[sic], means that there was a gramatical or spelling error in the quote being used and rather than change the error the person quoting is recognizing the error and keeping it the same in order to maintain the integrity of the direct quote. Get it? Here's an example, if someone was talking about the Arkansas program said Coach McDonald has his guys do high mileage with relatively little intensity throughout most of the season, and you wanted to use this for some person you would type; ...says "Coach McDonald [sic] has his guys..." Got it? if not someone else is going to have to explain it because that's all I got. There was also a thread a while ago where someone asked the same question, there are several different and correct explanations in there as well.
Also, McDonnel manages to do something at Arkansas that no one else can figure out how to do, and that's manage a complete track team that also has enough distance runners to consistently trophy at cross nats. There are several advantages that he has, Arkansas is cheap, they are able to give in state tuition to anyone from a state that borders Arkansas, I beleive this includes Texas, although I could be wrong. As someone else mentioned, it is also easy to get into Arkansas. This all adds to the fact that they have great coaching, maybe the best, a tradition of excellence, athletes know that when they go there they will have a shot at competing at the highest level. For anyone who's ever been to the indoor nationals at Arkansas, it's the best environment I've ever seen for track and field, and that includes Hayward Field. So, maybe there's something sketchy going on there, but there's also a lot right going on there.