Williams Coach Ralph White?

He should really just step away gracefully at this point. It's a lose-lose situation for everyone.

If he loses his appeal, which is likely, then you have a situation no new coach likes to be in: replacing a popular coach, and a popular coach who didn't want to leave, to boot. The longer he fights it out, the more likely qualified coaches will shy away from applying and the harder it will be for the new coach to earn trust from the athletes.

If he happens to buck the odds and wins his renewal, then he can expect no help from the administration for anything in the future. Having an antagonistic relationship with the administration is not conducive to a good program. Furthermore, he's liable to piss off all the faculty, who might resent him fighting against their sacred quasi-tenure system, which means he and his athletes might have a hard time getting a fair shake from certain faculty members.

It's really an unfortunate situation, but he really should have taken the high road here.

The athletic directer approved the online degree in 2004 and the school actually gave him a raise for it. It is documented by an email. As for the coach from Benin, he recruited international students as he spoke 4 or 5 languages. Williams will give aid to needy international students and they now have 8 on the team. The problem is that the african coach did not know track but that also was approved by the AD because the school wanted diversity. The school created a special slot to hire a minority and gave him a small salary. The ad is on leave this semester and the person who replaced him was the one who did not want coach white there originally. The students had to fight to get him instead of a female just out of college.

The whole controversy is about the coach upsetting the president by getting alums to write letters to get a new track.

huh? wrote:

If this Morwick woman is the same one I saw "coaching" the Tufts high jumpers a couple weeks ago, then god help any team she gets ahold of. She provided some of the most asinine technique corrections I'd heard in a long time.

As it turns out, she set the Dartmouth high jump record in '88:

High Jump (over 1.60m)

Kelsey Wiegmann '06 1.78

Tara McNerney '09 1.76

Tessa Clare '05 1.75

Tara McNerney '09 1.74

Kristen Morwick '88 1.70

Leanne Atencio '88 1.68

Jalieh Shepard '93 1.68

Robin MacDonald '89 1.68

Sarah Daoust '03 1.65

Diana Cadeddu '91 1.65

Shaina Damm '02 1.64

Katey Krizan '04 1.64

Kara Pydynkowski 1.64

Elizabeth Chambers '05 1.62

Terryl Deutsch '83 1.62

What are your high jump credentials?

strike one: pressuring administration

strike two: hiring someone who has no clue about t&f and helping them find another job.

strike three: getting an "on-line" masters degree.

I believe 3 strikes and you are out.

None of which "strikes" have anything to do with track. The only way "Morty" could be more embarassed vis a vis track would be to put on a pair of shorts and try, say, a 400m dash (err, make that 50m).

There are rumours going around the DIII track community about a certain female athlete of his, steriods, and his relationship with this athlete.

He should've gone to University of Phoenix Online it's a much more respectable online degree program.

all sounds very familiar. williams athletes, be careful.

There's no way that he's in trouble for getting an online masters degree.

All senior faculty at Williams are required to have a master's degree (or higher) from an accredited institution. Rochville University is not accredited and offers online degrees based on "life experience." It is not an acceptable alternative. Coach White knew the rules when he took the job, and while he's been a successful coach at Williams, he doesn't meet the criteria for senior faculty established by the administration at Williams.

i have heard those same rumors bostonxc, but i also heard from a knowledgeable source that those are no more than rumors. you know you should be careful about throwing the steroids word out on a message board like this.

from everything i have heard, there seems to be enough to fire him (ok, not renew the contract), if the administration chooses that course of action. because of all the other stuff (improper degree for williams standards, african coach who violated visa agreement, antagonistic with administration) that there absolutely doesnt need to be any steroids or improper relationships involved here. it seems as if some people are trying to make the story more sensational than it really is.

Not to defend Coach White, as I agree there is substantial reason to not renew his contract, but how was he supposed to get anything but an online degree while at Williams?

Williams is seriously in the middle of nowhere. How could he keep his job coaching and get a masters? If not online, he'd have to travel to Albany or Amherst to take classes. Very impractical.

And I have heard the roids rumors too... but I also think they are just rumors.

An online masters degree is fine...if it's from an accredited institution. There are plenty of respected colleges and universities which offer online masters degrees. I'm currently earning a masters from the University of Washington...I live in California and work full time. Rochambeau University (or whatever that place is) is obviously a degree mill...you pay some cash and get a degree. Pay more cash and get a better grade. A real online degree might take some time to earn (my program is three and a half years...if I was a residential student I would finish up in two), but he's had five years to either complete a masters or show progress towards completion.

good point.

Div 3 New England has had a couple of very shady programs in recent years.

D3NE wrote:

Div 3 New England has had a couple of very shady programs in recent years.

Examples???

What a pretentious letter. It is obvious why everyone hates people from Williams.

the program wrote:

Kristen Morwick would ruin the Williams program if she were to take over as the head coach there, especially as it is a combined program.

She has a history of playing favorites and alienating some of her athletes, and clashes has had public clashes with members of the men's team and coaching staff during her time at Tufts. I fail to see how this would help the Williams program continue its winning ways.

I have worked with Coach Morwick and think that these are outlandish comments. Name a successful team that does not "play favorites." Phil Jackson was no less of a coach for allowing Michael Jordan to start every game! I fail to see how this would not help the Williams program.