I guess I have been out of the loop. Why is there a rumor about Johnson not being the coach at Oregon. He literally one of the best coaches they have ever had. Before him, what had the women's team ever done? How many NCAA titles has he won? How many top 4 finishes? A ton. He has accomplished this in a crappy place to live, with terrible weather.
Oregon just swept the Pac-12s & the men won their 15th straight conference championship. They've been a bit down in XC the last few years and the middle distance/distance program is still hit and miss (none of Reed Brown, Aneta Konieczek or Alessia Zarbo advanced from the regionals). They have some rebuilding to do to compete for a podium spot at the national level but overall the program under Johnson is still solid.
This situation is almost a carbon copy to what happened to Martin Smith. The track teams were performing well, but the distance/XC teams weren't. It didn't help that home track meets weren't drawing any attention either, and a bunch of duck alumni (led by Salazar, lol) got the administration to fire him. Smith was a week removed from winning the regional coach of the year when he got the boot. Granted, this brought Lanana in, got Nike back involved with the program, and jumped start "Track Town USA 2.0," so it's inarguably been the right decision. Still, despite Johnson's almost unprecedented success (a slew of national track title and utter dominance of the Pac-12), an underperforming distance squad and "fat shaming" controversy might be enough counter weight to doom him.
Oregon just swept the Pac-12s & the men won their 15th straight conference championship. They've been a bit down in XC the last few years and the middle distance/distance program is still hit and miss (none of Reed Brown, Aneta Konieczek or Alessia Zarbo advanced from the regionals). They have some rebuilding to do to compete for a podium spot at the national level but overall the program under Johnson is still solid.
This situation is almost a carbon copy to what happened to Martin Smith. The track teams were performing well, but the distance/XC teams weren't. It didn't help that home track meets weren't drawing any attention either, and a bunch of duck alumni (led by Salazar, lol) got the administration to fire him. Smith was a week removed from winning the regional coach of the year when he got the boot. Granted, this brought Lanana in, got Nike back involved with the program, and jumped start "Track Town USA 2.0," so it's inarguably been the right decision. Still, despite Johnson's almost unprecedented success (a slew of national track title and utter dominance of the Pac-12), an underperforming distance squad and "fat shaming" controversy might be enough counter weight to doom him.
Forgot to add Johnson's lackluster home meets as well.
This situation is almost a carbon copy to what happened to Martin Smith. The track teams were performing well, but the distance/XC teams weren't. It didn't help that home track meets weren't drawing any attention either, and a bunch of duck alumni (led by Salazar, lol) got the administration to fire him. Smith was a week removed from winning the regional coach of the year when he got the boot. Granted, this brought Lanana in, got Nike back involved with the program, and jumped start "Track Town USA 2.0," so it's inarguably been the right decision. Still, despite Johnson's almost unprecedented success (a slew of national track title and utter dominance of the Pac-12), an underperforming distance squad and "fat shaming" controversy might be enough counter weight to doom him.
Forgot to add Johnson's lackluster home meets as well.
That would be the least of things that Johnson is responsible for. He can't control the weather and bad weather limits performances and attendance. There's a reason why they schedule meets in places like Tucson- so the sprinters can get NCAA qualifying marks. They ain't getting em in Eugene.
Forgot to add Johnson's lackluster home meets as well.
That would be the least of things that Johnson is responsible for. He can't control the weather and bad weather limits performances and attendance. There's a reason why they schedule meets in places like Tucson- so the sprinters can get NCAA qualifying marks. They ain't getting em in Eugene.
That would be the least of things that Johnson is responsible for. He can't control the weather and bad weather limits performances and attendance. There's a reason why they schedule meets in places like Tucson- so the sprinters can get NCAA qualifying marks. They ain't getting em in Eugene.
Oregon just swept the Pac-12s & the men won their 15th straight conference championship. They've been a bit down in XC the last few years and the middle distance/distance program is still hit and miss (none of Reed Brown, Aneta Konieczek or Alessia Zarbo advanced from the regionals). They have some rebuilding to do to compete for a podium spot at the national level but overall the program under Johnson is still solid.
This situation is almost a carbon copy to what happened to Martin Smith. The track teams were performing well, but the distance/XC teams weren't. It didn't help that home track meets weren't drawing any attention either, and a bunch of duck alumni (led by Salazar, lol) got the administration to fire him. Smith was a week removed from winning the regional coach of the year when he got the boot. Granted, this brought Lanana in, got Nike back involved with the program, and jumped start "Track Town USA 2.0," so it's inarguably been the right decision. Still, despite Johnson's almost unprecedented success (a slew of national track title and utter dominance of the Pac-12), an underperforming distance squad and "fat shaming" controversy might be enough counter weight to doom him.
I guess I missed the news/post on alleged "fat shaming". So what exactly is Johnson accused of that would warrant his contract not being renewed?
