University of Wisconsin LaCrosse Coaching Staff

Coach Stan Sucks wrote:

Lots of tough guys on this thread who have never made any mistakes in their life. A young college kid made a mistake, and served his suspension. He got his punishment. Why is he continuing to be punished for a mistake he made a year ago. There are football players who commit crimes and are let back on the team the next week.

Also- You all are ignoring the fact said that there are no juniors or seniors on this roster. That is not normal at any level or any sport. There is obviously a major issue with the coach here, which seems to be the main point of the thread, and I have heard that personally before this thread from other runners who ran for Coach Stanley.

I agree! One of the most important aspects of our job coaching is to help athletes succeed and learn how to deal with stressors and responsibilities, as well as learn from mistakes. Some mistakes are too severe to allow the athlete to continue being a part of the team (I had an athlete receive a minor and then subsequently a DUI, in addition to other issues and it was enough to dismiss the athlete from the team and also help them find help for their issues).

This story as it was shared is not helping the athlete learn from mistakes, except to teach them that life doesn't always make sense and justice isn't always served, whether things are too severe or not enough severe. He made a poor choice, along with his teammates and friends, and a suspension is warranted. That would have been my decision if it was my athlete, in my humble opinion.

There are certainly 2 sides to every story, but if the coach has various other factors, it needs to be explained clearly to the student athlete so they hear that their is many factors to being cut from the team. And it's certainly possible that is the case in this scenario, but as it was told it seems excessive and wrong. Sadly.

Nick, we'd take you on our team in a heartbeat!

Craig's Mullet wrote:

frat boy wrote:

As I said at the onset, I wish that I did not have to put this message out. I care deeply about the UWL Cross Country and Track programs, but I also care about what is right. I hope that potential recruits and their parents learn from our story.

As a parent of current college runners I can tell you the captains on their teams are telling kids that are out partying to knock it off or leave the team. These are peers not coaches. It sounds like your son would be better off in a fraternity. The coach knows this and is helping him make that decision.

Your kids are probably lying to you. College athletes 100% throw parties, and a lot of time it is the captains that are the ones hosting. If your children's team isn't like that, I feel bad for them.[/quote]

Ummm no during Covid those things changed a bit. You’re saying you feel bad for my kids because the captains weren’t hosting parties last year during Covid? Huh?

Speaking from the perspective of a former d1 p5 athlete, at a school that had multiple meetings a year because of kids breaking rules...

I can't imagine a school not having a student-athlete code of conduct handbook. Organizations love to have rules to fall back on to support any decisions they make. Without this as reference, how can a coach justify cutting someone from a team? Usually this handbooks refer in broad statements about what is not allowed. Breaking laws, bullying/hazing teammates, not showing up to practice, etc. These handbooks also clearly outline punishments, like first offence is 0-hour suspension, 3rd is up to being cut, something like that. Having these rules allows coaches to point out to complaining cut athletes that you have signed the code of conduct thing every year at the start of the year, agreeing to abide by the team policies.

I think the following would apply to most teams

Hosting a party: not against rules

Hosting a party during Covid: not against rules

Hosting a party with underaged drinkers: against rules

Unless there was state legislation prohibiting large gatherings or an internal directive from the AD prohibiting large gatherings, then I don't see how hosting a party during Covid is punishable. If it wasn't clear ahead of time, then at most the coach could emphasize after finding out that these activities will be punishable in the future.

Hosting a party with underaged drinkers, assuming 1st offence against team rules, would probably be a 0-hour suspension. Meaning the offending athletes would have to have a 1-on-1 meeting with the coach discussing what they did wrong and why it won't happen again in the future. Would also probably lead to a full team meeting reiterating team policy and how alcohol will not help the team improve.

Explicitly providing alcohol to underaged drinkers is a different issue. This would require substantive evidence showing the offender purchased alcohol for the sole purpose of giving it to underaged drinkers. The evidence would probably be getting arrested and charged for the crime. A criminal charge is usually going to be written into the athlete guidelines as being grounds for dismissal, regardless of whether it is a 1st offence. Although, this would still be up to the coaches discretion on whether to give them a 0-hour suspension or up to cutting the athlete.

