Arcadia HS - Coach O'Brien

1437628 wrote:

As an educator who is also a coach at the same school, O'Brien is obligated to act in the best interest of the kids. I feel that he is exposing himself to gross misconduct and most likely defiance. If an administrator (his boss) tells him to cease extra-curricular interactions with these athletes, O'Brien is obligated to do so or face losing his teaching job. I have never met this man but feel that he is making some very bad decisions and is helping a large group of youngsters do the same.

If O'Brien's not acting in the best interests of the kids, then why did they all run for him rather than the track program. Football coaches routinely tell their athletes to participate in weight training in the spring rather than the track program. Are they also acting against the best interests of the kids?

The athletes know who will challenge them and reward them for their efforts.

Why do you think the athletes are a bunch of mindless dolts who are easily swayed?

AP RAP wrote:

Seem to recall reading earlier this year (maybe an article about Nike Sunset in the park) that Rocha attended Arcadia because of the APs. Don't think anyone can argue that the athletes are leaving Arcadia for better APs elsewhere.

They actually are starting to cut them though, there have been proposals of cutting AP Junior English. There are conflicting reports whether they are just proposals or if they are already past that stage and agreed upon. There is also word spreading that cuts in the AP math programs will be next. Not quite sure the direction that school district is heading

midwest guy wrote:

http://Catrina_McAlister.runnerspace.com/profile.php?do=videos&member_id=8364&video_id=34978

if you look at this video, this girl who is coached at Arcadia in 2010 says it was very hard season for her because of coaching. Dropping the hints pretty early on i'm guessing.

That's video really says a lot. How did you find that? I don't know Arcaida, but after seeing that video if Schultz really complained to the CIF and stopped her from running in HS he's the biggest sleazeball in the sport.

arcadia-insider wrote:

Yes, it funny to see how the athletes would take this very seriously, and don't understand that what they are arguing about is somewhat pointless. For crying out loud this just a High School sport. They are taking this way to personally here and in fact it is getting tiresome. Look it just a sport, it not the end of the world. Losing O'Brien as a coach will not end your career here. Come on.

Well, I don't know about what you say, there are a lot of coaches with poor knowledge that can screw up athletes and careers.

Reading the press on this situation it seems that was is idiotic about this situation, is that in a large area like Southern California, the Arcadia school administrators ought to be familiar with the term "Organizational Psychologist."

All of this could have been fixed/prevented with an organizational psychologist and/or a professional mediator, and communication coaching. O'Brien could have been informed that his continued position as coach depended on his agreeing to those terms...

Instead, the decision was made by adults, to act like children, take it personally, and throw the guy away.

In a sport dying from lack of leaders and coaches...a better path -- and example -- probably could have been found forthe kids.

(I got no dog in this fight, I am sure O'Brien did something to tick someone off...there are just other paths to resolution.)

This is long, but it'll provide background on this issue. It's from Arcadias Best in the comments section regarding a recall to remove three Arcadia School Board Members because of this very issue.

"To start with, your introduction to this issue speaks volumes. Since you’ve glossed over some issues, how about some history first, shall we?

O’Brien, having spent years as a distance runner and ultra marathoner, and with a Masters in Exercise Physiology, knows his sport. He coached at the University of San Diego and Cal Tech before taking the job of Head Track Coach at Arcadia High in the mid-90′s. He held that position for years, turning the Arcadia Invitational into a profitable venture for the first time in it’s existence. Curiously, one of the steps he took to help it’s profitability was to cancel the multi-thousand dollar stipends that were being given to certain “volunteers”. Some of these “volunteers” were school staff and officials who had long been involved with the Invite.

Because he wanted to spend more time with his family, he stepped back both from the Invite responsibilities and from the track program to focus on Cross Country. He only assumed control of the Boys Cross Country Team. The existing Cross Country coach at that time reduced his duties to just the girls team instead of both.

Over the years, he transformed the program from a mere dozen kids to 80-90 kids every summer. They became perennial league contenders. In 2006 they qualified for the State Championships. It was first time any Arcadia athletic team had advanced enough rounds through the CIF to advance that far. They have qualified for the State Championships ever since. In the last three years alone, they WON the State Championships AND the National Championships twice. While other schools in California have won the State Championships multiple times, no other school in the country has won the National Championships twice, only Arcadia.

