Arcadia HS - Coach O'Brien

By the way, I tried reading more and then had to stop again at "t appears to me that he is trying to do the same with Track. Shultz may be an a-h--e but it is his program. So did O'brien benefit these athletes in anyway by pulling them from their track season? These are great athletes, why would they bypass their season?" I literally cannot believe this. I was at the meeting O'Brien had with his athletes when he literally said that they had the choice to make the decision that they wanted. Only 1 kid went to track because the kids WILLINGLY chose not to go for their own reasons. A couple others switched over soon after but on a team with 75+ kids, you can clearly see that there's gotta be more of a reason why these kids wanted to stay with O'Brien BY CHOICE

19runner wrote:

By the way, I tried reading more and then had to stop again at "t appears to me that he is trying to do the same with Track. Shultz may be an a-h--e but it is his program. So did O'brien benefit these athletes in anyway by pulling them from their track season? These are great athletes, why would they bypass their season?" I literally cannot believe this. I was at the meeting O'Brien had with his athletes when he literally said that they had the choice to make the decision that they wanted. Only 1 kid went to track because the kids WILLINGLY chose not to go for their own reasons. A couple others switched over soon after but on a team with 75+ kids, you can clearly see that there's gotta be more of a reason why these kids wanted to stay with O'Brien BY CHOICE

One of your posts said the teachers LOVE O'Brien. Not so. Most can stand him because of his poor ways.

O'Brien is a master of deceit and he has fooled so many in recent years. But now, the truth will begin to come out.

This is big news on the high school running scene. Only a handful of boys programs can match what Arcadia had done over the past 5-10 years (American Fork, North Central, CBA, The Woodlands, York), I am guessing within a few years Arcadia will no longer be a power-house program in XC. This is sad for the sport (however I know nothing about coach O' Brien or his antics so perhaps it was warranted...I do not have any knowledge other than what I read).

The Real Realist wrote:

One of your posts said the teachers LOVE O'Brien. Not so. Most can stand him because of his poor ways.

O'Brien is a master of deceit and he has fooled so many in recent years. But now, the truth will begin to come out.

You're right... some teachers dislike him, but a lot also do like him. Regardless, he is far from ever having "poor ways" and does not deceit. I'll bet you or the OP are Schultz or one of Schultz's lame goons

The Real Realist wrote:

One of your posts said the teachers LOVE O'Brien. Not so. Most can stand him because of his poor ways.

O'Brien is a master of deceit and he has fooled so many in recent years. But now, the truth will begin to come out.

The truth will begin to come out, behind your anonymous username. Sounds pretty much like what their school is doing cowering behind some random AD

The Real Realist wrote:

O'Brien is a master of deceit and he has fooled so many in recent years. But now, the truth will begin to come out.[/quote]

This is also pretty funny considering nobody really credible is saying anything it appears.

700+ likes in less than 2 hours? I'm sure he's a TERRRRRRIBLE person

https://www.facebook.com/KeepCoachOBrienAtArcadia?ref=stream&hc_location=stream

PrepCalTrack moves the ball forward a little...

http://www.prepcaltrack.com/2013/06/18/obrien-now-out-as-arcadia-xc-coach/

"The situation was not always rosy, however. The boys cross country program had been been issued a two-year ban from participating in one very popular invitational starting in 2011, with the meet director citing past transgressions as the reason."

I can't imagine what transgressions would get a team banned from an XC meet. I've been around O'Brien's teams and the athletes were pretty self-disciplined and on track.

Cali Guy wrote:

PrepCalTrack moves the ball forward a little...

http://www.prepcaltrack.com/2013/06/18/obrien-now-out-as-arcadia-xc-coach/

"The situation was not always rosy, however. The boys cross country program had been been issued a two-year ban from participating in one very popular invitational starting in 2011, with the meet director citing past transgressions as the reason."

I can't imagine what transgressions would get a team banned from an XC meet. I've been around O'Brien's teams and the athletes were pretty self-disciplined and on track.

Prepcaltrack editor Rich Gonzalez and former Arcadia coach Jim O'Brien are mortal enemies. Do you find it odd at all that there were no interviews on DyestatCal nor Prepcaltrack with Arcadia when they won either of their national championships?

I know not much of the situation or this coach. This is what seems strange to me.

XC Coach and Track Coach for whatever reason can't get a long. I'm sure maybe it's mostly the Track Coach's fault even. BUT in what way is forming a training group where the kids can not participate in Track in the best interest of the kids. This should have never been anything to cross his mind let alone actually partake in. Keep in mind this is HS, that alone was enough to get him fired. Blatantly hurting another program at the HS you coach at will get you fired at most places.

I'm sure he's a great coach and it's obvious the kids love him, but he should never have put the kids in that situation where they had to decide.

Indoor? wrote:

I know not much of the situation or this coach. This is what seems strange to me.