It stll counts as an NCAA qualifying mark, doesn’t it? All the crap about cool weather and rain preventing fast sprint marks has been disproven time and time again overnight the years. Anyway, your mention of attending out of state Invitationals has absolutely nothing to do with any plausible reason that RJ’s status might be in doubt.
This situation is almost a carbon copy to what happened to Martin Smith. The track teams were performing well, but the distance/XC teams weren't. It didn't help that home track meets weren't drawing any attention either, and a bunch of duck alumni (led by Salazar, lol) got the administration to fire him. Smith was a week removed from winning the regional coach of the year when he got the boot. Granted, this brought Lanana in, got Nike back involved with the program, and jumped start "Track Town USA 2.0," so it's inarguably been the right decision. Still, despite Johnson's almost unprecedented success (a slew of national track title and utter dominance of the Pac-12), an underperforming distance squad and "fat shaming" controversy might be enough counter weight to doom him.
I guess I missed the news/post on alleged "fat shaming". So what exactly is Johnson accused of that would warrant his contract not being renewed?
Six former UO athletes say they felt devalued as individuals and at risk for eating disorders because of the program’s data-driven approach to their weight and body fat percentages.
Seems like a lot of hearsay from only 6 athletes in his 11 years. The article also said all Oregon athletes are subjected to DEXA scans. Are the other sports complaining, like the 6 former female track athletes?
Not warm and fuzzy, the men's xc team has not excelled since Powell or Lanana, the DEXA scans and weight pressure were a pretext to fire him, I would think because Phil Knight wants great performances in the distances, plus the championships numbered only one after 2017. But his overall results put him 4th all-time among coaches in championships, and it's not as if they were winning a lot of championships before Johnson got to the program around 2005. 14 titles as head coach from 2012 through 2021, and remember that there were no championships in 2020:
Robert Johnson Capsule 10th Year as UO Head Coach; 17th Overall at Oregon 14 NCAA Championships (4 men’s indoor/4 women’s indoor, 2 men’s outdoor/2 women’s outdoor, 2 women’s cross country) 16 Pac-12 Championships (8 men’s track and field, 5 women’s track and field, 3 women’s cross country) 62 NCAA event titles 14-Time USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year 10-Time Pac-12 Coach of the Year Johnson is in his 17th season overall at UO having previously served as the Ducks’ associate head coach. With 14 NCAA title titles as the Ducks’ head coach, Johnson ranks fourth all-time among NCAA head coaches in cross country and track and field, and ninth overall for Division I head coaches in all sports. NCAA Titles in the Johnson Era (14) 2012 – Women’s Cross Country 2013 – Women’s Indoor Track and Field 2014 – Men’s Indoor Track and Field 2014 – Women’s Indoor Track and Field 2014 – Men’s Outdoor Track and Field 2015 – Men’s Indoor Track and Field 2015 – Men’s Outdoor Track and Field 2015 – Women’s Outdoor Track and Field 2016 – Men’s Indoor Track and Field 2016 – Women’s Indoor Track and Field 2016 – Women’s Cross Country 2017 – Women’s Indoor Track and Field 2017 – Women’s Outdoor Track and Field 2021 – Men’s Indoor Track and Field
It stll counts as an NCAA qualifying mark, doesn’t it? All the crap about cool weather and rain preventing fast sprint marks has been disproven time and time again overnight the years. Anyway, your mention of attending out of state Invitationals has absolutely nothing to do with any plausible reason that RJ’s status might be in doubt.
Yes, but a home meet will never land that late unless it’s PAC 12s. All the open dates have crap weather as often as not.
It stll counts as an NCAA qualifying mark, doesn’t it? All the crap about cool weather and rain preventing fast sprint marks has been disproven time and time again overnight the years. Anyway, your mention of attending out of state Invitationals has absolutely nothing to do with any plausible reason that RJ’s status might be in doubt.
This started with a poster mentioning about lackluster Oregon home meets and I responded that the weather had much to do with that and it was not something that RJ should be responsible for. I elaborated further that the Ducks schedule a number of away meets in warmer climes to get away from the dreary weather and give the sprinters better opportunities to achieve NCAA qualifying marks.
You then pointed out that Micah Williams ran 9.93 on 5/15 at Hayward. I then responded that it was at the Pac-12s which are rotated between schools. My point was that this year was an outlier. When the Pac-12s are at other schools all the Hayward meets are in April, except for the Twilight meet which is usually the first weekend in May. The weather conditions are too unpredictable during these dates and that's one of the reasons for dates at warm weather climes. To be sure, there have been some years where the weather was decent, but then many others where it wasn't.
As to your other comment about my discussion of the weather being irrelevant to RJ's status being in doubt my response initially was just factual reporting about Oregon's record, particularly in the conference meets which was then followed by the poster's remark about the lackluster home meets. I didn't discuss the speculation about his possible dismissal and I'm probably not all that interested at this point until I hear info from conventional sources that are reliable. Is it possible that he won't be rehired? Sure, and it's possible that he will. Stay tuned...
