Park City, UT – Following 14 seasons as an assistant coach with the U.S. Ski Team’s women’s speed program, Chip White was named Wednesday as Speed Head Coach and will lead a highly successful group that includes Olympic medalists Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso. The announcement was made by Women’s Alpine Head Coach Alex Hoedlmoser, who formerly led the speed program for the past six winters.n”Chip is one of the most experienced alpine coaches in the country and is absolutely the right man to lead the women’s speed program,” said Hoedlmoser. “I’ve worked with him for a long time and am completely confident that he can continue to move this team in a positive direction.”
A resident of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., for the past 32 years, White was welcomed into the U.S. Ski Team family in 1990 then spent six years traveling a few months each season with as a guest coach with the men’s speed team. He was offered and promptly accepted a job with the women’s speed program in 1996.
“I’m fortunate to take over an incredibly successful program, but we still have a lot of work to do,” said White. “My goal is to create a positive team environment that provides a spark of newness and excitement for all the athletes. We have two incredible talents with Lindsey (Vonn) and Julia (Mancuso), but everyone in this program has the ability to reach that level.”
In addition to Vonn and Mancuso, White will continue to coach Olympians Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, Calif.), Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, Colo.), Leanne Smith (Conway, N.H.) and Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield, Vt.), all of whom have posted World Cup top 10 results.
“I’ve been a part of these athletes’ careers since they entered the U.S. Ski Team program. Each has the potential for a higher level of success,” said White. “What we need to do is create a plan for each of them that makes athletic sense and allows them to achieve both their individual and team goals.”
The first order of business for White is organizing a May on-snow camp at Mammoth Mountain before moving on to summer training in New Zealand and Chile, followed by final prep in Colorado.
“We’re going to spend three weeks in Chile this year,” said White. “The snow there is incredible and it’s some of the best training we get all year. Athletically it makes complete sense to focus more time in Portillo and Valle Nevado instead of bringing the entire crew to Austria in October for what has been marginal conditions the past couple of years. So far, the response from the athletes on this has been incredibly positive.”
Joining White on the women’s speed staff is Jeff Fergus, who moves into the assistant role form the women’s technical staff, and Chris Knight, who has worked with both the women’s technical and speed programs. Hoedlmoser will also announce an additional coach following the Mammoth Mountain camp.
Trevor Wagner will continue to head the women’s technical program, but has added former U.S. Ski Team coach Roger Bay from Montana’s Bridger Ski Foundation and another coach also to be named following the Mammoth camp. Seth McCadam jumps from the women’s technical program into the head coaching role of the women’s Development Team.
“From Chip and Trevor on down to Seth in the development program, we’ve put together an incredibly talented staff with the energy and ideas to bring this team to the next level,” said Hoedlmoser. “I’m excited about the direction we’re moving in and the future of this team.”
The 2011 U.S. Alpine Ski Team will be announced later this spring.