2022 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion

Note to self... laughing at more than one ridiculous post will result in post being deleted. Only one lolz allowed per day.

Who is Sean? Cameron?

Burrell did good at Houston, but I'm not surprised he's leaving for the SEC which is a great track conference, plus $$$.

Yes that is exactly why he left.

Quote from Leroy Burrell.

I am forever grateful to Chris Pezman, DeJuena Chizer, Lauren Dubois and the department staff, the Track and Field staff, especially Will Blackburn and Carl Lewis and Mike Pede, who literally held me up me when I couldn't stand. It was difficult for me to return, but with time and everyone's support, I was able to function well enough to return in a limited role. In reality, I returned, but I have not quite been the same leader that I was. My only goal was to support the student-athletes because they really became all that mattered. All the while I prayed to either return to being myself or for a door to open to allow me to do something else. The opportunity at Auburn is exactly the door I'd prayed for because it provides me an opportunity to wipe my slate clean and jumpstart my career without the daily reminder of losing my son.

Yeah, I'm sure he means Cameron. Sean Burrell is (or was) an LSU athlete who is not related to Leroy. I once got them mixed up too. Their college careers overlapped.

Somebody say a prayer for Althea, Curtis & Tim Langford. These hires are making the SEC a war zone.

We need to pray for Coach Halter at Mizzou. Mens XC team was 3rd last season can they do it again? How about the track team?

"Through the 28 plus years at ORU this wonderful woman has stood by my side in all the highs and lows!! Now that I am no longer Employed by ORU, I can speak my peace and tell everyone what has happened over the last year.
Two weeks before conference Championships around may 3rd in 2021 all my administrators brought me into a meeting and told me ORU had lost 8.2 million and there needed to be major cuts in athletics the following year. It would not been the 1st time there has been major financial issues at ORU so I wasn’t completely shocked. Mike Carter the AD and the New AD now, Tim Johnson, said they needed to go to the bathroom, so they did. When they got back, they asked, “Did you tell him, did you tell him?”They were asking Scott Williams, who was my direct boss. Scott says, “We’re getting to that.” (Scott Williams has been good to me over the years) They pulled the roster out and told me to go down the list and start cutting kids. I had to cut down to 15.5 scholarships men and women together and could split it up anyway I wanted. This was not an easy spot to be in especially with no time to process it. After going through the list, Tim Johnson says, “That’s not enough, more need to be cut.” I’m starting to have a little trouble holding it together at this point. Mike Carter speaks up and says, “We have been successful in sprints and jumps in the history of Oru, so Joe.. cut all the distance runners and try to put a team together and enjoy your time coaching till you’re done!” Everyone agreed and that was it.
I had another meeting with my boss m, Scott, about each kid being cut. I started crying because one of the kids, I coached her mother at ORU as well. I don’t know how they got the money but they ended up keeping 3 kids on the list that were seniors and thank God I did not have to cut those 3. I had to write a letter to the NCAA and explain what happened and why we cut the Distance program at Oru. This made it where one of the kids that got cut could take a scholarship at another school. If not, he would have to go home and not be able to run anymore- even though he was my best 800 distance runner. After this, ORU had a huge meeting with all faculty and staff. The President of the University announced that for multiple years in a row, ORU had made money and was in great shape! Me and Shawna said to each other, “Well, someone’s lying!!!”
Weeks after that, I went into Tim Johnson’s office as he is the new AD now and calling the shots. I kid you not, he (Tim) says, “I have been thinking about it and I want to go all distance runners now.” I said, “You just had me to kick off all the distance runner’s!!” What kind of irresponsible person am I dealing with here? I kid you not- these are his exact words.. “You are not scoring very many points in track anyway, 58- 85 points, and your not even trying in distance running.”Wait, it gets even worse! This man says, “Just get 5th place in the distance events and you will score more than that!” Now hang on just a second.. I’m the one that was in some special ed classes in high school and made an 11 on my ACT and had a 5th grade reading level in the 12th grade!! How can someone be athletic director at a D1 school and know nothing about track? I have done track my entire life. I even served on the NCAA coaches executive committee for seven years. I said, “WHAT?!?” We have 4 distance events indoors at our conference meet.. the 800, mile, 3,000 and the 5,000. Fifth place would get you 16 points! Even if you add the distance medley, you would be at 20 points. When I left his office I was so mad wondering what the heck was going on.
I called and talked with my best friends in track and field, Division I coaches, and their just shocked, saying, “Wow, just Wow”!! After a few weeks, Tim Johnson calls and wants to go out to eat and talk. So the new deal was going to be, hire a new distance coach and add some distance kids and he would backfill scholarships with sprinters- because remember now the university is in the best financial shape it’s has ever been the history of the school. Also he said in the last 4 months he has raised 30 million dollars because of the basketball team going to the Sweet 16!! I hired a new distance coach and he is a wonderful person and great coach. But, when he could not come for the amount that typically was paid for that position, the AD ask me to pay for the 8k extra out of my fundraising account. Hindsight, obviously I should have been on to all his lying by this point but I wasn’t!! I was questioning it to myself - if you just raised $30 million but yet you don’t have eight more thousand to pay for a great coach, It’s not adding up. Week after week are going by. Things were going great for team and staff. Me and my new coach were supposed to meet with Tim, but he kept pushing the meeting off week after week after week . Every time I talk with him he’s like, “Yeah we’re going to get those scholarships back.” So, we signed some of the best distance girls in the state! It was time to start offering out more scholarships than I was going to have for the following year.
So each week that was going by we were losing out on kids because I’m not able to offer them.. waiting and waiting on the new A.D. to have the conversation with the President to get the OK since we were in the best financial shape in the history of the University!! The whole time I am believing that we are going to get them back. Late January, one of the financial administrators is starting to tell Shawna that we’re going to have to cut back even more of the following year. They said that if we want to have a schedule more than the minimum track meets NCAA allows you have that we would have to raise the money ourselves. Ok, it hits me now that he has been lying and playing me the whole time!!!
I did a lot of soul-searching late January early February. I didn’t think I would ever leave ORU, but I knew my time was done. I asked Shawna if it was ok with her if I quit/walk way? She said that she is with me in whatever we do!! (What a wonderful and faithful wife she is !!) I have never been about money and I am so thankful for God saving my soul. I entered into this world with nothing and I will leave this world with nothing. I have so much love for these kids that I have coached, not just at ORU but at NEO and OU and Union High school. I am humbled for being able to have had the opportunity !!