I ran for Derek when he was coaching in Ohio. None of this surprises me. I wish he would of kicked me off the team. I would of been better off without his team. The focus is always on him. He is an insecure little man. He could care less about the physical and mental well being of his athletes. We had three guys arrested by county police and they spent the night in jail for marijuania and underage drinking. Heck. They were not banned from the team. They were suspended for one season and came back.

The coach probably posts here as Harambe/2600 bro.

alskdjfhg wrote:

I think the following would apply to most teams

Hosting a party during Covid: not against rules

Unless there was state legislation prohibiting large gatherings or an internal directive from the AD prohibiting large gatherings, then I don't see how hosting a party during Covid is punishable. If it wasn't clear ahead of time, then at most the coach could emphasize after finding out that these activities will be punishable in the future.

Respectfully, you have not been paying attention. This has been a big thing in the last year. It is expressly forbidden by most teams as part of their code of conduct, if not necessarily a college/universities policy.

I know of entire universities where this is literal policy.

As a former runner for UWL, I know that every alumni would agree that UWL has the tradition of two things...being the top in the nation and also partying. What Derek does not understand is that you can have fun with your friends and still be national champions. UWl has always been a party school, yet also busting our asses the next day for a workout. Derek shows no appreciation for the hard work EVERY single kid puts in. He was a pathetic runner himself and has no background for running. I honestly do not feel bad writing this because of the way he treats his peers and "friends" in a fake fashion. The fact that he openly admits to doing stuff way crazier than enjoying a beer, makes him hypocritical. He goes out for beers frequently with his buddies and still shames 21 year olds on the team for having a little fun. There is some correlation here...when Derek takes away the fun in college and the UWL tradition his program falls apart. Look at his team. No seniority due to creating a weak minded culture where everybody tattles on each other. You need to be bros with your teammates to be successful, not tattle about baby stuff. Everything Derek does is a copy or remake of past coaches, which is stealing information. Everyone knows that Derek has lost all his respect and this will continue if he chooses to keep coaching. He has his favorites on the team each year and will only give respect to them. His individual meetings are one of the most creepiest styles of discussion possible. Nothing ever happens, he just makes you feel terrible inside. If you were to be an all american, it wouldn't be good enough. Nothing is good enough for that man. He is just a weird guy. Anyways, I could write pages and pages about a pathetic coach, but it is not worth spending my time on such a rude human. As a former athlete and beanbag for Derek to throw around, I have experienced everything you could imagine. The fact is that everyone was a kid once and you can have fun and be successful. I hope some of you parents understand this and take to heart some of this information. This reply is as truthful and as honest as I can get. There is no reason to accept the decisions and actions Derek has made over the years.

runner10199 wrote:

As a former runner for UWL, I know that every alumni would agree that UWL has the tradition of two things...being the top in the nation and also partying…...

Hi Nick or other senior that was removed from the program. Your above post shows you are clueless, your dad’s post on here shows there is low social awareness. Post this crap the day before the alumni event and then both show up and run. Absolutely embarrassing. As a former runner under Stan none of what you said above is right. I wasn’t even one of his “favorites” you are referring to, quite the opposite… but everything you are saying above shows how selfish and unwilling to sacrifice for the program you were. From what I’ve been told this was the last straw in a career of missteps and egregious acts that could have put the entire program in harms way. This is not how UWL Eagles carry themselves, look in the mirror and be better.

Here is the Code of Conduct you have been struggling to find. It was buried two clicks deep on their athletic website.

https://uwlathletics.com/documents/2021/8/11//Code_of_Conduct.pdf?id=5350

A similar situation happened with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Men’s Basketball team.

Hall of Fame Coach Roy Williams had everyone who went to the party take responsibility and apologize. Nobody was suspended for even one game.

Do you know what I would do to get back at Coach Stan??? I would train really hard for the Alumni race and stick it to him by getting 17th in the race. Oh wait........

UWL Alumni here. Coach Stan is a great dude. All the hate is complete nonsense.

