2022 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion

no you pay attn wrote:

This is an ice-cold take. Lindsay did a great job considering everything that happened during her time at UConn. She already had a big job fixing the women's program after JJ left them in shambles. Then factor in the pandemic, UConn Athletics being $40M in debt and cutting Men's XC (after trying and failing to cut Men's Track), slashing operating budgets for both men's and women's programs and imposing strict roster limits and scholarship cuts, and very limited travel opportunities for her athletes, and then Roy's health issues and the stress that puts on the staff on top of all that. In her 3- really 2.5- years there, she had:
1 male NCAA XC qualifier
1 female NCAA XC qualifier
2 female NCAA prelims qualifiers
3 male NCAA prelim qualifiers
1 male NCAA finalist
Why don't you try to do that in 2.5 years in those conditions and report back to us?

pay attn wrote:

no you pay attn wrote:

This is an ice-cold take. Lindsay did a great job considering everything that happened during her time at UConn. She already had a big job fixing the women's program after JJ left them in shambles. Then factor in the pandemic, UConn Athletics being $40M in debt and cutting Men's XC (after trying and failing to cut Men's Track), slashing operating budgets for both men's and women's programs and imposing strict roster limits and scholarship cuts, and very limited travel opportunities for her athletes, and then Roy's health issues and the stress that puts on the staff on top of all that. In her 3- really 2.5- years there, she had:
1 male NCAA XC qualifier
1 female NCAA XC qualifier
2 female NCAA prelims qualifiers
3 male NCAA prelim qualifiers
1 male NCAA finalist
Why don't you try to do that in 2.5 years in those conditions and report back to us?

JJ actually left her with some stacked recruiting classes because he was putting all the money into distance. You can't blame JJ when he left her with recruits that were good enough to qualify for NCAA's. Same with the men, those were Roy's recruits.

She had only 2 returning women under 4:40 in the 1500 and one returner under 17 in the 5k. They wouldn't have beaten the top 15 D3 teams this fall.

Just the biz wrote:

UState wrote:

If Mike Smith had been looking out for her he would have told her to not take the job. It's a set up for failure for her. She will get perhaps one scholarship to recruit with on the men. Maybe two on the women's side. Sacramento puts almost 100% of the scholarships into sprints and jumps. She has no coaching experience. Even if she could be a good coach, she will not be able to prove it at Sacramento.

I disagree. The way things are going she can now get a really great job in one to two years at a higher level school. The HC at that school will be told by their sport admin they need to hire a woman, and because she now will have some experience and there still aren’t a ton of highly qualified female candidates out there, she’ll move toward the top of the pile of applications. Doesn’t matter if she’s successful or not there, she’s a female and has some experience at D1.

If it were a male taking this job I might agree with you, but there’s currently a different standard for females in the industry. It’s just the way it is.

czecher wrote:

pay attn wrote:

Lindsay started in the fall of 2019. Her XC national qualifier graduated from high school in 2017 with PBs of 2:12, 4:52 and 9:57 3k (~ 10:37 for 3200).

Her regionals qualifier graduated high school in 2018 with PRs of 2:15 800, 2:53 1k, 4:54 mile, 7:00 2k steeplechase, and 9:59 3k (~ 10:39 for 3200).

JJ didn't do amazing at UConn but he left Lindsay with more than enough to build with and she did not do a good job of it.

I have no pony in the race here, but I can comment from my dealings with Lindsay.

I've coached against Lindsay since she arrived at UConn and I can say that she is in fact a very good coach. Those girls LOVED her and did in fact improve, no one can deny that. Even if they weren't "National caliber," she improved their marks from when they arrived on campus.

The issue at UConn (like most of the northeast) is difficulty in FINDING the talent. Sure, everyone can go outside of the Northeast to recruit, but honestly, have you been to Storrs? UConn has a strong academic reputation, but you really are out in the middle of nowhere without the reputation of an Ivy with a similar setting.

I think the real issue is support at UConn, not the coaches. Everyone on that staff improved their group, Lindsay included. I just don't believe that UConn is an environment where you're going to be incredibly successful on the national stage. Look at the rest of the northeast. Name a FLAGSHIP state university that is having national success in cross country or track? There isn't a single one!

Again, I'm not trying to give Lindsay an out, but from seeing past coaches come and go, UConn is an environmental issue rather than a coaching issue. Best of luck to BAS, but I don't see UConn magically becoming a national power just because she's there.

czecher wrote:

pay attn wrote:

Lindsay started in the fall of 2019. Her XC national qualifier graduated from high school in 2017 with PBs of 2:12, 4:52 and 9:57 3k (~ 10:37 for 3200).

Her regionals qualifier graduated high school in 2018 with PRs of 2:15 800, 2:53 1k, 4:54 mile, 7:00 2k steeplechase, and 9:59 3k (~ 10:39 for 3200).

JJ didn't do amazing at UConn but he left Lindsay with more than enough to build with and she did not do a good job of it.

I have no pony in the race here, but I can comment from my dealings with Lindsay.

I've coached against Lindsay since she arrived at UConn and I can say that she is in fact a very good coach. Those girls LOVED her and did in fact improve, no one can deny that. Even if they weren't "National caliber," she improved their marks from when they arrived on campus.

The issue at UConn (like most of the northeast) is difficulty in FINDING the talent. Sure, everyone can go outside of the Northeast to recruit, but honestly, have you been to Storrs? UConn has a strong academic reputation, but you really are out in the middle of nowhere without the reputation of an Ivy with a similar setting.

I think the real issue is support at UConn, not the coaches. Everyone on that staff improved their group, Lindsay included. I just don't believe that UConn is an environment where you're going to be incredibly successful on the national stage. Look at the rest of the northeast. Name a FLAGSHIP state university that is having national success in cross country or track? There isn't a single one!

Again, I'm not trying to give Lindsay an out, but from seeing past coaches come and go, UConn is an environmental issue rather than a coaching issue. Best of luck to BAS, but I don't see UConn magically becoming a national power just because she's there.