Former California Southern Section Coach who faced Doug's teams for many years.
There takes a certain level of commitment and drive to have a program challenging for California and National Championships on a yearly basis. It will cause some injuries to kids. It will run some kids, and families, off. It will cause some hurt feelings and have some parents not agree.
Great Oak consistently has one of the largest XC teams in the state, probably in the country. They get their share of transfers because of the reputation of the program . They also lose kids because of the commitment required. Some kids and families are not ready for, or willing to meet, the requirements of the top level of the GO program. It is very difficult to run a top level program in any sport and many parents think that they know better than the coach. There are many parents who disagree with the methods of the team because of the level of commitment, the mileage, the year-long dedication, etc. Great Oak is not immune to this level of parental disenchantment.
I am not a GO insider but I have known Doug for many year, coaching against him at a reasonably high level and, yes, he has a huge ego and can be abrasive but he always tried to put forth the best team. He spent a lot of time learning principles of training runners and working to perfect his training plans. Not every kid is cut out, or wants to make the level of commitment necessary to handle the top group. But, those that could and did, saw remarkable success!
Is it possible that Doug can be an a-hole and is a very controlling coach who demands total commitment and dedication to remain in the varsity mix? Absolutely., probably likely. However, this does not make him a racist or specifically display discriminatory behavior. I never had a personal problem with him and never witnessed any of this behavior.
Is it possible that the accusations are accurate and that Doug was a different person in the presence of his team? Yes, but I find it much more likely that there are disgruntled parents who live in the club sports world and feel like the GO program was somehow doing them wrong because of whatever reason.
KC