2014 College Track and Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion

Grapevine says wrote:

Heard Kentucky sprints job going to Ronnye Harrison who has been at Portland State

This is 100% false.

While Harrison is a VERY GOOD coach and would do well at Kentucky his women's program is poised to be one of the better teams in the Big Sky this year.

True, they just lost their long time (and very good) asst Throws/Jumps/Multi coach to Texas but Portland State's distance group is FINALLY respectable after many, many years of being the laughing stock of the NW. Compound that with their always strong sprint core and this could be a big year for Portland State.

So if Sparks is ND's guy just pending formal announcement why isn't SIU posted for HC job? We're only days away from start of school so think this would be a priority?

Doubtful finding a babysitter for XC runners is a high "priority" for SIU head coach.

Seriously wondering wrote:

Notre Dame

13 days from the start of classes and no formal announcement of this year's XC coach. Almost 3 months since Joe Piane's retirement announcement. Why is it taking so long?

Heard through a recent graduate that Sparks is the next coach. As stated, they are awaiting background check to avoid any problems.

From what I heard, Notre Dame is moving away from cross country to focus on track team. They tried to hire several cross country coaches as director with the goal of pursuing cross country only (a la Stanford, Georgetown, Providence), but couldn't get anyone to take it so they handed the reigns over to Turner and said "be good on the track."

Turner immediately fired Connelly and eliminated a distance position to make room for another sprint coach. Sparks and Carlson have zero experience at major D1 level and will not make too many waves for Turner as he reduces scholarships and staff for cross country.

All I have to say is that you are very ignorant to what is going on at Notre Dame. Just because they hired a sprint coach as the head coach doesn't mean that he is going to make it "be good on the track."

As far as Sparks is concerned, he has been coaching at SIU for 12 years and has had some great accomplishments with limited scholarships. He is going to do great at ND, I can't wait to sit back and watch how successful he and Coach Turner are in the next few years. I mean for the past 5 years ND XC team's average finish at the NCAA XC Championships was 26th on the men's side and 24th for the women. I would say that they have not been that dominate. New Era!

Go Irish GO!!!

Wait and see my friend. Wait and see.

Any news on the New Orleans position, I thought I saw the head coach had accepted a job at Indiana?

Anyone know what's going on with NYU? No head coach or assistant coach...

Perhaps I have a different interpretation, but I'm not ignorant. I heard from someone that spoke directly to Turner that his goal is to make it a balanced team. When that comes from a sprint coach at a school that traditionally focused on distance, my interpretation is that they will pull money from xc and put it on the track. The elimination of a distance coach shows the same thing. Even if they put half their money into cross country, that is not enough to compete with teams that are putting 75-100% of their money into distance.

Sparks may turn out to be the next Mark Wetmore, but until now he has not coached a single team that has reached NCAA's. For that matter, their school records at SIU indicate that he has coached maybe 2 men and 2 women in his career that would even be capable of scoring in the ACC.

Don't get me wrong. I don't thing Turner is trying to kill cross country intentionally. He is just doing what sprint head coaches do- kill cross country.

Nicholas Sparks? He was a stud mid-distance guy back in the day and it'll be great for alumni relations. Plus, he can write some fresh running stories.

ND michigan man wrote:

Sparks may turn out to be the next Mark Wetmore, but until now he has not coached a single team that has reached NCAA's. For that matter, their school records at SIU indicate that he has coached maybe 2 men and 2 women in his career that would even be capable of scoring in the ACC.

Calm down, stop being ignorant, and get off Sparks' nuts. If you really looked at the school records at SIU, you would see that its top times rivals any record board in the country...

And if you cut it down to just Sparks' career there would be plenty that would have scored at the ACC. Give him a shot. He nearly took a squad of overlooked kids to NCAAs a few years back and has been very dominant in the MVC (teams on the same recruiting level). Now that he'll be able to recruit on the ACC level, I have no doubt he will find success on a national stage.

As an ND track and XC alum, this would be very disappointing, if true.

