BLOG

The formal announcement of adding 32 years of Austrian coaching experience to the US men’s team, and a slight realignment of the women’s coaching ranks has been issued from headquarters at Park City.

As Ski Racing reported a month ago, the alpine men’s team added coaches Andreas Evers and Bernd Brunner as well as former racer TJ Lanning. Evers heads the men’s speed group. Brunner will head up a newly formed World Cup B training group and Lanning will work with Evers and the speed group.

Leaving the program is Chris Brigham, with the team since 1994.

The women’s team realigned a bit assigning Jeff Fergus to work specifically with Lindsey Vonn and Chris Knight with Julia Mancuso. Chip White will follow up a Coach of the Year season with the speed team with Roland Pfeifer returning to head up the technical end of things.

Program Director Patrick Riml said, “Andreas (Evers) was extremely successful as a coach with Austria and that brings a tremendous amount of value to this program. He also brings high expectations and will work with each of the athletes to find ways to help them perform at a high level.”

It also hopefully means he won’t be setting any courses like last season’s super G at Beaver Creek. Evers set a trap for the highly charged home standing Americans last season enticing the top US racers to eliminate themselves from competition.

Brunner worked earlier in his career with Vermont’s Green Mountain Valley School making him familiar with the US program. Riml said, “He has a great plan for getting our athletes to perform on the World Cup quicker.”

Evers, Brunner and Lanning were on snow with the athletes during their first camp of the prep period, which closed May 13 in Mammoth Mountain, Calif. “The athletes had some time to work with Andreas (Evers) and Bernd (Brunner) in Mammoth last week and we’re already seeing the benefits they bring to the table,” said head coach Sasha Rearick.

“They’re both very calm and bring an incredible amount of experience and perspective to this program and have a great feel for what each athlete needs to perform at their highest ability.

“We’re also incredibly lucky that TJ (Lanning) chose to make the transition from athlete to coach. He has a tremendous spark and is extremely competitive with a great eye for skiing. He has a familiarity and respect with the athletes that you can’t teach and that inspires everyone to be improve.

“What we gain in adding a World Cup B program,” continued Rearick, “is freeing Mike Day and Forest Carey to work with our top six performing athletes on the technical side – Bode (Miller), Ted (Ligety), Tommy (Ford), Tim (Jitloff), Will (Brandenburg) and Nolan (Kasper).

The women’s program didn’t change significantly. “Chris (Knight) and Jeff (Fergus) worked well with this system last season and we saw a direct boost in Julia (Mancuso) and Lindsey’s (Vonn) performances,” said Riml. “It’s their responsibility to put together plans that make sense for those athletes.

“Both Chip (White) and Roland (Pfeifer) did a great job in leading their programs last season and we’ll look for them to set new high markers for their athletes. And there is a great plan now in place with Trevor (Wagner) and Seth (McCadam) to get our younger athletes performing in the disciplines where they are showing the most talent.”

Women’s head coach Alex Hoedlemoser said: “The multi program provides more freedom for Lindsey (Vonn) and Julia (Mancuso). They are the best in the world and we want to keep them there. Now we have a plan and budget in place to make sure they get exactly what they need to stay on top.

“The experience and passion that both Chip (White) and Roland (Pfeifer) have for coaching directly translated into the success that those programs saw last season. Now it’s up to them to keep those athletes performing and bring a few more along that are right on the cusp of success.”

2012-2013 MEN’S U.S. ALPINE SKI TEAM COACHING STAFF
Program Director: Patrick Riml
Head Coach: Sasha Rearick

World Cup Speed
Head Coach: Andreas Evers
Assistant Coach: Tommy Eckfeldt
Assistant Coach: TJ Lanning

World Cup Technical
Coach: Forest Carey
Coach: Mike Day
Giant Slalom Coach: Dane Spencer
Slalom Coach: Josh Applegate

World Cup B
Head Coach: Bernd Brunner
Assistant Coach: Ben Black

Europa Cup
Head Coach: Peter Korfiatis

Development
Head Coach: Randy Pelkey
Assistant Coach: Ian Garner

2012-2013 WOMEN’S U.S. ALPINE SKI TEAM COACHING STAFF
Program Director: Patrick Riml
Head Coach: Alex Hoedlmoser

World Cup Speed
Head Coach: Chip White
Assistant Coach: Andi Moser
Assistant Coach: Wade Bishop

World Cup Technical
Head Coach: Roland Pfeifer
Assistant Coach: Pete Anderson

Multi Discipline
Coach: Jeff Fergus – Lindsey Vonn
Coach: Chris Knight – Julia Mancuso

Europa Cup
Head Coach: Trevor Wagner
Assistant Coach: Jeff Pickering

Development
Head Coach: Seth McCadam
Assistant Coach: Mike Prado