Christopher Newport XC Coaching Situation

Matthew Barreau built the team and didn't get to finish what he had started. The head coach is a nut job.

That guy used to band you from all meets if you scratched from a meet and didn’t pay. He is a nut .

I assume you are both talking about Wingard?

remember CNU wrote:

I assume you are both talking about Wingard?

I am talking about Wingard.

Lagasse may be legit but Barreau built this team. I don't think she even started until September. I hear good things about Lagasse though.

Grayson Reid - 40th in 2016 to 5th in 2017

John LaPointe - 53rd to 14th

Jeffrey Dover - 103rd to 21st

Daniel Read - 167 to 102

Cavanaugh McCaw didn't race to 162

That's pretty massive improvement. Barrau built a decent foundation but the new coach built a damn castle on it.

Having a good team is not all it takes to get on the podium. Haverford had a great team and they got 8th. So did MIT. The team itself may have been good before Lagasse got there, but you cannot deny that they peaked VERY well. From what I've heard and see, Lagasse may be one of the best young coaches in the division.

Looks to me like they all made massive improvements since the 2016 NCAA race

Pr's before the 2016 race

Grayson Reid - 9:06 3k, 14:44 5k, 34:18 10k (likely tempo)

John LaPointe - 9:02 3k, 15:15 5k, 34:18 10k (likely tempo)

Jeffrey Dover - 4:00 1500 / 4:16 mile, 9:29 3k,

Daniel Read - 4:23 mile, 9:14 3k, 15:38 5k, 34:18 (likely tempo)

Cavanaugh McCaw - 26:03 8k at Paul Short, didn't compete at NCAAs as freshman

William Rabil - 1:53 800, 3:52 1500, 15:50 5k

Samuel Murch - 9:09 3k, 15:13 5k, 32:48 10k

Bonus

Zach Campbell - 1:54 800, 3:53 800, 4:18 mile,

Pr's after the 2016 race through the 2017 spring season, where they all started upwards trends

Grayson Reid - 8:33 3k, 14:31 5k, 30:18 10k

John LaPointe - 8:45 3k, 14:53 5k, 31:04 10k

Jeffrey Dover - 3:49 1500 / 4:10 mile, 8:38 3k, 14:59 5k

Daniel Read - 4:17 mile, 9:00 3k, 15:22 5k

Cavanaugh McCaw - 1:55 800, 4:00 1500, 9:35 steeple, member of 9th place dmr team.

William Rabil - 1:56 800, 3:53 1500,15:28 5k

Samuel Murch - 8:33 3k, 14:53 5k, 30:57 10k

Bonus

Zach Campbell - 1:51 800, 3:50 1500, 4:14 mile

Aside from Campbell/Rabil, who aren't standouts in xc, everyone else got significantly better since their 11th place finish in 2016 and before Lagasse arrived. Based on these upwards trends over the past year, CNU were likely poised to do very well this year with/without the new coach.

Hi Matt Barreau! Nice of you to make an appearance here. How's that wrongful termination lawsuit going for you?

The reality is that CNU beat a lot of teams that should have destroyed them on paper. They were ranked 8th in the nation in the preseason rankings, 11th going into NCAAs and then they finished 3rd.

There's a lot that can go wrong during an XC season, w/ injuries, sicknesses, burnout, bad races, etc but this new coach executed seemingly perfectly.

There is very little a new coach can do in 10 weeks other than keep athletes healthy. Kudos for doing that. That's just a fact. That is not to take anything away from the new or old coach. If you think otherwise then you just don't get coaching or physiology.

The new coach will prove her worth in keeping them in the general vicinity or improving. It will be more HER team next year and onwards. This first 10-12 weeks says very little.

First and foremost Barreau did the work recruiting all the talent that had came to CNU over the last 4-5 years that made this teams run possible. All the massive improvements happened all over last year while Barreau was the coach. That being said, big props must be given to Lagasse for keeping that upward trend going and getting all those guys ready to run how they did in the region and especially at nationals. All of their guys had massive PR's at regionals and ran even better at Nationals a week later; that is impressive how she prepared them for post season. She seems like an incredible coach and she deserves praise for sure. But this team was poised to do something this huge with or without her. I think they would have been top 3 with Barreau too. Both coaches are outstanding and the slander of one should stop. She did a great job executing with the team what Barreau built the team to dream of doing. End of story.

Windgard should just keep firing everyone that is loved at CNU it seems like. He seemed to piss them off enough to get on the podium huh?

Hell, piss em off some more and they can take down NCC next year!

maybe the real takeaway here is that wingard knows what he's doing.

can't really question his staffing decisions when the team keeps improving dramatically w/ each new coach

interesting, isn't it?

We all know the regional course was short right? I mean, that's obvious isn't it?

Measuring master wrote:

We all know the regional course was short right? I mean, that's obvious isn't it?

South region course was legit. I walked it several times and measured it to be 28,712 feet lengths (lengths of my feet), which I have had verified with the NCAA to be a true 5 mile.

So people GPS'd it was correct....Reid runs 24:01 there....at nationals he runs 24:20 on a course that is easily 30-45 seconds slower than CNU's....mm okay "short" right

Oh hey, Wingard! Back for more self-validation to fuel your already crippled ego from losing all of your coaching staff in 3 months?

Lmao. Arguing about the coach at some small time op that 90% have never heard of.

Yes , that guy is FN nuts.