Id also like to note that this guy’s son sucks at running. He recently finished 17th at Alumni. This finish would not have qualified him to make the team this year. Thanks for wasting everyone’s time.

There’s always NAIA brother.

Wasn't this kid a captain?

ELB wrote:

UWL Alumni here. Coach Stan is a great dude. All the hate is complete nonsense.

Id also like to note that this guy’s son sucks at running. He recently finished 17th at Alumni. This finish would not have qualified him to make the team this year. Thanks for wasting everyone’s time.

There’s always NAIA brother.

Now we are getting closer to the truth. Kid who is supposed to be role model hosts parties during Covid that puts team members’ health in jeopardy and creates risk program will get shut down and the kid is not remotely good enough to help the team. Coach sees no benefit and only risks if he reinstates kid because Covid is, in fact, still here. Dad can’t accept fact his son isn’t good enough and is too irresponsible to be reinstated so he rants on Letsrun and they both show up at alumni event to try to disrupt the program.

Enjoy Gitmo dufus.

I agree with johnny law above me.

Something must be done to take out Derek Stanley and stop this idiot and the school from ruining other people's lives.

I got my flamethrower, grenades, and m16 rifle lock and loaded.

I also brought my Hell's Angel's biker gang to enforce and beat up every moofoo who hurts the OP's son.

Say your last prayers when you hear the loud choppers and a song from Steppenwolf called "BORN TO BE WILD!!!!!!"

Another UWL Alumnus reponse for what its worth.

Derek Stanley is not a great coach. Being a terrible leader is just the tip of the iceberg here.

I experienced both (very different) coaching styles of the previous coach Fritsch, and later on Stanley.

While the team mentality at the time of the switch was inital distrust in how Stanley obtained his position (which was mostly due to Derek's wife holding a high position of power within the university), I felt compelled to give the new coach a chance.

It was very clear to me from an early moment that derek's approach was much more authoritative than Fritsch's style. My way or the highway mentality, I saw multiple teammates of mine either dismissed, disguntled, or otherwise severly unhappy with the coahcing style and team atmosphere over the years.

One poster mentioned derek having "favorites" each year. This is accurrate, and was plainly obvious for most of us on the team, even the consistent "top 5" guys.

Even as a top performer, I never felt like I was respected by Derek. He was overcritical, used controversial training methods (including letting a blood analyst write our workouts one season ), and otherwsie made false promises to men on the team-myself included. He also talked down to several men on the team, like they didn't belong there.

I couldn't believe it. Your 10th runner can be your #1 someday - fostering every runner on a 20 man team is valuable.

Every teammate I ever had worked extremley hard and wanted to win...it wasn't exclusive to the top 7 guys.

Following results over the past few years and attending the alumni meet in Septmeber left me lost for words. No upperclassmen on the team. Unheard of, and a sure sign of the coach losing the lockerroom.

To the OP:

What your son did was not wrong, rather ill advised. Every alum who has posted on this thread in response has certainly done much worse than "host a party" if thats all this situation truly was. In the middle of covid the consequences certaintly should have been amplified, but a lifetime ban is so aggregious, and can easily be seen as a classic derek stanley move.

As a regular giver to the program, I have decided to pause my donations to the program and don't expect to contribute for the time being. I would like to see a coaching change.

I sincerley hope the issue is resolved and the success of the program picks back up...

Wow.

I really hope the OP reads this because it can be a valuable life lesson for him as well as his son.

In life, when you make decisions, there are generally consequences. Not all the time but a lot of the time. What your child did was childish. He did something he knew he should not have done and if he didn’t know he shouldn’t have done it then he has no place in a university. What you did however was significantly worse. You taught your child that his actions shouldn’t have consequences and you blamed the people punishing your child instead of the child himself.

You are the reason people view kids these days as irresponsible and untrustworthy.

If you are asking advice, and I know you aren’t, then I would sit your kid down and say that sometimes the hammer hits you hard when you make a mistake and the only recourse is to accept it like a man and move on. Unfortunately you did the opposite and now we all have to deal with your entitled child in our society.