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Commentary: In this case, going Green a sad
thing
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By RICHARD JUSTICE Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
June 3, 2009, 11:17PM
If you’re really lucky, you’ve had a Dan Green in your life. He’s that
special coach, the one who cussed the loudest, pushed the hardest,
cared the most.
“It’s a calling,” Green said. “It’s like the ministry or being a doctor.
For me, it was never a job. I never really thought of it as going to
work.”
He’s sitting in his office at The Woodlands High School on
Wednesday morning sorting through his emotions as he prepares to
retire after 33 years as the school’s track and cross-country coach.
A lasting impression
Did you have one like him? You hated him one moment, loved him
the next. Funny thing is, you never stopped trying to please him.
Truth be told, you may spend the rest of your life trying to please
him. Sometimes you’ll realize it, sometimes you won’t.
You still quote him, still recall his values, and sometimes when the
road is hard, you still phone him for advice. You know he’ll listen
and talk and care, and you’d trust him with your life.
Gerald James Houston Chronicle
The Woodlands track and cross country coach Dan
Green, holding the 2008 UIL state cross country
trophy, has won 15 cross-country championships.
He’s a two-time national high school cross-country
coach of the year
Familiar face at state
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Let’s not paint this portrait too romantically. Green is an ornery cuss,
demanding and unforgiving and quite frequently loud. He also has
this magical ability to help kids and get them to accomplish things
they never thought possible.
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“Being a coach is really difficult,” he said. “It’s not all about warm,
huggy, feely, and it’s not all about being a jerk, kicking everybody’s
butt. My old college coach used to say, ‘The key to being a good
coach is being an SOB. The really good ones know when to be.’ My
job is to make that kid uncomfortable as hell so he can move in the
direction I want him to go.”
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Green’s résumé is amazing. He has taken teams to state 30 straight
years, won 15 cross-country championships and finished in the top
four 10 other times. He’s a two-time national high school cross-country coach of the year.
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He’ll have one more rodeo this weekend at the state high school track championships in Austin when Reed Connor
and Drew Butler will attempt to sweep the distance events.
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And then sometime late Saturday, he’ll take a walk around the track, hug the kids one final time and be off to the
next chapter in his life.
He’s 61 now, was born and raised in this area, ran track at the University of Houston, won the first Houston
Marathon and got a job teaching math and coaching football at Pearland.
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One day, the football coach asked him to take over the track program. At the time, he was in marathon training,
running around 100 miles a week, going five or six before school most days and eight to 10 afterward.
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He ran on tracks and in neighborhoods and on the sides of roads. He wore these funny-looking Nike waffle
trainers, the shoes that helped speed the running revolution along.
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Sometimes, he’d do 20 miles at Memorial Park, then down two 32-ounce Dr Peppers.
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“We didn’t know anything about recovery in those days,” Green said.
He had tried selling insurance and thought about teaching full time, but there was something about coaching that
he couldn’t get out of his system.
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He was an assistant football coach and assistant track coach at Clear Lake when he had the moment that changed
his life.
“It was 10 o’clock on the bus after the district meet, and I got to talking to this kid that had finished third and didn’t
advance,’’ Green said. “He was crying, and I was crying. That night when we got back, we went out on the track
and ran together. I don’t know how long we ran. We just jogged and talked.
“I said, ‘If you’ll dedicate yourself this summer, I’ll work with you.’ It was a pretty brazen thing to say because I
didn’t even ask the cross-country coach. But I told him I’d give up coaching football and work with him. I took a
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6/4/09 11:14 AM
Justice: Track coach aims to go out with double state win | Sports...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6457186.html
$2,000 pay cut when I was only making $12,000 a year. I coached for nothing.”
proverbial fan
He tells this story when I ask about some of the kids who have touched him through the years. That kid’s name
was Jim Rawlings, who is now Dr. James Rawlings, a chemical engineering teacher at the University of Wisconsin.
Runners hope to send Woodlands coach out as
champ
“What I like about running is that it isn’t the size of the kid, it’s the size of the kid’s heart that matters,” Green said.
“How much desire does this person have?”
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He mentions two more kids.
One is Eric Henry, who still holds the state 3,200-meter record. He was 6-4, weighed 180 pounds and wore size 14
shoes. And there was Stacy Sutter, a state cross-country champ in 1984. He was 5-5, 115 pounds.
There was a time when Green would go to junior high schools in The Woodlands and hustle kids out of PE classes.
“They just come in all shapes and sizes,” he said. “I liked to find kids that were good students and not necessarily
high IQ students. I wanted kids that had to work, that had a good work ethic. If you get those, you can go a long
way.”
Green struggled with the decision to retire, deciding to go, in part, to be able to turn the program over to his son,
Juris. His other son, Danny, is an assistant track coach at Arkansas.
Won’t be far away
He’ll do some motivational speaking and clinics and do some consulting work for the dozens of high school
coaches who seek his advice.
“I have to vacate myself from this program and let the new guys get established and grow,” Green said. “I won’t be
far away. I’ll be in the bushes watching. I asked them to put me a rocking chair and a coffee pot.”
Regrets? Second thoughts?
“No,” he said. “I’d rather go too early than too late. I love this program and want to see it continue.”
Green paused from that thought and ticked off the names of a few more kids.
“I don’t know why I’ve been so blessed,” he said. “I just don’t know.”
richard.justice@chron.com
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notwithstanding wrote:
(0)
Richard, I'm glad you wrote this article. Dan Green is a treasure of a coach. You are writing
about a man has impacted so many lives. You didn't even need to have been coached by him
directly. I was more inspired by him than any of my own coaches (we were in the same district).