In the course of his transformation of the Cross Country program, he is directly responsible for getting, at the latest count, 23 kids into college where they compete in Cross Country and Track, many of them on full or partial scholarships. I’ll repeat – 23 kids, half of those in just the last 3-4 years. NO other Arcadia team can even approach those numbers.

Now let’s proceed.

1. The Arcadia School District runs a summer program under the Arcadia Education Fund, aka “AEF”.

In the editor’s intro to the “public letter”, he states the following:

“setting up his own summer training camp when the District told him he could not allow students to run off campus due to being uninsured by the school;”

Unlike the days when summer school was free, Arcadia now charges for the privilege. Cross Country is a “Fall” sport, just like Football. Therefore, summer practice is crucial.

Unlike Football and basketball, training for Cross Country has to be done on other surfaces than just the track, with it’s flat artificial surface and 400 meter long oval. Given that Cross Country races are held on dirt trails often in the hills or wide open spaces, training kids on an oval track or even just in the local Arcadia park is insufficient. It would be equivalent to having the Football kids practice all season on a tennis court, instead of on a football field where they would actually compete.

When this directive from the school board came down, it was only directed at O’Brien and his program, not any of the other sports. At this time, there was already serious enmity between O’Brien and the school Athletic department because of his constant fights for better funding for his team of 80-90 kids. By the way, those requests were generally denied.

O’Brien pleaded with the school administration, but they stayed firm. Seeing this directive as NOT being done to “protect the children”, but rather as harassment against him and his athletes, O’Brien got certified by the USA Track and Field, and held his practices under their jurisdiction. I don’t know to what effect this move angered the school administration, but I do know there was serious anger, because the School District no longer got those summer enrollment fees from the Cross Country Parents.

2. The infamous Mammoth Incident.

As mentioned above, when O’Brien took over the boys program, the existing Cross Country Coach chose to Coach only the girls. For many years, this division remained. Unlike most high schools, there were now two separate coaches handling boys and girls teams. Training regimens were different, as were coaching methods. During this time both programs improved, but the Boys team improved dramatically.

During both the late 2000′s, and again in 2010, the Girls coach resigned. Both times O’Brien asked for the job but it was given to someone else. In early 2010, the Girls Cross Country Head coaching job was given to a young woman with NO head coaching experience.

In Spring of that year, High School coaches who take their athletes to Mammoth Mountain for high-altitude training, start making their travel arrangements, e.g. booking condos, getting parent volunteers, renting vans, setting the schedule, etc. The girls coach did none of that, despite O’Brien’s offers of help. She wanted to train the girls her way. When Summer training started, many of the girls chose to train with O’Brien seeing the results that he was getting with the Boys. When O’Brien took these girls with him and the boys to Mammoth for their 10 day training, the Girls Coach complained. She took her complaint up through the Administrative channels and the Arcadia Admin censured O’Brien and wanted this reprimand to stay within his personnel file. O’Brien appealed. He won the appeal. What is generally not known is that BOTH Superintendent Joel Shawn and Principal David Vannasdall lied in the paperwork that they filed against O’Brien. During the arbitration, they admitted to it. The reprimand was thrown out and O’Brien won his appeal. It seems strange, that two school officials openly lied under oath against one of their own employees and, admitted to it and suffered no repercussions. To date, still no action has been taken against either Shawn or Vannasdall.

3. His firing by the head track Coach Chris Schultz.

For years, there has been constant enmity between Schultz and O’Brien. Normally, this would be a non-issue, but during track and field season, the track coach is the one in charge. For several years, those two have been at odds, at what can best be described as a personal fight. Though O’Brien is not totally blameless, there were numerous instances where Schultz openly derided/criticized O’Brien and his athletes in front of the other Track and Field athletes. Not exactly a way to build team unity. To date, no action has been taken against Schultz either for his unprofessional behavior either.

