FM XC Coach Bill Aris 'steps away'

There is truth to this statement! And despite that, Bill Aris has always coached in both a holistic and healthy way per the accounting of hundreds of runners, parents, current and former.

There will always be a handful of people who don’t like the system and will blame the coach for everything that goes wrong. Over such a lengthy coaching history, the sample will be larger. Because of math. Some will even believe they have found their moment in time to band together, to game the system, to get their way.

The question really becomes, are all coaches across all sports held to the exact same standards as Coach Aris is being held to, at FM. Likewise, are all parents and athletes across all sports also held to the same standards, and are they all given the platform to crucify a legendary coach just because they have a megaphone and a juicy enough sounding story? If the answer is no to either, it is discrimination.

I bet if you were to take a sample of every sport, there would be multiple instances of players competing injured, both known and unknown by the coaching staff, parents and athletic department. Yet it’s accepted as an assumed risk when joining the team. Do we think that lacrosse and football don’t have this come up?

The community is watching and is very interested to learn how this all plays out.

Are you saying it’s ok for coaches to run athletes when injured because other sports do it???? so sad. I like to think that my sport is better and maybe other sports will eventually get it.

The people are also questioning who the beneficiaries are in the attempted takedown of Coach Aris. The smokescreen answer they will proclaim - “Oh it is the poor, abused athletes, clearly!”.

But so many people are coming forward to say the exact opposite is true, which is very interesting. The people are watching.

No. Your sport is not better. And no, I’m not saying that. Because I didn’t say that.

What I am saying is that the decision to play, run, compete while injured does get made. And it is usually not the coach who makes that decision!

I don't have an opinion on Coach Aris since I don't know his program or training methods. In general it's the coaches job to figure out the best training plan for each kid, as well as for the team as a whole. It's not easy, and not every kid is capable of high volume program or wants to make that time commitment. Also two kids on the same team can have wildly different experiences just because they are individuals and have limited life experience. Coaches get credit for success and also blame when kids have a bad experience or get injured. It's not possible to control for every variable and expectations are ridiculous.

I never knew Bill Aris. I was coaching my daughter in HS en route to all American. Called him up one day for advice and he spent 30 min on the phone with me just because. At the time he was at the height of his "fame". One of the nicest gestures ever. I experienced a giving person.

"he wasn't over trained he just ran a lot" is a very funny thing to say. "In the 1970s everyone was running 100mpw" have you...considered that we've smartened up since then and realized it leads to burnout/injury and stopped doing that?

I'm not a fan of the word abuse. But things don't have to be abusive in order to be problematic.

It sounds like he was capable of being a nice guy, hence, not a monster, but also trained his kids too hard so they often sputtered out in college leaving with injuries and potential eating disorders etc. That's not a thing that should be celebrated.

When Aris was in his heyday, it was hard to find fault with him. But there's a reason why other coaches didn't adopt his same playbook. it's actually easy to manipulate kids into pleasing you. Aris even deployed the "sacrificial lamb" strategy in races, asking one kid to blow their race at an important meet. The poor kid willingly blew up their state meet race. Do you ever wonder why coaches like Diljeet Taylor, Laurie Henes or Mike Smith never did this? It was effective after all...

Bill Aris got results yes but he did not coach the New York Yankees. He coached a high school team in suburban Syracuse. Why was he fussing over the girls wearing hats at NXN so they didn't lose body heat, when all the other teenagers could wear what they wanted? Why did he employ manipulation tactics to control their eating habits and going out habits? Good high school coaches give their kids a chance to breathe and be themselves. this just wasn't the program at the end of the day, results or no results.

Time for some truth.

First, I know the former boys, now men, who supposedly ran 100miles per week in high school. And they did…Once. They collectively had a goal of running 1000 miles over the 12 week summer leading into cross country. That is 83 miles per week, on average (because of math). The final week of the summer, they approached 100 miles (again, once). They were upperclassmen, physically matured, and were aligned in their mission. They typically averaged 65-80 miles per week throughout the remainder of their seasons, which is pretty standard for elite level high school runners (both 20 years ago, and now).

Since that time, Bill Aris’s training methods have evolved with the times as has been clearly indicated by some posts within this thread from parents in his program now. So he seems to have learned that the older way of doing it isn't as accepted as it once was. Commendable, intelligent, adaptive.

Unfortunately, the recent results prove that, because 40-55 miles per week as parents are reporting won’t even win you a sectional championship these days. At some point, parents might even decide that winning a sectional, state, regional, or national championship is desirable. And when they do, they, too, must accept the risk of injury that comes with training for such lofty endeavors.

Regarding your sacrificial lamb story (whom I also know and who remains family friends with Coach Aris to this day!!) - that absolutely happened! What is missing from your context is a lot. This runner expressed interest in improving on hills during races and had been working toward that goal in her training prior to the Federation Championship at Bowdoin Park (where NXR - NY/NE is still held today). With her improved hill strength leading into the meet, Coach Aris tasked her with being the so called “sacrificial lamb”, inspiring her to lead her team to the top of the hill, mid race. What a confidence boost this was for her. The best part, untold in your version, is that she continued on with her excellent starting position, and carried it through to the finish! She finished in her highest team placement of the season through that point. So his strategy not only benefitted the team, but also the individual. It worked. That is just one example of the magic of Coach Bill Aris. A negative story, turned 180 degrees to positive. With the simple, good, old fashioned truth.

Last point. For a coach to be viewed as overstepping, or what have you, for encouraging his top nationally ranked team to wear hats to preserve health and wellness in the days prior to the national championship, in a climate 3000 miles away from home, is laughable.

If these truths hurt your feelings, that is unfortunate. But it doesn't change the fact that they are true.

Yep. Times were definitely slow at the league championship. One might expect this when their coach is taken from them for three weeks heading into championship season.

What standards is he being held to? He has been there for decades. As far as other coaches at FM, a soccer coach and basketball coach were both recently dismissed, as well as the football coach a few years ago. Are you saying Aris is being held to a tougher standard, and if so, how?

Also, if his son is running this youth program and it’s producing amazing runners for the varsity team, why isn’t he coaching for the school anymore? Why doesn’t he fill in now?

This is complete BS and libel! I hope all the lies and untrue remarks here get pegged for a personal injury lawsuit. This thread is being saved for discovery.

I’m not up on the latest drama from parents who are mad their kid didn’t have the talent to break 20:00 but Aris had one of the most most dominant stretches in American sports history. Props for that

Did it ever come out why Aris was suspended?

If my son’s HS coach was suspended, I would want to know what it was for.

A school wouldn’t just take that step if it wasn’t warranted?

All it takes is one disgruntled parent who thinks her kid is some kind of elite runner and doesn’t get her way. Enough said. See my comment above

In reading this thread, it seems like he has had his share of detractors over the years. Why one parent all of a sudden? Especially if the complaint is so egregious and obviously untrue?

One parent’s complaint would not get a coach suspended. I doubt that. There would need to be multiple complaints and an investigation.
Sounds like there is something going on here.