Biography:
Coach Gilliand has been coaching at Northwest High School since 2000. In that time, he's had a hand in coaching numerous state qualifiers and a few state champions. He took over the Knights XC team in 2024 because he believed that the split between the TF and XC teams was bad for both programs. He wants to create a single, year-long training pipeline to help both teams improve.
His goal is to see runners meet their potential, steadily improving through evidence-based training and increasing race knowledge. Along the way, our coaching staff will work hard to recognize effort, success, and to get some looks from coaches at the next level.
His favorite memory of coaching XC has been the camaraderie that has developed between runners on the team. He likes to see hard work, but he also appreciates a group of athletes that knows how to enjoy and support each other through the training. If it's done right, it's the team, not the coaches, that maintains the intensity.
That kind of culture feeds on itself and makes everyone better.