His teams were so great, the rest of us were hard pressed to even get out of districts. I was
fortunate to have done so my senior year when he had one of his down years (only 1 kid at
state). His passion and devotion permeated what always appeared to be verbal abuse. Hard to
explain, but through all that marine-like, butt-chewing that he dished out - the only thing that
came through was that he cared and that he loved. I was always envious and wondered what a
coach like that could have extracted out of me. Anycase, he turned all sorts of marmosets into
gorillas. One of the greatest HS track coaches ever.
6/4/2009 9:22:32 AM
Recommend:
(2)
(0)
[Report abuse]
Waldo-Jr wrote:
(0)
"If you’re really lucky, you’ve had a Dan Green in your life. He’s that special coach, the one who
cussed the loudest, pushed the hardest, cared the most." -- I couldn't have said it better myself !
As a former athlete of Dan's, I consider myself blessed. He has touched so very many lives, in
such a positive way. I am proud to have been part of 'The Tradition'.
6/4/2009 8:52:25 AM
Recommend:
(2)
(0)
[Report abuse]
Mrs.Vince_Justice wrote:
Ok Mr. Curse of Richard Justice, I will meet you halfway. I'll stop demanding you leave the Chron
if you write about nothing but track and field. Deal?
6/4/2009 5:53:34 AM
(0)
Recommend:
(2)
(0)
[Report abuse]
tpagosto wrote:
(0)
2 of 4
6/4/09 11:14 AM
Justice: Track coach aims to go out with double state win | Sports...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6457186.html
Thank you for that story Richard. I ran for Dan when he coached at Clear Lake back in 1973 1976 and I can telll you that he had a profound impact on my life as well as all those who ran for
him at that time. You could not have put it better - we loved and feared him and ran not only for
our own success but to gain respect in Dan's eyes. It is uncanny that many of the guys I ran with
I still keep in touch with and whenever I get an opportunity to see Danny it seems like just
yesterday he was whipping my rear with his stopwatch lanyard as we circled around the track
during practice. It was a sad day indeed on that June evening in 1976 when Dan told us he was
leaving to coach at the Woodlands. But the funny thing is we never knew he was coaching us
without pay until many years later. That is the kind of man he is. He sacrificed so much at time
for the love of coaching and seeing a group of young, confused and sometimes misguided kids
grow into maturity and competitors. I have no doubt that I could pick up the phone today and call
Dan and he would lend an ear to listen and advise on whatever problem I might be dealing with.
Again, thank you for that column Richard. Fantastic.
6/4/2009 10:34:45 AM
Recommend:
(1)
(0)
[Report abuse]
tpagosto wrote:
(0)
Thank you for that story Richard. I ran for Dan when he coached at Clear Lake back in 1973 1976 and I can telll you that he had a profound impact on my life as well as all those who ran for
him at that time. You could not have put it better - we loved and feared him and ran not only for
our own success but to gain respect in Dan's eyes. It is uncanny that many of the guys I ran with
I still keep in touch with and whenever I get an opportunity to see Danny it seems like just
yesterday he was whipping my rear with his stopwatch lanyard as we circled around the track
during practice. It was a sad day indeed on that June evening in 1976 when Dan told us he was
leaving to coach at the Woodlands. But the funny thing is we never knew he was coaching us
without pay until many years later. That is the kind of man he is. He sacrificed so much at time
for the love of coaching and seeing a group of young, confused and sometimes misguided kids
grow into maturity and competitors. I have no doubt that I could pick up the phone today and call
Dan and he would lend an ear to listen and advise on whatever problem I might be dealing with.
Again, thank you for that column Richard. Fantastic.
6/4/2009 10:34:45 AM
Recommend:
(1)
(0)
[Report abuse]
notwithstanding wrote:
(0)
Richard, I'm glad you wrote this article. Dan Green is a treasure of a coach. You are writing
about a man has impacted so many lives. You didn't even need to have been coached by him
directly. I was more inspired by him than any of my own coaches (we were in the same district).
His teams were so great, the rest of us were hard pressed to even get out of districts. I was
fortunate to have done so my senior year when he had one of his down years (only 1 kid at
state). His passion and devotion permeated what always appeared to be verbal abuse. Hard to
explain, but through all that marine-like, butt-chewing that he dished out - the only thing that
came through was that he cared and that he loved. I was always envious and wondered what a
coach like that could have extracted out of me. Anycase, he turned all sorts of marmosets into
gorillas. One of the greatest HS track coaches ever.
6/4/2009 9:22:32 AM
Recommend:
(2)
(0)
[Report abuse]
Waldo-Jr wrote:
(0)
"If you’re really lucky, you’ve had a Dan Green in your life. He’s that special coach, the one who
cussed the loudest, pushed the hardest, cared the most." -- I couldn't have said it better myself !
As a former athlete of Dan's, I consider myself blessed. He has touched so very many lives, in
such a positive way. I am proud to have been part of 'The Tradition'.
6/4/2009 8:52:25 AM
Recommend:
(2)
(0)
[Report abuse]
Mrs.Vince_Justice wrote:
Ok Mr. Curse of Richard Justice, I will meet you halfway. I'll stop demanding you leave the Chron
if you write about nothing but track and field. Deal?
6/4/2009 5:53:34 AM
(0)
Recommend:
(2)
(0)
[Report abuse]
Read all comments (4 ) »
3 of 4
6/4/09 11:14 AM