Is Robert Johnson’s time as Oregon head coach at an end? Update: Yes his contract is up and won't be renewed!

Robert Johnson not renewed at Oregon is exactly why our sport is a joke to the masses. With him being fired, you might as well fire all coaches for any BS reason from a disgruntled athlete. The man won 14 national titles ranking fourth all-time among NCAA coaches in cross country and track and field, and ninth overall for Division I coaches in all sports!
He also dominated the Pac-12 in track and field, winning 15 straight men’s titles and 10 of the last 13 women’s titles.

Only insecure and self-loathing individuals whine about clown world and their fears of a changing society. No one gets canceled for being respectful and accepting of other’s differences. No one gets fired from their job for promoting the health and wellbeing of their subordinates. If you feel the need to hate people that don’t look, speak, or act like you want them to, then you are the problem. Examine why, with such a short time on this Earth, you feel it necessary to waste time and energy lashing out against strangers? I strongly suspect that you have some sort of self hatred or hurt that is unresolved.

Johnson wasn't fired because of the DEXA thing. He's been a scheming, greasy guy for a long time and has made enough enemies that the bill finally came due.

Remember a couple years ago when Travis Thompson (Pac 12 finalist, marginal NCAA qualifier type guy in the 800, 4x4 guy) got kicked off the team right before the Pac 12 meet? Reason was that two people on the team were dating, Thompson was a captain and Johnson asked him for details of the relationship. Thompson said no that's none of your business, and was dismissed. Small anecdote that illustrates Robert Johnson's character. Also note the near complete absence of Lananna - Powell athletes from the imagery around the new stadium. There's a reason the Powells left perhaps the most cush assistant jobs in the country.

I was thinking this initially. Something along the lines of, "how in the world can they possibly fire a black coach who has won 14 national titles in 10 years?"

Then I thought about it. And was like, "NO, this is actually exactly was a major sport would do."

Auburn fired a white FOOTBALL coach Gene Chizik just two years after winning an NCAA title and after a single losing season.

LSU fired a white FOOTBALL coach Ed Orgeron just two years after winning an NCAA title after zero losing seasons.

Once an administration feels a program is declining, they will drop you in a heart beat if they don't like you.

The reality is he's known for being prickly so he's likely used up all of his social capital/good graces.

And the facts are the team isn't nearly as good as it once was. While he won 14 titles in 10 NCAA seasons (he was there 11 but Covid wiped out a year of NCAAs), he won 13 in the first 6 so he's won just 1 title in the last 4 years.

So the admin/donors feel that a) the program is on the decline and b) they don't like him as he's arrogant and wasn't PC in talking to the women about weight. That means bye bye.

He kind of reminds me of a much more successful version of Martin Smith. He didn't ingratiate himself with the locals when that's a big part of the job and was shown the door.

Speaking of Lananna.

Does anyone know why Vin Lananna left? It always strikes me as odd that he has these great gigs - Stanford/Oregon - and that the leaves but then inevitably starts coaching again a few years later?

The truth about RJ hasn’t fully come out but in speaking with Duck track athletes past, present and future, their stories all individually were legal or university policy or highly unethical each on their own.

separately NAU’s Mike Smith already has turned job down. Hot rumor in Eugene is leading candidate is Jerry Schumacher. Other money is on Stanford’s JJ Clark getting the job.

The Register-Guard article really bends over backwards with phrasing to avoid giving RJ credit for those 14 national titles:

His time as coach coincided with 14 national titles. They wouldn't say that he won them, led the team to them, etc.?

registerguard.com

University of Oregon won't retain track and field coach Robert Johnson

@registerguard

Associate head coach Helen Lehman-Winters will serve as interim head coach after Johnson's contract expires June 30.

Open link

I think ultimately a lot of locals and other influential people would rather have a total focus on distance and compete for cross titles than have a balanced program that's competitive for track team titles

you can debate where the blame lies, but they haven't been getting the top american distance recruits since Vin and the Powells left.

Yeah Teare and Hocker really sucked.

Everyone can see the underlying disrespect to one of the best track coaches ever. F Oregon

SMH....I never mentioned Robert Johnson's race, you did.

Regardless of his race he is one of the best head coaches in NCAA history. The football coaches you mentioned ARE NOT in any conversation about being the best coaches now or ever. Yes they won a title, but Johnson's teams dominated the sport during his tenure. You act as if he just happened to win 14 NCAA Championships, not to mention the numerous times he finished in the top 10 and complete and total dominance of the PAC-12.

As for the local Eugene weirdo hippies, they prefer a yes man to winning multiple track titles in the self proclaimed Track Town USA?

Again...this is why our sport is a joke.

I didn’t know the inner workings of team dynamic, but it always seemed to me that he got credit for the Powell’s recruiting and coaching. How involved was he with actual coaching as opposed to being more of a manager?

Having the local "important" people like you and behind you is a huge thing. It's diplomacy, it's politics, and it I don't always think it's right or fair. But, it's the cold reality. RJ is a massively successful coach, and I think some of those people saw their opportunity to get rid of him with Oregon's "decline" in recent years. Granted "decline" is relative and most programs would love to accomplish what Oregon has in the past four years, but nevertheless, for Oregon, it's decline.

Wish there was another big program for RJ to take over, but others have mentioned him starting a training group/track club.

Does anyone know how much Jerry makes at BTC vs how much he would get if he was at Oregon?

Powell recruited and coached Teare and probably started recruiting Hocker the year he left…

race race race race race race race race

hard to think what kind of person might be a good fit to come into the Director role unless they're also looking to replace one of the current distance coaches.

who is a well-respected, distance-oriented person who the eugene townies would like who would be happy with an administrator role and not day-to-day coaching?

He'll just have to keep on rollin