Trouble in Syracuse?

Brody Smith should really help. 233rd place finisher might actually help their score which is hysterical.

Syracuse alum here under Fox and Bell. I love Syracuse and Fox but merely tolerated Bell while I was there. He was never the kind of guy who made me want to run my hardest, but the opposite. He's just an a hole and now there's no one to hide behind for his own inadequacies.

Fox is a competent coach and a nice guy. Bell is neither. It doesn't surprise me in the least that the program has gone south very quickly with him in charge.

Sounds about right. Funny how a coach can affect a program like that.

It is sad to see. As a fan, I always admired them for building that program up from nothing into a nationals championship team. It would be cool to see another team maybe do that. Notre Dame looks poised to take a shot at it although I think they just had a really good day on Monday. Maybe some alumi should get to together and oust Bell. This season was unforgiving. It seems like that team is just dead inside. They need a culture change.

Bring on the downvotes, but does coaching really make a huge difference on an XC team?

The kids come from HS and join a team. And they have a certain talent and ability. Coaching at each school is pretty much the same whether people want to admit that or not....Sure, some coach may help you avoid injuries, or other specifics like that, but in general the coach doesn't do a whole lot. This isn't football.

XC_Rankings wrote:

It is sad to see. As a fan, I always admired them for building that program up from nothing into a nationals championship team. It would be cool to see another team maybe do that. Notre Dame looks poised to take a shot at it although I think they just had a really good day on Monday. Maybe some alumi should get to together and oust Bell. This season was unforgiving. It seems like that team is just dead inside. They need a culture change.

I don't think you can say that Notre Dame was built up from nothing. They've always gotten some of the best recruiting classes in the nation. They are nowhere close to an underdog.

You’re right. I guess I was speaking to their progression over the last 5 years or so is pretty impressive.

The coaching aspect has a huge impact on the team. If not training just mental coaching is huge. A coach need their athletes to buy in 100% into what they’re preaching. If not the whole program crumbles.

The whole program has been subsiding since Ben Torvik and Matt Cady graduated. Forget Fox and bell, they were the real masterminds behind the 2015 championship.

Everything Syracuse has accomplished can be directly linked to their leadership and influence. The true unsung heros of Syracuse cross country