........PSAC.......

I beg to differ...Wendy has NOTHING on Johnny Karpacs.Hoovis

johnny 10k wrote:

Listen, you think you're all special spitting out all these iup highlights, but you fail to mention the most important member of the team ever to set foot on campus. Benham Geiss!!! How could you leave out your beloved Wendy??!! Discuss

I agree with Jorge on two things (actually, more but two specifically given his message below):1.) I do think they way things have been handled with Fry is a debacle and a shame. 2.) Although I talked about specific accomplishments as a potential driver for change, I also think Fry is a top-notch guy. One of the best you'll ever meet. In fact, he played the piano at my wedding and his wife was the singer. Hoovis

jorge wrote:

I stand by coach fry. he is the most amazing person i have ever met and his dedication to the program showed year after year. i hate to see him leave IUP.

-jorge

You sir have no credibility

Jorge i am not sure the two guys were officaially kicked off the team in the first place. I think Matt did not even try out and Pete was very disrespectful and walked out of a practice thereby quitting. From what I understand Pete said he was going over the coaches head to get back on the team and coach fry went with him instead of apologizing. I think it is wrong for an assistant coach to not talk to the head coach and go to the AD.

Matt is used to just doing his own thing so did not show up for the practices. But I also think the drinking, disrespect, not attending classes and poor attitudes was what several team members and coach were upset with.

Not sure what you mean but saying coah fry was disrespected by the new coach. One of my friends works up in the office and she said the administration wanted Fry going at the end of last year and coach white said no, Fry deserved another year. Many people just assuem things that are not true.

Didn't you work with White last year? I like him and think he will get the program going. I personnally think the team does need a change.

How about we work on the grammar first! Please stop giving PSAC graduates a bad name!

Ok I don't know who this is, but don't go talking crap on me on here. Say it to me personally not on letsrun. It's one thing to make predictions and talk crap in good fun, but when you go out their like this and talk crap on your team mates that's bull. I guess going on here and talking crap isn't disrespectful at all.

Like I said before say it to me personally.

Edinboro trains formally 3 times a week also. The difference is that Watt's workouts are probably designed better than Fry's and on their off days they train with out a coach over their shoulder as a group much harder than IUP does.

I have a ton of respect for Watts, but from what I've seen/heard of Watts' workouts and knowing Fry's, I don't think they're all that different. Fry knows a hell of a lot about running, and I really do think he's brilliant at writing workouts designed to get guys to peak at the right time and run their best. Watts' may have a leg up in terms of recruiting and leadership as a coach -- but, Fry is brilliant when it comes to workouts. Honestly, if you have your head on straight, are committed to running and don't need a coach to be looking over your shoulder, IUP was a great place to run under Fry. It didn't work well for me, as I was too much of a screw up back then...but, I saw many a runner who was self-driven do very well under Fry & his workouts/guidance. Hoovis

I used to know a whole lot mor wrote:

Edinboro trains formally 3 times a week also. The difference is that Watt's workouts are probably designed better than Fry's and on their off days they train with out a coach over their shoulder as a group much harder than IUP does.

Just did a little research on PSAC XC and think you may be way off on your assessment of brilliant. Since approximately 1986 when Fry took over the head position Edinboro has won 18 men's conference titles and had 15 individual champions. IUP under Fry has not had any in either group.

Just had to give props to my school. Was not trying to say IUP was bad but did want to point out that Edinboro has just dominated PSAC's and we are very proud of that.

White has always taken on tough coaching assignments, and has always had great support from his athletes. He's had some weird circumstances, but never a hint of NCAA violations. More like clashes with higher ups who did not share his vision of improving.

Ed Fry has done a nice job at IUP for a long time, and his style is his style... it's not going to change. But IUP made a change in the TRACK program, a program that had 3 coaches who did virtually no recruiting, and because of that, had sunk to the middle of the PSAC pack. The administration offered the previous head coach the chance to stay, but he chose to train for Olympic bobsledding. OK, that was his choice, but then he hung around last year and undermined the new coach. Coach Fry is near retirement, and instead of embracing the new coach, he seems to be acting contrary to every direction and suggestion given. He is, afterall, an ASSISTANT coach for the track program. He could have been the head coach, it was offered to him, but he declined. So at least co-exist with the new head coach, the new assistants, and the new athletes. Do do otherwise is to undermine and injure a school and program he purports to love.

Forget IUP. Let's talk about important issues. I hear a couple top runners are going to ruled ineligible for indoors. Any one got the scooop?

