ESPN Olympic Sports

U.S. Ski team coach Jesse Hunt shook his head as he watched his racers make their way down the course in front of him.

The only spectators were coaches and a few parents, who milled about in the finish area. They were stuck deep in the practically pressure-free bush leagues and yet, Hunt's racers still could not best the field.

"I want to know why our guys can't ski [giant slalom]," Hunt muttered to nobody in particular while standing on that Canadian hillside in slushy spring snow.

"It doesn't make sense. Even when we train with the Europeans, I tell the guys, 'ski in their track, follow their line,' but they can't. We have to figure it out."

That's what Hunt spent the next eight years doing.

Today, Hunt serves as Alpine director of arguably the best U.S. men's team in U.S. Ski team history. In all, three American racers – Bode Miller, Daron Rhalves and Lindsey Kildow – have legitimate shots to take home a World Cup title during competition Wednesday through Sunday. And Miller could take home the overall World Cup title – something no American has done since 1983.

Hunt discovered the key to success in American skiing is not about following the Europeans' tracks after all. For the Yanks, it is about making their own.

"It's a European sport," U.S. team member and two- time Olympian Erik Schlopy said. "And when we were younger, it was the Europeans who were winning everything. So it seemed more natural to trust their knowledge in the sport of ski racing. But I think Americans are quite a bit different as far as the way we operate, and American coaches are more in tune with that."

And for ski racers, the disconnect was stark. While the majority of coaches in the junior ranks were American, when athletes reached the big time,they were entrusted to the guidance of Swiss or Austrian coaches. U.S. team management wasn't convinced American coaches had the pedigree to show their own athletes how to be winners. They had an inferiority complex.

One thing important to the American skiers was lost in the translation: fun. They'd go over to Europe, dragging their equipment to hotel after hotel for months at a time, while their European competitors slipped home every three or four days. The Americans never saw one of their own win. In all, it was a depressing experience.

"The most frustrating thing was to have the athletes come back from Europe and not be happy," said U.S. Team technical coach Greg Needel, who was working as a junior ski academy coach at the time. "To not be happy with their pursuit. Not feel like it was worthwhile."

In their frustration, many began to quit.

Hunt, a former U.S. team racer himself, shared Needel's sentiment and set out in 1994 to halt what had become a destructive cycle of losing.

Technically, Hunt took the men's slalom and giant slalom teams back to the basics, focusing heavily on tactics and fundamentals. But soon, the soft-spoken coach from Vermont also was able to give his athletes something uniquely American: freedom. A freedom that helped rebuild his skiers' battered egos.

"In the past," Needel said about the European coaching style, "everything was force fed. 'This is what we're doing. That's the way it is and there's no discussion.'"

As soon as Hunt got the chance, he changed all of that.

"I think Jesse was one of the pioneers of letting his athletes voice their individual ideas of what's best for them," Schlopy said. "He empowered us to make our own decisions."

"The philosophy," Hunt said, "has always been trying to drive a team concept; but within that team, to deliver a really good program for the individuals, so the athletes are getting what they feel they need to succeed. They, in turn, feel an obligation to contribute to the team."

That democratic philosophy, coupled with the more tangible effects of simply having a coach who yearned for a cheeseburger and a football game just as badly as his athletes after four months abroad, got the snowball rolling.

As Hunt moved up, he continued to infuse the men's staff with American coaches at every level, and since 2003 he has been doing the same as director for the women's team. Finally the team has taken on a life of its own.

"When he first came on the scene, things changed in a positive way," said Kirsten Clark, who finished the 2003 season second overall in downhill. "He communicated with the athletes, and he had a good understanding of what the athletes thought."

They're more committed to the European season now. They're getting apartments in Europe, talking on European cell phones and adapting to the lifestyle.

Led by Miller and Rahlves, the men's team started the season with 15 athletes ranked in the top 60 in the world in at least one event. And every one of them will tell you: We can still do better.

"The best thing about it," Hunt said, "is that the athletes who were in the program when I started are still in the program. We changed the culture of the team to a winning one. And one of the keys to creating the culture is getting coaches who understand the American mentality."