That’s not even good for UCLA, that’s embarrassing for any Power Five school. At this point, pretending those results are positive just lowers the bar even further. It’s like giving a standing ovation to a sinking ship just because it hasn’t hit the ocean floor yet.
Until 2:20 a.m. there was still time to rearrange the deck chairs on Titanic.
They aren't very good, but their freshman class is actually pretty good.
Berhan ran 8:49, Brown 4:08/9:08 as a junior, Chu 8:48, Dybdhal 4:02, Falkowski 3:46 for 1500, Sagiraju 4:08/8:58, Stefanopoulos 4:06, and Yoder 9:05
Some are better than others and we'll have to see if they develop, but there are some really good CA runners in that class
They should absolutely be better. But success doesn’t just happen you have to want it, and you have to put the right leaders in place to make it happen.
They aren't very good, but their freshman class is actually pretty good.
Berhan ran 8:49, Brown 4:08/9:08 as a junior, Chu 8:48, Dybdhal 4:02, Falkowski 3:46 for 1500, Sagiraju 4:08/8:58, Stefanopoulos 4:06, and Yoder 9:05
Some are better than others and we'll have to see if they develop, but there are some really good CA runners in that class
They should absolutely be better. But success doesn’t just happen you have to want it, and you have to put the right leaders in place to make it happen.
Yes, leaders that can keep their job for more than 1 year.
They aren't very good, but their freshman class is actually pretty good.
Berhan ran 8:49, Brown 4:08/9:08 as a junior, Chu 8:48, Dybdhal 4:02, Falkowski 3:46 for 1500, Sagiraju 4:08/8:58, Stefanopoulos 4:06, and Yoder 9:05
Some are better than others and we'll have to see if they develop, but there are some really good CA runners in that class
They should absolutely be better. But success doesn’t just happen you have to want it, and you have to put the right leaders in place to make it happen.
I doubt Carlson enjoys cutting people, but he does that everywhere he goes as a policy. He needs to coach up his athletes instead of pushing everyone old out of the program. Anyone who goes to a medium to high altitude program, especially the most well resourced such program in the mountain states, should challenge for the national xc podium every year. That's basically what BYU, NAU, Colorado under Wetmore, and D2 places like Adams State and Adams State have done for decades. Colorado has the largest population and probably the best running culture of any mountain state and CU is the flagship institution with national title history. Anyone who cannot get five sub-30 guys there in xc pretty much every year doesn't know what he is doing.
Looking beyond UCLA's win in the JV race, I noticed which team finished second to them: Ohio State. When, if ever, will that university get a competitive cross country team?
A lot of talk about UCLA, but the entire back half of the big 10 is awful. OSU has sucked for over a decade. Michigan women got beat by lipscomb, the men a narrow victory over lipscomb. Purdue, do they still have a team? Remember when Indiana was in the hunt for men and women each year and are now fighting for last with Rutgers?
Looking beyond UCLA's win in the JV race, I noticed which team finished second to them: Ohio State. When, if ever, will that university get a competitive cross country team?
A lot of talk about UCLA, but the entire back half of the big 10 is awful. OSU has sucked for over a decade. Michigan women got beat by lipscomb, the men a narrow victory over lipscomb. Purdue, do they still have a team? Remember when Indiana was in the hunt for men and women each year and are now fighting for last with Rutgers?
A lot of big athletic departments really only see cross country and distance running as secondary, almost “obligation” sports. They don’t bring in revenue like football or basketball, so programs like UCLA or OSU (despite some past history) don’t always prioritize them with top resources, coaching hires are bottom of the barrel, or recruiting focus. That’s why you’ll often see crap results. when the administration doesn’t care, it trickles down into poor support, which makes it hard for distance programs to thrive, no matter the talent pool. And you need good coaches and schools like this don’t go after top distance coaches. Sure there are exceptions, but not in this case.
I doubt Carlson enjoys cutting people, but he does that everywhere he goes as a policy. He needs to coach up his athletes instead of pushing everyone old out of the program. Anyone who goes to a medium to high altitude program, especially the most well resourced such program in the mountain states, should challenge for the national xc podium every year. That's basically what BYU, NAU, Colorado under Wetmore, and D2 places like Adams State and Adams State have done for decades. Colorado has the largest population and probably the best running culture of any mountain state and CU is the flagship institution with national title history. Anyone who cannot get five sub-30 guys there in xc pretty much every year doesn't know what he is doing.
