can someone please fill me in on how that connection can be made by the Portland AD. is that based on the fact that they were 9th in 2005 and 18th in 2006?! there are much better teams out there who haven't won an NCAA title but have been extremely close and consistently competitive for one. hhhmmmm like....IONA COLLEGE
Yawn...clearly your email address shows your bias.
How about the geographic correlation--both in the pacific NW?
Why do you care if another school's XC coach is given props by his AD?
Portland takes a bunch of scrawny white kids from the Northwest and makes them contenders at the NCAA level. Just like Gonzaga b-ball.
Iona takes an All-Star team of foreign talent and places exactly where they should at NCAAs. In fact, why aren't they winning more titles? I would call them the UNC of NCAA cross country.
Look at the people he has produced.. None of them were special in high school. In fact in his top 7 I don't think anyone owns a state title. He gets the 9:10-30 guys and turns them into animals...
mytwocents wrote:
Why do you care if another school's XC coach is given props by his AD?
This is the bigger story, that an AD is even aware that his sports program has an XC coach, much less comments on them...
I'm guessing that the reason the OP is having difficulty grasping the connection is that he must be Episcopalian...
Portland has done a good job but to say they have not had talent is untrue. Ahmed went sub 9 along with Kinsella. Kilburg, Quackenbush and Betterbed were all good two milers with Vandenburg and Robinson being stud milers. The team has done well with the talent they have but they have not over acheived.
It's just nice to read an article about a xc program that is NOT being cut.
What an interesting, and potentially halitosis-filled, criticism. Would it not be a good idea, if one is going to level a criticism based on a check of an e-mail address, to then actually "have the cojones" to make available one's own e-mail address? The initial poster is entitled to their opinion, especially if it has reasoned merit and could stand on its own regardless of the location of the poster [which, except for not so reasoned "WTF", it can] . The Pilots have built a solid program, and AD's on the west coast probably salivate even more than their east coast peers [who do a fair bit of droolin' themselves] over the idea of becoming the "Gonzaga of INSERT SPORT HERE" - and thus are probably quite prone to using the Gonzaga analogy - BUT if one takes into consideration size of school, resources and finances of the school and lastly consistency and accolades of the program, Iona has to be more worthy of the Gonzaga analogy than Portland. So, in conclusion, have some manners! Next time cover your mouth when you yawn.p.s. maybe the top of the list should really be CU anyway, since Whetmore does so amazingly well with allegedly "blue collar runners"
mytwocents wrote:
Yawn...clearly your email address shows your bias.
How about the geographic correlation--both in the pacific NW?
Why do you care if another school's XC coach is given props by his AD?
Considering Gonzaga and Portland are in the same league, the analogy is fitting. In fact, it is probably more fitting in reverse as Portland XC has been dominating longer than Gonzaga basketball.
Kelly Sullivan made the reference to Gonzaga basketball. Kelly is the coach at Oregon State, not the AD at Portland as the front page states.
Give Portland some credit for overachieving. I find Rob's record with his resources amazing. Granted Iona has achieved equal if not better results, but the # of assistants at Iona gives the Gaels a resource advantage that speaks volumes to the commitment at Iona has to XC versus Portland.
Rob is perfect fit at Portland. He is giving back to his alma mater in a manner that is producing great collegiate experiences for the Pilots. This eventually will only get him beaten by one of his fellow or future alumni in the XC coaching ranks who know what it is like to overachieve.
Gonzaga basketball has won the WCC conference title 8 years in a row. Portland xc has won the WCC title for 28 years in a row, many of the times with their B team. Also, Portland has had 3 top 10 finishes over the past 10 seasons. I know WCC is better at basketball than xc, but I'd have to say that Gonzaga is the Portland of basketball.
Couldn't put it better myself. Seriously. And their women's program... sort of strange that it's only since they've started recruiting in Kenya that they've sent ANYONE to NCAA's.
Haha. The Portland XC- Gonzaga bball comparison makes GONZAGA look good. Go Pilots!