Simon Bairu Blasts Ryan Craven

They praise those who write articles about distance running because they are grateful that they have something to read, that someone cares about the sport, and that they have something to link to on their website, which remains little more than a message board and a series of links, with the occasional commentary. Of course, they do not know the difference between good and bad writing. They do not even know the difference between 'faze' and 'phase' or between any number of correct and incorrect uses of words.

Screw both coaches, Martin Smith was the better Wisco coach than those two yahoos.

Wisconsin has stayed at the top for many years across four different coaches with significantly different coaching styles and hardly even had drop-offs at the transition points even though some guys left when coaches went elsewhere. I do not think any other program can say anything remotely like that.

alright, i am linking my email with this in order to add some accountability. yes, i went full-on grammar police and that was because the piece was said to be well-written.

i did actually think there were some good insights on contrasting coaching styles in there, and the brojo response was very honest and thought out.

i write, and i make grammatical errors as well. i cringe more when i make them than when others do, fearing hypocritical backlash, even if it only goes noted in my mind.

but if you are being paid to write, my god! or presumably there must be an editor somewhere, right?

bottom line, if you aren't sure about some of the nuances of language, either research them or, just don't use them. i write needlessly complex sentences frequently—and overuse adverbs—but you've gotta have some standards. and yes, i said gotta, a colloquialism whose acceptability varies.

McClimon was

Did Ryan Craven get a scholarship?

zooey wrote:

From the Flotrack comments, poster "F Craven" said something along the lines of "“I don’t need to waste my time with the rest of those delinquent coaches.” Is that an exact quote?"

Formatting aside, I suppose Jerry made a crack about other coaches. Solinksky also says something about coaches at a bar, and Jerry not going to drink with them.

If Schumacher said that, he was correct.

Dave Smith, Greg Metcalf, and whoever that guy is who coached Cabada at Virginia Intermont are at the bar at every meet. It's pathetic. They are slapdicks and Bro Coaches in the same way that Craven and all the other morons on that website are Bro Journalists.

"$100 legs, $0 brain" is a great way to put it. All these other guys publicly chiming in is just pathetic and embarrassing.

I can't decide if the talk about "drugging" Schumacher's name through the mud was a Freudian slip or a ploy, but ya gotta love the way the Badger Family sticks together. Makes you wonder why none of Solinsky's Brothers took revenge on the 80-pound guy who hurled him into the infield last summer.

zooey wrote:

From the Flotrack comments, poster "F Craven" said something along the lines of "I dont need to waste my time with the rest of those delinquent coaches.

I suppose Jerry made a crack about other coaches. Solinksky also says something about coaches at a bar, and Jerry not going to drink with them.

Coach K's homosexual slur wrote:

If Schumacher said that, he was correct.

Dave Smith, Greg Metcalf, and whoever that guy is who coached Cabada at Virginia Intermont are at the bar at every meet.

I don't care for Schumacher, but if the coach of any of my kids was hanging out at a bar, I would raise hell and pull them out of that program immediately.

In fact that's a good question to find out about coaches prior to consideration of attending a program.

Be a Responsible Coach wrote:

zooey wrote:

From the Flotrack comments, poster "F Craven" said something along the lines of "I dont need to waste my time with the rest of those delinquent coaches.

I suppose Jerry made a crack about other coaches. Solinksky also says something about coaches at a bar, and Jerry not going to drink with them.

Coach K's homosexual slur wrote:

If Schumacher said that, he was correct.

Dave Smith, Greg Metcalf, and whoever that guy is who coached Cabada at Virginia Intermont are at the bar at every meet.

I don't care for Schumacher, but if the coach of any of my kids was hanging out at a bar, I would raise hell and pull them out of that program immediately.

In fact that's a good question to find out about coaches prior to consideration of attending a program.

Let me get this straight, one of the qualifications for coaching your children would be spending absolutely no personal time at a bar. What constitutes as a bar in your mind: a club, brewery, or Applebee's? You sound like an incredibly reasonable and fun human being.

You don't care for Schumacher? Have you ever met him or had a conversation with him? My guess is you've probably based your incredibly narrow minded opinion on the countless worthless posts in these forums. Seems like a good way to formulate your opinion on a coach that is revered by nearly all current and former athletes.

Enjoy your perch high above the rest of us and good luck to your children.

Bumping this as someone linked the thread. I agree that relaxing while being serious is very important for a team - and yes, that does mean limiting drinking.

But as an anecdote, I ran my best races eating like sh!t the day before. I ran a low 8:0x 3k after eating a whole pizza (one of the fast fire places), chick fil a sandwich, and a thing of ice cream the day before. the calories - high fat and carbs - seem to helped me

Wonder what Simon thinks of Jerry now?

This is fantastic. And still true 13 years later.

Given the time that has passed its worth noting the Badgers are now on a bit of a streak of under performing at nationals under Mick, so maybe Craven’s hypothesis isn’t quite correct. Regardless the program continues to be good every year across 50 years and 4 coaches so they have a lot of reasons to be proud.

I met Simon once while attending Worlds in Eugene and was underwhelmed with his personality. I’m not shocked by this.