Chris Bucknam retires at Arkansas, '25 xc season is his last. Doug Case to take over January 1.
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One year too late.
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What can we expect from Doug Case? Strengths, etc.
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Woo pig wrote:
Thank goodness. Let’s get back to tradition.
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Guess we all know ow who Arkansas is begging to take over-Sean Brosnan
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Arkansas has gone all in on being a track program that piles up points in field events, sprints and relays. Get a few here and there with distance. It's not like the old days where they'd pile up a ton of points in distance events. And maybe that's the way they believe they can win in today's landscape. I don't see the new coach changing that approach.
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yellow14 wrote:
Arkansas has gone all in on being a track program that piles up points in field events, sprints and relays. Get a few here and there with distance. It's not like the old days where they'd pile up a ton of points in distance events. And maybe that's the way they believe they can win in today's landscape. I don't see the new coach changing that approach.
Kind of misnomer when they’ve been on the cross country podium for 4 of the last 5 years though isn’t it?
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yellow14 wrote:
Arkansas has gone all in on being a track program that piles up points in field events, sprints and relays. Get a few here and there with distance. It's not like the old days where they'd pile up a ton of points in distance events. And maybe that's the way they believe they can win in today's landscape. I don't see the new coach changing that approach.
Here is a nice article on today's news where the coaches talk about being competitive in the year 2025.
Case says they recruit the best athletes - period.
Case said:
“Our thing has always been you recruit the best athlete. You don’t recruit the position necessarily, so if we end up with a numerous amount of great decathletes, that’s what we have. We’ve never assigned a number to distance runners, in terms of scholarships, or jumpers or anything like that. Go out and recruit, get the best recruits we can get and we’ll put this team together.
“I think our team has been really well rounded for years from the distance all the way through a couple of years ago we had throwers. It just depended on who we could get at that time.”Former women's coach Lance Harter says it's basically impossible to win the triple crown.
Harter said:
“To try to stay competitive in all three [seasons], that era is starting to become more and more of a distant dream than it is a reality. Winning triple crowns, especially at the national level, that’s not going to happen again.”101 -
I was surprised at the timing. They host NCAA indoors in March
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Hey guys, Sam here. Go Hogs. Look, I'm the new coach. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, pretty crazy. I get it. But, practice is tomorrow morning at 8am sharp at the intramural fields. yezzzirrrrrrr
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don't forget that even McDonnell knew that sprinters and field eventers could rack up the points that are needed to win championshps. I think Case is initially a better succesor as head coach than Bucknam was to McDonnell in regard to the complete program.
They can now search for a good distance/xc coach in Fayetteville.
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They have some of the top US HS Girl Milers coming their way.
Gabbie Bishop [2:11.02 (800) / 4:22.19 (1500) / 4:42.77 (1600) / 4:42.54 (1 Mile) / 9:29.87 (3000) / 10:07.97 (3200) ] - Arkansas
Braelyn Combe [2:09.59 (800) / 4:28.80 (1500) / 4:35.64 (1600) / 4:44.47 (1 Mile) / 10:39.83 (3200) ] - Arkansas
Marissa Ferebee [4:31.48 (1500) / 4:57.67 (1 Mile) / 9:48.05 (3000) ] - Arkansas
Ryin Miller [2:09.28 (800) / 4:24.39 (1500) / 4:41.00 (1600) / 4:42.58 (1 Mile) / 9:28.52 (3000) / 10:13.97 (3200) ] - Arkansas34 -
yellow14 wrote:
Arkansas has gone all in on being a track program that piles up points in field events, sprints and relays. Get a few here and there with distance. It's not like the old days where they'd pile up a ton of points in distance events. And maybe that's the way they believe they can win in today's landscape. I don't see the new coach changing that approach.
I know we are talking about the men's program but an interesting tidbit is the women's program has apparently cut their pole vault program.
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Stanhope wrote:
don't forget that even McDonnell knew that sprinters and field eventers could rack up the points that are needed to win championshps. I think Case is initially a better succesor as head coach than Bucknam was to McDonnell in regard to the complete program.
