Louie Quintana - interview with former Arroyo Grande HS Star new head distance Coach Ariz St Univ - Doug Speck

1990 Louie pictured with fellow National Prep CC Champ Melody Fairchild

At Arroyo Grande HS Louie Quintana had one of the most successful prep careers in California State history in the late 1980's and early 1990's. I remember way back when Coach Greg Denike greeted him after he came off the track at the 1989 Arcadia Invite after running 4:12 for 1600m as a soph. His match-ups during the 1990 track season with arch rival, Carpinteria's Coley Candaele, were legendary, with Coley ending up the national prep leader that year with a 4:06 1600 and Louie 4:07 (#3 nation) that eleventh grade campaign for himself! His senior year he was the National Prep Cross Country Champ in December, and raced 1:50.2 to lead the nation over 800m, and 4:09 for 1600m that spring. He went on to Villanova and did some super running, summarized below, and we were pleased to see his name show up as a grad assistant a few years back at Arizona State University in the Pac 10. As Louie indicates below, Head Coach Walt Drenth moved on, and Louie was named the head of the fine Sun Devil program in our neighboring state. Just recently having taken the job, the busy new Head Coach took the time to answer a few questions for us, and the Div I collegiate cross-country and track distance results will be reviewed with a bit more interest in the future with this fine Californian leading on the nation's top distance programs.

1) Briefly trace your career since graduation from Arroyo Grande HS--
My successful career at Arroyo Grande propelled me into an exciting career on the east coast at Villanova where I was a 9-time all american in Cross Country and Track and Field. I was at Villanova during a resurgence of the men's program - which made it a lot of fun to be a part of the men's program. I went to Villanova with good friend David Hartman (former Canyon CC great) - we vowed to put Villanova back on the map - I believe we did - our soph years in Cross Country we made the nationals as a team for the first time in a decade - went from the bottom to 4th nationally - I was 4th in the race and Dave was 33rd. I had a lot of success on the track - ran real fast - 1:46, 3:40 - 7:58 for 3k - got to race in Europe a couple of times - and in the Olympic Trials - it was quietly a great career.

2) How did you end up at Arizona State?
Well, I really wanted to get my foot in the door with coaching and I wanted to do it the right way - by starting at the bottom. I knew I had a lot to learn about running a program - and learning the behind-the-scenes day-to-day operations of a developing a DI team. I think based on my name alone that I could have landed somewhere - but good runners don't always make successful coaches - so I wanted to learn from the best. My wife was getting sick and tired of me talking about getting in to coaching that finally she gave me a put up or shut up ultimatum - and I made a few calls. We were living in San Luis Obispo at the time - she had come from Phoenix, AZ to go to Cal Poly - I really thought it would be great to work at Arizona State - I knew Walt Drenth from his days at William and Mary - and respected him a great deal - I also knew one of their top guys, Ronnie Buchanan, because my dad had coached him in High School - and thought that it would be great to work with him. So I called Walt in November of 2001 and said I'd like to be your Grad Assistant in the fall of 2002 when the GA (Corey Ihmels 1991 FL Champ) is done with his stint. Walt said - you have great timing - Corey just got hired to be the head cross country/distance coach at his alma mater Iowa State - Walt asked if I could come out and start in January. So my wife and I packed up are cars and a uhaul and moved to Tempe, AZ. I worked for virtually no money - at 28 years old it was a huge sacrifice. When I was done with my masters in may of 2003 - ASU decided to hire me full time as an assistant - a year later - this summer - Walt took the job at Michigan State - my timing paid off again - and I was offered the head cross country job here at ASU - just an awesome opportunity.

3) Who was most important in helping you develop your philosophy on training during your career as an athlete or a coach?
At Villanova, I was recruited by Marty Stern - who was a famed Women's coach - he was there for a couple of years and then retired. After that I had three different coaches at Villanova - each had a different philosophy - so I have taken pieces from them all. Some of my biggest influences, however, have been people who have been in my life for a long time. My dad was an incredibly successfuly coach at Righetti HS in Santa Maria (now a JC coach at Allan Hancock in Santa Maria)- he is such a great motivator - he is passionate - I believe that his style has certainly rubbed off on me both as a competitor and coach. I was a very emotional runner - some people my have thought I was a show off - but I felt it pumped up my teammates - got them to run better - that is what I do know as a coach - get them to believe - get them to follow their dreams. Mark Conover at Cal Poly and Joe Rubio - co-owner of Venue Sports - are a wealth of knowledge - I have had the luxury of being friends with them for 15 years - they have really molded the X's and O's for me - helping me build a sound approach for distance running. And obviously, Walt Drenth, has been a tremendous influence on my style and philosophy - he has a way of making mediocre teams great - he is also very passionate - and well versed in the physiology of the sport - he is a nice resource to call upon.

4) How do the Men's and Women's squads at ASU look coming into the 2004 Fall?
The women's team wants to be a top 4 team nationally - I feel the pieces are in place to make that happen. We have qualified out of the tough west region 6 years in a row - we were 14th nationally last year - we bring in some great kids - got lucky with a couple of transfers - we believe in ourselves - and we will have a great season.

The men have not made the NCAA's since 2001 - but we have a solid team that had a tremendous season on the track. We add Casey Burchill (Buchanan HS 2002) from Colorado - he immediately makes us better - our goal is to be in the top 15 nationally - but I feel we can be a top ten team. We have a couple of Fresno boys on our team (JJ Duke Clovis HS - State D1 XC Champ) - which will be nice when we race at Woodward Park for the West Regionals - I know that course like the back of my hand - so hopefully that helps.

I'm excited about this opportunity - I've gotten several calls from California High School coaches happy that I'm now the guy at ASU - it's nice to have west coast roots when coaching at a PAC 10 school - hopefully having me here at the helm will attract some of California's finest to the desert southwest!

Thanks so much - see you down the road.

Louie Quintana