I would assume they mean Tony since it says Olympian 92
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10
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XY wrote:
rogermortimer wrote:
Its official on the TN website - states that the school and the coach have mutually agreed to part ways. Query what the reasons were.
lol @ "mutually agreed to part ways":
"You're FIRED!"
"You can't fire me, I QUIT!"
The AD more than likely told her she was done after NCAA's. She probably said F that and quit on the spot and then worked out a deal for the bonuses she would have received from NCAA's.
100 -
smokeygunvol wrote:
. . . so they wouldn't have to pay her any region/NCAA bonuses..
Obviously I'm not privy to their negotiations and the specifics of any bonus agreements that they might have made, but it is frequently the case that those bonuses are made to the departing coach, regardless.
11 -
@ disgruntled terrible coach, give it up already. Hope you miss Beth! That team has some championships to win finally! And not get emotionally abused anymore in the process. Can’t wait to share more on that later.
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legostarwars wrote:
@ disgruntled terrible coach, give it up already. Hope you miss Beth! That team has some championships to win finally! And not get emotionally abused anymore in the process. Can’t wait to share more on that later.
Please spill more information on her ASAP.
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Dont care wrote:
She is a terrible coach and a terrible person to her athletes
i heard she was making it tough for senior runners to transfer to other schools, i hope the "really good female distance runner" can successfully transfer
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As a former athlete of Beth Sullivan, this is completely inaccurate.
Making up blatant lies while not being a part of the program is childish and immature. Serves as a reflection of yourself. She was a great coach and deserved better than these anonymous posts where individuals hide behind a screen and keyboard.
1816 -
CoastToCoast wrote:
As a former athlete of Beth Sullivan, this is completely inaccurate.
Making up blatant lies while not being a part of the program is childish and immature. Serves as a reflection of yourself. She was a great coach and deserved better than these anonymous posts where individuals hide behind a screen and keyboard.
Good for you that your experience was good. That does not mean everybody had a good experience with her. It looks to me like more people dislike her than like her.
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This sounds like it’s coming from Tony Parilla
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Exposure wrote:
This sounds like it’s coming from Tony Parilla
I think it is Todd Williams.
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smokeygunvol wrote:
Inside Scoop on Beth from an athlete:
Rumors are running rampant on "why" Beth was fired. I won't speculate on any of the possible causes of her termination, but there were key issues with the ex-UT coach.
The biggest red flag was the division within the team. She caused this by her favoritism, taking credit for athletes' success, the minimal effort she put into caring about her athletes as young adults, her lack of leadership, pitting athletes against one another, and manipulating/misleading athletes whether it be not racing them for BS reasons or falsely promising a scholarship or spot on the travel bus.
Team meetings consisted of her listening to herself talk about winning, how "you athletes need to fix this culture, not me", "C's get degrees." Female distance runners were frequently told they needed to lose weight to be faster and female sprinters were told to "get rid of the silly colored hair and nails."
Beth is often commended for coaching multiple SEC individual titles and even Olympian Christian Coleman. Ironically, she did not ever personally coach him, or the majority of scoring athletes at major conference meets.... No, Beth was in charge of the distance runners, the lowest scoring out of the entire team. The XC women did improve exponentially within the past 5 years, but only due to the recruitment of talent and the females' own commitment to one another. The XC men have remained a stagnant 3rd/4th, always choking at big races. Why??? Her outdated and minimal effort training plan, lack of trust in her athletes, her extreme favoritism towards the top runners, and the LACK OF DEVELOPMENT of athletes. The only distance runner success stories at UT were already top recruits in their class and naturally talented.
The assistant coaches of the UT team are to be credited for the past successes of the UT Track Team. Too bad many of them have gone to different schools...as well as some of the best athletes. For example, Jonathan Sacour the Belgian Olympian, Britton Wilson the current SEC champ, and, soon enough, the school record-holder Sydney Seymour. One huge foul play by Beth last year was keeping Coach Geopfert's departure to Arkansas a secret. His athletes found out by a group email ONE DAY after the transfer portal closed, leaving them "stuck" at UT without the coach they came to UT..how coincidental. These types of sneaky moves are typical for her; tactical and strategic, yes. But when there are 18-20-somethings' educational and athletic careers on the line? Very low.
