Colorado's Sean Carlson: The Championship Formula—Tough Leadership, Uncompromising Standards & How to Win at Every Level

THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Dominic Schlueter

Running, Sports

4.8 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Final Surge: https://www.finalsurge.com (RUNNINGEFFECT20)

From Division III runner to one of the most respected coaches in the NCAA, Sean Carlson has never stopped leveling up.

Heading into his second season as Director of Cross Country & Track and Field at the University of Colorado, his journey is a story of persistence, vision, and transformation.

From his days as a Division III All-American at North Central College, he climbed the coaching ladder at Notre Dame, where he built a powerhouse: guiding Yared Nuguse to an NCAA title and record, leading a men’s team to a runner-up finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, and capturing a DMR national championship (2019 indoor) along the way.

In 2022, Sean brought that same energy to Tennessee, where he led Dylan Jacobs to an NCAA 5,000m title and took the women’s team back to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2006 — finishing an incredible sixth place in the nation.

And now, as of 2024, he’s at the helm of one of the sport’s most storied programs in Boulder. In just his first year, he’salready making an impact–with Colorado athletes setting school records, earning All-American honors, and bringing fresh momentum to a program with legendary tradition.

We’re looking into Sean’s philosophy of athlete empowerment and culture-building, the challenges of navigating today’sNCAA landscape, and what excites him most as Colorado heads into his second cross-country season under his leadership.

In today's conversation, Coach Sean Carlson takes me through his principles of success and winning, rebuilding programs, how to coach champions, his thoughts on the new NCAA, and how all of the recent changes will affect the sport, and so much more.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we hop into today's conversation with one of the best coaches in the sport of running,
0:05.0	I want to tell you a quick note that today's podcast is brought to you by Final Surge.
0:09.6	And over the next couple of weeks, we will be documenting and chronicling some of the top
0:13.5	coaches in the country across professional, collegiate, and high school sports teams.
0:18.1	And we're calling this Final Surge sessions, because whether you're a coach,
0:21.6	athlete, or entire team, Final Surge is the one platform built specifically for runners.
0:27.2	It lets coaches easily deliver workouts, track results, and analyze progress, all in one clean
0:32.0	dashboard. It syncs seamlessly with your GPS watch, Garmin, Coros, Apple Watch, Strava,
0:39.2	you name it. No more juggling apps to stay organized. Final Surge brings training plans, messaging, and attendance tracking.
0:44.0	Super cool into one simple place, perfect for any high school, college, or professional team.
0:50.1	If you're a high school or college coach listening, head to final surge.com slash schools for
0:54.5	discounted pricing, up to 35% off.
0:57.4	And then for anyone else listening to this, you can get 20% off your first coaching package
1:02.3	with code running effect 20, all capital running effect 20 at checkout.
1:06.9	Smarter training starts with smarter tools and final search is where that begins.
1:10.5	I hope you guys enjoy this conversation with one of the top coaches in the country.
1:19.1	As a leader, you have to make difficult decisions and you have to pick difficult choices.
1:23.5	And I think there are leaders that just want everybody to be happy.
1:28.4	That's a running club.
1:30.0	That's not a program that's trying to be successful.
1:33.8	My job is to protect the people that want to be good
1:37.8	and uphold our expectation and values.
	...

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