Vanderbilt XC/Track & Field Head Coach Rumors

she has the main two qualifications.

Vandy can't get a worse than Coach Keith at least

Why bring in a drug cheat like Jeter? That would be a terrible hire.

VandyAlum wrote:

Vandy can't get a worse than Coach Keith at least

No idea how good he was as a coach, but he wasn't even giving someone I know a chance and the runner was fast enough to make the team and had the grades to go with it, NMS, 35 ACT, 4 year STEM program (ranked 2nd out of 85 students in the program), etc...Very surprising to me how College Coaches select their athletes. Felt bad for the kid and his Family, but I told them to move on to another College and he did....smart move in my opinion.

Vandy is capped on roster spots for the men due to Title IX. That likely was the reason he was not considered. No room after all spots had already been filled.

You’re likely correct but it’s a tired excuse. Great coaches will always push for the necessary tools and resources to be successful. Unfortunately from what I’ve seen and heard Keith was not even a good coach.

Would certainly be an interesting move. Curious to know who either of them would bring into head up distance and cross country…

uh oh wrote:

You’re likely correct but it’s a tired excuse. Great coaches will always push for the necessary tools and resources to be successful. Unfortunately from what I’ve seen and heard Keith was not even a good coach.

Coaches also know what fights they can win and lose with administration. Good luck fighting male roster cap at a P5 football school.

falconbeaver wrote:

I have heard names such as Carmelita Jeter and April Thomas being interviewed in final rounds, which if true - what would be the point? At a program like Vanderbilt, they have far more distance athletes than track athletes. Maybe this is a long-term project to eventually build a track team for the men's side as well, but in the short term makes no sense to me.

So, they are only considering black women for the position? That's the definition of discrimination. Race and gender are NOT qualifications.

Eventually someone is going to have to file a lawsuit to stop this nonsense. It is no more right to hire only a white male, than it is to only hire a black female. If true, this interview process and ultimately this hire could be an opportunity for a lawsuit, depending on who else applied and their qualifications and experience. Did any highly qualified coaches apply (more qualified and experienced than these two) that were of a different gender and/or race?

It also makes no logical sense to hire a non-distance coach at a school that is predominately distance.

They are considering a head coach that is a throws coach and another that is a sprints coach? They have 0 throwers on the team. They have 21 distance women, 7 sprinters, 4 jumpers/multis, 3 vaulters, 0 hurdlers and 0 throws. They have a men's cross country program as well with about 11 on the roster. So in total, 32 distance runners, 14 for all other events, and no throwers at all.

Hire the best person, regardless of race and gender and anything else! To only consider one specific race and one specific gender is discrimination and is evil, no matter which race and/or gender you are excluding it to.

Aletha Thomas is new vandy coach.

Althea Thomas?

Ghost of Jason Rexing's Trainers wrote:

Althea Thomas?

Althea Thomas.

YersiniaPestis wrote:

she has the main two qualifications.

HA HA Nailed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a DUMB hire. Why would they hire a sprint coach to a school that is basically distance only? She is qualified to be a head coach but it's clear the administrations concern was finding a diversity hire, not finding the best fit for the team to be successful.

Vandy should be a team that dominates the south in XC and makes it to nationals every year. They are moving the emphasis to sprints, which is FOOLISH when you have LSU, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas all in your conference.

It's kinda obvious that the AD has different aims and goals than you think they do or should.

dumbest hire of the summer wrote:

This is a DUMB hire. Why would they hire a sprint coach to a school that is basically distance only? She is qualified to be a head coach but it's clear the administrations concern was finding a diversity hire, not finding the best fit for the team to be successful.

Vandy should be a team that dominates the south in XC and makes it to nationals every year. They are moving the emphasis to sprints, which is FOOLISH when you have LSU, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas all in your conference.

I agree that she is qualified to be a head coach. I also agree that this is a horrible hire. The nature of Vanderbilt, being a smaller, high academic school, is a fit for distance success. They have 31 distance athletes and only 7 sprinters. So even if Vandy could be a sprint power, which is very highly unlikely in the strongest sprint conference in the world, how long will it take to even recruit enough sprints talent? This is a net loss for the program and another hire obviously based entirely on race and gender.

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

It's kinda obvious that the AD has different aims and goals than you think they do or should.

The team's goals - be competitive and win, qualify for nationals

Athletic Director goals - diversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversitydiversity

My question is, after all this talk about Rhonda going to be head coach at Vandy and then they go and hire Althea, where tf is Rhonda going?!