Overall, she may be a good figurehead and she sure knows how to be in charge and demand respect. But, she lacks a deep passion for her athletes and has always prioritized her love for winning over her team and athletes.
I would not be surprised if her "mutual resignation" is due to the negative outcomes accumulated by these actions....and from current athletes speaking out against her unfair and non-compliant leadership decisions... or they wanted her out before her contract expires this year so they wouldn't have to pay her any region/NCAA bonuses..
This is a lot of information for someone to contain - has to come from either a current team member or someone with close contacts to those on the team.
You cite the women's growth in XC but only attribute it to their commitment to one another. How do you know this? They seemed to improve quite a bit. Sydney Seymour improved to the most talked about runner on this website stan Tuohy, and the cast don't have an abundance of HS accolades.
Speak more about current athletes speaking out against her unfair leadership decisions. I'm sure it was filled with athletes who have a gripe against the world and will end up like you in forty years.
126 -
washed up Olympian wrote:
smokeygunvol wrote:
Inside Scoop on Beth from an athlete:
Rumors are running rampant on "why" Beth was fired. I won't speculate on any of the possible causes of her termination, but there were key issues with the ex-UT coach.
The biggest red flag was the division within the team. She caused this by her favoritism, taking credit for athletes' success, the minimal effort she put into caring about her athletes as young adults, her lack of leadership, pitting athletes against one another, and manipulating/misleading athletes whether it be not racing them for BS reasons or falsely promising a scholarship or spot on the travel bus.
Team meetings consisted of her listening to herself talk about winning, how "you athletes need to fix this culture, not me", "C's get degrees." Female distance runners were frequently told they needed to lose weight to be faster and female sprinters were told to "get rid of the silly colored hair and nails."
Beth is often commended for coaching multiple SEC individual titles and even Olympian Christian Coleman. Ironically, she did not ever personally coach him, or the majority of scoring athletes at major conference meets.... No, Beth was in charge of the distance runners, the lowest scoring out of the entire team. The XC women did improve exponentially within the past 5 years, but only due to the recruitment of talent and the females' own commitment to one another. The XC men have remained a stagnant 3rd/4th, always choking at big races. Why??? Her outdated and minimal effort training plan, lack of trust in her athletes, her extreme favoritism towards the top runners, and the LACK OF DEVELOPMENT of athletes. The only distance runner success stories at UT were already top recruits in their class and naturally talented.
The assistant coaches of the UT team are to be credited for the past successes of the UT Track Team. Too bad many of them have gone to different schools...as well as some of the best athletes. For example, Jonathan Sacour the Belgian Olympian, Britton Wilson the current SEC champ, and, soon enough, the school record-holder Sydney Seymour. One huge foul play by Beth last year was keeping Coach Geopfert's departure to Arkansas a secret. His athletes found out by a group email ONE DAY after the transfer portal closed, leaving them "stuck" at UT without the coach they came to UT..how coincidental. These types of sneaky moves are typical for her; tactical and strategic, yes. But when there are 18-20-somethings' educational and athletic careers on the line? Very low.
Overall, she may be a good figurehead and she sure knows how to be in charge and demand respect. But, she lacks a deep passion for her athletes and has always prioritized her love for winning over her team and athletes.
I would not be surprised if her "mutual resignation" is due to the negative outcomes accumulated by these actions....and from current athletes speaking out against her unfair and non-compliant leadership decisions... or they wanted her out before her contract expires this year so they wouldn't have to pay her any region/NCAA bonuses..
This is a lot of information for someone to contain - has to come from either a current team member or someone with close contacts to those on the team.
You cite the women's growth in XC but only attribute it to their commitment to one another. How do you know this? They seemed to improve quite a bit. Sydney Seymour improved to the most talked about runner on this website stan Tuohy, and the cast don't have an abundance of HS accolades.
Speak more about current athletes speaking out against her unfair leadership decisions. I'm sure it was filled with athletes who have a gripe against the world and will end up like you in forty years.
