Deion Sanders will be head coach for the CU track team next year. It is a one-year contract with likely extensions if things work out. His primary duties over the summer and fall will be with the football program, then track will be his focus in the winter and spring. He wants fast players for the football program, and coaching both sports will give him more control over recruiting and make more scholarships available for multi-sport athletes. The goal is to build CU into a sprinting powerhouse, given that it is usually the sprint-oriented programs that win track titles. In 1988, Sanders was the Metro Conference champion at both 100 and 200 meters. He feels that track training and racing served him well on the football field. He is a marquee name who should be able to recruit top talent. He will rely heavily upon his assistant coaches to handle logistics and to run the practices. They already have offers out to a couple of talented high school sprinters who play football.
Neon Deion! "Everybody's sitting around eating chicken sandwiches," Baker recalled. "Coach Roberts comes over and he brings Deion some track stuff -- some shorts, you know. Deion swagged it out, looked really good." One issue: Deion had never done a 4x100 relay race -- and now he had to do one in a Division I Conference Championship meet. He could run, but he didn't know the techniques involved in handing off/receiving the baton. That's where Baker stepped in. "If there was video cameras back in the day, it would've still been the No. 1 video ever," Baker laughed. "Me with Deion trying to practice hand-offs." After a few rounds with the baton, Deion was as ready as he could be. Around 7 p.m., the entire baseball team walked over to the track to watch their teammate lace up in the second turn and attempt something really only he could, or would, ever attempt. FSU finished second in the 4x100 with Deion timing in at 100 meters in 10.4 seconds. That's elite level, less than one second off Usain Bolt's current world record (9.58). The runner-up placement would help the Seminoles eventually take home the track & field title.
Your comments about CU's facilities are mostly right on, both Wetmore and Quiller told me that Colorado's facilities were a disadvantage in recruiting. Your credibility takes a small hit, however with your characterization of the indoor track. The Buff Shed, as I call it was indeed built primarily for football but the track team works out there on a regular basis, I've actually been at practices in there.
One thing you might not know is that the football field has its corners clipped to accommodate the track. I was told that when the football coach complained to Rick George about it, he was told that if he won a national championship, they'd put full corners on the football field.
How much of a liability is that football-wise? Never seen a field like that.
I really don't think most people have a clue what comes with college coaching. The administration, college / university, city, resources, etc. all have a huge impact on a coaches ability to be effective.
Being a distance coach in the NCAA system is very unique. Trying to coach two genders through three seasons per school year and balance a continuous changing of the guard within a program has a lot more to do with circumstances than just writing some workouts.
People throwing out these names of coaches, most of those people have been successful because they are an institutional fit for where they are, have a life, support and are capable of coaching people how they want.
Can you count how many different people have coached at Stanford in the past 25 years? A ton! Why? Not because they were bad coaches or didn't have talent coming there. Burnout.
The CU situation will be hard for anyone because it's in a fishbowl and everyone will have an opinion. Wetmore came there as a volunteer, then an assistant, then distance coach and head coach. When he came on board it was 1992 and CU was in the Big 8 conference. Very good for sure, but D1 then was like D2 today (look at the TFRRS lists). Developing people and building good xc teams at the D1 level was more about coaching unless you bought a foreign team. Today it's very different. There are so many more factors today than then and recruiting itself is a huge drain of time.
CU and Boulder in general is nuts. Very expensive place, the Deion Sanders stuff going on, etc. another conference change and D1 NIL, transfer portal, etc. is all a handful. Nothing like 1992 when Wetmore started. People won't be pleased no matter what the results are.
Good luck.
That's a huge point that only now has been touched upon--NIL.
How long do you think this takes? It’s probably what 4th-5th priority for the AD. Certainly not working next week with the holidays.
Think we see someone by august or has this been in the works? Search firm right?
Posted closing date for the application is July 7th - after the official announcement of Wetmore went out a couple of days ago. That's a relatively small window of time.
I interpret that as either (a) they knew beforehand a change would be made and have been back channeling with potential hires; or (b) they anticipate a large # of qualified candidates will immediately apply from which they can vet.
Either way, I think this will move quickly if their preferred choices emerge as envisioned.
How long do you think this takes? It’s probably what 4th-5th priority for the AD. Certainly not working next week with the holidays.
Think we see someone by august or has this been in the works? Search firm right?
It has to be soon, doesn't it? The new coach has to contact the runners and discuss build up to the CC season. Mid July is probably the latest. Plus, the current runners who are on the fence about staying need to know who the new coach is. Maybe some of them jump ship anyway.
The changing of the old guard has officially happened. Wetmore was great in the 90's and 00's cause no one was running mileage at scale. Most programs were trapped in the intensity over volume phase that ruined many careers. Now most D1 schools of even moderate success have guys cranking out triple digits and double threshold sessions. Even if he'd had stayed it would be difficult for them to remain relevant and we'd all have to sit and watch the team suffer and the results slide until he was eventually wheeled out of the office on life support. Better to move on now. More coaches need to learn when to walk away.
