USATF Permanently Bans Saratoga Springs Coached Art & Lina Kranick (and Art died a month ago)

I didn’t say it was smart or not risky. Im saying if he did this 40 years ago I have no problem with him coaching. Same thing if he had a drunk driving arrest 40 years ago .

Make sense?

My apologies for criticizing Safe Sport if USATF was the one banning him. I thought the whole point of Safe Sport was to have an independent body determine suspensions. Can someone explain to me why USATF acted here.

i thought safe sport handled all these things for them.

I shouldn't have painted with such a broad brush. I don't think Safesport should exist except for youth sports. This is youth sports. Maybe there is some role there. But I don't think it should exist to determine which pro coaches are too mean.

In terms of sexual assault, it would be obvious who they go to - the police and/or their parents.

The Kranicks weren't banned for anything sexual. They were banned apparently for being too demanding.

It seems to me there should be some sort of, "Hey in the year 2025, certain things are not allowable. This isn't 1985. Do not give medical advice. Do not give out supplements, etc."

There seems to be know acknowledgement of the success these people had - how many view them as legends. I think of lifetime bans as something you give to pure evil.

As I said I don’t know the particulars but the school hired a law firm and let him continue coaching. That to me doesn’t sound like it’s obvious to all he shouldn’t have been coaching.

His team won NXN 3 years ago in the modern era when the inclination is not to cover these things up. Not that winning in any way makes abuse acceptable.

Here’s a good article on it

https://www.timesunion.com/education/article/art-linda-kranick-resigned-saratoga-springs-20277932.php

“In 2020, a doctor sent a letter to a concerned community member about athletes being injured through overtraining. The resident posted on Facebook, “If anyone has been abused by a coach, here’s my email.”

Elite sport isn't for everyone. Overtraining and abuse are different things.

I made a mistake. The fact that it's USATF is even more amazing. Do they not realize Al Kranick is dead? To give him a lifetime ban is wild.

sounds like the kranicks were doing things that were well outside social norms, and ignored admin warnings even 30 to 40 years ago. but what have they done in say the past 10 years? overtraining is a reality in our sport. someone could be "overtraining" on 20 miles per week.

there are very damning points made about the kranicks in that article, but there is also stuff that's clearly written by people completely unaware of the realities of competitive sport

Aris does a lot of mindf*ck things that talented kids aren’t buying into like they used to. That’s why the numbers / performances are down.

The numbers on people on the FM team has never been so large either.
FM has not-so-typical high school XC training

In 1986 I was dragged behind a Jeep driven by our coach up and down the back straight of our cinder track. We were a boys state champion track team in a different state. I remember Coach said he had heard about this technique from another coach. He told me it would increase my leg speed. The jeep was actually owned by our 800 meter state champion and on one occasion our 100 meter state champion (who was also one of the smartest kids in the school) fell and was dragged.
Reporting this wasn’t a consideration for me then or later on. I remember doubting slightly the wisdom of it all, but it was a different time.

Under what scenario is it fair that they get a liftetime ban, but Salazar got like 5 years? Salazar was accused of providing testosterone medication to a HSer, sexual assault, ignoring a suicidal teenager, etc.

Why would that be 5 years but they get a lifetime? And shouldn't there be a statue of limitations for some things like there is in the real world?

I also think we need full reports. It seems to me they always issue these bans with zero documentation.

I don't understand why you would say this? Can't you see the number of ways this could result in death or severe injury? Do you really believe that this would improve speed? That's crazy.

That aside, I read some of the Safe Sport summaries. I can't comprehend how many sexual assaults/rapes have occurred. I don't know what's going on. What's wrong with these people? I realize it's an extreme minority, but now I suspect all coaches.

I was a medicore runner back in the 90s. I didn't really keep a diary. But what I remember is very low volume. Long runs were 3 and 5 miles, workouts were 4-6 by 400 with one lap walk between reps. I think we might've run 15 miles a week training for 1600/3200/5000 And I remember always fading at the end of races and running slow times. Then towards the end of my senior year in high school, I decided that I wasn't going to run in college (DII schools recruited me but I chose better academics), so I sort of said F this to the way things were being done and started doing some extra runs on the side. I ran my two mile PR at a dual meet and then won a little local road race 5k.

So in that context of not doing much of anything for even distance runners (and remember American distance running sucked for 15 years in the 1990s and 2000s because of the low mileage crazy) tying people to a car and having them run faster was way over the line. Back then, a mere 10k run was a questionable decision.

I think banning someone after they pass is stupid and wrong though. There are appeal processes in Safe Sport, and dead people can't appeal. Sort of seems like pissing on somebody's grave to me.

HS XC is not elite sport, wejo... you're just as bad as rojo, only you know how to spell.

I feel abused that I was limited to low mileage and had to suck. I wish my coach would have allowed me to run more.

He had a thing against Nike, at least when I knew him back in the 2000s, and we all know how close Nike is with USATF. So, I'm guessing this is either someone being petty or administrative error.

What? What about CAR?

If it even exists lol

The penalty for coaching girls to push through limits and obtain heights they've never thought possible is a lifetime ban. I wonder if they just coached boys if there would be any complaints?

You want to win national titles at the high school level, you're going to have to go hard. It's not for everyone, but clearly they know how to coach. Should they have gone 80% and maybe in a good year compete for a state title or was it worth it for the success?