If his shoes include black, white, and red, you had better believe his clothes will include no colors except black, white, and red. The temperature might be 72 degrees and sunny, but you can be certain that a hat will be about his person. Good coaches come and go, but Andrew Bruaer is one that should be here to stay.

Practice starts and he shows up in his matching outfit for the start of practice. We start our warm up and he cracks jokes as we run by. After we get into our lines for stretching, we notice something funny about the world and tell him about it. He laughs. His cackle cannot be replicated, which makes us smile and laugh. He then makes fun of us and the cycle continues. My day has already gotten better.

Drills are over and it’s time to hear our workout. We groan on about how horrible it is going to be so he pretends to make it better and complains about how the head coach doesn’t tell him anything. We begin to run and see him sprinting up ahead to make sure everyone is working to their full potential. We then see him clapping or doing a little dance on the side of the road. Obviously this needs to be commented on and so the teasing begins again.

The run is half over. It’s half over already! Where did the time go? We are running and talking with the best coach in the world sharing stories and he’s talking about how he pushed some kid into a tree in high school. We ask him about his favorite TV show and he says it used to be “Hannah Montana,” but now it’s “SpongeBob.” These moments make my life.

After the run is over and it’s time to do abs, everyone is complaining. He has the solution to making everyone do them properly. For every minute, we get to ask him one question about the yoga master, as we call his girlfriend. This passes the time faster than ever.

Brauer is the best coach because he is open to talking with his team and he can relate to them on a personal level. He is the best teacher because he can show you how to improve, rather than just tell you. He is the best educator because he rewards those who try with kindness and those who blow off effort with constructive criticism.

Coach Brauer is one of the main reasons most people have continued doing track and cross country. I am no exception to this. He makes the team want to show up to practice and encourages us to be the best we can be. This may be because he’s a figure we can look up to, because he is so relatable, or because he is essentially a teenage boy in an adult’s body…or a combination of all three.