What are the chances of a guy like Ryan Vanhoy taking this? He's been a consistent builder of programs. He made Ole Miss into a distance power house (in oxford of all places) and is quickly turning Cal Poly into a good program. What could he do at altitude with all the resources necessary to be a title contender? If they are smart they will hire someone in their mid 30's to early 40's who can stay for 15-20 years and keep the tradition alive.
Listen, I know this whole thread will lose their minds at what I’m about to say because all you armchair coaches can’t fathom that a coach at a small school is good.
But if you want a guy at CU who can hit the ground running and possibly take it to new heights then you call Damon Martin at Adams State.
Decades ago when Vigil left they said that was the end of Adams State College. Martin then said “hold my beer” and took the program to new heights. His men have won across decades, his women have won across decades. He can flat out coach. Some years his teams have been better than Wetmore’s while at a tiny school with nowhere near the money or recruiting tools as CU.
Some guy who didn’t make his high school cross country team will lose his mind over this post because a D2 coach was mentioned respectfully.
Diljeet Taylor and Lance Harter are both former D2 coaches who won D1 titles at big schools. Coaching is coaching. Call the legend.
How long do you think this takes? It’s probably what 4th-5th priority for the AD. Certainly not working next week with the holidays.
Think we see someone by august or has this been in the works? Search firm right?
It has to be soon, doesn't it? The new coach has to contact the runners and discuss build up to the CC season. Mid July is probably the latest. Plus, the current runners who are on the fence about staying need to know who the new coach is. Maybe some of them jump ship anyway.
Posting says they are taking apps till July 7. I think the kids are kinda screwed, because didn't they fire all the assistants too? Hopefully Wetmore wrote out the whole summer so kids aren't flying blind till they get a coach in late july early august.
Damon Martin is about 60 and going to retire and his daughter will take over at Adams St. He is an Adams lifer, he's not going to CU or anywhere else.
There is just too much drama attached to the CU position. There are a lot of good coaches out there, but as mentioned before a lot of people that have done the job for a long time understand the grind it can be even when it's going well. There are a lot better "life-giving" positions than the job at CU. Again there are a lot of battles today that did not exist when Wetmore took over 30 years ago.
Damon Martin is about 60 and going to retire and his daughter will take over at Adams St. He is an Adams lifer, he's not going to CU or anywhere else.
There is just too much drama attached to the CU position. There are a lot of good coaches out there, but as mentioned before a lot of people that have done the job for a long time understand the grind it can be even when it's going well. There are a lot better "life-giving" positions than the job at CU. Again there are a lot of battles today that did not exist when Wetmore took over 30 years ago.
His daughter just left her job at Trinidad JUCO for a position with USADA. Think she would still go back to coaching after that?
25 of the last 32 DII national men's champions were won by three Colorado schools. And it's like 20 of 32 on the women's side. Last year, Colorado high schools went 1 through 4 at NXN for the girls. The state is brimming with distance running talent. CU is the state's flagship university. It should be a distance-running powerhouse.
Wetmore did his job well for a 25 years. But let's not pretend that he was the only one capable of doing what he did.
25 of the last 32 DII national men's champions were won by three Colorado schools. And it's like 20 of 32 on the women's side. Last year, Colorado high schools went 1 through 4 at NXN for the girls. The state is brimming with distance running talent. CU is the state's flagship university. It should be a distance-running powerhouse.
Wetmore did his job well for a 25 years. But let's not pretend that he was the only one capable of doing what he did.
True. It is well know the Wetmore does not offer much in the way of aide in lieu of packages. If you are one of the many super talented high school athletes Colorado has been pumping out this last decade, of both genders, and CU offers a 0-10%, and somewhere else, like Stanford offers a 0-10% package, kids are always going to go to Stanford. Boulder is cool, but, well, Stanford is Stanford. That degree is more bankable than CU's. That is facts.
Most of the time Stanford, UNC, FSU, etc, are offering more. A lot more. So if Boulder (Wetmore) says, sure, you can walk on, I guess, no skin off his nose for that kid, and it makes his team look larger than it really is and the AD does not have to figure how to pay for those athletes. However... if UNC offers a full package, for 5 years, that kid is moving to North Carolina. Or wherever, fill in the blank.
many more factors today than then and recruiting itself is a huge drain of time.
CU and Boulder in general is nuts. Very expensive place, the Deion Sanders stuff going on, etc. another conference change and D1 NIL, transfer portal, etc. is all a handful. Nothing like 1992 when Wetmore started. People won't be pleased no matter what the results are.
Good luck.
Why do people talk about CU being expensive? It's no different than Stanford, ucla, Georgetown, Villanova, or any Boston school. College students with room and board largely largely immune to local cost of living anyway.
Coach Prime has little interest in distance runners; same as any other football school.
Ever heard of :once bitten, twice shy" . The AD won't fill the position with another distance coach. Prime wants a ballistic coach to help get the speed he needs to win football games. Mark my word, CU will do with their distance program what Wetmore did to the ballistic athletes when he arrived.
Are there any sprinting based DI colleges at altitude? I'd find that somewhat odd. Particularly because very few sprinting prospects come out of the mountain west.
Much more likely to hire a distance coach. Probably will look at some of the pro coaches that are also alums and go from there, or people they could lure from lesser programs like the Montana State coach.