Recently ousted, beloved U.S. Ski Team coach Forest Carey reflects on his career
Forest Carey reflects on his career with the U.S. Ski Team, highlighting his cooperation with Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, and Ryan Cochran-Siegle.
Over the past 16 years, Forest Carey has made invaluable contributions to many of the U.S.’s best male ski racers. Those years included two seasons with Bode Miller’s ‘Team America.’ As a coach, Forest focused on the athletes’ best interests both on and off the mountain.
During Carey’s 14 years with the USST, his positions included Head Europa Cup Men’s coach, Special Coach to Miller and Ligety, Head World Cup Men’s Tech Coach, and Men’s Head Alpine Coach.
This spring, the U.S. Ski Team let Carey go after being promoted to men’s head alpine coach a year ago. According to United States Ski and Snowboard (USSS), Carey’s position and responsibilities were considered redundant. As part of an organizational restructuring, the duties of the Head Men’s Coach will now be the responsibility of re-hired Alpine Director Patrick Riml.
Athletes were confused and disappointed to learn of Carey’s departure, none of whom were informed or consulted before his exit. In the wake of his dismissal, staff and athletes have expressed support for the Maine native and Park City resident.
Recently retired Ted Ligety – coached by Carey over stretches of his U.S. Ski Team success, including his Sochi 2014 gold medal and two of his five World Cup giant slalom titles – commended Forest’s work ethic, tailor-made coaching style, and dedication to his craft.
“He has an amazing coaching eye with a humble athlete-first personality,” Ligety remarks. “He works relentlessly for his athletes, so I think everybody was shocked that this came down.”
According to Ligety, Carey thrived while crafting customized approaches to coaching himself, Miller, Tommy Ford, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, and now River Radamus. All these racers possess tremendously different personalities and needs.
“One of Forest’s strengths is that he is good at fostering a conversation and helping to put up guard rails, so you don’t go too far off track,” Ligety said. “He doesn’t tell you what to do; it’s more of a conversation. He always tries to understand what you’re feeling. He adapts his coaching style to every athlete.”
Under Carey’s leadership, the team experienced many accomplishments this season. The more significant results included Cochran-Siegle’s Olympic super-G silver medal, Bryce Bennett’s maiden World Cup downhill victory in Val Gardena, and a super-G podium by Travis Ganong in Beaver Creek. There were also three top ten GS finishes by River Radamus and three in slalom from Luke Winters.
Over the years, Carey has done well to accommodate the team’s highest-profile athletes. Creating opportunities for the stars to succeed at the highest level. At the same time, he astutely leveraged stars like Miller and Ligety to elevate the performance of developing skiers.
“He made us feel like a family – we were a cohesive group, and Forest is good at cultivating that,” said Ligety.
“It’s the people you meet along the way and the neat places we get to go,” Carey responds when asked what he cherishes most about his experience. “There are so many people passionate about skiing, sacrificing a lot, primarily with the travel while away from loved ones. The shared experiences breed a certain camaraderie within the group.”
“I’ve made lifelong friends, people I’ll always be happy to see,” Carey adds.
Having coached American racers spanning four games Carey highlighted some of his best Olympic moments. He notes Ligety’s GS gold in Sochi 2014, Miller’s triple medal performance in Vancouver 2010, and being on the mountain as Cochran-Siegle won the team’s lone Olympic medal in Beijing.
The Vermont native Cochran-Siegle praised his fellow New Englander, Carey, who has coached him since 2016.
“That medal and performance was so special for all of us. I grew so much over the years leading up to that day, and Forest was a part of that,” Cochran-Siegle says about his Olympic super-G silver. “Fo can claim a lot of ownership in that medal. He had so much impact on my development and helped me move up the ranks.
“Forest has many incredible attributes that make him a great ski coach, including knowledge, experience, and character.” RCS continues. “For me, we always had such a strong plan for where I wanted to focus my training and effort. He guided me as I developed through GS and became a speed skier.”
Ligety pointed out some of the frequently overlooked intangibles not forgotten by Carey. “He has a great network of people on the ground in Europe at so many different places, and together they all made our training very good,” Ligety said.
Adding “One of the under-appreciated things about Forest is how much work he did to create great opportunities for us – good coaches leave a day beforehand to inject the hill, they ride in the snowcat with the groomer and then sit down and have coffee and beers with the guys working on the hill.”
Cochran-Siegle adds: “He always has such a great perspective, making sure we enjoy everything about ski racing, the whole experience, the good days and the bad.”
Home in Park City
Carey is excited to enjoy quality time at home in Park City with his wife Krissie and his two young children, Trudy, 4, and Anderson, 2.
“With young kids, I’m going to use this as an opportunity to be home, to be with them more. I’m looking forward to it, which is great,” Carey said.
The opportunities that may lie ahead for the vastly experienced coaching talent remain to be seen.
“We’ll see what comes next, but I doubt it will be traveling the world as I have been.” As Carey reminds us, “I’ve made lifelong friends, people I’ll always be happy to see.”
About the Author: Brian Pinelli
