Who are the legendary coaches?

skateluvr · Dec 22, 2011

I wonder historically who are the best coaches in the world over time. In the USA, I am guessing Frank Carroll would be among the very top coaches for singles. I think of Linda Fratianne, La Kwan, Lysacek, Goebel who had great sucesses. Who were the legendary coaches of singles over the world?

Carlo Fassi comes to mind for Peggy and Dorothy. Mishin and Tarasova in Russia for Yagudin, Plushenko, Arakawa,Asada.

Can others with better memeories add to the singles coaches of legend and who they coached? Other disciplines much appreciated.

Tamara Moskvina for Russian Pairs seems too large for life with her students over the years. What makes a great coach who gets his students to elite levels?

Dragonlady · Dec 23, 2011

Doug Leigh who coached Brian Orser, Elvis Stojko, Takeshi Honda, Stephen Cousins and Jennifer Robinson.

Osborne Colson who coached Don Laws, Sarah Kawahara, Lori Nichol and Patrick Chan.

Buttercup · Dec 23, 2011

Tamara Moskvina and Alexei Mishin (who were wise not to go into the same disciplines when they ended their pairs career).

Bin Yao, who took the Chinese program from nothing to multiple Olympic medals and world championships.

Nobuo Sato.

The late Maribel Vinson Owen was hugely influential, wasn't she?

Macassar88 · Dec 23, 2011

I guess some in the making could be Steur and Zoueva/Shpilband for their work right now
Also Orser and maybe Krylova/Camerlengo

aftertherain · Dec 23, 2011

I would think John Nicks is one, who coached Peggy Fleming, Sasha Cohen, and Tai Babilonia/Randy Gardner. Perhaps Galina Zmievskaya as well, who coached Olympic Champions Oksana Bauil and Viktor Petrenko, and U.S. Champ Johnny Weir. Nikolai Morozov's coached a bunch of skaters and I don't know if Yao Bin would count as one in terms of pairs' skating.

jcoates · Dec 23, 2011

Special mention must be made of the generation of coaches who worked to restore US skating after the '61 plane crash. They are Carlo and Christa Fassi, John Nicks, Frank Carroll, Ron Ludington, Slavka Kohout, the Scotvolds (particularly Mary) and Cathy Casey. Without their efforts, we would never have had the decades of success the produced Fleming, Lynn, Hamill, Hamilton, Tai and Randy, the Carruthers, or Kwan.

Other greats include Ellen Burka, Linichuck, Tarasova, Dubova, Moskvina, Tchaikovskaia, Muller, Calloway, Shpilband, Zoueva.

gkelly · Dec 23, 2011

aftertherain said:
and I don't know if Yao Bin would count as one in terms of pairs' skating.

I think if a coach gets his own fluff piece on TV broadcasts, especially outside his own country, that qualifies him as legendary.

Mathman · Dec 23, 2011

Gustave Lussi coached Dick Button, Barbara Ann Scott, Donald Jackson, Ronald Robertson, Ron Ludington, Hayes Alan Jenkins, David Jenkins, John Misha Petkevich, John Curry, and also Dorothy Hamill as a child. He also coached future coaches Mary Scotvold, Robin Wagner, Priscilla Hill, and spin specialist Evelyn Kramer.

Lussi invented the modern figure staking jump technique (the back sit-spin position with crossed ankles).

jcoates · Dec 23, 2011

I forgot to add Maribel Vinson Owen, Gus Lussi (ETA: Mathman beat me to it. :thumbsup: ) and Arnold Gerschwiler.

DianaSelene · Dec 23, 2011

Don't forget Urmanov and Kulik for Mishin and Tarasova. No other coach has made as many olympic and world champions as Tarasova did. She also coached B/B and G/P. That's a whole lot of olympic champions.

I would say that Yao Bin should be called legendary because he made a lot of champions considering that there was no history of great pairs coaches in China before him.

figureskatingfan22 · Dec 23, 2011

For Germany, especially the GDR: Jutta Müller.

She coached Gaby Seyfert (Olympic Medallist), Jan Hoffmann (Olympic silver medallist 1980, World Champion), Annett Pötzsch (Olympic Champion 1980), Katarina Witt

dorispulaski · Dec 23, 2011

Probably Pierre Brunet, Dorothy Hamill's coach.

And from the UK, Torvill & Dean's coach Betty Callaway, who also trained World Champions Regoeczy & Sallay (from Hungary).

Dragonlady · Dec 23, 2011

Mathman said:
Gustave Lussi coached Dick Button, Barbara Ann Scott, Donald Jackson, Ronald Robertson, Ron Ludington, Hayes Alan Jenkins, David Jenkins, John Misha Petkevich, John Curry, and also Dorothy Hamill as a child. He also coached future coaches Mary Scotvold, Robin Wagner, Priscilla Hill, and spin specialist Evelyn Kramer.

