I agree with picking a school first, especially in a sport like track where top performers can thrive at a number of different places (though obviously that’s easier at a place with top coaching, teammates, facilities, etc.)
Columbia and Cornell have both changed coaches in the last year, and it seems like assistant coaches are constantly churning everywhere, so I wouldn’t personally give a lot of weight to who the coach is at the time of recruiting.
In my opinion the logical conclusion of a track-first decision would be a top track program like Oregon or USC, so for someone who’s focused on the Ivies it makes sense for track to be important but only one factor.
There’s also the aspect of what is each school looking for this year. For example Harvard brought in five male middle distance runners in the class of 2019 (out of 16 total recruits) including the 1:48.43 runner noted above, so might have other priorities for 2020 such as throwing, where there were no 2019 recruits.
http://gocrimson.com/sports/track/2014-15/releases/201507023xsg08