UW-WSU

Please thred WSU and tell them they need to hire Gerry Lindgren for that job. He is ready to make track and XC the biggest sports at WSU again.

JD got an admin job at UW. Something to do with his wife. Do you know what I know??? (The guy up north)

Ha, if you're talking about Pat Tyson, think again. For thr past several years he's bounced around from place to place, and his schtick is getting old. Greg and JD will be just fine and good runners still won't go to Pullman, even to be coached by Pre's roommate.

Who cares? Your sources are only correct 85% of the time, remember? I believe the first half of your statement (in fact, I know its true - old news actually) but the verdict is still out on the second half of your statement.

Nothing good happens in Pullman; you can't fool us.

Tacomanator wrote:

Ha, if you're talking about Pat Tyson, think again. For thr past several years he's bounced around from place to place, and his schtick is getting old. Greg and JD will be just fine and good runners still won't go to Pullman, even to be coached by Pre's roommate.

One would think if Pat Tyson was going to get a college head coaching job of profile, he would have achieved this a long long time ago.

Coincidence... wrote:

Tacomanator wrote:

Ha, if you're talking about Pat Tyson, think again. For thr past several years he's bounced around from place to place, and his schtick is getting old. Greg and JD will be just fine and good runners still won't go to Pullman, even to be coached by Pre's roommate.

One would think if Pat Tyson was going to get a college head coaching job of profile, he would have achieved this a long long time ago.

Here's the deal with Tyson. Yes, he is a great guy. Very nice and personable with enthusiasm for the sport to match. All the kids that meet him at the high school running camps that he goes to, love him. When he was coaching high school, he could produce the sub 4:15 & sub 9:10 athletes at will. Mead runners were always in contention at Footlocker every year. it's no secret that having that same level of success in D-I track and field has eluded him. It's not that he hasn't had his chances. He was able to land the Kentucky job and go to battle in a very successful conference to see how he matched up against the best. You judge the results. I don't care if he wasn't there that long. I don't care if he "didn't like it" because it wasn't the northwest, or he had personality conflicts on staff, or it was tougher than he thought. It was his decision to leave. D-I positions do not grow on trees. Every other coach out there trying to land a gig or break into the college coaching biz would have killed to land at an SEC school on their first try. Everyone who actually gets a position has to sacrifice on many fronts until they land that "ideal" job. Once again, this has nothing to do with him as a person, just cold hard results. They don't lie. If he left somewhere before building a legacy, or having success, that is on him, he has to own that decision. Now we hear the rumor, and one that has a chance of being true, that he might jump ship on his current position at Gonzaga to go to WSU. If he were to do this, aren't there some questions to be asked? What about the school that has given him a shot to come home? What about the kids that were coming there to be coached by him? What about the fact that he hasn't produced a 3:42 guy, a sub 8:45 steepler, or a sub 13:50/sub 29:00 male runner or a that he will need to have just to keep his head above water in the PAC-10? How many points have Pat Tyson athletes scored at national meets? How many athletes has he qualified for the national meet? Where are the results? Resources and university reputations aside, as a D-I recruit, wouldn't you want to know that he can FOR SURE get it done? Sorry to criticize, but those are the way things lay right now. I know there will be a slew of Tyson supporters that rip into my questions, so go ahead, but it changes nothing with regard to his history as a college coach. Just my long winded opinion.

My short-winded response is simply that yes, Tyson has not been a successful DI coach, but I for one still believe his DI coaching potential is huge.

If high school kids love him, then they go to the school he coaches at. Over half of having a good team is recruiting.

Spot on. Tyson is a good guy and a pied piper. That alone doesn't get it done at the DI level.

As a WSU fan and native of Pullman, I initially wanted Tyson, but he hasn't even coached a season yet at Gonzaga. He needs to stay put and see if he can compete with WCC juggernaut Portland.

If Drake is leaving I have mixed emotions. He got a team to NCAA X-C (not easy at WSU without Kenyans), he cracked the Spokane prep market in recruiting. Yet none of his distance guys score in the Pac-10. Even with UO's dominance of late, the 10K times a couple years ago and the steeple annually are won in slow times.

There are some fine distance/X-C coaches all across the country. I'd like to see coach Sloan and WSU hire a good one. I don't expect them to break the Lanana stranglehold on the Pac-10, but certainly be more competitive.

So is Tyson potentially jumping ship (ie. a WSU candidate) or is that just an assumption? If he is, that's a shame on his part.

Can anyone provide a confirmation that Drake is actually leaving?

I have checked both WSU and UW websites and nothing there. Not that I actually expected anything, but thought there might be something somewhere.

Any word out there? There are quite a few positions open late into the summer. Any ideas on who some front runners for this job might be? Tick Tock.

