They defer all glory to the troops.
Somewhere inside, they'd like a pat on the back. But if you shine the spotlight on them brightly, they tend to stick one of their young women in front and on center.
It's called proper protocol. After lock, load and fire.
It's been ages since Dr. Craig Poole left Skyline High School's faculty and ventured into the arena of college coaching, albeit the sometimes forgotten, attention-starved sport of track and field.
A little longer than Poole's change of venue, Patrick Shane left Provo High to work across the street. Like Poole, Shane has developed the Midas touch. Poole is the BYU women's track coach. Shane is his assistant and head cross country coach. Together, they pack a ton of Oscars in this Olympic sport.
This week, one more time, they delivered. Just like a poke at standing dominoes, Poole and Shane watched their BYU women mow everybody down at the Mountain West Conference outdoor championships in Las Vegas that concluded on Saturday.
"We take nothing for granted," Shane said. Humility intended.
Veterans came through. So did freshmen like Sandy's Amy Menlove, who won long jump, and Timpview's Julie Cameron, whose 2:09 in the 800 meters easily distanced all competitors.
BYU women scored 124 points in distance races — a new school record. The breakdown went like this: 30 points in the 5,000; 29 points in the 10K with a 1-2-3-4 sweep; 27 points in the steeplechase, finishing 1-2-4-5; and 15 points in the 800m.
"We have done a pretty good job," Shane admitted. "But we could do nothing without these young women."
Ho-hum, blah, blah, blah, shoot the starter's gun and wait at the finish line. These women annex another title. If it weren't for San Diego State clipping the Cougars last year, this sport would appear almost fill-in-the-blanks and hand-out-the-medals routine.
This weekend, the Cougars won by more than the seven- to 10-point margin they'd projected. "We had people rise up and everyone contributed," Shane said.
The 2004 title is the 32nd in 23 seasons won in indoor and outdoor track over the years by Poole's women. This spans competition in the old HCAC, WAC and MWC since 1983. For Shane, he's had 32 runners earn 94 all-American citations in track and field and cross country.
If you want a breakdown, Poole/Shane women won all eight of the HCAC championships and went eight for nine in the old WAC. Except for losing to San Diego State in outdoors last spring, they're perfect there, as well.
Both Poole and Shane, their athletes will tell you, are impressive with their knowledge, first of all. Second, they motivates by breaking down each person. They find out what makes them tick, then fine-tune each part, from diet to workout, from psyche to footsteps.
That isn't an easy chore, coaches who coach women will tell you. It takes a special approach. Executing it, in a world where emotions and social bonding often take precedence over fitness and physiology, is demanding.
OK, that's a fancy way of saying women can be, um, ah, capricious. Poole and Shane overcome. They produce consistency. Somebody ought to put them on Oprah.
Self-help books and tapes to follow.
"I think it takes something unique to coach period," Shane said Saturday.
"Whether young men or young women. The women sometimes respond differently to different approaches to motivate them. Some approaches work better than others. You have to have a sense to ask for what they want and there is a uniqueness there."
So, it's on to Cal-Northridge and the NCAA Regionals.
"We've had a great run," Poole said. "We have a great team of coaches and we've been blessed with some great young women. We couldn't do it without these great young athletes and we've had some great chemistry."
Spoken like a coach. Spoken for Poole.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com