It is the coaches job to produce just like the Basketball , Volleyball and the Swimming programs. He's been at UCSB over 25 years and it's not because he does not care about his athletes.
Another former Gaucho
It is the coaches job to produce just like the Basketball , Volleyball and the Swimming programs. He's been at UCSB over 25 years and it's not because he does not care about his athletes.
Another former Gaucho
Agree wholeheartedly. He is the most sociopathic, sadistic, and downright worst person I've ever met; and this is not an exaggeration. How he still has a job is beyond me, the way he treats his athletes is textbook psychological abuse and it needs to stop. College Track should be the most amazing experience of your life, and Dolan will ruin that for you.
I am a high schooler trying to decide where to go to school (time is running out) and UCSB is one of my choices... how good is the coach with walk-ons? Does he ignore them or give them some attention? I am an average runner but willing to work hard and improve.
Coach Dolan does give walk-ons plenty of attention as long as they are able to compete and train at a certain level. If you can prove both these things then he will let you on the team and work with you.
That is absolutely an exaggeration. Obviously you have something personal against him.
What "level" is he looking for? Close to the scholarship/top runners? Do you have a ballpark time for men and women?
prospective runner wrote:
I am a high schooler trying to decide where to go to school (time is running out) and UCSB is one of my choices... how good is the coach with walk-ons? Does he ignore them or give them some attention? I am an average runner but willing to work hard and improve.
Email him. 15:05 for 3miles on the track in mid-late august is the CC time trial standard for freshmen. If you've got good track times (sub 420, etc) you might be able to hang around until track. He's also taken walk-ons who have performed well as unattached athletes in races during the fall.
How common is it for runners who don't make it in the fall of xc to join the team later on? I am planning to put in a lot of miles but I am not sure if I will be at the required level come fall... is he open to giving tryouts past that fall?
What I have against him is that he is psychologically abusive towards athletes. It's not a coincidence that 8 T&F athletes are transferring out this year. It doesn't even matter how good you are, if you cross him he's going to try and bury you out of spite and revenge. At his age and status as head coach, he should be above that. He's endangering the futures of 19-20 year old kids for what? When is it ever acceptable to bully like that, being in the position that he is in? All the negative posts on this wall are not a coincidence either.
Who are transferring out?
A former runner under Coach Dolan's tutelage back in the eighties, I am astounded--and yet not suprised--at the development of the distance program at UCSB under his management. Well done Pete! You worked your ass off to make this happen, and deserve a hearty round of kudos.
I am also astounded--and yet not surprised--at the kind of complaining posted here, which has all the substance of 13 year old girls sniping at each other on facebook. I chalk this one up, partially but not unimportantly, to a sea-change in American culture, from a cold-war work-your-ass off mentality to an attitude of upper class or wannabe upperclass entitlement. (Don't run in a powerhouse college program if you want to be reaffirmed for how wonderful you naturally are--parents, this goes for you too)
If you decide to run for a D-1 program, then do your research, pick a coach, and accept all that goes with it. If you don't like it, and running is THAT important to you, then take responsibility and go elsewhere. Deal with it.
I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments misterb, but this is California, where an entitlement attitude is pandemic. Pete has solid moral underpinnings, and it was refreshing to see at least two UCSB singlets at the Olympic trials.
Noticed that Tansey Lystad transferred at semester to Portland after what appeared to be a successful freshman xc season.
As well, I take some issue with the complaints about Pete's expectation for work effort. Two things. First, if anything, Pete tried (unsuccessfully because of my own damn fault) to get me to back off on my training. That's right: back off. As in, why are you running 93 miles when I told you to run 60? I should have listened to him back then. I didn't, and paid the price (stress fractures, and pulled glute, etc, etc)
Second, my experience is that he encouraged his athletes to speak up if they were feeling tired. A conversation would take place, in which recommendations would be made, and sometimes an outright order. And hey, wow, shockaroo...I've the sneaky suspicion that this is within any coach's authority.
I think a lot of young athletes want their coach to be a combination of Jewel, Doug Henning, and maybe Deepak Chopra, so I can see how they might have a hard time coping with the fact that, surprise, like a lot of coaches, Pete's a serious,level-headed guy.
Finally, Pete, at least back then, was a Steely Dan fan. I was too. So I guess that made him pretty cool.
At this will be it. To younger athletes who want to run in college.
Burn this into your mind:
a college team is not a running club
a college team is not a running club
...
I'm not sure what his red shirt policy is nowadays, but if you go out there, then show up and be serious about it. If you can't do this, then you might be wasting your time, and most probably the team's, and most certainly (in my book) the coach's.
The life lessons I learned from sports still continue today, and that I'm still a runner after all of these years is in no small part because of my fellow athletes and a certain young coach at UCSB.
Let me tell you about an incident I had with Pete Dolan. About a dozen years ago I was running around the track at UCSB. It was late in the cross country season. I had finished my interval workout and was doing a warm down - just jogging in the outside track lane. The boys and girls cross country teams arrived at the track and it looked like the coach (Dolan) was going to give them a talk. The entrance to the track was marked a sign that stated the track was being used until 6pm by the school teams and it was not 6pm yet. The coach came over to me as I jogged by and just exploded at me. He said the track was posted and if I didn't get my "$%! ass" off the track he was going to call campus police. Before I could even respond he turned around and ran back to his squads. I was stunned. At first I kinda laughed - then I got mad. Now he was well within his powers to ask me to leave. It was the WAY he did it. He chose the nasty way. For all he knew I might have been one of UCSB's largest contributers. UCSB is a wonderful school for both it's location and curriculum. I graduated UCSB with a Master's in Physics in 1981. But, if I had my heart set on competitive running at college - I'd consider other options.
What do you think would happen if you started shooting around during the end of men's basketball practice? Or decided to swim a couple laps during swim team practice? The coach would probably yell at you because you're an idiot. Idiots like you barge in on our practices everyday, that's why the sign is there. The umpteenth idiot of the day to not follow the directions clearly posted on the sign is probably going to get an earful.
So you'd suggest considering another school because you can't follow directions and the coach is protective of his facility and athletes? Come on. You don't really have a Master's in Physics do you?
This is an interesting thread.
It's nice to be important, but it's important to be nice. I don't think I ever heard of Joe Vigil acting like that. Maybe it's a California thing.
Captain Nowhere wrote:
What do you think would happen if you started shooting around during the end of men's basketball practice? Or decided to swim a couple laps during swim team practice? The coach would probably yell at you because you're an idiot. Idiots like you barge in on our practices everyday, that's why the sign is there. The umpteenth idiot of the day to not follow the directions clearly posted on the sign is probably going to get an earful.
So you'd suggest considering another school because you can't follow directions and the coach is protective of his facility and athletes? Come on. You don't really have a Master's in Physics do you?
I do not think you really read my post. Why don't you take a minute and re-read my post.
I was not interferring at all with the team. I gave the team a wide 100 yard buffer during my time on the track. Your assumption of me being an "idiot" says much more about YOU than it does about me. Perhaps Captain Nowhere you are as much a legend in your own mind as coach Dolan?