---
Former Mounds Park Academy and University of Minnesota standout runner Declan Dahlberg is now back at his alma mater of Mounds Park Academy, now as a co-head coach of the boys and girls cross country teams.
We caught up with Dahlberg to talk about how he came back to Mounds Park Academy, his coaching philosophy, and what he has learned as a coach thus far.
---
After graduating from the University of Minnesota, you have now started your career in coaching as the Co-Head Coach at your alma mater at Mounds Park Academy. How did that come to be?
I'm fortunate to have a great relationship with our athletic director, Dan Haase, and my Co-Head Coach (and Minnesota running legend) Bev Docherty. I reached out this past summer about the potential for me to come back in a coaching capacity and we were able to make it work. It is a special opportunity to be able to work alongside Bev, who was my coach in high school, and it is so fun for me to be back helping the program that I started my running career with.
Have you always seen yourself as someone to pursue coaching after your collegiate running career?
I always thought that I'd coach eventually, but I anticipated that would be in my retirement many years down the line. To get the opportunity to be in a coaching position this soon was surprising and exciting for me. I have a lot of flexibility with my full-time job and that has allowed me to devote a portion of my time to being back at Mounds Park Academy.
As someone who had a successful high school career at Mounds Park Academy and at the University of Minnesota, what do you believe to have to offer as a coach?
I think my experiences in high school and college running at a high-level have prepared me well to coach. More than any successes, I think that the roadblocks and challenges I have faced in my individual career help me better prepare my athletes to navigate their respective running paths. I can highlight areas in my career where I got ahead of myself, made mistakes, or struggled and better prepare them for when they face the same challenges.
What does successful coaching look like to you?
Successful coaching to me is different for each of my athletes. Of course I'm competitive and want my teams and athletes to win, but MPA is unique in that we have one team, from 6th grade to seniors, who practice together so we see a wide range of ages, abilities, and individual goals. Top-end success doesn't mean that I have done my job as a coach up and down the roster. Success for one athlete may not be the same for another. For me, making sure that each athlete has a positive experience on the team is the most important thing, regardless of whether their goal is to finish a race without stopping or win the state championship. If I can bring my athletes closer to their goals while helping to develop them as athletes and young adults I see that as success.
When you were a runner at Minnesota, what were you able to learn about coaching from Coach Bingle, Coach Hopkins, and others?
I've been fortunate to have many fantastic coaches. Daniel Ethier, Bev Docherty, Steve Plasencia, Coach Hopkins and Coach Wick were some of the ones I worked directly with and they all were different in their philosophy and style of coaching. The most important thing I learned in my time with each of them is patience, consistency, and balance. Improvement in running is incremental and we oftentimes get caught up in looking for tangible feedback for our efforts over short periods. These mentors of mine taught me to buy into the long-term project and find balance in emotions, athletics, academics, etc.
In your short time as a coach at Mounds Park Academy, what has been your biggest challenge?
Honestly one of the biggest challenges for me has been learning my runners' paces for workouts. After years of only having to worry about my training zones/paces it has been a learning curve to figure out where each of my athletes are at and how I can effectively communicate the intention of a workout to a wider range of experience levels than I am used to. Time management has also been a challenge, between my other job, coaching, and my running career I have learned a lot of the behind-the-scenes work that coaches do! Certainly took that for granted when I was on the other otherside!
What goals would you like to achieve as a coach at Mounds Park Academy?
In the short term we have some really exciting talents on the boys and girls sides. I want our teams to go to state consistently and I think we have the talent to do that this year with the boys team along with some really talented individuals on the girls side. Long-term I want to continue to grow as a coach and help develop the culture and spirit among the team that will aid in the continued success and positive-experience for future students to enjoy. Lastly, I want every athlete I coach to walk away with something positive and useful that they can carry forward with them after they graduate whether they continue running or not. There are so many positive gifts that running gives us that apply to all areas of life and sharing those with the next generation is important to me.
Right now it is commitment season for high school seniors. What advice would you offer those who are choosing their schools now or in the near future?
Go somewhere that is the right fit for you. Just because a school rolls out the red carpet or has long histories of success doesn't mean that it is the best place for you to develop as a person or runner. Finding the culture and environment that helps you develop throughout your 4/5 years is the most important thing. Most people aren't setting the NCAA on fire their first year and finding a program and coach who will support your long-term development is the most important thing.
I also want to emphasize that if you aspire to run at a top program you need to know that it will be your 'full-time-job' in college. In all three divisions the talent at the top end is incredible and if you want to compete you need to be comfortable with the sacrifices you will make in other areas of your life to pursue your running goals. It is totally fine if you would rather not make those sacrifices because you want a different college experience, but if running at a high-level is your goal, your coaches and teammates will expect you to be 100% bought in to the program.
Outside of coaching, what are you now doing?
Outside of coaching I work full-time now in a medicinal chemistry lab at the University of Minnesota studying cancer therapeutics. I plan to work and coach for the next two years before going back to medical school in 2024. I am also pursuing my professional running aspirations in the marathon and am looking to run the OTQ at some point in the next year and a half.
