Fair or foul: College cross country coach takes his team to Olive Garden to celebrate big conference run, is promptly fired

They serve alcohol at Olive Garden. Did the team partake? Even if they are 21+ I'm sure the school would not approve. Is it possible that his firing had more to do with what they consumed rather than where they consumed it? [I am not saying they drank alcohol; I am merely saying it might be a possibility.]

The board of education should investigate where the money is really going. I can guarantee the Athletic Director is not living a sub standard life style and that is a gurantee.

Joe Vigil tells a similar story of how he was admonished for bringing a student, who had just suffered the loss of a family member, for coffee.

It is amazing how many ADs seem to believe that college runners should subsist solely on McDonald's value meals when they travel to compete.

I know both Justin Bishop and Glen Crawford personally and I completely believe this story as written. Justin is an excellent coach and deserves better.

columbiasc.edu

Statement Regarding Justin Bishop | Columbia College

November 10, 2023 - 1:45pmMany of you have become aware of Coach Justin Bishop’s departure as coach of the Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country teams. As an institution, we always aim to maintain transparency within our...

Open link

The president of Columbia College, John Dozier, has released a statement (dated November 10) about the departure of Justin Bishop. It doesn't say much, but here are parts:

What a snob! Is Olive Garde haute cuisine? No. Is it tasty and affordable? Yes. When I was in high school growing up in a small city without many restaurant options, Olive Garden was my favorite restaurant and I considered myself lucky to go there, as I'm sure do many kids and young adults not as sophisticated as yourself.

Wow that's 4 paragraphs that say absolutely nothing. Here's my favorite:

They have three females who are heading to nationals this week and no coaches listed on the website. Who is accompanying them?

If it can happen to the American record holder in the single day double decathlon, no one is safe!

i assume the emphasis was on "insubordination," that he'd been told to not do something then did it anyway, more than once. but that is usually a bit of a power trip both ways. like the boss wants to show they are boss. otherwise this is a horrible look and story for recruits. "oh, the school fired the old coach because we prodded him to stop at olive garden." thanks, pass, next school.

i get what you're saying about how it's written, i kind of doubt it's a "too much" offense, it's probably "too little," which seems to be what the piece is trying to say but not doing well. i assume the idea is make the coaches stop at a decent sit down restaurant and feed the team well, no mcdonald's to race along or fix some other budget issue. thing being let's ignore the dollar particulars and look at the type of place. olive garden may be beneath some of you but it's basically sit-down, a lot of people treat it like a serious night out, you can get the kids plenty or food, neverending pasta bowl, breadsticks, but also entrees and appetizers and salads/soups. it's a cheaper version of the italian place down the road. it should suffice for purpose. especially if the team begged for it. the idea is the team isn't getting wendy's. this isn't wendy's. QED.

it also strikes me as counter-productive to punt a coach after an improvement.

fwiw i disliked my AD intensely, all sorts of backwards policies and almost like out to get her coaches and players. this has that vibe. and for her reign of terror i think she's getting in the school hall of fame and things named for her. just great, college, just great.

the announcement backs up everything i just said. AD on a power trip, backed by the administration. the long u term is the HC and AD butted heads a while and we're gonna call it insubordination. but sometimes butting heads with a jerk and going your own way is good sense. and i agree with the implication regarding, ummm, but we just qualified runners to move on. you do this after the season. this is style over substance. this is you don't mess with this chain of command. you showed him. next year's recruits and the current runners will now show you right back. como te gusta las manzanas? but you'll still be boss of the dumpster fire and of that there will be no doubt or second guessing.

they tend to serve alcohol at most sit-down places. it's part of how they make money with a low-margin business. if you're insisting on $20/plate or whatever it is, yeah, they probably have a wine list there too. isn't that going to be part and parcel of the dividing line the college wants him other side of? if you want no beer or wine even on the menu, that's wendy's.

Nobody should take anybody to Olive Garden but I know that is not what this is about.

Our college coach took us to Olive Garden after meets, wish he would have gotten fired. Who knew it was this easy?!?

A lot of food snobs on LRC. But that's to be expected with how do many here are militant vegans who have no good tasting food.

Do you know nothing about the legal system? If they would’ve posted a statement explaining the reasoning for firing to vindicate themselves, they would’ve had a lawsuit on their hands.

This is part of the reason that the fired coach is able to control the narrative because the other side isn’t able to speak publicly about the decision.

Generally speaking, if you disregard the authority of your superiors in any professional setting, you’re liable for the repercussions, regardless of whether you agree with their orders or not. And generally speaking, getting outraged from hearing one side of a story on the internet is pretty foolish without knowing everything that may have factored into the situation.

"there are rules?" he didn't bang an athlete or take a bus from the motor pool unauthorized. those are rules with moral force. he took them to a meal as would be expected. he either spent slightly too much or slightly too little.

you're pretending we don't know everything about our side. you don't know everything about yours. there is at least some hint -- a petition drive -- that at least some athletes were fine with this dining choice or even asked for it. if the purpose of the rule is to serve the athletes.......you can connect those dots. did any students beef or did this come down to some jerk AD on his own steam scrutinizing expense reports, running per student averages, then declaring the stats work to reflect insubordination. as opposed to, say, being told, you do not take a bus to away meets, you take the vans, and a bus disappears from the motor pool. there is a rule and there's ticky-tack.

also, in terms of the "rule" bs, you say there should be consequences. you understand we can vary those consequences, right? to reflect the supposed crime. and to achieve the various other responsibilities.

in plain english, does taking a team to a meal sound like an immediate firing offense? when you have postseason meets coming up with athletes' training and competition still to come? this is an elephant squashing an ant response. to me if you have issues with the coach you dock his check if the expense was too much, or you fire him post-season if there is some supposed pattern, or to be blunt, this feels more like something where the contract just lapses end of the school year. you just don't get extended.

the response is ill-timed and over-exaggerated and i would want to know what the coaches and athletes think of the AD and the XC coach before i just took sides and started saying "rules." some folks with "rules" can be tyrannical about petty details. dictatorial.