From "It's Only a Game" NPR show this morning: http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/08/03/washington-greg-metcalf-running-harassment
From "It's Only a Game" NPR show this morning: http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/08/03/washington-greg-metcalf-running-harassment
Metcalf’s boss Carter Henderson is an idiot as well and should have been fired. For years they’ve had established stars leave with eligibility remaining and he never thought to investigate why. Nice to see people starting to finally speak out.
I wonder why a lot of these athletes stayed at UW and didn’t transfer. Why would you stay somewhere and with a coach who made you miserable?
Ugh, runners.
This was an interesting read as were also the comments at the end of the article. After reading the article it does seem like there are two sides to every story.
One of the more interesting parts was about Katie Knight. She ran all four years at the UW although her senior track season wasn't as good performance wise. Katie stated in the article, "Because of her anxiety, Katie medically retired from the team in May 2017. After being one of the fastest runners in the state in high school, today she doesn’t run at all." What is odd is that 2017 was her senior season. Ok, she medically retired but her eligibility appeared to be up as well as that was her senior year.
pond scum wrote:
Ugh, runners.
Millennial snowflakes...whiners.
Understand this comment. But as a former D1 all american athlete....it gets complicated on whether to leave or not. Some do.
I believe she had another year of XC and indoor track eligibility remaining since she redshirted a year.
She likely didn’t transfer because she is a high GPA student in an unusual major, and she is undoubtedly smart enough to realize her times aren’t fast enough to make a living by running.
I just don't get where people think they can talk to kids in any way and maintain a high profile job. There are thousands of coaches who would love to coach at the University of Washington. If Metcalf can't communicate with today's kids in a way that helps them prosper, the University has every reason to send him packing. He won a Championship 10 years ago, which is amazing, but it doesn't guarantee him future employment. If wasn't such a consistent jerk to kids, he would still be in that position and he has no one to blame but himself. If you engender a culture of negativity and distrust, don't be surprised when it comes back to you.
I also find it interesting that he cites that this was the way he was coached. I would assume that he is referencing Mike Johnson, the distance coach for UW when Metcalf was there. He had a reputation for flying of the handle and screaming at runners, which lost him the job back in the 90s...
I was very interested in this interview.
I was surprised Metcalfe reached out to the reporter. It seems the usual course is to stay quiet.
The laziest thing I heard was Metcalfe explaining his way of coaching as "that is the way I was coached".
One thing that got glossed over (it was mentioned) was that one of the athletes (sorry I am not going to remember names) emailed someone in the AD's office with allegations. That person acknowledged receiving the email. (The reporter was forward the emails). Then later someone from the AD's office said no report on Metcalfe had been during the time frame when the email was sent.
Also, I curious about why none of the athletes took advantage of the anonymous surveys.
All that said, I tend to believe the athletes.
Thank you. Sounds like a smart gal....
If my daughter who is currently running for a high profile D1 program came home with these complaints I would tell her WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD. If it is too tough on you then quit. But stop blaming your own inadequacies on someone else.
No meat in this wrote:
If my daughter who is currently running for a high profile D1 program came home with these complaints I would tell her WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD. If it is too tough on you then quit. But stop blaming your own inadequacies on someone else.
Troll post? Jeezus — someone shouldn’t be a father.
You couldn’t find any sympathy if your daughter expressed distress over demeaning, manipulative, and flatly unacceptable conduct on the part of her coach — a mentor figure to whose care you had entrusted your own flesh and blood?
Being tough does not mean rolling over and welcoming unnecessary, unproductive abuse.
Your response proved my point.
If my daughter was unhappy I would explain that she has 2 adult choices.
1. Accept it or
2. Move on
Or one childish choice
1. Cry that you are not happy.
I understand that in today's society parents spend more time complaining about teachers than parenting. This is just another example.
No meat in this wrote:
Your response proved my point.
If my daughter was unhappy I would explain that she has 2 adult choices.
1. Accept it or
2. Move on
Or one childish choice
1. Cry that you are not happy.
I understand that in today's society parents spend more time complaining about teachers than parenting. This is just another example.
Evidently, the nuance inherent in human interaction escapes you. Complexity is not a vice, dude.
Your hypothetical daughter and her teammates have a relationship with their coach. Rather than shutting up or shipping out, they could engage in a direct dialogue with the authority figure, voicing their concerns and explaining that they think they could perform better over the long run if he were to consider adjusting his approach.
It’s neither weak nor whiny to advocate for oneself in such a productive fashion.
Some of the allegations are terrible.
A top coach has a tough job. If someone is not performing, they need to pull them up.
One specific issue of the article bugs me. Why wouldn't the coach get upset if an athlete maintained their own training log? An athlete can't justify that.
The coach shouldn't have blown up, but he should have the right to say calmly and politely "Sorry, you are no longer on the team for doing your own training". A coach has to be able to add or drop athletes to the team to be competitive.
The other allegations are of course awful and this guy had anger issues.
One issue bugs me wrote:
One specific issue of the article bugs me. Why wouldn't the coach get upset if an athlete maintained their own training log? An athlete can't justify that.
It's ok if the athlete wants to keep their own training log but they still need to submit the one that the coach asks for.
If this was in the real world on a job and you decided to file your own log your supervisor would probably let you know that your services are no longer needed and you would be terminated.
Skool of Hard Knocks wrote:
No meat in this wrote:
Your response proved my point.
If my daughter was unhappy I would explain that she has 2 adult choices.
1. Accept it or
2. Move on
Or one childish choice
1. Cry that you are not happy.
I understand that in today's society parents spend more time complaining about teachers than parenting. This is just another example.
Evidently, the nuance inherent in human interaction escapes you. Complexity is not a vice, dude.
Your hypothetical daughter and her teammates have a relationship with their coach. Rather than shutting up or shipping out, they could engage in a direct dialogue with the authority figure, voicing their concerns and explaining that they think they could perform better over the long run if he were to consider adjusting his approach.
It’s neither weak nor whiny to advocate for oneself in such a productive fashion.
1) Accept it or
2) Move on
3) Stand up for yourself and talk to your coach, AD, etc.
No meat in this wrote:
Your response proved my point.
If my daughter was unhappy I would explain that she has 2 adult choices.
1. Accept it or
2. Move on
Or one childish choice
1. Cry that you are not happy.
I understand that in today's society parents spend more time complaining about teachers than parenting. This is just another example.
Or 3. Do something about it.
That’s what successful people do. You obviously wouldnt know that since you are clearly a schmuck. When you don’t like something you work to change it.