Bernard Lagat + Priscilla Schultz = The Arizona Nightmare

Forever. It’s lagat

Been wanting to open up this can of worms for a while. Seems like each year, more runners leave. Many of which were solid recruits. No development or improvement under Lagat’s coaching, and whoever that Schultz woman is. I’d be curious to see Arizona’s hiring requirements. Who read over those resumes and said “yup that’s the one!” ??? I’ve seen many of Arizona’s runners race throughout high school and college, and it seems like their love for running has slowly dwindled away.

Of course the best runner to do it. Nothing taken away there. But how much longer can his stellar running reputation withstand such poor coaching ? It is not fair to these recruits and athletes to have their potential taken away. Not all great athletes make great coaches. He will forever be the goat runner, but I don't think he will ever become an "okay" coach.

Okay, and? This is nothing not to be expected from Arizona. Football coach going to UW? Makes sense. 250 million in debt? Makes sense. Awful coaching in smaller sports ? Makes more sense. There is not accountability at this school. Their cross team has been getting worse and worse for forever. It will only get better when they can develop a runner. They are too focused on trying to make big things happen. Great programs turn ok runners to decent runners, decent runners to good runners, good runners to great runners, great runners to champions. It's a process. Lagat blames the athlete because he was just born a champion. He can't comprehend anything but that.

Saw on another thread that the Sanchez-Lopez twin that’s staying at Arizona is too preoccupied with his GF to care about running. Hopefully he’s happy? Good for the other twin for escaping.

Never understood the hype. I always thought he was a doper. 60 mile weeks to be worlds fastest man and beast in the marathon ? Sure.

They hype up a dude who runs 1:50 in the 800 because that’s all they got. Good for him, but a power 5 school with no sub 4 milers, 1 guy BARELY under 14 5k off talent, no sub 1:50 800 runners, no girl runners period anymore.

Cut the cross team. At least it will help Arizona’s budget. Let lagat race for them.

At this rate, their xc roster will be non existant in a few years. Seems like every year, the team size cuts in half. They’re not able to bring in any recruits, and can’t even retain their current athletes for more than a year or two. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.

Dig a bit more into the “stellar reputation” aspect. Some things in life aren’t as they appear.

What I can't understand is how he can possibly fail. He is charismatic and so should be a good recruiter. He knows the sport and loves it. He is relatable. He has all the workouts he did for decades. Maybe he does not know how to adapt them to the not very high level recruits that he gets? Explain this to me.

Ah yes, the good ol doping situation! Have always wondered when he’d get taken down for that one. But maybe his coaching skills will be his downfall instead.

Would love to see a current Arizona athlete’s training log. Anyone know if they’ve got any active Strava users?

No kidding. Overdue for the Sanchez Twins. UT-Austin, Cam Herron, was the first bright one to sprint out of there. DV AZ multiple state champion smart enough to leave. High school state Cross Country champion Gibson out. Driskill out. Hanley out. All who PR after by a lot. Can’t be this hard…

I can't either. He is a blast to be around. He was at the peak of his career for 20 YEARS. You would think he noticed a pattern in training during that time, not to mention he took over Arizona from HIS COACH, James Li. Surely, he had a log. I heard he takes no advice from Li, however. I think sometimes egos get high. Can't blame him..mine would be too if I was the running goat for that long. To me, these kids burn out. They race fast the first race and never make it to the end. That often means workouts are too fast. He is coaching them at fitness levels they are not even close to. I assume he can't comprehend slow paces because he never had to run them. He would have been the BEST assist. coach. Might have learned a thing or two first. His best move would be stepping down and saying he wants to spend time with his family, but will be around to help.

I’ve heard some recruiting stories, and let me just say that Schultz definitely has some attitude problems. Doesn’t seem to bring much to the table given her lack of coaching experience, and obvious poor recruiting skills. Interesting hire post Ryan Ray leaving. He got out at the right time.

Most cops have attitude problems.....

What’s interesting to me, is that Lagat has brought in some GREAT recruits. The Sanchez-Lopez twins came out of high school running 3:49 1500 and 14:20 5k. These are undeniably good recruits. You’d expect someone like that to be running sub 3:40 by their junior year of college. Something isn’t adding up… these boys have not PRd since their first few months at Arizona. This is not due to a lack of talent, this screams poor coaching. I feel bad for these recruits who put their trust into a 5-time Olympian, but just end up getting screwed over. It’s time for Lagat to take some responsibility and either figure out how to coach, or let someone more qualified take over.

Hi Lagat. Have you considered a career change?

I’d say give the guy a break, but he’s hurting people’s futures. Forget Lagat, the head coach should be fired for letting letsrun notice this first.