Michigan Track Head Coach Fred Laplante Retires

sounds like you need a refresher english course.

Brandon has shown he's willing to perform a national search and hire candidates without Michigan "ties." If Gibby is not promoted (and I have NO insight other than the rumor on the Michigan site), it will be really interesting to see who they pursue.

Richard Alsup is available.

the first heading was correct

Hmmmm.....odds for following candidates?

Dan Heikkinen?

Gibby?

Warhurst?

Diemer?

Greg Meyer?

Sully?

Willis?

Brannen?

Karen Harvey?

McGuire?

Desmond Howard?

Warde Manuel?

Alan Webb?

Rondell Ruff?

Makhtar N'Diaye?

Shakey Jake?

Makhtar N'Diaye?Awesome

Ronaldbb wrote:

Hmmmm.....odds for following candidates?

Dan Heikkinen?

Gibby?

Warhurst?

Diemer?

Greg Meyer?

Sully?

Willis?

Brannen?

Karen Harvey?

McGuire?

Desmond Howard?

Warde Manuel?

Alan Webb?

Rondell Ruff?

Makhtar N'Diaye?

Shakey Jake?

How many MAC head coaches will apply? Dennis Mitchell, John Goodridge, Lawson(sp) at Kent.

UpNorth2 wrote:

How many MAC head coaches will apply? Dennis Mitchell, John Goodridge, Lawson(sp) at Kent.

You guys are getting it all wrong. There's no doubt Laplante left for after receiving some pressure from the AD (see: Big 10 resume since his takeover). Gibby, on the other hand, has turned the distance program around since his arrival. He's not going anywhere. These distance coaches may apply, but they'll ultimately hire in a director with a sprint background. I don't see Gibby heading up the whole program, but he'll stay and continue to work his magic with the cross country crew.

Also you guys have to realize when Ron was thrown under the bus a few years back in Minnesota, it was just a matter of time before things caught up to Fred.

I would agree that Gibby has done a good job. The last of Ronnie's recruits will be finishing this year so it will be interesting to see how the next few seasons go. He's done fairly well with Ferlic, (8;40 steeple), Beams (sub 30), Albaugh (sub 30), and Rayyan (sub 14 when he can stay healthy), but he will need some true front runners in the next few years---Smoragiewisc? or the Canadian recruit??? The question will be if Gibby feel "slighted" if he's not offered the position and look elsewhere?

Liquori's best moment: "What is El Guerrouj thinking?"

sorry wrong thread

The problem is not with the distance, but the mid-distance. Michigan didn't have one guy under 4.10 for the mile!!! and no one under 1.51. You have to score points in all events at a track meet

Exactly!!! That speaks to the recruiting and training. Indoor track is built around middle distance in large part. Strong Mid distance team can score lot of points

Agree with you 100% that they've sucked at mid-distances since Ronnie left. Again---I think it will be interesting to see where they go with the coaching search.

yes .... politics

Right on the money! This strength of Michigan's program in the past was having a number of guys who could run 800-1500 (some could stretch to 3000 or drop to 400). These guys could win individual events, double, and run relays. It would be great if they had top-notch sprinters from the football team, but as others have pointed out this is not so realistic at a cold-weather school. My ideal would be to see them dominate in the 4 x 8 and distance medley relays at Penn once again and to move on to contention for individual NCAA crown. They will never win a national team title and to be honest winning the Big Ten could be possible but is the less impressive achievement in my opinion. Think Brannen, Willis, Webb, Townsend, Ellerton. That was the high point of Michigan track

Agree completely. This is really the approach Ronnie took starting about the ERA of Sully---his major success was from mid-distance runners who could go up and be competitive at XC. Brannen and Willis are the obvious examples, but the list is long---Woods, Switzer, Williams, etc. If you look at McGuire---it's the similar approach that he's made very successful on the womens' side with the obvious difference being the length of XC races. Gallo, Eardmann-Waits, Gall, Edwards-Sifuentes, Willard, etc. The list is long. Michigan has really gone "away" from this philosophy on the men's side recently and it's really hurt their success. Even with their relative success in XC, the long distance runners have scored minimal points in the 5 and 10 on the track. It's just not working right now.

Someone just needs to tell Gibby that Lydiard only prescribed high mileage in the 8 week conditioning phase before each season. His mid-distace guys just look tired and flat. Crank the mileage all you want, but just make sure to come down to realistic levels once it's time to do hills and workouts. Realistic being 50-75, not 90-100