The Interview: Mike Bower

Mike Bower is a Phys. Ed. teacher at Newton North and Assistant Coach in three sports (Football, Indoor Track, and Outdoor Track). In the early 90's, Mike threw the shot for Newton North, and later Phillips Andover. After he graduated from college, he re-connected with the team as a coach, and has been coaching discus and shot put for the Tigers for almost ten years. In that time, he has compiled a remarkable record of success developing throwers. Two of his athletes have won state championships in the shot put (Mat Frankel in 2004 and David Smith in 2006) and two others have won the State Coaches meet (David Bell and Kevin Chan). Bower has also succeeded in creating a program in which young throwers learn the sport from the juniors and seniors. Visit a Newton North practice and you'll find a phalanx of shot putters working together to improve.

We caught up with Coach Bower at Newton North, where several throwers had shown up on the day after Christmas to heave 8-lb shots some 40 feet across the indoor gym against two wooden barriers that seemed unequal to the task of containing the throws.


Mike, How long have you been coaching in the Newton North program?

I started coaching in 1997. I wasn’t doing anything else seriously at the time. I was home from college working at a whole bunch of part-time jobs trying to figure out what to do. Coach Blackburn called me up and said, I’ve got 11 shot putters down here and I don’t know what to do. I’ve got so many, I need someone to help out. So I came down, and after that first day, that was it. I was in.

You had been a competitive shot putter yourself, right?

I was competitive when I was in high school. At Newton North, I threw 48-6 or 48-10, somewhere around there, and that placed me third in the State Coaches meet. I won the Suburban League championship that year. Then I spent a prep year at Andover, where I threw 49-10, so I never cracked 50’ when I was in high school. One of my goals is to have a lot of my guys throw farther than I did in high school. I want them to beat everything I did.

Did you compete after high school?

No, I played football for four years at Hobart. They didn’t have a track program.

How long before you started working at the school as a teacher?

Being a track coach, and then a football coach slowly got me into the school system and got me thinking about teaching. I worked as an aide at Newton South for a bit, and then in 2000, I became a Phys. Ed. Teacher at North.

How do you get so many throwers in the NN program?

Being a football coach helps a lot. A lot of kids, a lot of freshmen, are looking for a winter sport after football, and they don’t know what to do. They don’t want to play basketball anymore or wrestle, and we have a no-cut policy, so it’s anybody who wants to join can join. But, a lot of my guys come from football…

Other coaches help me out as well. If Giusti [Tom Giusti, Asst. Football Coach and Asst. Athletic Director] sees a kid who he thinks could do well, he’ll send him to me.

You’ve had two state champions, Mat Frankel and David Smith. Who else in your program has done well at the state level?

Well, Mat won in 2004, and then went on to win the New England championship, where he broke 60 feet. Smitty won last year. Dave Bell won the State Coaches meet and was a top five shot putter in the state. Kevin Chan also won the State Coaches meet. Those two were also part of a team that won the State Relay championship.

Are any of those guys still throwing in college?

Dave Bell is throwing at Rhode Island. Kevin Chan is throwing at Bentley, where he recently set the school record. Mat Frankel is throwing at Brown.

David Smith was recently accepted into Yale, and he’s planning on throwing the shot for them. That means Frankel and Smith will be throwing against each other in the Ivy League meets.

I know what a runner does off-season to prepare for a competitive season, but what does a shot putter do? I know a lot of these guys do football, but what about the rest of the time?

Off-season, it’s basically just getting back into the weight room and working on those core lifts that give you a lot of strength and a lot of power for throwing. Also, it’s really important to stay competitive… with anything, so they’re keeping their bodies in shape. These guys love to play basketball. Of course the two sports are nothing alike, but they’re alike in being competitive, and these guys love to beat each other. They push each other really well.

When you see a shot putter as a freshman throwing, say, 30’, how much do you expect that 30’ thrower to improve in four years, and where does that improvement come from?


