I think the allegations are clear in the fast-women newsletter link. Racism and mental & emotional abuse.
I think the allegations are clear in the fast-women newsletter link. Racism and mental & emotional abuse.
It's rather telling and sad that we've never had reason to discuss UAB xc & track or coaches on here until this incident. Not that this site is mainly about celebrating success anywhere. Hopefully the fact that Matt Esche was allowed to resign means there is no civil suit pending and his career progression isn't irreparably harmed. From the looks of it, he wasn't arching towards leading a P5 program and was content to be called coach while puttering around at middling programs.
Why does one party get to have it's name smeared and the other we are just using initials. If S.M. is in fact Serena Martinez from Hackensack, then say it is so. What is it with the protectionism and the dropping of anonymous bombs? This is how the adults play the game.
People think that when these types of situations arise, and accusations are made, the wagons are circled in favor of the accused, the way we see it in the justice system, i.e. innocent until proven guilty, due process, the right to defend your name. As someone who has been in this situation, I can tell you NOTHING is further from the truth. You are left swinging in the wind.
You never feel more alone than when you have to deal with all the parties involved who will "investigate" the situation. All the probing, and questions, and disruption. In the end, it won't matter if you are vindicated, your name is mud, and everything you try to accomplish is poisoned. High school coaches will stop sending athletes to you, your AD or supervising assistant AD now views you as questionable, the members of the team have been shaken and now some will have doubts, and it will take immense effort to rebuild your team culture. The coaching world is small, and you become "that guy" at meets. Everyone assumes, "Well, there was smoke wasn't there?"
The best card you can play is to resign. It is an unwinnable situation. In my situation, I actually stayed and went through the "investigation" and in the end after 3 months of hell, when I was sat down in an office with the AD and the SWA and told, the investigation has concluded by 3 different departments that you did nothing wrong, I thanked them and let them know that my letter of resignation would be on their desk by the end of the day. They were shocked, and thought I should just go back to being happy to be on staff, I mean HEY, I GET TO COACH COLLEGE ATHLETES!!!
The reality was, in the small college town I was coaching in, I couldn't even go into the local running store without having people who knew me stare and whisper, or avoid eye contact, when before I was always greeted with a "Hey Coach! How is the team looking this year? Got any good recruits coming in?" It's the whole not being able to put the genie back in the bottle, or close Pandora's box . When this happens, its over, and from what I read on these boards, it's becoming more common.
Its was sad at the time, they were a great 9 years as a D-I coach, but I haven't looked back. I now make 3x what I did at my highest point, and my wife is much happier, I got to see my kids grow up and was involved waaayyy more than I would have been as a college coach, and I don't walk around with the weight that a job like that has, knowing that most of your success and livelihood depends on the away from practice decisions of 18-23 years.
End of Rant!
Thank you. To anyone thinking of going into collegiate coaching...the smartest thing you can do to prepare is to have a back up plan.
Or, maybe, truly dedicate yourself to the craft and level-up your skills. This stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum, it doesn't come out of nowhere, it usually happens when you take your eye off the ball.
expanding ed wrote:
Bradley Smear Campaign wrote:
#1 Your post contains a blatant example of what is wrong with LetsRun. You're trolling the internet trying to flog someone, humiliate them and hinder their future career path with false accusations and rumors.
This is literally what you did towards one of the athletes that came forward with allegations, in your first post on this thread. Do you not see the hypocrisy?
No, "literal" millennial moron, you burnt your avocado toast on this one.
There is no hypocrisy.
S.M. - has positive traits, has negative traits
M.E. - has positive traits, has negative traits
UAB girls - all have positive traits and have negative traits
S.M. negative traits include budding mental and emotional problems and with that needing validation in her post-athletic years. Career options for an English major from Bradley are probably very limited so that is also a contributing factor to her backlinking to her website in this forum. What other girls should learn from her is that academics are just as important as sports. If all you do is focus on running and pick a less than stellar major to get by then be prepared for the fallback in due time. Remember she had a free education at her disposal that she up and wasted.
UAB Letter from Instaham pulled the race card very aggressively and almost irresponsibly. I, for one, feel it is important for people to share feelings about racial injustice but this is a college aged person who hijacked that vehicle for personal gain. The fact this became a race issue is because she made it one. There is nothing more to this and I dont think anyone with half a brain who eyed up the situation for what it is would think any differently. Cross country is a privilege, not a right.
Meanwhile M.E. has resigned and is trying to move on like the class act he is. People here digging into his life, scrutinizing him and trying to ruin his online reputation are completely pathetic. Site owners of LetsRun are just as pathetic for letting this tabloid run wild and collect with misinformation.
My advice for you all is to go on a run tomorrow and simply let it go.
/real end of thread
Matt - I know you read this. You should sue for defamation of character. If you truly believe what is being said is wrong, you should hold all of these former athletes accountable. It’s time to teach this generation a lesson that making false accusations has consequences.
Ghost of Ryan Deak wrote:
Or, maybe, truly dedicate yourself to the craft and level-up your skills. This stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum, it doesn't come out of nowhere, it usually happens when you take your eye off the ball.
That’s nice. If the mob comes for your head coach/director and you’ve done all this perfect, your career is still likely over.
Why do you keep calling women, girls? You should stop, it is patronizing.
Wild Duck Whisperer wrote:
Ghost of Ryan Deak wrote:
Or, maybe, truly dedicate yourself to the craft and level-up your skills. This stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum, it doesn't come out of nowhere, it usually happens when you take your eye off the ball.
That’s nice. If the mob comes for your head coach/director and you’ve done all this perfect, your career is still likely over.
WTF is with you making it seem like athletes just love to get their coach fired? That is false. Athletes don't want a new coach every year. There's absolutely no guarantee the new coach is going to be better than the first...the devil you know is better than the one you don't.
