HOKA NAZ Elite just hired someone you've never heard of as its head coach - Jack Mullaney

HaHaHa!!!

I think his family and friends call him Alan.

Just sayin'

And yet they hired him over Brosnan. I guess that tells you what they think of him.

I don't want to be a hater. This is just a bizarre hire. I'm trying to understand it only because I am sure there were more qualified people who were interested and applied? There had to have been right? When I think of a pro group naming a coach, one that has been fairly successful.....I think of a proven successful coach with lots of experience. I think it is fair to question this hire. It would be amazing to listen to Ben Rosario rationalize this.

And yep, I spaced and typed Adam, not Alan.

I'm just speculating, but I have a theory that part of why Culpepper left is that United stopped flying Denver to Flagstaff. Culpepper joins May 2022, United announces they're ending DEN-FLG in July, then end it in September. No more direct flight makes his Boulder commute much more difficult. Dunno why they took him if he wasn't in Flag full-time.

Like that they aren't hung up on this guy not being a runner. Plenty of great NFL coaches who didn't even play in college who succeeded.

This is probably a money thing. Ben is probably making decent money, which means there isn't much left to hire a decent coach.

Also if they were going to hire someone with zero experience, it had to be the white guy... because America.

Someone please do an interview with Ben Rosario & Mike McManus to explain this hire. There were quality candidates and a more qualified and respected assistant coach in Jenna Wrieden. If the genders were reversed, these boards would be on fire.

Is that the guy who got Bud Light cancelled?

He planned to move but when the rubber met the road, his wife and kids fought it.

he chose family over the job.

it is an odd hire considering his lack of coaching experience, though with Jenna staying I wonder if they've worked out a system where she'll keep coaching the women.

one thing to note is NAZ Elite has a lot of marathon runners, and for as little experience Mulvaney has in track and field I don't think he has any in marathons.

Wrong. Mullaney has marathon coaching experience bts

I think he learned plenty of coaching skills with Rob Conner. Another "challenge" is that his employment agreement will likely be reviewed next summer after the Olympic Trials. So he has less than a year to learn the system Ben has for the athletes, or get his athletes to learn his system and get the NAZ athletes do well at the Olympic Trials.

Wish him the best over the next 12-24 months time, but you have to be doing some serious mental gymnastics to say the Rosario’s and Co. are doing a good job running the show with how this concluded.

With a pretty solid roster, the fact that they could not get an experienced hire means either a) Rosario is a pain to work for, or b) Rosario is trying to low-ball every serious candidate and went for the bargain.

Always tough to see talented athletes get consecutive seasons/opportunities limited by managerial incompetence. At the end of the day, it’s a business, and this just shows those in charge here are incapable of running one.

Hope Hoka knows this probably will hinder their graduate pipeline going forward, given how it looks like their fumbling their best class in years.

Reading all the outsiders on this thread that don’t know anything is funny. Unless you are a member of the team he use to coach at, you cannot say that all he did was make recruiting calls. This guy changed peoples lives. They don’t hire just anyone.

HOKA is mis-managed (as NAZ has been)

Best athletes? Hillary and Joe Gray!

Ha. Jenna Wrieden would be the best coach, but not hired because.......... you know.

Have any of you ding dongs even considered the thought that he might have been the best option to NAZ? Like, no one better sought the job?

It is likely that there was little coaching interest after seeing how poorly Ben Rosario handled Alan Culpepper, who brought the team to their best performances. Coupled with little money and Rosario's ego, you get a weak coach hire. The NAZ runners should be looking for private coaches and other teams if they want to be successful as pros.

Interesting. Makes more sense I guess when you consider that American marathoning is more of a recreational activity than a competitive sport.

You literally don’t know what he does at Portland, how you finna say he’s an utter tool. He literally part of the culture there he just doesn’t take credit for the success cuz he ain’t want the spotlight. He the best fit for the job you just hatin so much you can’t see. Keep Postin on this website place and show the world you hatin on a man who loves what he does and good at. You a bum