Hoovis 2 wrote:

Sounds about right. Coach Fry has always had a very hands-off style. That can be either a great thing, or a horrible one -- depending upon the maturity of the runners on any given team. If there is strong senior leadership, a team can flourish Hoovis

Gotta disagree with one point, here: Any sucess IUP CC had while I was there was completely independent of our demonstrated level of maturity. We were idiots. But we did have good team leadership with strong personalities: we trained hard, had fun, studied enough, and cultivated a certain team recklessness. Fry got it to work almost in spite of ourselves. He's got to get the credit for that.

Rogo

Referring to Ed Fry as simply an assistant does the man no justice. Forget about the other 42 years he's been coaching...just look at last year. There were times when this non-recruiting, undermining, assistant coach was the ONLY coach to travel with the team to meets.

As far as hurting the team by not getting along with the new coach, there are only two men who can truly discuss that situation. However, one would think that as a) Fry is near retirement, b) Fry has been coaching at IUP since who knows when, and c) White is the new guy, that it should be White trying to go out of his way to please Fry rather than the other way around. You don't ask someone on their death bed to do you a favor now, do you? Why should Fry be the one asked to change in his last year?

observation wrote:

Just had to give props to my school. Was not trying to say IUP was bad but did want to point out that Edinboro has just dominated PSAC's and we are very proud of that.

Well, I guess that's why everyone in the PSAC thinks the guys from Edinboro are dbags, thank you for just reinforcing what everyone else already believes. And I mean everyone but Ben Hahn, he is a class act.

you are an idiot. i trained with fry for 4 years. he has coached every event in track. he did it for years without pay either. the man loves the sport and anyone who is willing to come run at IUP. my loyalty is to fry, not the IUP program. by the way, IUP has had some success in their distance program. you forgot to mention the 2005 women's XC team that finished 10th at nationals... and the multiple PSAC championships the XC team has had under Fry's leadership. so shut your mouth before you speak.

because IUP doesnt respect any sports besides football and basketball, no other team gets any grant in aid money. the track team gets $14,000 to be shared between 35-40 guys. how the hell are you going to get the top athletes?? oh here is $50/semester... see ya in the fall!

IUP's problem is they dont have the money nor the facilities to keep up with the other programs in the conference. and ralph white is an idiot. i'm just throwing this out there... but you don't just win a national championship with your girls team and then get fired??? weirdddddddddd. maybe not the ace of spades people make him out to be.

my loyalty is to fry, not the IUP program.

The truth is that Sean's loyality was to Sean and not the team. That was obviously when he did not run with us on the DMR at conference. That upset a lot of us. Too good for the team, just let me run my individual event. No one on our team ever confused Sean and teamwork.

OK, I don't know if a previous post was from Strauman or not, but it got me thinking, and I posted earlier on the IUP situation.

ALL PSAC schools are limited in terms of funding and facilities. Look at indoor facilities: ESU and SRU have indoor tracks that are in extremely old facilities, and Kutztown has one where you can't wear spikes. Seems like lots of the schools do have decent outdoor tracks, though.

What MOST PSAC schools DO have, however, are coaches that are incredibly dedicated to their sport and to their athletes, who work year in and year out with whatever their funding and facility situations may be. Fry and White both fit that description. There can be no greater description of dedication than Fry's having coached for so long at IUP. White has also coached college track for almost 30 years. Both have long lists of former successful (and not so successful) athletes who are unabashed supporters.

In addition, PSAC athletes have been fortunate to have many dedicated, competent coaches who have legions of former athletes who swear by them.

I don't mean to leave anyone out of this group, but I probably will, but here is a list of some of what I consider the most dedicated coaches the sport has ever seen; not necessarily the most technically competent, but coaching is a real mixture of science and art. These PSAC coached may have been heavy on the 'art' side of it, but I think that is what has made them so valuable to their athletes.

Bill Lennox, former Slippery Rock

John Papa, Slippery Rock

Doug Watts, Edinboro

Bill Butler, West Chester long ago

Paul Kaiser, former Shippensburg

Lou Sutton, former Indiana

Jim Dolan, former Lock Haven

Phil Coleman, former California

Marty Warshawski(?)former California

Cy Fritz, former Millersville

Dick DeShriver, former East Stroudsburg

Steve Spence, Shippensburg

Aaron Russell, Lock Haven

Roger Kingdom, California

Keith Miller, Kutztown, former Millersville

Mark Elliston, former Lock Haven

Bill English, former Clarion

Joe Koch, East Stroudsburg

Ed Fry, Indiana

Lanny Connor, former Bloomsburg

and I'm sure there are many others.

Why not turn this topic around and post some good stuff about some of these coaches. PSAC athletes were/are fortunate to have been influenced by them. There are a lot of Division I schools and conferences that have not had this kind of quality as a group.

I interpret Strauman running XC for the first time this fall as being a kind of 'thank you' and pay back to Coach Fry

you have keith miller, i think you mean keith white and he is awesome. he was royally screwed at Millersville.