Let’s talk Matt Esche from UAB

I dont like that I am posting on this website. I think the stigmas are true about letsrun being a place that tears down the sport and otherwise on a weekly basis seeks out a new piece of meat to rip apart in the limelight. This week's episode is: Matt Esche. That said, I am here to set the record straight. S.M. is a nice person but her claims are distorted and far from the reality. She has retroactively made herself into a victim in this incident. If this were the court of law and she were cross examined by the legal counsels she may not meet the minimum requirements to be considered a credible witness because there are subtle mental problems that would only be exposed through the lenses of a professional. She is not "all bad" but maybe still developing mentally. Whereas Matt Esche is just another former sub-sub elite trying to live out his dream who is far from perfect too. Unfortunately people in my generation turn to social media to garner support any time they face adversity and then people with otherwise mundane lives jump aboard to support them. Then these situations become reversed while the alleged victim sabotages the alleged perpetrator's reputation before a resolution has been sought out in the proper venue. Of the 10000 signatures on the petition, I estimate less than 100 actually knew who Matt Esche is/was. The rest of the signatures are from the mundane branch of this story, be it parents, former friends of the athletes petitioning, non runner friends and students at the university. This is another classic case of a young woman crowd sourcing petition signatures. People want to listen to these gossip sections because the same narrative has been overplayed in the media again and again. Mean Male Coach vs Innocent Victim Female Athlete But the real narrative in this story is: Average Male College Coach vs Self Victimized Athlete going through post competition woes, having sudden regrets and acting impulsively like a juvenile. Or maybe S.M. has more extreme mental health issues and is suffering of BPD or bipolar disorder making her actions a defamatory and vindictive smear campaign. Again, none of these things should dismiss who these people are and should mold a cast that they are only human and capable of mistakes. But I just dont see why the coach has to be canned because a young female complains. It isnt like he woke up one day and singled her out. In good faith, the coach wasnt trying to hurt anyone's feelings. He was just trying to cultivate a competitive program.

False claims of racism. He complained about a team being composed of all Kenyans, and their age gap. Last I checked, it is the national collegiate athletic association, not international. You clearly have no idea of the depths of what you are venturing in to when you mess with a person's livelihood and career just because you are frustrated with how your career is playing out.

This is very dark what these girls have done, and very few adults in this sport actually believe the "racist" claim. The "body shame" portion is something that is thrown around all of the time, and it feels like it has become flavor of the week in regards to which coach will be accused next.

Terrible career choice...people will do whatever it takes to tear someone down if they don't like someone.

There is a saying my colleagues have developed when asking each other how "things are going" in regards to our women's teams. If the answer is "we suck but my admin is happy with the job I'm doing so I stopped trying to be good," what comes out of our mouths/the spoken answer is "fat and happy." In regards to our women's team being big & slow, but they're happy enough so I'm not getting fired today. And yes, this is just as common coming from female coaches as it is male coaches. This poor schlub probably just didn't realize his job wasn't to be competitive...and didn't figure out how to play the game soon enough if he wanted to remain in the profession.

My daughter is a current runner at uab under coach Esche. She has never been mentally abused or body shamed by her coach. She has never heard him do this to anyone or be racist. He has always been professional and never inappropriate. One girl who posted on social media against him was kicked off the team this fall because she failed to put the team first with Covid and kept missing practices. She started three girls quit this year. This is untrue. Two girls were kicked off and one transferred to be closer to home. The information posted was highly inaccurate. In my eyes and those of Esche’s current xc team this was definitely a witch hunt by girls who didn’t get their way. These girls told my daughter if the xc girls didn’t side with them then she was a racist. UAB forced him to resign because these girls stated they would not stop until he was gone. No one from the school asked to speak to any of his current runners to see if this was happening to them, which it was not.

It wasn’t merely one “self victimized athlete acting impulsively like a juvenile or maybe suffering of BPD or bipolar disorder”.

It was several former athletes with reports of repeated unacceptable behavior.

Bradley smear campaign - you are a current college student? That is incredible. Your ability to dissect this situation is impressive. You will be successful at something. I wish you well.

uab guest - it is sad that your daughter's coach was fired. These are the sick times we are living in.

