2022 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion

LOL, the AD announced his departure from at DI school to a DIII school hours before this was announced.

I think the problem for many experienced D2/D3 coaches trying to break into D1 is that they have more experience and are older (many times) than the head coach - also programs may assume that a D2/3 head is not seriously interested in a D1 2nd assistant position. Also - too many programs rely on "D1 experience" in making their hires

The "D1 Experience" is annoyingly true. I am happy as a HC at my current job but the amount of jobs I didn't get because I wasn't a D1 athlete left a bad taste in my mouth. I went to a private small school but still won individual national championships and qualified for USAs. As people have said - it's who you know/connection on top of being talented.

Not saying he's not a good guy, but one top-10 xc finish and a bunch of moderate-to-bad finishes in track doesn't exactly scream D-1 Director. If the admin decided to go distance-focus it would make some sense, but hard to believe this was the best person who applied for this position. Could be that they knew the salary was low and didn't think they could aim higher.

Have you even looked at Maine’s program? Not exactly a massive pool of talent besides a very small group of kids.

For comparisons sake, let’s compare last outdoors event by event times for Augusta and Maine:

100 - Maine by 0.20 seconds

200- Maine by 0.15 seconds

400 - Augusta by 2.03 seconds

800 - Augusta by 0.31 seconds

1500 - Maine by 5.54 seconds

5000 - Maine by 1.16 seconds

10000 - Maine by 5.04 seconds

From just the TFRRS numbers, they’re relatively similar programs. Stop treating Maine like it was this job that everyone and their mother applied for, and get over it. I’m sure the program will continue to be a lower level D1 program, just like it would’ve been if any of you who are complaining got the job.

Dylan to Oregon as confirmed

Because every AD wants to hire a LESS SUCCESSFUL coach than the previous coach.

They made a great hire. Maybe the candidate that you were aware of isn't as great as you think they are.

How do some of you not get it yet? No one cares if your buddy or you have over 20 years of experience bla bla bla. Maybe they made a call and found something they didn’t like about your supposed buddy.

In doing many research projects on Division I and Division III AD's I found that 98% of DI AD's had attended a DI school, and most of the asst AD's underneath them had also gone to DI programs. Therefore the people they knew were mostly DI. About 98% of DIII AD's had attended a DIII school and the asst AD's underneath them attended DIII schools. So part of the "Div1 experience" is that the administrators are simply selecting for interviews and hiring from within what they are most comfortable with. Not saying that is correct, only its like this in most fields. People tend to hire people with like experiences (DI to DI). I was a DIII coach who made it to Div1 and I have had no problem hiring high school, D2 or D3 coaches but that may be somewhat out of the norm. Good luck to all.

Penn state throws coach on the move?

I think folks would be surprised with how little resources folks in his conference and region have with the rare exception of one or two private schools.
Despite no facilities. No full time assts. As best I can tell, no real funding or commitment from the university. And it looks like he has primarily GA kids on his rosters, I’d say he is going to be fine. Some people on here act like he took the NAU job. Chill! If you’re sore about getting passed over, maybe it’s your attitude that didn’t get you the job in the first place.

I went to Augusta not too long ago and can admit we had hardly any funding. It’s impressive Ward was able to do with what he had. We always had to go to the local high school for track practice or we’d have to dip into our own savings for shoes. Plus, we couldn’t always go to nicest meets because of how expensive it would’ve been. Honestly, the development and the depth we had was because he was able to recruit such a great group of guys from the state of GA. It’s a shame Covid happened in 2020 because that squad would’ve been his best cross country team to date. He’ll do fine at UMaine, as long as he doesn’t hold grudges against his athletes like he did when I was there.

Sorensen to Oregon? Where has this been mentioned? Going from building your own squad to being third in command behind Jerry and Shalane? Seems like a step down, even if it is Oregon/BTC

Where’s this coming from?

I think it's pretty clear Dylan doesn't think this is a step down. If you have a chance to coach at Oregon you take it. Now he can coast for a couple of years with much less responsibility and his resume will be glowing.

WIU announce three new coaches.

goleathernecks.com

New Era for Western Illinois Track and Field - Western Illinois University Athletics

@@WIUXCTF

Brokaw also adds several new student-athletes to Leatherneck program

Link:goleathernecks.com/news/2022/8/10/mens...

This is very accurate