Posting the rest of the quote:
"Finally , there was a meeting with me, Tim Johnson , Scott Williams, my asst coach and me. I said, “I can save everyone here a lot of time.” I said, “The Bible says in Psalms 90:10 that a man’s life is 70 years by strength 80. Skip on down to verse 12 and it says - teach us to number our days and I have been numbering mine. One thing I know is I don’t want to be associated with people like you!” Tim says, “Are you talking about the university or the athletic department?”I said, “The athletic department!!” I told him that my kids (track kids) are not a percentage point or a number. They are human beings and I’m begging y’all to treat them right!! (I’m crying hard at this time.) This was a very hard time in my life that day!! I told them that I would coach till the end of the year where they could find away to fund the program.
I had my team meeting that afternoon and the whole lot of the administration was there as well as sports information. Before I had even finished with the team meeting I started getting texts about ‘Congratulations on your retirement’!!! Of course Oru wanted to get out in front of it and put out a false narrative!! I still get texts and questions every day about my retirement!!! I’m going to leave y’all with this, I have studied the Bible most of my life and I know that the truth always comes out. I found out last week that Tim Johnson told a great friend of mine that when he took the job at ORU he had 2 problems to get rid of and he has taken care of both of them now!!! I don’t want to say her name cause she was another head coach at ORU and forced out and of course me/Joe Dial.
So everything makes so much sense to me now that it actually didn’t matter what I did or said or how my kids did or didn’t do, he was going to find a way to get rid of me!! He couldn’t fire me cause I don’t cheat to get a kid or don’t cheat to keep a kid! There are only 3 National Champions in ORU History of the Sports programs and I coached all three. Only way to get rid of me is to piss me off and cut my program so much it’s impossible to make it work!! Well, I at least give it to him.. he did a good job at that!! That’s why every time I talk to him he kept changing the story on me. I don’t even know who all was involved. But I do know one thing.. I have showed kids around campus on recruiting visits and went to the prayer tower more times than I can count. Inside there Billy Graham is talking on a video the day Oru was founded and said that this institution (ORU) is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and the day that it turns from that let it be a curse!!!
All those that are involved in this year long lie, I pray that you hit your knees and repent!! When the administration talked with every kid on the track team one of my best athletes on the team asked if their scholarship would be good next year? The answer was that they didn’t know and that it’s all up to the next coach!! What? Mart Green (Trustee Emeritus of ORU, owner of Hobby lobby and Mardell’s) do not let them steal these kids scholarships!! After the kids were not guaranteed their scholarships, the majority of the scholarship kids on the team got scared and went on the NCAA portal. Most got great deals at other university’s but there are those that only have a year left and are great athletes at ORU. Tim Johnson and others used every kid on the team as a pawn!! So wrong so wrong!! I promise you one thing if Tim would have grown up in my hometown he would not have turned out like that cause someone would have taken him out behind the woodshed and stopped that crap!!
I’m so thankful that I finally know the truth. I’m ready to move on to another chapter in my wonderful life that God has giving to me!"

The above 2 posts are relating to Joe Dial being forced out at ORU & the Distance Coach being offered the head job and resigning. Sounds like that AD is doing awful - though its just one side of the story, sounds like a piss poor story xD

Sorry to all of the ORU athletes.

What are the odds Kindt stays on as xc/distance coach? Young and unproven but did a great job pulling in the strongest recruiting class Auburn has seen in a long time over this past year.

What a terrible experience. I read the whole post, the whole time thinking this AD sounds like he is working out of Dan Radakovich's playbook, cutting and lying. Thinking, he must have intersected with Radakovich somewhere. From the AD's profile online... "Tim Johnson became Athletic Director on August 1, 2021, and joined the ORU staff prior to the 2015-16 school year after spending five years at Clemson University."

Who is filling out the rest of Tennessee staff?

Is mike smith really moving to Oregon? With all the world class recruits he got at NAU?

So 2 weeks later is there an update on these positions?

Hope Burell will do a better job then Spry, it shouldn't be that hard. Auburn has been held back because of their staff incompetence too long. Cleaning house is the way.

I don't think Mike Smith is going anywhere.