In the Fall of 2012, Schultz fired O’Brien as Distance Coach for the upcoming Track season the following Spring. O’Brien protested but was told by the school Athletic Director Ryan Press and by school Principal Brent Forsee that the head track coach can hire/fire whoever he wants as his assistant coaches. Curiously, Schultz didn’t hire a replacement and was going to coach the distance kids himself. Schultz is not a distance coach. Ironically, when O’Brien was fired this summer, and his former assistant given the job, his assistant was given direct orders to NOT hire O’Brien as an assistant, “anybody but O’Brien”. Clearly, the autonomy that was given to Schultz was not given to O’Brien’s successor.

As a result, seeing his Cross Country program and the careers of his athletes (as well as collegiate prospects) severely endangered, O’Brien decided to expand his summer training to Winter and Spring as well. He gave the students the option of running for him or for Schultz during the Spring Track season. Because training for one or the other would be after school, the kids had to choose. Of his 88 Cross Country kids, only 8 went to track. He did NOT order them as has previously reported elsewhere. This too, angered the Administration.

4. The locker incident.

The Cross Country boys share a locker room with the athletes from the other teams as well as the other boys who take PE classes. Curiously, a huge bank of lockers were replaced with brand new ones. These were for the Football team and others, but specifically NOT the Cross Country team. They got the old ones. Many of these lockers were broken. During the school year, 4 Cross Country team athletes had their belongings stolen from the lockers, in one case $850 worth of personal items. O’Brien was able to find out which students committed the theft. He reported them to the school administration. Again, to date, no action was taken against those kids. Ironically, the lockers remained un-repaired. O’Brien repeatedly requested that the lockers be fixed. When no action was taken, he informed the school Administration that he was going to paint “X”‘s on the broken lockers so that his athletes wouldn’t use them. They did not respond, so he painted them. The school then reprimanded him, and gave him a warning where he had to be on “good behavior” for 45 days. On the first Monday after school finished for the spring, O’Brien was fired as a coach. He was not given a reason. In essence, the 45 day reprimand was converted to him being fired.

The CIF “Violations”

Unlike what the school board members are now publicly saying, the Arcadia Administration self-reported these supposed allegations just a couple of weeks ago, meaning several weeks after O’Brien’s firing. Because of the rumor mill, O’Brien contacted the CIF on 7/31 to find out what the allegations were. At that time, they had NOT received anything. They had been contacted by Arcadia that they would be receiving them shortly, and yes it was very unusual for a school to self-report. Also, there were no other reports from other schools.

As for the violations themselves, these are patently false. At no time did O’Brien appear at any of these Sunday practices. His athletes practiced and encouraged others to attend the practices as well, because they knew that for their particular sport, e.g. endurance training, taking a day off with absolute rest is detrimental. In talking with other schools both at the high school and collegiate level, despite CIF and NCAA regulations, this is standard practice. They’re to practice on their own, without the presence of the coaches.

As for recruiting, there are CIF rules where high school coaches are not allowed to speak with middle school students. O’Brien honored that. However, some of his athletes were present at middle school track competitions. There are no regulations preventing that.

Those are the basis of his CIF violations.

The aftermath:

A week later, in late June, the school administration held a meeting with the intent of introducing the new coach. Easily 200 parents, kids and supporters showed up at this meeting to protest O’Brien’s firing. Joel Shawn, David Vanasdall, Brent Forsee and Ryan Press were all there. Mr. Shawn was the primary speaker, and despite repeated pleas from the students and parents, he refused to change his position re. O’Brien’s firing. He also refused to state the reasons.

At the subsequent school board meeting the next night, over 200 people again showed their support. There were only a few speakers during the public comments section of the meeting, including O’Brien. However, it was clear from the public sentiment that the people who were there, were supporting O’Brien.

On July 23rd, at the next school board meeting, easily 800 O’Brien supporters appeared. More than 50 people spoke in O’Brien’s support. No one spoke against him. Still, the school board has stood firm.

Most recently, at an “emergency” school board meeting, on Wednesday, July 31st, the school board again met at 7:30am. There was barely a 12 hr. notice that this meeting was going to be held. Again there were 70 plus supporters. This time, they were again limited to 15 mins. of comment, and again, the only people who spoke were speaking in support of O’Brien.