And he coached Osborne Colson too.

I'm surprised no one has listed Frank Carroll, who coached Linda Fratiane, Tiffany Chin, Christopher Bowman, Michelle Kwan, Tim Goebel and Evan Lysacek.

Tonichelle · Dec 23, 2011

Dragonlady said:
And he coached Osborne Colson too.

I'm surprised no one has listed Frank Carroll, who coached Linda Fratiane, Tiffany Chin, Christopher Bowman, Michelle Kwan, Tim Goebel and Evan Lysacek.

the original post lists him first.

Olympia · Dec 23, 2011

What about Zhuk of the U.S.S.R.? He was the original coach of Gordeyeva and Grinkov, if I'm not mistaken. But I'm happy with the list of Moskvina, Mishin, Tarasova, and Dubova from there.

Tarasova is interesting because she's not only coached at least ladies, men, and ice dancers, but she's gotten at least one example from each of those disciplines to the top of the Olympic podium, hasn't she? Shizuka for ladies, Yagudin for men, and a goodly bunch of ice dance couples. That's versatility! Usually coaches seem to specialize either in singles (ladies, men, or both), pairs, or ice dancers. It's rare to see a coach cross over into two of those subsets.

John Nicks is another example of a crossover coach. He was primarily known as a pairs coach, with Shelley/Starbuck, Tai and Randy, and Meno/Sand, but he has also coached singles, including Naomi Nari Nam and Sasha Cohen. In fact, both Shelley/Starbuck and Babilonia/Gardner competed as singles skaters as well as pairs, though I don't know whether Nicks coached these skaters in both disciplines.

I guess Marina Zoueva has some crossover strain in her. She participated in the training of Gordeyeva and Grinkov after they left Zhuk, I think, and now of course she and Shpilband are the go-to ice dance coaches.

What about Linichuk and Karponosov for ice dance, and Ron Ludington for pairs, in Delaware? They have longevity and multiple successes, two factors I'd use for deciding whether a coach is legendary.

DianaSelene · Dec 23, 2011

Olympia said:
What about Zhuk of the U.S.S.R.? He was the original coach of Gordeyeva and Grinkov, if I'm not mistaken. But I'm happy with the list of Moskvina, Mishin, Tarasova, and Dubova from there.

Tarasova is interesting because she's not only coached at least ladies, men, and ice dancers, but she's gotten at least one example from each of those disciplines to the top of the Olympic podium, hasn't she? Shizuka for ladies, Yagudin for men, and a goodly bunch of ice dance couples. That's versatility! Usually coaches seem to specialize either in singles (ladies, men, or both), pairs, or ice dancers. It's rare to see a coach cross over into two of those subsets.

John Nicks is another example of a crossover coach. He was primarily known as a pairs coach, with Shelley/Starbuck, Tai and Randy, and Meno/Sand, but he has also coached singles, including Naomi Nari Nam and Sasha Cohen. In fact, both Shelley/Starbuck and Babilonia/Gardner competed as singles skaters as well as pairs, though I don't know whether Nicks coached these skaters in both disciplines.

I guess Marina Zoueva has some crossover strain in her. She participated in the training of Gordeyeva and Grinkov after they left Zhuk, I think, and now of course she and Shpilband are the go-to ice dance coaches.

What about Linichuk and Karponosov for ice dance, and Ron Ludington for pairs, in Delaware? They have longevity and multiple successes, two factors I'd use for deciding whether a coach is legendary.

Actually, she coached Rodnina/Zaitsev in pairs also.

blue dog · Dec 23, 2011

How about Nobuo Sato and Yelena Tchaikovskaya?

Florian · Dec 23, 2011

Gustave Lussi, Carlo Fassi, Jutta Müller and Tatiana Tarasova come to my mind first when I think about legendary coaches.

SugarCranberry · Dec 23, 2011

Gordeeva - Grinkov were coached by Leonovich and Zuyeva originally. Then they were transferred to Zhuk and then back to Leonovich-Zuueva.
For Russia legendary coaches are also E. Tchaykovskaya , I. Moskvin, V. Kudriavtcev, E. Pliner

csparkles · Dec 24, 2011

For Great Britain, Gladys Hogg MBE. She coached all three teams in Britains grand slam in ice dancing in Geneva in 1968, as well as many other world champions, including Doreen Denney and Courtney Jones OBE. She is still considered by many as the "Great Lady" of ice dancing.

Who are the legendary coaches?

skateluvr

Dragonlady

Buttercup

Macassar88

aftertherain

jcoates

gkelly

Mathman

jcoates

DianaSelene

figureskatingfan22

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

Dragonlady

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

Olympia

DianaSelene

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!

Florian

SugarCranberry

csparkles

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