to Hayward Field, but are allowed to use facilities at South Eugene High School and Lane Community College.

“I’m really enjoying coaching this group right now,” he said. “It really combines all the best aspects of college coaching but with the focus and flexibility of guiding the individual post-collegiate. I think that’s what this group is about.”

Such flexibility, for instance, means no early season peaks to qualify for indoor NCAAs.

“We may not be sharp indoors right now,” Thomas said in Spokane. “When it counts in June, July this year, we’ll be there.”

Flexibility features nine-day training blocks between rest days, rather than six. Cycling has also been included, although Thomas and Hocker declined to elaborate on other specifics.

“The plus side is we’ve been able to avoid big injuries or any layoffs,” Thomas said. “As a coach, the way to really help your athletes is to get them to the big meets healthy. Obviously, it didn’t happen last year for Cole at USAs, and that was tough. I think we learned some things from that and will be better going forward.”

Hocker developed a foot injury before last year’s USATF Outdoor Championships and did not make the team to race on his home Hayward Field track for World Championships. He returned later in the summer for a mini-season, off five weeks of land training, capped by a 3:50 at New York’s Fifth Avenue Mile.

In 2021, just past his 20th birthday, Hocker was sixth in the 1,500 meters at the Tokyo Olympics (in 3:31.40, under the previous Olympic record).

“I’ve seen the highest of this sport in Tokyo. And I’ve seen the lows of this sport last year,” Hocker said in Spokane.

He said his goals are unchanged.

That is, he aims to break the American record in the indoor mile – 3:49.89 by Bernard Lagat in 2005 – and to win a gold medal in August’s World Championships at Budapest, Hungary.

Hocker will next race the Wanamaker Mile on Feb. 11 at New York’s Millrose Games.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.