They can now search for a good distance/xc coach in Fayetteville.
As far as a balanced team goes, its very difficult to achieve even in the best programs with the most traditions in this new era. Remember why Coach M hand picked Coach B. He had already been accomplishing that at UNI for many years. No, his distance crew was not the top of their lineup but at mid-major level, the track team was balanced and competitive producing top ncaa placewinners and a few champions before Coach M retired. But there's one factor that doesn't show up in the stats that keeps traditions moving forward most would be lucky to find and that's a personality that athletes would run through a brick wall for. Whether you like Bowerman, McDonnell, Henry, Vigil, Carius, Holloway, etc...or not, the definitely have the glue factor that brings and keeps the athletes coming. They all surround themselves with no great coaches, give them what they need to be the best they can be and grow sustainability. Coach Bucknam had that and that's what Coach McDonnell saw in him. Coach Case will have to do the same. Like him or not, that's the task and he's been well mentored.
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rbtrackfan wrote:
They have some of the top US HS Girl Milers coming their way.
Gabbie Bishop [2:11.02 (800) / 4:22.19 (1500) / 4:42.77 (1600) / 4:42.54 (1 Mile) / 9:29.87 (3000) / 10:07.97 (3200) ] - Arkansas
Braelyn Combe [2:09.59 (800) / 4:28.80 (1500) / 4:35.64 (1600) / 4:44.47 (1 Mile) / 10:39.83 (3200) ] - Arkansas
Marissa Ferebee [4:31.48 (1500) / 4:57.67 (1 Mile) / 9:48.05 (3000) ] - Arkansas
Ryin Miller [2:09.28 (800) / 4:24.39 (1500) / 4:41.00 (1600) / 4:42.58 (1 Mile) / 9:28.52 (3000) / 10:13.97 (3200) ] - ArkansasThe men's and women's squads are separate.
Do we know who is going to coach the distance runners?
On their website, they only list 3 total coaches for the men's program which is a shockingly low number and no one beside Buknam is a distance coach.
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They've been on the podium but never a real threat to win it. But you could start to see the decline even in Mac's last year.
In 2004, they had Boit and finished 3rd at nationals. In 2005, Boit and Co. got 2nd. By 2007, the Hogs slipped to 23rd with only one runner in the top 50. Mac retired in 2008. Arkansas finished 28th that year.
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RichardRider wrote:
Stanhope wrote:
don't forget that even McDonnell knew that sprinters and field eventers could rack up the points that are needed to win championshps. I think Case is initially a better succesor as head coach than Bucknam was to McDonnell in regard to the complete program.
They can now search for a good distance/xc coach in Fayetteville.
As far as a balanced team goes, its very difficult to achieve even in the best programs with the most traditions in this new era. Remember why Coach M hand picked Coach B. He had already been accomplishing that at UNI for many years. No, his distance crew was not the top of their lineup but at mid-major level, the track team was balanced and competitive producing top ncaa placewinners and a few champions before Coach M retired. But there's one factor that doesn't show up in the stats that keeps traditions moving forward most would be lucky to find and that's a personality that athletes would run through a brick wall for. Whether you like Bowerman, McDonnell, Henry, Vigil, Carius, Holloway, etc...or not, the definitely have the glue factor that brings and keeps the athletes coming. They all surround themselves with no great coaches, give them what they need to be the best they can be and grow sustainability. Coach Bucknam had that and that's what Coach McDonnell saw in him. Coach Case will have to do the same. Like him or not, that's the task and he's been well mentored.
John did not hand pick Bucknam. Jeff Long, the AD at the time didn't even consult John. Later I asked John who he would have recommended. He told me Jerry Schumacher.
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Did he really retire? Seems like an odd time to announce it before the season’s even over and halfway through the year. Makes you wonder if he was actually asked to step down.
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I have to ask wrote:
Did he really retire? Seems like an odd time to announce it before the season’s even over and halfway through the year. Makes you wonder if he was actually asked to step down.
I was thinking the same thing. Seems fishy.
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