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.
Beth is/was/will be only a figurehead. Nothing more.
She knows that she wants to be in charge and she doesn't have the character to earn respect.
I was told some very interesting stories by a "well informed ACC head coach" (this was over drinks so who knows how much is actually true and how much is beer muscles being flexed) about some of BAS shenanigans while coaching out west. Mucho shady.
...and to anyone who thinks that I am just jumping on the bandwagon to slam her as she's been shown the door at UT, I did have the opportunity to see her in action for many years as an inside/close periphery observer.
Calling her a snake is insulting to snakes.
There are a lot of snakes in the ACC. The fact that a coach spends their time down talking other coaches is problem. Worry about your own student-athletes, university and the job you are doing. That is the problem with our sport on the collegiate level. Too many crabs in a barrel trying to get the few high paying jobs and they don't care who they damage on their way up, if they ever get there.
Hopefully Mr. White is smarter than a lot of these other AD's who are just hiring based on diversity headlines. This is very important but you see where Tennessee is at. When they hired BAS they were under title 9 investigation and this played well to hire a female coach for a men's sport. It was a publicity stunt from a troubled AD and a feminist sports administrator. I believe that DW wants to win and he will seek out the best candidate regardless of color or gender, although I am not sure how many head coaches of color UT has, but I thinks its only 1.
Who he hires will tell a lot about what he thinks about cross country/track in the SEC and at a high level. If an unqualified clown gets the spot then the program will seriously suffer.
Controversial coach Beth Alford-Sullivan has been fired from the University of Tennessee, effective immediately. This ends her reign of 8 years at the helm of both of the Track and Field, and Cross Country programs. Does anybody have any news on what happened for the Athletic Department to make this change before NCAA First Round and NCAAs?
LRC note. The first 5 or so pages of this thread are people debating whether or not she actually was still the coach or not. As is almost always the case, the LRC messsageboard was correct. She is no longer the coach at Tennessese as shown below.
Clearly something has happened for this to be done before NCAA's, and it being a "mutual" agreement to part ways sounds like UT did her a favor to avoid a potential lawsuit.
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
But the majority of those athletes you mentioned have went on to do hell if a lot better elsewhere. Britton just completed a suicide double at SEC’s and won both races. Tennessee got a TCU transfer with potential and she has yet to PR. The AD should spare no expense when seeking a coach cause they need the best to change things around even with their recruiting.
Problem is she probably made more in the last 8 years then I have in 40 years. I think I remember some crazy crap in her contract. I don't want to go back and check but it wasn't just salary, the perks were very generous. She probably didn't have to spend any of her salary.
Another alum leaving in the past. Not a fan of BAS, but man these UT alums need to get a life and stop leaving in the past. A past by the way, that is not very decorated compared to the other top programs in the SEC. Whoever UT hires, the same handful of alums will find something negative to say because it wont be GW, VA or BW.
Your comments are below the belt and ridiculous. Sounds like your describing every male coach in the industry...... if a woman is cut throat, let's gasp and grab our pearls. Was she supposed to be....a "mother figure" coach in the SEC??? Guess what.. the SEC IS CUT THROAT. Let's not forget that successful woman coaches have the same characteristics as male coaches. And yes, the Director of the program is supposed to step in and take photos with her team. Nothing to be "jealous" about; a Director gets credit for EVERYTHING their assistant coaches do. The Director sets the vision, gives the scholarships, hires the assistant coaches, and nothing is done without their approval.... so yes, those are her accomplishments as well! How quickly people forget that the Director empowers and makes ALL the accomplishments take place. She is not a a "figure head" or just a "distance coach;" she is the Director and had a nationally ranked program, top 3 SEC team, and a Bowerman winner. Only a handful of coaches in the nation have the same resume (and those coaches are living legends). If she was a male coach, she would of received endless praise and admiration. There are many male coaches who achieved way less and have endless job security. Imperfect men have been empowered to run the world since forever, but as soon as a woman makes a single “error” she is confirmed to be incompetent. Beth did a spectacular job at a bottom program. Again, there are very few coaches who have achieved her accolades.
Its pretty obvious that she must have screwed something up big time - she is the DIRECTOR of the program, and she has multiple athletes that are not only going to very likely qualify for nationals but also have a good chance at winning their events, esp. in jumps. In no world would she 'mutually' agree to step down effective immediately so soon before nationals.
Your comments are below the belt and ridiculous. Sounds like your describing every male coach in the industry...... if a woman is cut throat, let's gasp and grab our pearls. Was she supposed to be....a "mother figure" coach in the SEC??? Guess what.. the SEC IS CUT THROAT. Let's not forget that successful woman coaches have the same characteristics as male coaches. And yes, the Director of the program is supposed to step in and take photos with her team. Nothing to be "jealous" about; a Director gets credit for EVERYTHING their assistant coaches do. The Director sets the vision, gives the scholarships, hires the assistant coaches, and nothing is done without their approval.... so yes, those are her accomplishments as well! How quickly people forget that the Director empowers and makes ALL the accomplishments take place. She is not a a "figure head" or just a "distance coach;" she is the Director and had a nationally ranked program, top 3 SEC team, and a Bowerman winner. Only a handful of coaches in the nation have the same resume (and those coaches are living legends). If she was a male coach, she would of received endless praise and admiration. There are many male coaches who achieved way less and have endless job security. Imperfect men have been empowered to run the world since forever, but as soon as a woman makes a single “error” she is confirmed to be incompetent. Beth did a spectacular job at a bottom program. Again, there are very few coaches who have achieved her accolades.
Your comments are below the belt and ridiculous. Sounds like your describing every male coach in the industry...... if a woman is cut throat, let's gasp and grab our pearls. Was she supposed to be....a "mother figure" coach in the SEC??? Guess what.. the SEC IS CUT THROAT. Let's not forget that successful woman coaches have the same characteristics as male coaches. And yes, the Director of the program is supposed to step in and take photos with her team. Nothing to be "jealous" about; a Director gets credit for EVERYTHING their assistant coaches do. The Director sets the vision, gives the scholarships, hires the assistant coaches, and nothing is done without their approval.... so yes, those are her accomplishments as well! How quickly people forget that the Director empowers and makes ALL the accomplishments take place. She is not a a "figure head" or just a "distance coach;" she is the Director and had a nationally ranked program, top 3 SEC team, and a Bowerman winner. Only a handful of coaches in the nation have the same resume (and those coaches are living legends). If she was a male coach, she would of received endless praise and admiration. There are many male coaches who achieved way less and have endless job security. Imperfect men have been empowered to run the world since forever, but as soon as a woman makes a single “error” she is confirmed to be incompetent. Beth did a spectacular job at a bottom program. Again, there are very few coaches who have achieved her accolades.
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