Track101 wrote:
Can we give Coach Austin Roark credit for changing the Huntington University Program? Could they win an indoor NAIA National Title?
I would not give Roark a lot of credit. Roark had a lot of athletes transfer in from Indiana Tech after he left there.
I think people are also confused, Roark is not the cross country/distance coach. Josh Neideck is. He also got a lot transfers from his old school and had a few solid pieces left over, by NAIA standards.
Huntington also brought in an assistant from Indiana Tech who was high level hurdler there, and I think he will definitely help out with coaching and recruiting. I believe Roark only coaches jumps.
I think the women’s program is heading in the right direction both in track and xc, but the men’s side is the opposite. They don’t have many men’s recruits over the past few years and just lost their former national champion 400m hurdler/600m runner. They’ll also lose a multiple time All-American in xc and the 10k on a team with very little depth.
I don’t think it’ll be easy to recruit to Huntington due to that.