James Li announcing retirement from Arizona

what happened with the women’s team?

This sudden retirement sounds kinda dicey.

Hopefully he wasn't the fall guy after this, & this wasn't a case of "you're retiring or your fired". I'm amazed that Hanna Peterson is still there.

https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/twelve-former-ua-athletes-support-claims-of-abusive-neglectful-practices-in-track-program/article_9ed3915a-8dfd-5947-871b-13b25deb23db.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Arizona_Daily_Star&fbclid=IwAR0NVu9G3YI2Tl1dsuLIEL4K6WTYnA_LCG78f3U4vRMbiC3kDlKyHu71U0U

Obvious fall guy. He’s only been named in one lawsuit. Where’s the announcement of Harvey’s retirement? Harvey racks up lawyer fees like no one’s business and is always getting in trouble with the kids.

The piece from the Tucson newspaper... https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/ua-cross-country-coach-james-li-retiring-after-18-years/article_2863070a-2934-11eb-98d1-b7dcd460d562.html

Never loved the hire and he has not done much other they recruit some awesome foreign talent. When I ran, Murray also recruited foreign talent but he paired it with domestic talent at least on the men's side.

This will only make a difference if Fred Harvey is also retired.

Weird is that Fred Harvey holds a big halloween bash and invites the kids on the team.

The way the women's team is treated like a mix of 90's Oregon women the whole stay unhealthy and super thin and the regular party weekend party scene at arizona, which is totally against the athletics scene in Tucson.

Good Luck on the next hire.

Bear Down

Friend of Murray wrote:

Never loved the hire and he has not done much other they recruit some awesome foreign talent. When I ran, Murray also recruited foreign talent but he paired it with domestic talent at least on the men's side.

This will only make a difference if Fred Harvey is also retired.

Weird is that Fred Harvey holds a big halloween bash and invites the kids on the team.

The way the women's team is treated like a mix of 90's Oregon women the whole stay unhealthy and super thin and the regular party weekend party scene at arizona, which is totally against the athletics scene in Tucson.

Good Luck on the next hire.

Bear Down

This. Li is certainly fine at coaching Kenyans to run well in the NCAA, yet little beyond that. When there are multiple lawsuits brought by athletes under your watch then you're absolutely a part of the problem. Hopefully the program benefits from finding someone who won't let the current toxic culture run amok any longer.

The house cleaning has started in Tucson.

Little beyond that? He's been Lagat's coach since college. 3:26. That's all.

uhhhh you forgetting someone? wrote:

Smoke weed, talk sh!t like Lane Kiffin wrote:

This. Li is certainly fine at coaching Kenyans to run well in the NCAA, yet little beyond that. When there are multiple lawsuits brought by athletes under your watch then you're absolutely a part of the problem. Hopefully the program benefits from finding someone who won't let the current toxic culture run amok any longer.

Little beyond that? He's been Lagat's coach since college. 3:26. That's all.

I don’t want to put words in the poster’s mouth, but I read it as little beyond coaching Kenyans.

What does this mean for Lagat?

A lot of sh!tting on the coach of the greatest US distance runner ever in this thread.

Absolutely nothing. Kip will remain loyal to Li as long as he wishes to compete at a high level.

I could see James coaching a pro group in Tucson. I could see Nike funding his group because of Lagat. I can also see Li working with the middle distance & distance runners in China and/or their personal coaches because of the Chinese federation’s Nike ties (over the last two seasons, there were a group of Chinese training in Eugene with Mark Rowland at OTC).

James Li is retiring from coaching both college and professional. Harvey is staying. Hannah Peterson is leaving.

Very arguable.... program hasn't gone anywhere good in years, assaults, law suits, disgruntled and abused athletes. Yes, the coaches should have been managing this program and obviously, they did not. Quite the opposite. Its a mess, Lagat or no Lagat.

U of A XC is very bad. The women's team is at least not embarrassing. They had a good team 7 or 8 years ago. The men's team though. They're terrible. Most years not quite as terrible as their rival up north. But still terrible.

Granted, outside of Flagstaff, AZ is not a running state. Its rare for a HS team or individual athlete to get top 10 at NXRSW. There isn't much to work with from local talent. The occasional Dasbach or Dani Jones that comes along either goes to NAU or gets poached out of the state.

But just about anyone could coach U of A to better results. When I see some of the stuff their athletes do on Strava I am so confused.

uhhhh you forgetting someone? wrote:

Smoke weed, talk sh!t like Lane Kiffin wrote:

This. Li is certainly fine at coaching Kenyans to run well in the NCAA, yet little beyond that. When there are multiple lawsuits brought by athletes under your watch then you're absolutely a part of the problem. Hopefully the program benefits from finding someone who won't let the current toxic culture run amok any longer.

Little beyond that? He's been Lagat's coach since college. 3:26. That's all.

What does that mean? and how does that translate to being able to coach young athletes? The UA distance program has been a huge disappointment as a whole since Coach Li was hired. Look at the team's conference and NCAA finishes since his hiring. A few shining stars here and there who were mostly Kenyan but nothing consistent and most notably very little team-wise. So he brings in a few Kenyans who ran fast but he never was able to build a quality team. Why is that? If you have Bernard Lagat in your back pocket and can't recruit nationally-ranked prep runners there's something wrong. Coaching Kenyans who are already gifted with natural talent as was Lagat, Sambu, Kibet, and Lawi Lalang doesn't equate to being able to recruit and build a solid and consistently good distance program. For reference, look at Dave Murray's distance runners from the 1980s until 1999 when he retired. He had some really great teams and individuals who went on to great running careers, and 99.9% of them were homegrown.

"Go Run One"

positive A sample wrote:

uhhhh you forgetting someone? wrote:

Little beyond that? He's been Lagat's coach since college. 3:26. That's all.

I don’t want to put words in the poster’s mouth, but I read it as little beyond coaching Kenyans.

That's exactly it, the implication should have been crystal f*cking clear just like your username as it relates to "the best American distance runner ever." Outside of "coaching up" East African genetic freaks, he was pretty much asleep at the wheel in Tucson.

Yea it doesn't really make sense how the U of A teams were never that good but Li coached Lagat, Abdi, Lalang, Sambu etc. to some great success. Maybe he was coasting at his U of A job and keeping it for the cash while truly focusing on the pro group.

Also I've ran in Tucson for a stint and yes it's hot but it can still be a good training location; decent altitude. You just need to train early in the morning or at night if it's in the summer.