Coach Will Palmer and the Florida Gators
Just a couple of months after a monumental season at Alabama, Coach Will Palmer, who oversaw the women's distance program at Alabama, left the Crimson Tide to become the head distance coach at Florida. At Alabama, Palmer coached the women's team to an SEC Cross Country Championship in 2022 and a 3rd place team finish at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country National Championships. He also guided Mercy Chelangat to the 2022 NCAA Outdoor 10,000m and 2020 NCAA cross country individual titles. In his first season at Florida, he led the Gators to a women's SEC Cross Country Championship, and a 5th place team finish at NCAA's. Palmer coached Valby to a 2023 NCAA XC Individual Championship and two individual titles indoors (5000m and 3000m). He also coached Flomena Asekol and Parvej Khan to SEC titles in the mile, both of whom broke the school record earlier in the season. On top of the performances on the track, the Gators have had some of the best distance recruiting classes the program has ever had. I wanted to hear more about the journey to Florida as well as the future of the distance program.
Going back to January of 2023, after winning an SEC women’s cross country title and placing 3rd as a team at nationals, you left Alabama to become the head distance coach at Florida. Why? And specifically, what led to the decision to go to Florida?
Talk about the single most difficult decision Sam and I have made as coaches! The short answer is Coach Holloway’s vision for our entire program and how Sam and I fit into that. Florida is an “everything school” and he felt with the right direction, we can be very successful at everything we do.
In reality, the mid-year timing of things was a negative. Sam and I agreed to explore all aspects of the opportunity but we went into it with the mindset that as soon as we found a good reason to stay put, that is the decision we would make. But each step along the way, UF and Coach Holloway continued to exceed our expectations. And that’s continued to be our experience one year in.
You coached with your wife, Samantha Palmer, for four-and-a-half years at Alabama and you are doing the same at Florida. What is the husband-wife dynamic like coaching with each other?
It’s a lot of fun! We balance each other well in terms of our personalities. I tend to be very analytical and detail oriented with things. Sam brings a lot of interpersonal and relationship-building skills into the mix. There’s also a built-in level of trust between the two of us that a lot of coaching dynamics don’t have. We’re always delivering the same message to the athlete even if the other isn’t present. The athletes respond really well to the setup. The most challenging aspect is not always taking our work home with us and just making time to be parents.Men's
The year before you took over the program, Florida women’s was 5th at SECs, 7th at regionals. The following year, the women’s win their first SEC team title since 2012 and placed 5th as a team at nationals. What do you attribute to the quick turnaround of the program?
A lot of hard work and a little luck! I think Florida has been a sleeping giant in the distance world and we really believed that with the right direction, discipline, and vision, things would take off quickly. We were fortunate to walk into a team with some good talent and a lot of excitement for the future. As we shared our vision for things, they were quick to buy in and that energy was just contagious. That was really the foundation we started to build upon.
Looking at your two recruiting classes for Florida so far, there appears to be a big emphasis on signing in-state talent, supplemented with a few big-name international recruits. How important is it for you to keep local athletes in the Sunshine State?
It’s huge. That’s been a conscious thought when working through recruiting. We firmly believe Florida is one of the very most talent-rich states in the entire country. There’s also a lot of pride for the gators within the state.
That being said, we don’t believe just because you live in the state of Florida you have a right to run here. We believe wearing the Gatordecision-making uniform is a privilege and we want to recruit the very best, regardless of where they’re from. In a sense, if you’re from Florida and we’re actively recruiting you, you know we believe you have great ability both in the SEC and NCAA. You can be elite.
We’re also very clear that although you might be from Florida and may have dreamed of being a gator, or want to get an elite education, that isn’t enough for us. We want our team and our running culture to be a big factor in your decision-making process as well.
Parvej Khan was a high-caliber U20 distance athlete from India before he got to Gainesville. Now, he’s the SEC Mile Champion, has broken Florida’s mile school record multiple times, and is the top freshman miler in NCAA. What was the recruiting process like finding and trying to get a guy like him?
A bit like finding a needle in a haystack. We recruit all around the world, but a lot of schools do, so it isn’t easy. An athlete of his ability is easy to find, but getting them on campus is another story. We’re fortunate to have built good relationships overseas with coaches and other athletes we’ve recruited in the past and that’s certainly helped. I do believe the Florida brand helps as well. We’ve had a rich history of success with international athletes since well before our arrival in Gainesville.
Florida utilized the transfer portal very well this past off-season - signing Flomena Asekol and Allison Wilson from Alabama, and Amelia Mazza-Downie and Elise Thorner from New Mexico. The four athletes had an immediate impact towards Florida’s success this cross country season. Do you expect Florida to continue the trend of using the transfer portal going forward?
We certainly will. It’s really changed the way we think about recruiting and building teams. From what we can tell, it’s here to stay.
Our vision for the transfer portal isn’t necessarily to construct a complete roster. High school / 4-5 year recruits will always be the heart & soul of our teams. They’re the ones that dictate the culture and where we’re going long term. The transfer portal just has the ability to put you over the top and add some maturity and veteran savvy to your team.
A wise, now-retired, coach once told me: “Signing a transfer is like buying a used car. You better make sure you know what you’re getting.” With that in mind, we make sure to hold our transfers to the same cultural standard and we use the same thorough approach to ensure they’re a good fit for who we are. Just because someone runs fast, doesn’t mean they’re a great fit for the gators.
In 4 years' time, where do you expect Florida to be?
With our women, not much will change. We expect to contend for SEC and NCAA team titles on the grass. On the track, we expect to have a consistent presence on the podium in the distance events at SECs and NCAAs.
On the Men's side, we expect to be consistent qualifiers for the NCAA XC championships and compete well at the meet. I believe our ceiling on the men’s side is much higher than people realize.
The bottom line though, and what we talk about internally, is not necessarily checking this box or that box. We want to find things that have never been done, whether at Florida or across the NCAA, and see if we can do them. That dream is much bigger than winning some medals and trophies. When kids sign up to be a gator, that’s what they’re signing up for.
Lastly, if I was a prospective athlete looking at Florida, how would you pitch Florida to me? What sets Florida apart from the other schools?
This is one of the very few places you can do it all. Excellent education. Elite athletics. Phenomenal place to be a college-aged kid. It checks all the boxes.
We try not to do a lot of arm twisting or selling though. Our recruiting process is very much about finding talented athletes and then outlining the specific qualities we look for and that make someone successful here. That’s the key - successful here. It looks different at different places. We believe half the battle is getting the right people on the bus and the other half is ensuring the people that don’t have that special mix choose elsewhere.
As I said before, we want to do things that have never been done before. That isn’t for the faint of heart.
