[quote]Predictor wrote:
Terrible time to leave. She had a national championship type team in the making and her salary was steadily increasing. The ISU AD was a former D3 national champ and his son is on the men's team so she would always have additional resources.[/quote
Agreed. I think she’ll find that the grass ain’t greener in Chapel Hill.
Other than better weather during the winter, what was the attraction? People are saying that her pay is the same and we will forget about her by October while Iowa State will be at nationals in November.
Former Iowa Great wrote:
Other than better weather during the winter, what was the attraction? People are saying that her pay is the same and we will forget about her by October while Iowa State will be at nationals in November.
either her husband found a good job in the area or she was in trouble at ISU and bounced before being canned.
either or wrote:
Former Iowa Great wrote:
Other than better weather during the winter, what was the attraction? People are saying that her pay is the same and we will forget about her by October while Iowa State will be at nationals in November.
either her husband found a good job in the area or she was in trouble at ISU and bounced before being canned.
Women's team place at NCAAs
2010 - 8th (pre Grove-McDonough)
2011 - 7th (pre Grove-McDonough)
2012 - 11th (pre Grove-McDonough)
2013 - 13th (with Grove McDonough)
2014 - 2nd
2015 - 24th
2016 - 29th
2017 - 20th
She thrived with someone else's recruits, used them to place 2nd. Then couldn't capitalize on that success to recruit top talent and build a team that was consistently top 15. She took them backwards, might have been on the chopping block.
She stepped into a really good situation, used that to have one good year. After that, her results have been very unimpressive. If she couldn't maintain ISU's status as a powerhouse after inheriting a great situation, she's in deep trouble at UNC stepping into a bad situation.
If she struggled to recruit after placing 2nd at Nationals, she's going to have a hard time recruiting to a bottom of the conference team.
Seems like she brought in a great recruiting class last year, and with 3 true freshman in the top 5 was 20th at NCAA. And this whole message board is saying they are about to be top 10 or better team this year, which from what I can see from results this past track season seems reasonable. So wouldn’t she then get credit for the success of the team this fall if the previous coach gets the credit for her first two years?? I would then say if the team is in fact inside the top 10 she proved she could bring it all the way back.
Cyclonerunner wrote:
Seems like she brought in a great recruiting class last year, and with 3 true freshman in the top 5 was 20th at NCAA. And this whole message board is saying they are about to be top 10 or better team this year, which from what I can see from results this past track season seems reasonable. So wouldn’t she then get credit for the success of the team this fall if the previous coach gets the credit for her first two years?? I would then say if the team is in fact inside the top 10 she proved she could bring it all the way back.
This. ^^^^^^
Interesting stats. I didn’t realize that the team hadn’t been moving forward. So maybe Smith and Pollard actually pushed her out. They are really interested in having successful distance programs and it appears that will happen this year.
She seems scary running around yelling at meets. Most of her runners seem to like her though but she turned off a few potential recruits.
Cyclonerunner wrote:
Seems like she brought in a great recruiting class last year, and with 3 true freshman in the top 5 was 20th at NCAA. And this whole message board is saying they are about to be top 10 or better team this year, which from what I can see from results this past track season seems reasonable. So wouldn’t she then get credit for the success of the team this fall if the previous coach gets the credit for her first two years?? I would then say if the team is in fact inside the top 10 she proved she could bring it all the way back.
Maybe, but nobody in their top 5 even made it to NCAAs outdoors. They had one runner qualify in the 800 and that doesn't necessarily mean she'd be a very strong XC contributor - she didn't compete at NCAAs in XC in the fall.
You need low sticks at NCAAs to have a solid team score. With no NCAA competitors outdoors in the 1500, steeple, 5k, or 10k, it's not looking like they'll have low sticks.
At the end of the day if you aren't even qualifying several athletes to NCAAs outdoors at a power 5 school, you are at risk of losing your job.
so what's the update on this particular coach
Someone's first season as a coach at any particular school is hardly the time to judge them. And the MAC may be slightly down this year but EMU's women qualified for NCAA's in 2016 and 2017.