The top athletes do not like her either. Sydney Seymour is transferring, Britton Wilson transferred, Vanessa Watson transferred, Alexis Duncan transferred, Jonathan Sacoor left the program.
125 -
BAS to Auburn.
71 -
Any other transfers
Who was she making it hard for?
00 -
Bad take- go back in the archives on this one
Sacoor was apparently cut from the team due to issues regarding private coaching and wanting to miss NCAAs for international competition. Plus he severely underperformed while at the program. Same goes with Wilson and Watson.
Bad take all around. Reminder, she is the director and the distance coach... Didn't play a role in developing those athletes, they left on their own terms for their own reasons
49 -
Is everyone forgetting that UT announced the renewal/extension of contracts for several coaches this year except Sullivian's???? UT even announced its investment and plans for a world class indoor facility... yet still no extension for Sullivan. They were clearly ready to move on from the current leadership and prob already prepared with their short list for the next Director.
None of the coaches on staff were behind this. It was unfolding infront of everyone's eyes. One coach was smart enough to leave last year to save himself. Other coaches were prob looking for other jobs this year. When its public that your boss hasn't been given an extension, you can read between the lines.
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The distance is far and away the worst part of the program so she is failing at that too. She has had 8 years and never had a single person be All American in Cross Country except Chelsea Blaase who was a 33 minute 10k person even before Sullivan’s arrival. She has only had a handful of people even qualify for NCAAs in XC out of the the weak South Region. Failed coaching.
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BeAGoodHuman wrote:
Is everyone forgetting that UT announced the renewal/extension of contracts for several coaches this year except Sullivian's???? UT even announced its investment and plans for a world class indoor facility... yet still no extension for Sullivan. They were clearly ready to move on from the current leadership and prob already prepared with their short list for the next Director.
None of the coaches on staff were behind this. It was unfolding infront of everyone's eyes. One coach was smart enough to leave last year to save himself. Other coaches were prob looking for other jobs this year. When its public that your boss hasn't been given an extension, you can read between the lines.
It has been known around the Knoxville running community that she was going to be fired/not renewed as far back as last June when Travis Geopfert left back to Arkansas.
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She is the common denominator. For many years there has been a continuous stream of coaches and athletes who echo the same sentiment.....she can be cut throat and lacks character. Her husband is also an enabler of this behavior. He is laid back but inappropriate and negative. If you go to coaches convention, she is the one who stands up and talks the most during any debate as if she is one of the big fish. She has never won crap but you would think she was something special just watching her confidence and body language in a room full of elite coaches with big trophies. She talks down to other small college coaches and assistant coaches with a tone that is quite insulting. She overcompensate her insecurity with the bravado of condescending tone. She talks to her athletes one way and then talks trash about them five minutes later behind their back. She pits one athlete against another. She spends too much time at the bar and in the hotel lobby badmouthing other coaches but then smiles and hugs them five minutes later at the track. She is paranoid and makes too many decision as if everyone is out to get her. Maybe they are because she has manipulated too many people over the years and its catching up to her. I believe that the lies and deceitful tactics have finally caught up and the word is out. Some individuals will kiss her butt because they think they can get something from her. Big mistake. Her team did well this year but it was not enough to save her. Kudos to her assistants, I hope they keep their jobs. Word has gotten out that she is only your friend when you are propping her up. She often inserts herself into coaching interactions and photo ops with her assistant coaches and athletes in their moment of glory, as if it was her doing. Check the photos. She appears jealous when other coaches get credit. You won't ever see quotes in the press releases from her assistants. Athletes eventually pick up on this selective niceness that quickly wanes if you get injured, struggle or have a bad performance. Its not uncommon for her to call athletes into her office that are struggling and grill them. She ratchets down the pressure and makes them basically promise to perform better next week. Bad for mental health. No excuse is good enough. If you are not performing, you will be ignored and isolated so you will choose to leave or quit. She has an inner circle that loves her, but if you are not in the inner circle you will quickly know it. This is a bad strategy when you also have such a large team. Would have worked better if she kept the numbers really small and elite. Having so many non competitive athletes which she liked to call "scrubby dubbies" on the team definitely created a culture of haves and have nots.
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