Jay Johnson

Founder, Next Mile Recruiting

I built Next Mile Recruiting because I kept watching families go through this process without the information they needed to do it well. And I knew that information existed — it just lived inside college programs, not inside Google or ChatGPT.

I've coached distance runners for more than 25 years across the high school, collegiate, and professional levels, including three USATF national champions in cross country, indoor track, and road racing. Now I'm a parent with a daughter who's a junior and wants to run in college. This is personal for me in a way it wasn't before. The information families need to navigate this process shouldn't require knowing someone on the inside to find.

Background

At the University of Colorado I served as the recruiting coordinator, middle distance coach, and assistant cross country coach for both the men's and women's distance programs. During my time on staff, our programs won three NCAA cross country championships — the men in 2004 and 2006, and the women in 2004. The first class I recruited went on to win the 2008 Big 12 Track and Field Championships when they reached their senior year.

I recruited athletes who became professionals, including Sara Vaughn and Brent Vaughn — and I coached both of them post-collegiately. Brent went on to win the U.S. Cross Country Championship. Across my coaching career I've worked with three USATF national champions: Brent Vaughn (cross country), Renee Metivier (3,000m indoors), and Fernando Cabada (25K road race). Before CU, I coached at Pratt Community College in Kansas.

I'm also a graduate of the University of Colorado, where I earned my M.S. in Kinesiology and Applied Physiology in 2000 and was a member of the varsity cross country team featured in Chris Lear's Running with the Buffaloes.

• EducationM.S. Kinesiology & Applied Physiology, University of Colorado (2000)
• D1 RoleRecruiting coordinator, middle distance coach, assistant cross country coach, University of Colorado
• Coaching25+ years; three USATF national champions (XC, indoor track, road racing)
• AuthorConsistency Is Key (2020) — 25,000+ copies sold
• BylinesNike, PodiumRunner, Running Times; quoted in Wired, Outside, Runner's World
• NowFounder of Next Mile Recruiting; parent of a class-of-2027 distance runner
• BasedDenver, Colorado

Writing & coaching education

I've coached and written about distance running for more than two decades. My book Consistency Is Key: 15 Ways to Unlock Your Potential as a High School Runner has sold over 25,000 copies since its 2020 release. I've written for brands like Nike, sites like PodiumRunner, and magazines including the much-beloved (and now defunct) Running Times. I've been quoted in Wired, Outside, and Runner's World.

I publish coaching education at coachjayjohnson.com, primarily for high school distance coaches developing their athletes. My YouTube channel has surpassed 2.9 million views, where I post regularly on training, recruiting, and the realities of the sport at every level — high school through professional.

Why I built this

Most of what families find online about college distance running recruiting is written by people who've never sat in a recruiting meeting, or by services trying to upsell a $3,000 package before a family understands what they actually need. Neither one helps you figure out where your athlete actually stands or what move makes sense at this stage.

Decades ago, performance standards for college programs were often posted on coaching websites — a high school athlete and family could see roughly where they stood. That's no longer the case. Next Mile Recruiting exists to do one simple thing: educate families and empower them to navigate the recruiting process.

The information families need to navigate this process shouldn't require knowing someone on the inside to find.

Now

My daughter is a junior. She wants to run in college. Watching her go through this process from the family side — after spending six years deciding who to recruit at the D1 level — is what made the gap between what's actually known and what families can find painfully clear.

So this is what I'm doing now. The free guide, the state-track data pages, and the Clarity System (where families can see exactly where their athlete stands across every division, filtered by what they can actually afford) — all of it is built from one starting point: what would I want, as a parent, if I didn't already know what I know.

Questions? Email me directly.