SO Wetmore pretty much told his Womens team they sucked after they lost?

Well, he's not wrong... haha.

There's probably a better way to phrase it, but honesty is a rare thing these days. I always liked it when my coach told me the absolute truth. I like to know exactly where I stand. Everybody is different though.

Always good to rub in a bad day at take it out in others. Great job coach!

Well if they didn't follow the race plan...

At least he said it to the girls and kept it "inhouse"

Funny how Karen Harvey said the same thing to her team when FSU lost and it resulted in lots of controversy.

That's the difference between a coach and yourself. He did not "pretty much" tell them that they sucked. He said the obvious, which was that they didn't do what the favored team needed to do, knowing they would have won if Clark had run to her usual level.

And that is where we are these days. There has become NO WAY to tell a student-athlete factual, yet negative information, without it being the fault of the messenger.

If you read his remarks from the CU website, combined with Clark's statements in the flotrack interview, they didn't get out fast enough over the first 600 or 700 meters to win in a field like that. i.e., they were too far back and not enough time to move up to win. Seeing how their no. 1 and 2 runners for much of the year did not score for them, well, that's got to be disappointing. But didn't throw them under the bus.

That was soo much worse she completely threw those girls under the bus, here is the videohttp://www.flotrack.org/video/519483-karen-harvey-fsu-disappointed-after-being-favorite-and-finishing-4th-at-ncaa-xc-champs-2011

................ wrote:

Funny how Karen Harvey said the same thing to her team when FSU lost and it resulted in lots of controversy.

Karen Harvey reminds me of a mild version of what Hillary would have been like if they could have gotten a mike to her on election night.

Black Med Student wrote:

That was soo much worse she completely threw those girls under the bus, here is the video

................ wrote:

Funny how Karen Harvey said the same thing to her team when FSU lost and it resulted in lots of controversy.

We live in a sexist world. Face it. I had never listened to the Harvey interview until now. I thought it was a) Honest and B) Not throwing people under the bus.

If a coach answers the questions honestly, they are constantly accused of throwing the team under the bus. As a coach, I would make it much more about me personally failing than she did but you can't win as a coach. I think I posted on her once that I didn't have the talent to compete with Princeton in xc and someone said i threw the team under bus. I

terrestrial know how wrote:

If you read his remarks from the CU website, combined with Clark's statements in the flotrack interview, they didn't get out fast enough over the first 600 or 700 meters to win in a field like that. i.e., they were too far back and not enough time to move up to win. Seeing how their no. 1 and 2 runners for much of the year did not score for them, well, that's got to be disappointing. But didn't throw them under the bus.

5300-5400m of racing and they couldn't move up enough in that time frame? Something doesn't seem right!

terrestrial know how wrote:

terview, they didn't get out fast enough over the first 600 or 700 meters to win in a field like that. i.e., they were too far back and not enough time to move up to win. .

What you wrote isn't true. At the first split, some 6 minutes into the race, while they were back in place, the entire CU pack was only 9-10 seconds back of the lead.

The problem was I imagine they were used to following Clark. She then went backwards. That had to throw them for a loop. There is more than enough time to make it up.

The reality is is #1 NAU's #1 man had bombed they would have finished 3rd or 4th. The fact that Colorado nearly one without their #1 even scoring is a testament to their depth.

rojo wrote:

Black Med Student wrote:

That was soo much worse she completely threw those girls under the bus, here is the video

We live in a sexist world. Face it. I had never listened to the Harvey interview until now. I thought it was a) Honest and B) Not throwing people under the bus.