I hope these young people grow up some day and understand what they have done. The people that cancel will one day be the cancelled. It is only a matter of time. They love drama too much.

As someone who was coached by Esche at Bradley and first hand witnessed the serious harm he caused me and my own teammates. Many who medically DQd, has serious eating disorders and depression - It’s embarrassing to read such disgusting comments on this post.

You can be a great coach without being an abuser. Bradley thrived after Esche left - girls who had lots of injuries and issues all of the sudden were getting prs and making the conference team.

This is why athletes don’t come forward because of disgusting people like you all who chose the ideology that “if it didn’t happen to me - it didn’t happen at all”

JFC look at Mary Cain’s story - her story is the story of many women and is the same for many at these two universities.

I am sure it was terrible.

I see what you did calling women, "girls".

This conforms with what I know about Esche and his program. It says quite a bit about him that if a woman had an interest and was willing to work Esche would give her a chance. Also, I don't think he ever cut someone for lack of performance. I think Esche is like a lot of runners and can be a bit socially awkward at times but he really seems to care. Any program would be lucky to have him.

Ok. Let’s be real. Bradley smear campaign is Esche or one of his buddies in his podcast world, doing damage control while he already positions himself for his next job.

https://twitter.com/coachesche?s=21

Bradley Smear Campaign wrote:

I dont like that I am posting on this website.

Whatever, you're as big a part of the problem as anyone. You post anonymously, too, so nobody should believe you over anyone else who won't put his real name behind his claims.

How do you take accountability for the words someone else says? He should take accountability for his actions.

Also, check results. His coaching style hasn’t produced many (if any at all) good athletes.

Also worth mentioning an internal HR investigation was launched on Esche at UAB when women started coming forward. Coincidentally he resigned before HR could really take any action.

The problem? It's possible this won't show up at all on his record while he's applying for jobs - so another university could easily, blindly hire him not knowing how awful he is. And so far no media coverage and UAB has been very hush hush - pretending like nothing happened.

Anon2249 wrote:

Also worth mentioning an internal HR investigation was launched on Esche at UAB when women started coming forward. Coincidentally he resigned before HR could really take any action.

The problem? It's possible this won't show up at all on his record while he's applying for jobs - so another university could easily, blindly hire him not knowing how awful he is. And so far no media coverage and UAB has been very hush hush - pretending like nothing happened.

There we go again!

Categorically false. Esche left because his heart was never with UAB, was only going to be a stepping and once the African American girl ran wild with the race card it really wouldnt matter if it was proven otherwise or not. Many people already believed it so why fight for something he perhaps didnt want back anyway? Why fight for an already toxic environment? He made the right decision to step away.

I'll tell you what, trolls. Think whatever you may but from what I have gathered Matt Esche was a very disciplined athlete and would let his athlete's legs do the talking before anything else in the decision making process. Maybe his belief was ice cream wasnt warranted in season because he grew up believing the same and didnt drink soda and stuff. Many people from that age are like that. Esche would also then announce a line up for the conference meet based on whomever earned it most even if it came down to a tough decision for final spots.

Trying to frame this as anything else (i.e. racism) is just plain dark. Both Bradley and UAB lost a good coach who knows how to compete and lives and breathes running.

S.M. and the UAB clan ought to be ashamed of themselves and take some responsibility for the outcomes themselves. Esche certainly isnt into coaching for the money as his same age peers with similar degrees have outpaced him 2x to 3x. So what else is there? Matt Esche coaches because he loves to run and will ALWAYS love the sport of distance running.

So...this begs the question...why was he at such a dumpster fire of a school making peanuts 15 years into his career?

Exactly, and his weight shaming and whatever else weren't turning these programs into even local powerhouses. He at the very least was failing to connect at all with athletes he had recruited.

I would never say the guy is a good coach. I would, however, question many if not all of these accusations. The race one is perhaps the biggest joke. Just a little hint - Kenya is not a race. And yes, African runners are very much known to fabricate age in competitions. That has nothing to do with their race. It just is what it is. I would likely do the same if it allowed me a college education and potentially a better future.