W&M Almost Cracks 1,000 Pt. Barrier!

I donno how the new coach is training W&M, but I never see their team doing long runs in York River State Park or Newport News park anymore. Maybe its just coincidence and I've been going at the wrong time, but I have a feeling they aren't getting in enough miles.

This was a great program for many years.

Actually, I have good information. Not enough individualized training given backgrounds of different athletes, seems like a one size fits all program. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be fitting anyone based on their recent results.

I don't think Solinsky is to blame for this at all. He is the assistant, and not calling the shots.

Whether or not it fits the criteria to be labeled a university, the name of the school is "College of William & Mary". Much like Boston College is also a university but the name is very much Boston College and trying to call it "BU" would also be incorrect (as well as make everyone think you are talking about Boston University in that particular case).

Also, I'm not sure if you are suggesting that W&M is a "university" due to the fact that it is 25% graduate students. One quarter. You really emphasized that. Doesn't matter though. They could have 0 graduate students and fit the criteria of a university. All you need is more than one undergraduate "college", e.g., the College of Arts and Sciences, the Teachers College, Business College, etc.

You could even have a college (an actual college, not a university, if you want to use the technical sense of the word) that had 25% of its student body in grad school. One quarter. For example, a college that only consisted of a Teachers College and offered both undergrad as well as graduate degrees. That school would not be a university, despite having 25% of its students in the grad program. One quarter.

Thanks for playing. Now go screw yourself Pogo.

It is unbelievable in how fast this program has gone downhill since Gibby left. You would think that Walsh would realize he is not head coaching material and quit. I mean how bad must he be to sink a great program this fast. He has to look in the mirror everyday and say "I suck".

Can you really blame the coach that much? Most kids improve in college just by a function of running more miles at faster paces. I can't imagine it being all the coach's fault. Even if his workouts aren't perfect, they can't account for a team running so poorly. I've seen good kids come out of terrible programs, why can't WM have the same?

Finishing that far back has to be due to multiple problems. Maybe the athletes just don't have the chops for D1 xc.

I do agree however that the head coach assumes all responsibility for his team's performance no matter what. Perhaps they need to reevaluate their recruiting practices.

Gibby's method was 100 to 140 MPW at 5:50 to 6:00. Maybe they need to go back to that.

jjjjjj wrote:

This was a great program for many years.

When was that? After reading all about the glory days of W&M, I looked up a list of past NCAA XC champs. W&M appeared as a host a couple of times, but never as a winner. My list only went back to the '30s, so maybe you're referring to an earlier day than that?

You should also realize that when Gerard/Gibby were coaching at W&M, they had 30-45 mid-distance and distance guys on their team every year. Now they have 22. That's not just an issue with Walsh's coaching or recruiting, that's a budget cut and/or administration choice.

2006 roster (38 mid-distance or distance guys)

http://www.tribeathletics.com/documents/2007/2/7/0607MTFbody.pdf

2015 roster (22 mid-distance or distance guys)

http://www.tribeathletics.com/roster.aspx?path=mtrack

If Solinsky commited to recruiting, they could be great again. At this point, he's too self involved in his flailing career. Hopefully some humble pie will help him re-prioritize. He's done competitively. Be a great coach.

I think Solinsky does a good job with recruiting and is probably the reason kids go there. He is attentive and responsive and gets that not everyone is a clone who can do the same training. I think he wrote the summer training for some of the athletes, but once they got there, Walsh took over. Having said that, Solinsky has a new baby, and as you point out, is still training, so it would be tough to do it all, and do it well.

You are so wrong.

This is true. Coach Solinsky individualized the athlete's training plans for the summer, and provided a very Wisconsin-esque, high mileage, long tempo run formula.

My prediction is that the team's times will never improve past their first race, because after leaving Wisconsin style training, it will be all downhill...

That's not how arguments work, Gary. Try again. Next time include more words than 4 and use evidence to support your claims. Maybe even throw in some polysyllabic words if you're feeling really bold.

Wouldn't send them my kids wrote:

I think Solinsky does a good job with recruiting and is probably the reason kids go there.

If you think that kids are going to William & Mary because of Solinsky then you are truly fool. Athletics is far down on the list of priorities for W&M enrollees.

If you think that kids are going to William & Mary because of Solinsky then you are truly fool. Athletics is far down on the list of priorities for W&M enrollees.[/quote]

You couldn't be more wrong. The athletes on the XC team are there to run. They have okay grades as far as athletes go, but they aren't there to be scholars.