The improvement comes from the dedication and work. One of the things that a young thrower has to realize is that this is a very difficult sport – it’s not an easy thing to do. It takes an immense amount of focus and concentration, and coordination that goes into one explosive movement, and that’s a hard thing to do. But if the kid is committed to working through and understanding what he’s doing, it’s going to reflect in that kid working out more, lifting more…that’s the real thing, the commitment to keep doing it every single day, It’s great practice for developing in focus and concentration. It’s a very meditative activity. Kids understand that, they know it’s hard, they know it’s tough, but when they get it, when they get a really good throw, they get really excited because they know all that hard work has paid off.

But, it’s hard to know what a kid is going to throw. One of the most important things is to make sure the kid is understanding the technique, and when he gets it, or gets a little part of it right, to compliment him on it, and make it fun for him. Then his focus becomes that much greater.

I notice, and I think a lot of people notice, that you really have a program here; it’s not just about one great thrower. It says a lot that you can get eight or nine guys here on the day after Christmas, all working hard, all having a good time… well, that says a lot for your program.

(laughs) Yeah, it’s a little fraternity these guys have here…even during the football season, guys were talking about throwing the shot…

That’s got to be unusual!

It’s a different atmosphere than football. It’s intense, but it’s a lot more relaxing at the same time. These guys like it. They understand the differences, but they also understand the similarities. They like the energy here. It’s hanging out, it’s having fun together. It’s about friendships.

It’s good, too, because a lot of these older guys tell the younger guys “Come on up. Throw the shot put!” And so the freshmen get to hang out with the seniors, and it seems like everyone’s on the same level. Of course, the younger guys look at the older guys and they see how they work. A younger guy sees how hard Marvin [Marvin Chan] and Smitty [David Smith] are working and they learn.

What are some of the goals that you and your throwers have for the season? I expect David Smith is aiming for another state championship…


Sure. And I think Marvin Chan’s goal is to be a 50’ shot putter and get points for the team at the state meet. Steve Long is our third guy, and his goal is to qualify for the State Meet, which means throwing 44 feet. We all know he can throw a lot farther than that, but he’s just working hard on technique right now, trying to get it down.

Another goal for the team is to win the Class A Relay Championship. That’s going to be a tough task because there are a lot of good teams. BC High is probably the number one team right now. They won it last year, and they have a lot of their guys coming back.

Is there anyone else we should be watching from this group, someone who’s likely to make a big improvement, either this year or next year?


Well, Steve Long, for one. He’s struggling with his technique right now, as everyone does, but he’s going to pop one of these days. And he knows it, too. Eddie Pang is a freshman, and he’s throwing 30’ right now. And Dan Giovannucci is working his tail off right now. He’ll be a 40’ shot putter soon.

I think a lot of schools would love to have even one 40’ shot putter, but you’re talking about maybe having five!


Well, it’s nice. It’s kind of a goal and a standard to hit 40’ – not just for us, but for everyone in the state, so it’s something that the kids shoot for.

I’m not trying to create controversy, but do you feel that shot put gets enough attention?


I think it does. It gets the attention of our team. You know, if you’re going to be a good track team, you’re going to have to have talent in many different events. Coach Blackburn sees every event as crucially important for the success of our team, so yeah the shot put gets a lot of attention here.

But it’s not one of those events that’s going to get a lot of press. You’re not going to hear too much about it. … but it has gotten the attention of a lot of the kids here at the high school. They know they have the chance to do something special here. Most of these guys are football linemen, so they’re not used to a lot of press anyway (laughs). They like doing the grunt work.

You guys just won a very close meet against Weymouth, and the shot put went 9-0 for you. If you had split that event 5-4, Weymouth would have won. When Coach Blackburn addressed the team the next day, what did he say to you guys?


You know what, I think he just mentioned that it was a good overall effort for the team. He mentioned everybody, throwers, jumpers, runners,… everybody. I think that’s why he’s such a great coach. You know, there were a lot of events that were close, where there was a four-point swing one way or the other. If our high jumper had missed his steps on one jump, we might not have had those points, or if a sprinter false-started, or if one of our guys had fouled in the shot put. The great thing about Coach Blackburn is that he pays attention to all the events. That’s why he’s a Hall-of-Fame coach.

Mike, thanks very much. Good luck the rest of the season.

Thanks!