Sean Carlson has not been impressive at Tennessee

Unfortunately, it’s about being a long-term, proven, successful coach versus being a flash in the pan.

Who is Dylan Jacobs ? And will he be wearing USA uniform in Paris ??

Yaseen Abdalla in the portal. Only national qualifier on the distance side for the men. Not looking good for Carlson

These two athletes results came at notre dame. Jacobs didnt run as well at Tennessee than at notre dame while the latter being a much harder academic school.

we are talking about Carlson at Tennessee. You don’t know how much influence Coach Sparks may have had in those two athletes development at ND.

Can someone elaborate on what is allegedly going on with this program and who has left? Off the top of my head: Jacob Nenow (Princeton), Connor Henson (Ole Miss), and now Abdalla in the portal. Also Emily Covert, maybe some other runners from the women's team but not sure where we're getting top 2 guys and 8 total freshmen

Have read some of Carlson's ND team logs and was not impressed by the training. 4 mile tempo, hard long run, 8 mile tempo, repeat. Maybe some K's every so often. Bummer because he went to D3 juggernaut North Central and I have to think the legendary Al Carius worked in some nuance and variety. That said, seems like maybe the system isn't the main reason kids are leaving?

I will say, these Gordon Mack vids of UT workouts do not cast him as a super engaging or emotionally intelligent guy but then again Dylan Jacobs surely had plenty of options for starting his pro career so maybe that's only a glimpse at what he's like

I don't know about current team dynamics, but I spoke with Carlson when I was in the transfer portal last year and he appeared overly intense/controlling/odd. He was promising free Garmin watches and guaranteed access to any shoe/technology I could possibly want, but he never really discussed the training or anything. He just kept trying to sell this ultra-glamorous running environment; I can see how high-schoolers get drawn into his pitch and offer of "unlimited money", but I just had a weird feeling about it all and knew it wouldn't be a good fit. I have also seen some slightly strange drills(?) before races that he has them do (but maybe they work?). From an outsiders perspective, I think he just has a very distinct "style" and if the athlete doesn't mesh with it then I don't think it will work out well.

Something I don't understand about Carlson is that his approach to recruiting and teambuilding seems to have flipped entirely since he took over at Tennessee. While at Notre Dame he once boasted on a podcast about passing up a 4:0X HS miler because he didn't "fit the culture." He hasn't been nearly so selective as the head coach at Tennessee. Is that part of his downturn?

More spots and more money due to NIL.

Dylan Jacobs won NCAAs in a Tennessee jersey

This is crazy. In your book no one is proven.
carlson has had a top 10 team at ncaa XC 4 of the last 5 years. With his first year at Tennessee being the only one he wasn’t.

He has had some success with high school talent but he will get passed by unless he goes the direction of the rest of the sec. He needs to get some Kenyans to stay relevant. He does not have enough scholarship to do what he did at ND.
it’s a buyers market. Schools putting money in to distance will be successful and Tennessee is trying to do track.
he has to choose good XC or a individual on the track With his money

You are clueless. Carlson has more resources than probably any other distance program in the SEC.

I hope he doesn’t abandon Americans.
Miltenberg and vin Lanana took multiple years to make ncaa XC he did it in his first year in a dead distance program.
You can still be successful with Americans.

Still only 12.6 scholarships for track and XC

and don’t give NIL talk. No one is giving cross country NIL at a football school in the sec.

You’re clueless, brah.

When ross and carlson were hired, I'm pretty sure it was announced that track and xc would have "seperate" scholarships. It's also well known that they have access to NIL to fund their large rosters. If they didn't have NIL, I don't think they would have 20+ freshman on the women's side. I don't know why this is being downvoted.

Just got get a bunch of "19 year old" East Africans and call it a day.

You will win titles.

You will not deal with complaints from entitled kids.

You will not deal with crazy helicopter parents.

Sparks did not write one single work out for a men's XC runner after spring 2016, well before either got to school there. He deserves 0 credit, ND Men's success was 100% Carlson that's just a fact. He was a hardass but he deserves credit for those results

If my math is correct, 8 of his incoming 14 freshmen entered the portal this year.
What gives?