Tough to have success with a distance program at Houston and he did not have it.
Tough to have success with a distance program at Houston and he did not have it.
I was offered 1/2 tuition in 1994 and was a 9:24 3200m. Their road guy was Howie Ryan- super person.
Side note: I realize south central Houston isn't particularly nice but can they not run along Brays Bayou? That's as nice a setup as most schools will get for their tempo and distance runs.
A LOT of big schools in big cities have to deal with far less than ideal in-city conditions and not having some of the nicer bells and whistles of other schools. A reasonably smart and resourceful coach can make it work. And ultimately, no, he did not need superior talent to build a winning program in XC, if he knew what he was doing. He could get great results with average talent if he's a good coach.
sad fall wrote:
Clyde Drexler wrote:
If you're going to bother with going to school in Houston, as a runner, and your academics are good enough then you're going to Rice. And at least you're not running through or around slums when you run off campus there. Otherwise, Texas State, SFA, UNT, almost anywhere else offers a better campus culture experience and a decent crack at a conference podium.
Under Tom Tellez, the reputation was that distance runners wouldn't be offered scholarship coming in unless they already had marks that would qualify for nationals. The same is likely essentially true today, most of those on the cross country roster are probably on Pell Grants, need-based academic scholarships, etc. Just not a supportive place for distance success, but then they know the typical model for Southern, urban schools.
There are plenty of strong distance teams that are at a worse school for running than Houston. Magness with his name, reputation, and his knowledge of training should have been able to attract recruits that even Burrell would be comfortable giving big scholarships to. But he couldn't. This leads me to believe he was either a lazy recruiter, or a crappy recruiter, or both. People don't like know-it-all types and that's how Magness comes off.
This. My alma mater was definitely in a worse situation for recruiting than Houston, and we had multiple sub-4:00 guys over a few years, mostly ~4:15 types who showed potential for better (49-50 relay speed and solid XC). He's just not a good coach, plain and simple.
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I’ll just say this…I’ve been a DI college coach for a couple decades now and consider myself fairly well connected. And NO ONE I know…NOT A SINGLE COLLEGE COACH I’m aware of wanted that job…
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D3 Coaching wrote:
Magness has done well with post-collegiate athletes. College success is more about scholarships and recruiting. If you have money and a draw to your school and you can coach a little, you'll do great. If you don't have money, even if you are a good coach, you aren't making much of a mark. That's just the way it is.
I'd imagine with his success in writing, he can just write and coach a handful of pros. That sounds like a pretty good life to me.
The college world is a grind of climbing the ladder until you get to a place where you have scholarship money and a draw. It can be very rewarding, but it can also be very tiresome.
Good luck to him.
Can someone summarize any decent athletes Magness coached? I have yet to hear of them but all I know of is the extremely mediocre/average performances seen from his athletes. Pick any mid-major university and every single coach produces the same or better results so it seems like this should have happened a couple years ago
Wild Duck Whisperer wrote:
I’ll just say this…I’ve been a DI college coach for a couple decades now and consider myself fairly well connected. And NO ONE I know…NOT A SINGLE COLLEGE COACH I’m aware of wanted that job…
Maybe you are unaware of how every single college job has tons of applicants? Its an extremely over-saturated and hard-to-get job market. Case and point: they filled the job before you even knew it was open
Precious Roy wrote:
I know nothing about Magness's departure, but it has always been the case that UH has put all their resources into the sprints and has never been able to build a distance program.
UH is a commuter school that is in a pretty crappy part of Houston and has pretty lax admissions standards that are just short of being an all comers school. The distance program has largely relied on in state recruits because it is very difficult to convince athletes to come to Houston versus an SEC or Big ten school. UH has a pretty minimal campus life for out of state students who are stuck in town on weekends and shorter holidays. There are some good academic programs at UH, but nothing that would set it apart from any other big Div I school. It will take a lot of luck with in state talent and a dedicate distance coach to build a program at UH that can attract out of state talent to establish it as a consistent NCAA finalist. It is just not a school that sells itself. And I went to UH for law school.
How long ago??
where did my pee go? wrote:
He shpld hire an editor
Intentional or not, well played.
fortherecord wrote:
D3 Coaching wrote:
Magness has done well with post-collegiate athletes. College success is more about scholarships and recruiting. If you have money and a draw to your school and you can coach a little, you'll do great. If you don't have money, even if you are a good coach, you aren't making much of a mark. That's just the way it is.
I'd imagine with his success in writing, he can just write and coach a handful of pros. That sounds like a pretty good life to me.
The college world is a grind of climbing the ladder until you get to a place where you have scholarship money and a draw. It can be very rewarding, but it can also be very tiresome.
Good luck to him.
Can someone summarize any decent athletes Magness coached? I have yet to hear of them but all I know of is the extremely mediocre/average performances seen from his athletes. Pick any mid-major university and every single coach produces the same or better results so it seems like this should have happened a couple years ago
The fact that you won't look it up yourself makes it seem like you don't want to actually find out so you can stick to whatever the agenda is you're following.
From his own description on his website, the only good one, at least on the men's side, was Brian Barrazza. Add Magness himself to that, as he was self-coached in hs to a 4:01.
he coached barrazza from scratch to sub 4 and to become a olympic trials qualifer and now we're saying the guy can't coach??
I find it odd that that a majority of people are just blaming the school/program/etc.
Its true it is a tough place to coach at BUT no one is acknowledging his results are very very bad.
https://www.tfrrs.org/top_performances/TX_college_m_Houston.html?list_hnd=3200&season_hnd=530
To me there is a ceiling for every program. Yes, Houstons ceiling isn't as high as oregons but right now the program is no where near their potential.
And to that I say- Steve Magness is a BAD coach.
If you disagree, provide a list of athletes he has coached that have preformed well. He wrote a book, but as a coach is above average high school level.
In D1-
38 athletes ran sub 4 in 2021 indoor,
61 athletes ran sub 3:42 (sub 4 equivalent) in 2021 outdoor.
Coaching an athlete to sub 4 isn't nearly the accomplishment you think it is. Now, look at his other athletes......
where did my pee go? wrote:
kmaclam wrote:
Heard nothing, but makes sense, the guy is a legit writer.
He shpld hire an editor
maybe you shpld hire an editor...
fortherecord wrote:
[quote]Wild Duck Whisperer wrote:
Case and point: they filled the job before you even knew it was open
*case in point
The only person with a bigger ego than Carl Lewis is Ray Stanfield.
RIP: D3 All-American Frank Csorba - who ran 13:56 in March - dead
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
Rest in Peace Adrian Lehmann - 2:11 Swiss marathoner. Dies of heart attack.
I think Letesenbet Gidey might be trying to break 14 this Saturday
Running for Bowerman Track Club used to be cool now its embarrassing