Redwood’s track and field sprint coach Earl Downing has been coaching for six years and continues to make a great impact and connection with his athletes as he dedicates himself to their success.
Downing started his high school coaching career at Marin Catholic High School (MC) in 2007. He was there for a year, before moving to Terra Linda High School until 2012. He then returned to MC, coaching there until 2019, where then started coaching at Redwood in 2020.
“I’ve always had a high school team that I’ve supported. Then at the general level, I work with people from all of the different schools that come to me. I work with them on their individual sports,” Downing said.
Growing up with four little sisters and younger brother, coaching has always been in Downing’s blood. From a young age, he learned to become a fun coach by making games for his sisters.
“That’s what coaching is, it’s games, it’s how to be good at games, and it’s having fu
n at games!” Downing said.
As parents of athletes around Marin began to come to Downing and he began to coach, he brought fun techniques to teenagers.“[Parents] were looking for direction, skill, ability, and for improvement, [which] happens during the teenage years,” Downing said.
Downing loves coaching younger athletes because he can teach them critical skills and help them develop into stronger athletes.
“It’s really really valuable for a coach to be accurate in that. To be able to assess a skill set and not just physical skills, but know psychological skills, mental skills, work ethic, the whole package,” Downing said.
Downing said he fell in love with track when he went to a meet in high school. He went to Yale University where he played football, but joined the track and field team later on.
“They were such good people and just so smart and had such depth and details to their character. They were different from football players. Different in a good way,” Downing said.
From his passion for track to the people he met along the way, Downing wanted to continue to pursue this sport by coaching his own athletes and allowing them to have a great experience like he did.
Freshman sprinter Kellan Kurth said that Downing isn’t only focused on coaching, he also cares a lot about his athletes.
“From the tryouts, [I could] tell he really puts a lot of care into his team overall and individually every runner,” Kurth said.
Kurth said that what sets Downing apart from other coaches is that he gives you the blunt critique when you need it.
“He sets up a phone, he records your running and gives you feedback. I think that’s really cool and I’ve never seen that before.”
Kurth also noticed how D
owning pays a lot of attention to making his athletes feel good about themselves, even when they’re injured.
“He’ll say what’s right and what’s wrong for you. He will put you on a good path forward and tell you what to do to get better and get back on track,” Kurth said.
Downing said he doesn’t coach mentality, but instead guides athletes to a path of progression.
“What I aspire to do is to get my athletes connected with their own forward progress and to become internally illuminated to where they have desires,” said Downing.
He wants his athletes to get to the point where they are waking up every morning wanting to take another step forward towards their athletic dreams.
Distance Coach Nicole Graydon has coached alongside Downing for six years and has experienced firsthand, his passion and commitment to the sport as well as the team’s success.
“Earl is not a nerd, but Earl is the ultimate track nerd, he’s obsessed with data,” Graydon said.
Graydon said that Downing has a very scientific and athletic approach to coaching in general.
The love he has for the sport has allowed him to become a great coach, further motivating him to push his athletes.
“I’ve been taught by how much [my athletes] enjoyed performing and to the extent that I created that environment and supported them in that [environment] and seeing what a good experience they had, that I’m really good at [coaching].”