As ususal, a Letsrun thread full of misinformation.

For starters Pat Tyson is a head DI coach for all of you morons out there. This will be his second full season at Gonzaga University. He has never had more than one season as a college coach until now. Yes, I know he chose to leave Kentucky, but that still doesn't change the fact he recruited none of the athletes he coached, and hardly had time to impact the ones he did.

Secondly, why no scorn for Jason Drake. Metcalf routinely gets ripped on, but is no worse than "JD". Old JD should really thank Chris Lear for creating his career, because without RWTB, he would be just another former middle distance runner from the dark ages of American distance running, (early 90's). You know, sort of similar to Metcalf. What else do these two have in common, they can't coach any event longer than the 800, what a suprise!!

The timing worked out impecably for JD, for he was about to be exposed for the crappy distance coach he truly is. All of the WSU runners there now are his athletes, that he recruited. For the first 3-4 years he kept saying that when he finally had all of his athletes under his program, WSU would do great things.

Well last year was pretty much the first year this was true, (minus their top runner, go figure). Take a look at how well the WSU distance crew performed at PAC 10's in the spring. Also take a look at how the team did throughout the XC season. If he didn't have such a large stable of WA talent he wouldn't have had anyone to replace a few of the top runners he burned out.

Metcalf and JD are a great fit, they both subscribe to the meat grinder model. Both are great recruiters and believe if you get enough of the top level talent grinding it up everyday, 5 guys will emerge. (Meanwhile you'll have 5-10 guys injured or setting PB's in September then slowing down).

Fair enough assesment of the previous coach. Once again, the standards on this site from coach to coach are WAAAYYY biased. Any word on others who might be contenders to work with Sloan? Did JD try to "suggest" his replacement as he handed in his letter? Maybe a fellow Colorado alum, or ex-athlete?

Well said.

Do you people know what it is like in Pullman??? the place is a hell hole!!! and this is coming from someone who hates the Huskies and is actually a huge coug fan. I don't blame him for leaving, he's got a brand new baby and we all know Pullman is no place to raise a child.

On a real note, the fact that JD could recruit stars like Hickerson, Lafler and Kimpel to that god-forsaken place is an amazing feat in and of itslef. He might not be the best coach around but he is a damn good recruiter. That is why I am very worried by this news that he will be the head recruiting coach at UW, everyone loves the guy as a person. Honestly, a big reason that some WA recruits weren't going to UW is because of what a douche tandem Jimmy Bean and Metcalf made.

All that said, I really hope WSU can some day stand up and destroy their better funded and douchier neighbors to the west, but its gonna be a lot harder with JD on board.

But seriously, it doesn't really matter what WSU or UW do, because UO and U of Portland will always stomp them...

D bags abound wrote:

You know, sort of similar to Metcalf. What else do these two have in common, they can\'t coach any event longer than the 800, what a suprise!!

In the past 2 years Metcalf has coached

- 3 sub 29:10 minute 10k\'ers (2 sub 29)

- a 3:39 1500 runner

- 2 sub 14 5k\'ers

- a 344 true freshman 1500 runner

Also, this past spring with the girls

- a handful of sub 420 1500 runners

- a podium NCAA 10ker

- FOUR sub 15:55 5k women

- An NCAA championship winning XC team

Where have you been?

Sickness wrote:

D bags abound wrote:

You know, sort of similar to Metcalf. What else do these two have in common, they can't coach any event longer than the 800, what a suprise!!

In the past 2 years Metcalf has coached

- 3 sub 29:10 minute 10k'ers (2 sub 29)

- a 3:39 1500 runner

- 2 sub 14 5k'ers

- a 344 true freshman 1500 runner

Also, this past spring with the girls

- a handful of sub 420 1500 runners

- a podium NCAA 10ker

- FOUR sub 15:55 5k women

- An NCAA championship winning XC team

Where have you been?

I am gonna have to agree with you on this one. I keep reading all the criticism of Greg on here, and all the stuff he "can't or didn't" do and all I see is a program with some kids who can run. Does he have 10 or 15 at the national meet outdoors, NO! Not even McDonnell at Arkansas used to take that many. The fact is, he's doing a more than adequate job and most people just have a problem with his personality, which is a pathetic and petty way to live. People are different, deal with it.

Look at the level of talent Tyson inherited at both Kentucky and Gonzaga. Neither was caliber to begin with. If you gave Tyson 2-3 years to build his teams up, and then it still doesn't look good, then maybe you can say he is not ready for the college level. Look at Kentucky and Gonzaga runners PR's before Tyson got there, and look at their times after. Many have gained huge strides. Tyson is the man. He always will be. Talk for 5 minutes with the guy and then you will understand what I am talking about.