My HS team has done exactly this. We had a really nice distance tradition with pretty good sprinting, as well. In the last 10 years, I don't think one runner has broken 17:00, but the sprints are better than ever. I follow the team's results less each year because, sadly, I'm just not that interested.

I've followed ND's teams pretty closely since I graduated. I've really enjoyed seeing more success in the sprints in the last few years, but when it comes down to it, what I really want to see is a good distance program. Hoping for the best...especially for the younger distance guys who are there now.

I'm not sure why I'm called ignorant for stating the facts. This guy has not proven he can coach at a national level. I'm a fan of Notre Dame and wish they had hired a distance coach to be director or at least an xc coach with more experience at an elite level. I'm glad the guy did well in the MVC and hope he succeeds because I actually want the team to do well. I just think they need to focus on xc and that doesn't seem to be the case from what I have heard.

Here are Sparks' coaching stats from the list you linked:

Women Indoor

800m- 0 girls sub 2:11

Mile- 1 girl sub 4:57 (she was a senior in his first year)

3k- 0 girls sub 9:40

5k- 0 girls sub 16:45

Women Outdoor

800m- 1 girl sub 2:09 (same senior in his first year) and 3 girls sub 2:13

1500m- 2 girls sub 4:30 (sr girl in his first year and then another this year- an 11 year drought)

Steeple- 2 girls sub 10:40 (10:12 best is pretty good)

5k- 0 girls sub 16:45

10k- 0 girls sub 35:30, 2 girls sub 36:00 and 4 girls sub 37:00

Men Indoor

800m- 2 guys sub 1:52 (1:50 best)

Mile- 1 guy sub 4:06 (4:00 best)

3k- 1 guy sub 8:15 (8:06 best)

5k- 1 guy sub 14:25 (13:53 best)

Men Outdoor

800m- 0 sub 1:50

1500- 1 sub 3:46 (3:41 best)

Steeple- 1 sub 9:00 (8:58 best)

5k- 0 sub 14:00 and 1 sub 14:10 (14:01)

10k- 3 sub 30:00 and 1 sub 29:50 (28:42 best)

He coached an 800/1500 girl in 2003 and two female steeplers this year that could ever score at ACC.

He coached a 1500 guy and a 5k/10k guy that could ever score at ACC's. That is a total of 2 men and 2 women in 12 years!

Why did it take someone this long to break that down.. His xc team has been decent in bad conference. He is still located in a recruiting hotbed.. many kids at his disposal and hasn't done much. He would flop if he were recruiting in a remote area..

Yes because look what happened when Oregon named a sprints coach as the head coach. You must remind me about how their cross country team died and the track team got even worse.......

SIU is located in a recruiting hotbed? Even if that were the case, Sparks is recruiting up against Mizzou, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana. The "cream of the crop" kids tend to choose the more prominent D1 schools; in fact, he is notorious for telling them to pursue those other D1 schools if he feels they are better suited in the BIG10, SEC, or BIG12. He chooses the kids who don't necessarily look fantastic on paper in HS and develops them. Development is the key, and that's his forte. He will do well at ND.

Your list conveniently has cut offs that leave of 1 or more people out on each mark. Also, you should take another look at what it takes to make the final/score at ACC. The number is closer to 15 different individuals all being MVC-level recruits out of high school. Perhaps we can disagree on those numbers but I wish Sparks and the Irish the best of luck going forward. A little too soon to be so negative about this hire.

Dude, looking at siu's record board; who was coaching there in the 60's and early 70s?? That coach was killing it!!!!

ND michigan man

Calm down, stop being ignorant, and get off Sparks' nuts. If you really looked at the school records at SIU, you would see that its top times rivals any record board in the country...

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/silu/sports/c-track/auto_pdf/2012-13/misc_non_event/TFRecordBook2013.pdf

And if you cut it down to just Sparks' career there would be plenty that would have scored at the ACC. Give him a shot. He nearly took a squad of overlooked kids to NCAAs a few years back and has been very dominant in the MVC (teams on the same recruiting level). Now that he'll be able to recruit on the ACC level, I have no doubt he will find success on a national stage.