XC Coach and Track Coach for whatever reason can't get a long. I'm sure maybe it's mostly the Track Coach's fault even. BUT in what way is forming a training group where the kids can not participate in Track in the best interest of the kids. This should have never been anything to cross his mind let alone actually partake in. Keep in mind this is HS, that alone was enough to get him fired. Blatantly hurting another program at the HS you coach at will get you fired at most places.

I'm sure he's a great coach and it's obvious the kids love him, but he should never have put the kids in that situation where they had to decide.

+1

Amen.

Indoor? wrote:

I know not much of the situation or this coach. This is what seems strange to me.

XC Coach and Track Coach for whatever reason can't get a long. I'm sure maybe it's mostly the Track Coach's fault even. BUT in what way is forming a training group where the kids can not participate in Track in the best interest of the kids. This should have never been anything to cross his mind let alone actually partake in. Keep in mind this is HS, that alone was enough to get him fired. Blatantly hurting another program at the HS you coach at will get you fired at most places.

I'm sure he's a great coach and it's obvious the kids love him, but he should never have put the kids in that situation where they had to decide.

Offering kids a platform for success is not in the best interest of the kids? Seems like the kids themselves spoke pretty loudly if 80 of 88 or whatever really decided on the same thing. Maybe we should spend more time giving these kids more credit for standing up for what they believed in during a time in which they were almost being forced to conform to restrictions that were being placed on them

Agreed.

I think its good Rocha seems to have done his own thing and stayed with the track program. He needs to look out for himself, not JOB. He could have a monkey writing his workouts and he'd do fine.

Any good private schools with godd T&F programs in that area? Maybe the best thing would be to get away from that whole mess.

Anon wrote:

Offering kids a platform for success is not in the best interest of the kids? Seems like the kids themselves spoke pretty loudly if 80 of 88 or whatever really decided on the same thing. Maybe we should spend more time giving these kids more credit for standing up for what they believed in during a time in which they were almost being forced to conform to restrictions that were being placed on them

A long time ago, O'Brien was not the distance coach of track and he would send his kids from xc to the track team. They would always come back to xc out of shape. He had the numbers to prove it. He explained the entire situation to the kids and said no repercussions would be made if any kid decided to go to the track team this year. He would willingly take them back in xc but warned them that they would lose fitness by not staying in his program. After all was said and done, the almost all the kids (knowing they were going to miss out on running cif track sanctioned races) opted to run with obrien because it meant more to them to be under obrien and they would be treated right and trained well under his guidance rather than "conforming to the restrictions" of the administration and track team. To "anon"... great point.

Of course, now they are stuck due to this powerplay between O'Brien and Arcadia. He's no longer the XC coach so if they stick with him in the fall then no CIF nor NXN. Only JO, open races and Footlocker. Is that enough for them or will they run for Arcadia?

If they stay with him and he lands another HS job, will they all transfer?

I'm not saying he's wrong or Arcadia is because I don't know the details. But the kids are getting screwed in the long run...

19runner wrote:

Whoever the OP is does not know anything about what he's talking about. I have seen what's gone on at Arcadia for the past 11 years. The second I read "He has alienated the Girls XC team, shown little respect instead of working with Coach Landis and tried to take over the program" I stopped reading because that is the complete OPPOSITE of what actually happened. I seriously cannot believe this BS post. It is absolutely ridiculous. There's a reason why parents, athletes, and even teachers LOVE this guy. It infuriates me because I know how much O'Brien does for his athletes. He fights so hard to make sure they get the same opportunities as any other football, basketball, or baseball player. OP, whoever you are, why don't you actually look into EVERYTHING that has happened. This situation is complete BS.

By the way, I'm Andrew Pilavjian. I ran under O'Brien for 4 years, went off to UCSB to run xc/track, and helped as an assistant coach at Arcadia in 2012. Some may think I'm biased, but the truth is that I'm informed.

I don't doubt anything anyone is saying about how good they are with him or how much they like him and it was worth it to do what they did during track. I'm sure you are correct and that they did get in worse shape by doing track.

Unfortunately in life disagreements happen and they effect other people. For whatever reason these guys couldn't work out their differences in a better way and this was the best solution? Well guess what now this "best solution" which was pretty crappy in that they didn't get to do track, now it means they don't have him as an XC coach either.

Seems like something better could have been figured out.

But let me be clear. The day that he created a non-school group that took 80 kids that normally do track out of the track program was the day he quit coaching at Arcadia.

Bingo!!!! He had no right to leave the program!!! To say he gave the kids a choice? Really? Andrew, you make no mention of the fact he split the girls XC team. You were there, so were my daughters. You know the truth. Landis was a former student of his and he treated her with no respect. McAlister did whatever she wanted her senior year? Who fostered that? Some girls continue to train outside of the AHS program, is that right? Would you treat O'Brien this way if there was another coach who trained you better? I think not. It is all about respect for others at his school and in general. Learn something about how to treat respectable people.