Initially, this thread was entitled "UCLA track coach, Sean Brosnan, Fired for NCAA violations" but we changed it as Brosnan told us he was simply not renewed for next year.
Ok, let’s bump this semi regularly in the next 5 years and see how many school mid distance/distance records get broken over that period (or simply 2022 bests).
If I was an aspiring runner, I would now look towards Cal Poly instead of UCLA. I am sure that some current UCLA runners are now giving Cal Poly a call.
The good aspiring runners in California were already going to Cal Poly over UCLA while Brosnan was employed.
I've heard that he has very little empathy while coaching and can kind of be a jerk during workouts. This was from a female college athlete of his so take that for what you will. So maybe he'd be better working with more experienced athletes who likely have tougher skin/don't care as much.
Every coach has a different style and personality. I think Brosnan is better for the pro ranks. The man can coach and knows what to do. I think being at a school like UCLA is a bad choice for both Brosnan and UCLA. Brosnan likes to push the envelope. He’s an outside of the box coach and person with a big ego. UCLA is a safe mediocre school for distance. Maybe Brosnan thought he could change a school like UCLA, but he found out the hard way it will never happen. He needs to coach pro group to fully excel.
A good coach would be able to adapt their coaching style based on the personalities of who they are coaching. Brosnan wants his athletes to change everything to conform with HIS personality. That makes him a BAD COACH.
Pro athletes would not be impressed with his greased up hair and his sunglasses. They wouldn't be impressed with his high school coaching achievements. Having a big ego is the worst attribute you can have as a pro coach. The athletes should be the biggest story, not the coach.
He jumped into college coaching too fast. He should of started at a D2 or small D1 school first to get his feet wet. College coaching is a lot of politics, especially at a place like woke UCLA. He simply didn’t have the experience to navigate the swamp.
Or he could have started at a JUCO like Larsen did.
Hey, it was a One Year contract. The school wasn't at risk of a wrongful termination suit. That is the reason why organizations sign people to one year deals. At Qualcomm they use to sign engineers to 90 day contracts (maybe they still do haven't checked.)
This one stings. Coach Brosnan was one of the most elite level assistant coaches in all of college athletics. I hope he does a podcast now so we can learn more on how to build a dynasty and then suddenly bail on it and then how to get canned after a single season. I need more of it. Tough day.. sad day.
What dynasty? Did UCLA recently become a distance running dynasty?
"Coach Brosnan was one of the most elite level assistant coaches in all of college athletics" Wow! that covers some pretty serious ground. Football? Basketball? Baseball?
Out of curiosity, please list SB's amazing accomplishments to warrant his superstar status in collegiate athletics.
Every coach has a different style and personality. I think Brosnan is better for the pro ranks. The man can coach and knows what to do. I think being at a school like UCLA is a bad choice for both Brosnan and UCLA. Brosnan likes to push the envelope. He’s an outside of the box coach and person with a big ego. UCLA is a safe mediocre school for distance. Maybe Brosnan thought he could change a school like UCLA, but he found out the hard way it will never happen. He needs to coach pro group to fully excel.
A good coach would be able to adapt their coaching style based on the personalities of who they are coaching. Brosnan wants his athletes to change everything to conform with HIS personality. That makes him a BAD COACH.
Pro athletes would not be impressed with his greased up hair and his sunglasses. They wouldn't be impressed with his high school coaching achievements. Having a big ego is the worst attribute you can have as a pro coach. The athletes should be the biggest story, not the coach.
His coaching style worked great with the athletes. His athletes enjoyed training with him and are very upset he is leaving. It's the Admin that had a problem. Everybody is just speculating on if he's a good coach or bad coach. Why doesn't someone talk to the athletes and see what they thought of him? How hard would it be to interview some of them?
What I would like to know is- after this UCLA fiasco- which TOP END pros are actually going to be attracted to a Sean Brosnan as a professional coach? A guy proven to be able to control and motivate a really good group of HS runners. I think we might see some second and third tier pros giving him a shot, and of course his former HS runners, but besides that??
This one stings. Coach Brosnan was one of the most elite level assistant coaches in all of college athletics. I hope he does a podcast now so we can learn more on how to build a dynasty and then suddenly bail on it and then how to get canned after a single season. I need more of it. Tough day.. sad day.
What dynasty? Did UCLA recently become a distance running dynasty?
"Coach Brosnan was one of the most elite level assistant coaches in all of college athletics" Wow! that covers some pretty serious ground. Football? Basketball? Baseball?
Out of curiosity, please list SB's amazing accomplishments to warrant his superstar status in collegiate athletics.
1. It was his HS dynasty clearly in reference
2. Look at the impact he made in a single short season. His team improved at their respective track events at a greater rate than nearly every single D1 program save maybe Cal Poly (but that’s an asterisk because they were dealing with a LOT with Covid and Coach Conover)
What I would like to know is- after this UCLA fiasco- which TOP END pros are actually going to be attracted to a Sean Brosnan as a professional coach? A guy proven to be able to control and motivate a really good group of HS runners. I think we might see some second and third tier pros giving him a shot, and of course his former HS runners, but besides that??
Agree. Seems like he might be a good fit for those Tinman guys but not any serious groups.
He jumped into college coaching too fast. He should of started at a D2 or small D1 school first to get his feet wet. College coaching is a lot of politics, especially at a place like woke UCLA. He simply didn’t have the experience to navigate the swamp.
Or he could have started at a JUCO like Larsen did.
This is amazing… juco or naia would be an epic plan for him… basically the Wild West of recruiting and management… you can do what you want and also find some legit athletes… this should be his next move!
Or he could have started at a JUCO like Larsen did.
This is amazing… juco or naia would be an epic plan for him… basically the Wild West of recruiting and management… you can do what you want and also find some legit athletes… this should be his next move!
The NCAA is the Wild West. They don’t care. They are letting athletes get paid now.
Im in Washington, but I was told by a running buddy Brosnan was running this afternoon in Portland at Leif Erickson. Why is this guy constantly on Oregon.
2. Look at the impact he made in a single short season. His team improved at their respective track events at a greater rate than nearly every single D1 program save maybe Cal Poly (but that’s an asterisk because they were dealing with a LOT with Covid and Coach Conover)
That's objectively not true. Half his team was injured. McMahon-Staggs got hurt outdoors and didn't score at NCAAs indoors. Herold improved by 7 seconds in the steeplechase which can be argued is less than average improvement.
He had one athlete under 15 for 5k in 2023, but in 2022 UCLA had 5 guys under 14:30 (only 1 graduated so Brosnan inherited 4 under 14:30).
He only had 5 athletes under 3:50 for 1500 but in 2022 UCLA had 8 under 3:50 in the 1500 (only 1 graduated so he had 7 returners with PRs under 3:50).
He didn't even train anyone for 10k because he's a high school coach that doesn't understand the 10k.
The 800m improved, but who cares about improving from 1:50 to 1:49.6?
Most of the events actually got worse under Brosnan. He had a bad recruiting class too.
ie, there is no objective analysis that the guy made any difference to a mediocre UCLA program. Mix bag of data.
Again I ask- what type of pro runner is going to take a chance with a guy totally unproven past his superior HS resume? I like the JUCO idea, or DII. Build something up from the dead, and then we have some data to go by. Until then, he is totally unproven for any serious professional to consider.
Yes, ego is the problem and you are right- he already was triggered by the question about college coaching. But he won't disappear, he's likely interviewing for an asst. position with Jerry or some other training group. No way he can start his own group from scratch right now. But once his former HS kids graduate from college, he may try going that route at that point.
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