Nathan Taylor

CornellFan1 wrote:

Just heard Nathan Taylor suddenly retired from Cornell. Any truth to this? Big blow for the team if true. He's an amazing coach.

Yep, it's true.

Someone better tell Rojo.

Nathan is one of the good ones in this sport and will be missed.

Cornell had better do a SERIOUS job in finding his successor or the future success of their program is in major jeopardy.

I think the AD understands the success of the program - he attended one of the recent Heps and dyed his hair red when the team won, right? I mean, what AD would go to a conference championship meet unless the team has some kind of significance to the school?

Any reason behind the sudden nature of the move? Retire? Pushed out? ...or is he going to coach elsewhere?

Seemed very sudden

qnation wrote:

Any reason behind the sudden nature of the move? Retire? Pushed out? ...or is he going to coach elsewhere?

Seemed very sudden

Yeah, this is not the time someone ordinarily steps away. Most/all of the prime candidates for this major a position are locked up by now--perhaps the Big Red will go with an interim coach, to have a chance to go through a full hiring cycle.

I'm hearing zero here in NYC about this change. If my Cornell (and Columbia) informants have heard anything, they're keeping it very close to the vest.

Taylor's not a particularly old guy (early 60s?) but you wonder about health...or maybe some kind of showdown with the powers that be?

Anyway, as mentioned above these will be BIG shoes to fill: a top-notch leader and motivator, *superb* recruiter, and event coach who has trained multiple NCAA champions. You don't find too many of those lying around...

Looks like Adrian Durant is now the man.

http://hepstrack.com/blog/2015/07/13/durant-named-new-cornell-mens-coach/

Why was there no search conducted? Head coaching job at Cornell is a great gig in this sport - seems weird.

It would have been great to see Chris Fox or Vig in this role.

The Champ wrote:

It would have been great to see Chris Fox or Vig in this role.

Absolutely not.

kibitzer wrote:

Taylor's not a particularly old guy (early 60s?) but you wonder about health...or maybe some kind of showdown with the powers that be?

Anyway, as mentioned above these will be BIG shoes to fill: a top-notch leader and motivator, *superb* recruiter, and event coach who has trained multiple NCAA champions. You don't find too many of those lying around...

I had heard that he was essentially "burned out" and needed a break.

I thought it was interesting how Durant had previously taken over Taylor's role as the head coach for the USVI national team in 2014. Like in this Cornell situation, Durant was previously an assistant coach for the USVI national team and then got promoted.

Durant seems to fit most of those traits you've listed. I saw Bruno Hortelano at Outdoor Heps this past year, and he said how he was still training in Ithaca under Durant.

You may be right about Taylor's needing a break, Mary. If so, it reminds me a bit of when Willie Wood left Columbia because he was just feeling worn down--and then ended up coaching a new team the next year!

I'd be a bit surprised if we've heard the last of Taylor as a coach. There are some openings (and will be others, I've heard) both for top-notch head coaches and for jumps coaches.

BTW, two things:

1. Here in the New York area, I've heard another Ivy-champion coach refer to Durant as a "star"--I don't think Cornell loses much at all with his elevation. One of Taylor's many qualities was his ability to pick outstanding assistants (another example: Megan Johnson and what she's done with Cornell's throwing program).

2. Completely unrelated: Mary (or whoever it was that wrote the piece), in the HTC post about Pan Ams, it says: "Team USA will have the largest HepsNation contingent in the senior competition, as six athletes – lead by 2015 USA Champ Sean Furey – will be representing the red-white-and-blue."

Sorry, but this is a pet peeve: the past tense/past participle of "to lead" is "LED" and not "lead"! Not a big deal in real life, but it bothers me almost as much as when people misspell "Van Cortlandt"--where the Heps XC meet returns this fall after a too-long absence.