Coach Cullen Doody Has Turned An Urban School Into The Country's No. 3 Team; Bluejays Take On Top Midwest Teams Saturday at Nike XC Town Twilight

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

The way that Cullen Doody sees it, Jesuit High of New Orleans has always had the potential to be great in cross country. 

Yes, it is an urban school with vitually no access to unpaved running surfaces, let alone a campus track. 

The summers are hot and oppressively humid. There's no getting around that. 

And yet Doody, a former Jesuit runner who went on to compete at Louisiana State, felt there was untapped potential. 

Louisiana does not have a legacy of great high school distance running. No team from the state ever advanced to a Nike Team or Cross Nationals. Seldom do distance races on the track in Louisiana warrant much notice. 

Doody is trying to change that perception, for not only Jesuit but the state. 

"By changing expectations and culture," as he put it, Jesuit has become a force to be reckoned with. 

The Bluejays are ranked third in the country and will face one of their biggest tests on Saturday at the Nike XC Town Twilight, Presented by the Garrett Companies, in Terre Haute, Ind. Jesuit had originally intended to travel to the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C. but changed plans over concerns about delayed or canceled flights due to the arrival of Hurricane Ian. (Friday update: Great American is canceled).

WATCH FREE LIVE WEBCAST OF THE NIKE XC TOWN TWILIGHT LIVE ON RUNNERSPACE 

In Indiana, Jesuit faces the prospect of competing against top-flight programs from Carmel IN, Plainsfield South IL, Hinsdale Central IL and Mason OH. 

Doody is happy to have a chance to mix it up and take another step forward.

The young coach arrived in the summer of 2020, first as an assistant to specifically coach the top group at the all-boys grades 8-12 school located in the heart of the city.

Doody said that he knew, even from his own days at the school, that there was talent in the hallways, and even on the team. 

"We took the same group of guys and changed a lot of things," Doody said. "One of the things is, they guys are year-round dedicated to running. Previously, they'd do cross country and then not anything else until the next summer. Now we're full-time running and these guys want to be good."

Jesuit scored 22 points at the Louisiana state meet last year with six runners placing in the top 10 of the Class 5A final, and all seven in the top 15. None of them were seniors. 

Jesuit went to the RunningLane Championships and finished 16th even with best runner Michael Vocke experiencing a rough day. 

This year, with Vocke, Jack DesRoches, Lucas Sampedro, Leland Crawford, Robert Buisson, Brady Mullen and Aeric Wender all back, Jesuit is in position to be rightfully hailed as the greatest team ever from Louisiana and one of the best in the country. 

At the Southern Showcase, on the RunningLane course in Huntsville, Ala., Jesuit scored 70 points to win a meet that included several of the top teams in the Southeast. 

Yet Doody isn't looking for accolades so much as improving the culture and deepening the commitment. 

It takes dedication to make Doody's vision work. There are no running trails or dirt roads; nearly all of the training is done of pavement. 

The track that was built for the 1992 Olympic Trials is in disrepair. The surface is lane 1 is "bubbling up," Doody said. 

"It's the only (track) in the city and it's where we train, along with 1,000 other kids," he said. "There are days where there might be 500 kids on the track at a time."

The heat and humidity is also a challenge. 

"One hundred percent, the heat and humidity hold us back," Doody said. "Last week our heat index was 104. It takes tough kids to suffer through it."

For the second straight summer, Doody took the boys on a two-week trip to Flagstaff, Ariz., to experience a vastly different running environment and get ready for the season. 

"It's a fantastic experience for them, and even more than the actual running, it's more of a team-building culture activity for us," he said. 

Doody keeps his runners motivated, in part, by relating to them so well. He still runs fast enough to go on runs with the team. He can tell them stories about previous generations of Jesuit runners. And he strives to keep things fun. 

Doody is a student of the sport and has soaked up information from a wide variety of respected coaches. And his wife, Laura Carlton, was a standout performer in the SEC for LSU.

"We're in the business of exploring human potential," he said. "The biggest thing a coach can do is motivate. If you can't motivate the kids, you're in trouble. The secret is the psychology of (coaching)."

He preaches the importance of sleep and nutrition, and does what he can to ease the stress.

"I try not to keep it too serious," Doody said. "They come out and work hard. I try not to make it one of these pressure-cooker environments. They guys on the team are all friends and they enjoy one another's company." 

The guys in the top seven would all like to run in college. Doody is helping them get there, and even more prepared than he was went he arrived at LSU. 

The post-season plan includes another trip to Alabama for the RunningLane Championships. 

The turnaround between Louisiana's Monday state championship and a Nike Cross South regional in Texas is too short, Doody said, and it puts his runners at a disadvantage. 

"I wish the rules were a little bit different," he said. "For Louisiana teams it's not easy. It's only a five-six days turnaround (for regionals). We got all-out at State on a Monday, get back late, and then get up to do it all over again."

He's not willing to press his runners that hard. Last year, the state meet was the Tuesday before regionals. Doody sent on a JV group to NXR South for the Open race. 

Jesuit's race at Terre Haute, Ind. this weekend could be its most competitive of the fall. 

Most important of all, is what's happening in a state that previously showed little interest in elite distance running. 

"Brother Martin (high school) is aleady running much faster than they have before. Our next door neighbors," Doody said. "I think you're going to see it more in Louisiana. Changing expecations and culture."

It all begins with a deep group at Jesuit, and continues with an exploration of what the Bluejays can do in the upper Midwest.