If a coach answers the questions honestly, they are constantly accused of throwing the team under the bus. As a coach, I would make it much more about me personally failing than she did but you can't win as a coach. I think I posted on her once that I didn't have the talent to compete with Princeton in xc and someone said i threw the team under bus. I

Wow. Aside from her delusional comments of what her imaginary best friend might have in store for her team, that was a great interview. Wish this woman was still in coaching & hope she does come back, weird eccentricities & superstitions & all...she handled that interview with grace & restraint, knowing how emotionally crushing that loss was - and was articulate throughout. Great role model for young women who ever want to earn respect in a tough, competitive world. And let's face it, their task - whether for better or for worse - is to be seen as "one of the guys" in the professional world. Good on Mark for not blowing smoke up their a$$ too. Coaches without the political clout in their athletic departments these two had/have can't do this...but for those who can, glad to see the greats are still willing to be effective mentors of young men & women.

I have zero sympathy for Clark or any of their other women if they can't take what Mark says. They simply weren't at their best Saturday & that's all he told them. This is exactly what they signed up for - and they know that. And that's what makes Mark a great coach.

rojo wrote:

What you wrote isn't true. At the first split, some 6 minutes into the race, while they were back in place, the entire CU pack was only 9-10 seconds back of the lead.

The problem was I imagine they were used to following Clark. She then went backwards. That had to throw them for a loop. .

This is EXACTLY why this "running in a pack strategy" is the stupidest idea I have ever heard in 35 years of racing.

RUN YOUR OWN RACE!!!!!!!!!

Reallly??? wrote:

terrestrial know how wrote:

If you read his remarks from the CU website, combined with Clark's statements in the flotrack interview, they didn't get out fast enough over the first 600 or 700 meters to win in a field like that. i.e., they were too far back and not enough time to move up to win. Seeing how their no. 1 and 2 runners for much of the year did not score for them, well, that's got to be disappointing. But didn't throw them under the bus.

5300-5400m of racing and they couldn't move up enough in that time frame? Something doesn't seem right!

In a championship race, it is really hard to move up once you fall behind early. I once stopped early in a competitive invitational race for about 5 seconds to put my shoe back on and nearly half the field passed me. I was only able to pick off a dozen or so runners because most of the guys who passed me were all good runners. Granted, I was not a great XC runner, but the point is, at the NCAA meet, if you are competing for a title, most of your pack can't be running in the middle of the race. Your one or two low sticks needs to have the leaders in sight the whole way and your entire pack needs to be at least top-50 half way and perhaps pick off a few runners in the final straight. Colorado was able to move up, but they were simply too far back as a team and all of the girls up front weren't slowing down. This happen all the time, in fact, I have seen more good teams screw up my falling behind early than I have seen teams get out too fact. People say you have to run your own race, but that's not entirely true in XC, you have establish your position early even if it is beyond your comfort zone and simply know that if you are hurting, all of the athletes up front with you are hurting as well. I recall several athletes who have run in World XC saying that no matter how fast the pace gets out, the top athletes never come back to you, you have to the whole race stressed

Btw, I didn't think Colorado was even close to being a lock for winning the title, I thought there were 4-5 teams that were all capable on a good day and Colorado was somewhere in that mix and I had Oregon as one of those teams 4-5 teams. Colorado didn't run horrible, I think they were slightly overrated and Michigan and Oregon had a good day.

Sometimes it is hard for a person to distinguish what conservative and slow is. Had a young lady at footlocker mw. Goal was a conservative first mile (6 min) then push second mile. She went out what she thought was 6:00 but was 6:30. She had an insane last two miles and ended up 30th. A 6:00 then a slightly slower last 2 and she was top 8.

I gave some empathy for these ladies but in future they need to know where they are and where the race is better.

Wow, Harvey definitely threw them under the bus. She said she gave her heart and soul to her girls and that shes exhausted. She said that she told them things that are hard to hear and that they choked.

Did Wetmore say these things publicly? Coaches shouldn't criticize their athletes in public, praise in public criticize in private.

Since you know it all why not coach a team to winning multiple titles and always being a threat to win or podium every year unlike Wetmore.....

Harvey and Wetmore are in different solar system with regard to emotional control.

That said, this is the second major implosion of his #1 runner at NCAA cross. The other one is well-known and even worse.

I have a feeling that being the #1 woman on a Wetmore team carries a lot of anxiety that can be crippling for some, even those that go on to win world titles.