Over the course of those three board meetings, and one school meeting, not one person spoke against him. Curiously, a former school board member, the Mayor of Alhambra, the Head Track Coach at Cerritos College,

numerous alumni and parents have all spoken publicly on his behalf. Not one person at these meeting spoke up in favor of O’Brien’s firing.

Additionally, Coach O’Brien’s house was burglarized a few weeks ago, after his firing and after the buildup of the public outcry. Personal papers and some of his wife’s jewelry was stolen despite the fact that cash, an iPad and other valuables were out in the open. O’Brien and his family have lived at their present residence for over 20 years with no incidents. Also, it should be noted that the time of the burglary occurred when O’Brien was at a meeting at Arcadia with members of the school Administration.

Finally, one of OBrien’s supporters, an Arcadia parent who has seen his kids graduate from Arcadia High, and who’s own daughter is currently on the Girl’s Cross Country team, was approached by the Arcadia Police Department. He had sent the School Board an email complaining about their actions.

The lead investigator, a detective who apparently has won plaudits from the school board, came to this man’s house, intimidated his family, and informed him that he would be losing his job. This was all done under the auspices of attempting to ask questions about the email.

Finally, this latest move by the school board members who are now under a possible recall. They released their “open letter to the public”, and promptly lied in the process about the whole O’Brien incident.

To those of you who commented above and stated that you don’t know the facts, I hope this helps."

***Finally, this latest move by the school board members who are now under a possible recall. They released their “open letter to the public”, and promptly lied in the process about the whole O’Brien incident.***

NSS

Now can someone post this mysterious "open letter" that seems anything but open since it has only been referenced and not posted or linked here or in the other more lengthy thread?

The OBrien camp should publish a letter (in a newspaper) signed by the legions supporting him requesting the board resign. Put the recall onus on them..."Resign or be recalled".

Then, the "300K" (a preposterous number), is on them, so to speak.

Maybe they have done this already.

When is Arcadia's first official school practice? Any updates on if any runner is boycotting the season? Is it official that O'Brien can't be an assistant coach? Can he watch the meets?

O'Brien had all the Boys and some Girls in Mammoth, CA for a 10-day training session, 160 miles in ten days. They will all be running for O'Brien unofficially at AHS.

CTIX wrote:

O'Brien had all the Boys and some Girls in Mammoth, CA for a 10-day training session, 160 miles in ten days. They will all be running for O'Brien unofficially at AHS.

don't believe everything you see or hear.

Believe it and see it.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW2-w1MKViA

CTIX wrote:

Believe it and see it.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW2-w1MKViA

Just watched that video and wow I have two questions:

1. Is Arcadia a wealthy community? Each time I saw them they were wearing a different custom made expensive Arcadia shirt. Are the parents loaded or is their a "booster club" who pays for all of that?

2. Anybody been to the Nike Outpost or run in Mammoth in general? Mammoth looks really nice and the Nike Outpost looks INCREDIBLE!!!! Only thing though, it would totally suck to be ranked in the nation and twist an ankle on one of those scary looking rocks/boulders while running the trails!

"... "expensive" ... didn't look like that to me.

#2 wasn't really a question

Nike Outpost wrote:

1. Is Arcadia a wealthy community?

Very.

CTIX wrote:

O'Brien had all the Boys and some Girls in Mammoth, CA for a 10-day training session, 160 miles in ten days. They will all be running for O'Brien unofficially at AHS.

So that's what, 112 MPW at altitude for high school kids? Oh boy, I can just imagine the burnout and injuries that will come from this.

inwoba wrote:

So that's what, 112 MPW at altitude for high school kids? Oh boy, I can just imagine the burnout and injuries that will come from this.

don't believe everything you see or hear.

no one wrote:

"... "expensive" ... didn't look like that to me.

#2 wasn't really a question

Expensive is a relative term Mr. Moneybags but in general when you buy multiple customer shirts for everyone it can add up quickly.

And acually "has anyone been to Nike outpost or mammoth?" IS a question.