Which NCAA Distance Coach Has Screwed Up the Most Talent in 2009?

Interesting that you mention Carl Moe. Great young man. Carl's collegiate opportunities came down to Washington or Oregon, and he selected Washington. I suspect his decision wasn't that difficult being that Martin Smith, who was the Oregon coach at the time, probably offered only a half scholarship and with out-of-state tuition to be paid personally for the rest.

You mention Metcalf's sales ability, but I really believe that Kelley Strong is the one who brought in most of the top girls. Why do you think that Oregon revamped their coaching staff to bring in a women's distance coach who had the authority (NCAA recruiting rules) to match Kelley Strong in going after the top women recruits? Thus far, Vin's decison to do this has paid off handsomly for Oregon.

I completely agree. Kelley Macdonald-Strong did a lot of the behind the scenes work, etc. but is not getting the credit she deserves because of people like Metcalf. She is one of the main reasons UW is doing so well now, and like you said, Oregon has caught on (hiring Maurica Powell I believe?)... and it has paid off for them with a great recruiting class.

I wish Macdonald-Strong became the head coach...

Another great coach is Magdalena Lewy at Cal, the team has been doing better since she came there (men and women).

Honestly Fast wrote:

Sounds like a lot of excuses for Metcalf. If he has 20 qualified for the men and women combined that is possible, I suppose...but most of them don't have a chance. For example, the men's 4 X 100 counts for 20% of those going, yet they are the slowest of 18 teams at NC's, and slowest by nearly a half second...no chance in hades to advance beyond prelims. And so it goes. With the amount of money at UW and the size of the University one would expect more than a last place Pac 10 team. Is Metcalf really any better than Peterson? I question that contention.

Peterson had one of his top athletes tell him that if continued to coach him he would walk every race. Since then he has coached himself and run much better.

Call me crazy but shouldnt winning an NCAA Cross Country Championship and a perfect score at PAC-10 Cross Country exempt Metcalf from this sort of thread for at least a year. The guy has more national title rings (1 to be exact) than any of the clowns hating on him here.

Metcalf didn't earn any NC rings. The girls that ran XC earned them. As many of the posters have already mentioned, Kelley Strong was the force behing the girls XC team. No one is hating on Metcalf, just putting him at the top of the list for "NCAA Distance Coach Has Screwed".

Technically the aussie guy was 2007 stuff up so its really only 2 not three guys

Blue Bell Ice Cream wrote:

This was a easy one. Dan Waters of Texas A&M University.

He has messed up the Aussie 800 meter runner, the 8:45 3K steepler, and Songok the NCAA 5,000 champion this year..

So Kelly McDonald-Strong is the one who writes down the women's workouts and not Metcalf? Hmm, I coulda swore it was the other way around. Your claims that the distance program at UW was terrible before Kelly and hence (somehow) Metcalf was running the program to the ground before Strong saved him are completely unfounded. If you look on their bios you will see that Both Strong and Metcalf are in their 7th year in their positions so before Strong there was no Head coach Metcalf. It seems that the lot of you (probably one guy from Oregon) are making alot of allegations that are made up or assumed without any evidence to back it up. I strongly urge you to get a fuhking life and get of Metcalf's jock

Jerry Schumacher when he bailed on the Badgers.

You can't sit here and compare Greg Metcalf of UW and Eric Peterson of UCLA. I don't care what you think of Metcalf's personality or ego. At least he has won something during his years at Washington. He has NCAA Champions in the middle distances in track and a team Championship in women's cross country.

Eric Peterson on the other hand,has done nothing in his years at UCLA, and been arrogant about his non-accomplishments. His recruiting class a few years ago was one of the best in the country. And he has managed to piss away all of that talent. Laef Barnes was the best runner coming out of high school a few years ago. He had NCAA Champion written all over him. He just needed a patient coach who would develop him into the champion that he was capable of becoming. And four years later his college career ends in disaster. The same scenario holds true for his women. The list goes on and on. From Kate Vermuelen to Allison Bohanon, to Tiffany Burgess, to Lens Nilsson's blow up at NCAA's in Sacramento. I hate to interfere when my high school athletes choose a college. But I will be honest when they ask me about UCLA.

Actually, I think the case has been made that Peterson and Metcalf are pretty much on a par with each other as far as being crappy coaches. Some people give Metcalf credit for the girls XC team, but that honestly was something he had little to do with. Give him credit for hiring Kelley Strong, but nothing more than that. Peterson on the other hand is not the head coach, so he obviously is restricted in some ways, so shouldn't take all the blame. Didn't he have some champions in Aragon and John Rankin just a couple years ago. Laef Barnes actually ran pretty well in the West Regionals and in defense of Peterson, I believe that Barnes is coming back from injury.

It's a toss up between Peterson and Metcalf in my opinion.

Didn't Metcalf win NCAA DIVISION-1 Cross Country???

Where is Walter wrote:

Actually, I think the case has been made that Peterson and Metcalf are pretty much on a par with each other as far as being crappy coaches. Some people give Metcalf credit for the girls XC team, but that honestly was something he had little to do with. Give him credit for hiring Kelley Strong, but nothing more than that. Peterson on the other hand is not the head coach, so he obviously is restricted in some ways, so shouldn't take all the blame. Didn't he have some champions in Aragon and John Rankin just a couple years ago. Laef Barnes actually ran pretty well in the West Regionals and in defense of Peterson, I believe that Barnes is coming back from injury.

It's a toss up between Peterson and Metcalf in my opinion.

I would agree about Barnes running well at West Regionals. He came in with the second to last qualifying time and finished 6th. How long was Barnes injured? Because he was definitely struggling in indoor, and then kinda disappeared during outdoor for a stretch (when he was injured?).

Anyone know what his plans are? Not the best time to find sponsorship money. Also not the best time to find a job.

Since the other thread was deleted.... let's talk about this on here.

Here's your prompt:

WHICH scholarship recruit/athlete MOST screwed up a distance program and a coach's reputation in 2008-09 (in terms of $$ committed, wasted potential, disappointing effort and/or results, etc)???

Greg, you did not win the XC title. Kelley's Strong's athletes won it, not you. I know that you get confused about these things and would like to take credit for it, but it was the girls and Kelley's coaching that did it.

Walter is the one who doesn't seem to get it. I don't care if Kelley Strong worked with those athletes every single day, and Metcalf sat on his butt and did nothing. Metcalf deserves the credit for winning the NCAA Championship. When you get older you will understand why.

Are you kidding me. I don't think that Jerry Schumacher necessarily bailed on the Badgers, merely offered a better job.

For the record: Kelly Strong is integral to recruiting and female athlete well-being OFF the track/course. Metcalf controls EVERYTHING related to training/racing.

Every post on here that states otherwise is completely false, and very ill-informed.

Where is Walter wrote:

Laef Barnes actually ran pretty well in the West Regionals and in defense of Peterson, I believe that Barnes is coming back from injury.

Funny thing is, Laef didn't run PAC10's because of disagreements with Peterson over coaching. Any success on Laef's part is not attributed to Peterson in any way.

I talked to Laef Barnes about why he didn't compete at the Pac-10 Championships. He told me that his coach Eric Peterson was upset with the way he ran in a dual meet a few weeks earlier. His punishment was to sit out the Pac-10 Championships. Can you believe that? This is very alarming and explains volumes about the current UCLA distance program. The coach there is such a control freak that I feel bad for the athletes. Its too bad because UCLA can be a gold mine for middle and long distances.