As has been extensively covered in these threads, the cut athletes were literally ~15min 5k'ers. I have sympathy for these runners, but the fact is a coach came in to a program with national aspirations and as a first order of business, cleared the roster of athletes not of that caliber. I'm not sure this makes him evil.
The pearl clutching is part of the reason so many other coaches look at us as unserious programs.
I doubt Carlson enjoys cutting people, but he does that everywhere he goes as a policy. He needs to coach up his athletes instead of pushing everyone old out of the program. Anyone who goes to a medium to high altitude program, especially the most well resourced such program in the mountain states, should challenge for the national xc podium every year. That's basically what BYU, NAU, Colorado under Wetmore, and D2 places like Adams State and Adams State have done for decades. Colorado has the largest population and probably the best running culture of any mountain state and CU is the flagship institution with national title history. Anyone who cannot get five sub-30 guys there in xc pretty much every year doesn't know what he is doing.
As has been extensively covered in these threads, the cut athletes were literally ~15min 5k'ers. I have sympathy for these runners, but the fact is a coach came in to a program with national aspirations and as a first order of business, cleared the roster of athletes not of that caliber. I'm not sure this makes him evil.
The pearl clutching is part of the reason so many other coaches look at us as unserious programs.
The reality is Sean Carlson just isn’t the right fit for Colorado. That’s not just outside noise either, it’s a sentiment shared by plenty of people both within the program and across the wider distance-running community. Again the AD just did not give a sh!t.
As has been extensively covered in these threads, the cut athletes were literally ~15min 5k'ers. I have sympathy for these runners, but the fact is a coach came in to a program with national aspirations and as a first order of business, cleared the roster of athletes not of that caliber. I'm not sure this makes him evil.
The pearl clutching is part of the reason so many other coaches look at us as unserious programs.
The reality is Sean Carlson just isn’t the right fit for Colorado. That’s not just outside noise either, it’s a sentiment shared by plenty of people both within the program and across the wider distance-running community. Again the AD just did not give a sh!t.
UCLA isn’t even in the same universe as Colorado and let’s be honest, Colorado itself is nothing special right now. If anyone was serious about UCLA being competitive, that’s laughable. They’re flat out pitiful. The LA excuses don’t fly either the program has talent, but it consistently underperforms at every level.
The reality is Sean Carlson just isn’t the right fit for Colorado. That’s not just outside noise either, it’s a sentiment shared by plenty of people both within the program and across the wider distance-running community. Again the AD just did not give a sh!t.
UCLA isn’t even in the same universe as Colorado and let’s be honest, Colorado itself is nothing special right now. If anyone was serious about UCLA being competitive, that’s laughable. They’re flat out pitiful. The LA excuses don’t fly either the program has talent, but it consistently underperforms at every level.
Makes you wonder how clueless someone has to be to start a thread hyping up one team that only ran okay and another that completely bombed. How anyone could spin those as amazing runs is mind boggling.
UCLA isn’t even in the same universe as Colorado and let’s be honest, Colorado itself is nothing special right now. If anyone was serious about UCLA being competitive, that’s laughable. They’re flat out pitiful. The LA excuses don’t fly either the program has talent, but it consistently underperforms at every level.
Makes you wonder how clueless someone has to be to start a thread hyping up one team that only ran okay and another that completely bombed. How anyone could spin those as amazing runs is mind boggling.
Colorado just put down a top 10 in the NCAA performance for the first time in forever. That's certainly newsworthy and deserves praise in the face of all the criticism Carlson receives here. Top 10 in the NCAA is only ok?
UCLA, while not nationally competitive yet, is showing signs of life. Despite everyone here saying UCLA doesn't care about XC and people making rumors that they are cutting XC, they are rapidly improving. UCLA would beat many teams that have a lot more distance scholarships than them.
Both of these teams rebuilt from coaches that caused drama and lost their jobs. It takes time to rebuild.
UCLA isn’t even in the same universe as Colorado and let’s be honest, Colorado itself is nothing special right now. If anyone was serious about UCLA being competitive, that’s laughable. They’re flat out pitiful. The LA excuses don’t fly either the program has talent, but it consistently underperforms at every level.
Makes you wonder how clueless someone has to be to start a thread hyping up one team that only ran okay and another that completely bombed. How anyone could spin those as amazing runs is mind boggling.
stop with the UCLA stalk. They are literally JV mediocre on their best day.