Every year there are thousands of college coaches that don't get accused of racism, causing eating disorders, and mental abuse. Esche is 2 for 2 in getting accused of those things in his last two coaching stops. It's not a coincidence.
UAB would never fire a cross country coach for lack of results. They don't care about the sport. All Esche had to do was not be a scumbag and he'd have that job the rest of his life. He couldn't do it.
Wild Duck Whisperer wrote:
Ghost of Ryan Deak wrote:
Or, maybe, truly dedicate yourself to the craft and level-up your skills. This stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum, it doesn't come out of nowhere, it usually happens when you take your eye off the ball.
That’s nice. If the mob comes for your head coach/director and you’ve done all this perfect, your career is still likely over.
In fact, it means you haven't done that well enough. Your career doesn't have to be over, go get that teaching license.
guest too wrote:
Why do you keep calling women, girls? You should stop, it is patronizing.
This is the type of blind spot that is a tip to that poster's identity.
Man this is enough, leave the guy alone. God has a plan for everyone. God may be sending this man a message and will change him for the better. If he was wrong for some things ok justice has been served. But people can be better, they can grow from their mistakes and live a more impactful life. Don’t nail the coffin on this guy.
Let me tell you guys a real story. My brother, a very smart guy, seriously. Straight A student all through HS and college. Later got marred had kids. His wife liked to drink and ya know a few years went by and he started to drink too. One day they’re driving out of town and the wife is drinking and he is driving with the kids in the backseats. They visit friends he drinks one beer. Later they drive home and on the interstate an 18 wheeler cuts him off, he hits the 18 wheeler a terrible accident and one of his little girls seat belt was unfastened she died. They immediately blamed him and was on the news and everything. Beer cans in the car they assume he was drunk. Guys life was tormented cuz of his daughters death and then he’s being scrutinized for it saying he was a drunk driver and horrible parent. My niece used to unbuckle herself all the time. They were saying he was going to do 40 years in prison . In jail, the cops laughed at him spit on him all kinds of stuff. Blood alcohol level was .01. The 18 wheeler driver’s BAC was 1.9. Wife was .09. A little mistake can ruin someone’s life and he is a good man.
Not saying this is the same for UAB coach because he may have knowingly did something he shouldn’t have repeatedly but let’s give the man a chance to change maybe he will maybe he won’t but that isn’t for us to decide. Gods plan will be done, leave the guy alone. If he’s wrong of something then let it be it’s been handled.
You did not refute that your original post was precisely a, “ post [that] contains a blatant example of what is wrong with LetsRun. You're trolling the internet trying to flog someone, humiliate them and hinder their future career path with false accusations and rumors.” The hypocrisy is apparent. And I’m older than you, as adorable as your millennial jabs are. Nothing fallacious about denigrating an entire generation, right?
guest too wrote:
Why do you keep calling women, girls? You should stop, it is patronizing.
Patronizing, are you kidding me? Did you read the instagram picture slides? It is an omnibus of allegations with her trying to get one of the fiery items to stick. Also, yes, the ladies are acting like juveniles therefore can be referred to as girls. I'll even say thin little girls so we dont frame this as body shaming at a later date. But they certainly arent strong women and are proving themselves to be fundamentally weak and desperate.
Actually, whatever, I say fine! Ive had a change of heart. Go ahead and all of you bash both Matt Esche and the athletic department to smithereens. Hold the AD's accountable for hiring Matt Esche and give them so much online hurt and vitriol that they feel like Paterno got off easy with his sudden death. Just like /r/wallstreetbets send this MF story straight to the moon ??? front cover of CNN, NY Times and Newsweek!
S.M. can receive a tuition reimbursement ($0) and give back her useless degree. She loses almost nothing. The UAB girl should also keep her instagram post up so no one in their right mind hires her as she'd be a ticking time bomb and a toxic threat to any workplace environment. She shouldnt be surprised when she applies to 200 jobs and doesnt get a single response back because no one will want to risk working with her after HR it. He resume ends up in the trash where it belongs. Then you have the three lead actors in this predicament, almost all in the same age cohort (minus two years), jobless and living with their birth parents well into adulthood without a career prospect in sight.
Just like most of you here at LetsRun!
Then I hope at the end of all the bashing both Bradley and UAB cross country programs are canceled so this never happens again. Demolish the record boards, burn the jerseys and re-route the money to lowering tuition by about $10. At that point there would be no one to blame except themselves.
Problem can be solved, please carry on! Show no mercy!!!
Okay, understood. Yout specific intention was to use an ad hominem arguement by calling women, "gitls".
This post was removed.
Ghost of Ryan Deak wrote:
Wild Duck Whisperer wrote:
That’s nice. If the mob comes for your head coach/director and you’ve done all this perfect, your career is still likely over.
In fact, it means you haven't done that well enough. Your career doesn't have to be over, go get that teaching license.
What does that have to do with a collegiate coaching career? Yes, that’s a nice Plan B which I already strongly suggested every aspiring collegiate coach go into the profession with. But pretending high school coaching is a career doesn’t make it so.
You clearly don’t work in education, especially higher Ed.
Wild Duck Whisperer wrote:
Ghost of Ryan Deak wrote:
In fact, it means you haven't done that well enough. Your career doesn't have to be over, go get that teaching license.
What does that have to do with a collegiate coaching career? Yes, that’s a nice Plan B which I already strongly suggested every aspiring collegiate coach go into the profession with. But pretending high school coaching is a career doesn’t make it so.
Go tell that to Joe Newton, Charlie Kern, or Dan Green, you patronizing ass. HS coaching and teaching is a GREAT career if you so choose and have the right tools. Thanks for "strongly" suggesting that, guru.