Virginia Intermont fires renown coach, eliminates its track and cross-country programs
What the hell kind of English is that?
Unbelievable! The wankers in charge at VI pull the rug from under the feet of the very coach and athletes that put the school on the map. Scott take the initiative and tries to raise the funds so that the athletes can still go to the National Championships, they worked hard to qualify for, and this douchebag President fires him.
Most people I know would have never heard of Virginia Intermont were it not for its track and cross-country programs.
That seems to be a weird reason to fire him and an odd time to do so. The college appears to be in its last weeks of life.
And the Bristol Herald-Courier needs a new editor.
To be fair, the article makes is pretty clear this is not the case of some school dropping track and XC and while the football coach's salary dwarfs the entire track budget.
The entire school is about to go under here.
WIll simmons be around to declare his athletes for nationals? Will someone in admin do it if he is not there?
These athletes won't even be entered if they are not declared, whether they have qualified or not. WOuld be a big shake up at nationals as many of these guys hold a lot of the top times in many events.
Are you suggesting Virginia Intermount College is now a nationally recognized school because they've won a couple of NAIA xc titles? You need to stop hanging out with your running buddies so much. It's a pretty awful school with very lax admissions standards. VIC was not on any top high schoolers list of schools...unless of course that high schooler is African or needs a lot of extra academic "assistance."
They only have two Africans on their team. Get over the hatred, 90% of the runners were American citizens. What happen to Scott is awful, what is happening to the runners is even worse.
The past repeats itself. Again.
that is such bull$hit!!!
I wonder if we can still donate through the website? If so, I'm gonna donate a bunch to send an effyou to the school's president.
Want the president to know how you feel here is his e-mail
or 276-466-7910.
Want the chairman of VIC’s Board of Trustees to know how you feel; his name is Wayne Kennedy,
or 276-466-7199.
Please contact them
True character is revealed in situations such as this.
VIC and the administration, the same one's who managed themselves into this financial situation - terminate an outstanding coach.
Coach Simmons loses his livelihood while trying to take care of his team.
Thanks!
What BS goes on wrote:
Want the president to know how you feel here is his e-mail
mpuglisi@vic.eduor 276-466-7910.
Want the chairman of VIC’s Board of Trustees to know how you feel; his name is Wayne Kennedy,
kennedyw@comcast.netor 276-466-7199.
Please contact them
I think VI has big troubles, but it sounds like Scott did not clear the fundraising efforts with his boss - you know the guy that signs his paycheck, and gives him orders.
i understand why this is happening, and the lack of funding is not simmons fault, but all this sure has made me a firm believer in karma. Simmons deserved to be fired long ago, as for the runners, I feel bad.
Obviously, track and XC were getting cut. The VIC administration used this as an excuse to eliminate a position, reducing payroll.
understand wrote:
Simmons deserved to be fired long ago, as for the runners, I feel bad.
care to tell us why someone who has brought attention in the form of national championships "deserved to be fired" ?
seems to me the administration who couldn't financially manage the school should have eliminated some of their own postions first over the last few years, financial mismangement doesn't happen overnight.
Below is the letter I sent to VIC's board and president. It is no masterpiece but better than nothing. If we dont step up and try to defend our own fellow athletes and coaches then nobody will. It just pi$$es me off.
Did you actually fire Scott Simmons? Did you actually fire the ONLY nationally recognized figure in the entire VIC community? Did you actually eliminate the ONLY athletic team that brought any recognition to VIC? Cross Country is by far the least expensive athletic team to put together for any college… and your cross country team brought VIC so much positive publicity! Most universities would love to have such a return for so little investment. It is absolutely no wonder why VIC finds itself in its current predicament.
I will now make sure my family and friends NEVER give another penny to VIC.
sp!kes wrote:
I will now make sure my family and friends NEVER give another penny to VIC.
How much had you given before?
In asking whether I could post this on Letsrun.com, Scott Simmons wrote: "It's OK with me. I made a few edits for clarity and grammar. Your words though and thanks:"
>
Hello friends and family:
I apologize if this is a little long and overwrought.
I was hired as the assistant cross country coach for Virginia Intermont College last fall. Half way through the season, the administration withdrew the offer forcing me to leave, as some of you know, and I was rightfully very upset.
The institution has had serious financial woes for the past 10 years. With a new president inaugurated this year, things only got worse. Specifically, I believe, the administration has behaved arrogantly and immorally toward Coach Scott Simmons and myself.
I left last December (the administration overrode Coach Simmons wishes, the team's wishes, and my wishes) and since then the college's administration has treated its athletes even more despicably. I may be getting some things off my chest in this lengthy note, but this is a dire situation for the Virginia Intermont College track team.
In a brutal cost-cutting measure, the administration is now not paying for the athletes on the team who have qualifying marks to compete in NAIA 2007 outdoor track nationals at Fresno Pacific University in California later this month. There are 18 NAIA qualifiers in all.
Since the outgoing president was replaced by the new president in 2006, the administration has put decorated Coach Scott Simmons in an extremely compromising position. They did not pay me what they had agreed to pay me. They did not keep me for the full year they had agreed to keep me for. Regardless of what the administration did to me, what they are now doing to this coach, and more importantly TO THIS TEAM, is inhumane.
In my 20-plus years of running-related experience I have never been witness to such a wholesale betrayal and disregard for sincere and committed student-athletes. In sum, the administration has failed its championship-caliber track team on all levels.
No one gets a full ride to compete in the NAIA. These kids were not Footlocker top guns in high school. They did not field offers from Stanford, Colorado, Oregon, Arkansas, and Villanova. They were largely overlooked and ignored, and yet they still had the heart and will to train and run as dutifully as their more widely recognized counterparts.
These are the athletes who PAID in part out of pocket to go to this Spartan school and YET they STILL RAN their hearts out for up to and over 100 miles per week. They trained harder than all but a few NCAA Division 1 programs. This team also has very hard-working sprinters/jumpers who performed myriad jumping and sprint drills in the heat, wind, humidity and snow under Diego Flaquer's watchful eye until they were sick for the rest of the day. What drove these men? What was their incentive, their carrot to keep pushing on? Even back in September, these guys could not wait to get to the NAIA Outdoor National Championships. It was their principle hope, the dream of capping their career by going to compete at a humble national meet called the NAIA’s, that kept them going no matter what.
And 18 of them MADE it! For them not to go to NAIA nationals NOW is CRIMINAL! A lot of these young men will never get another chance to go to nationals. This is a brutal, mean-spirited, cost-cutting measure by the VIC administration. It doesn't even make sense economically. Will these kids ever donate a dime to the college as alumni? Will they return to again pay through loans and their parents’ pocket to attend VIC? I don't think so.
All runners share the same kind of pain and human struggle to reach that brass ring. I saw these soldiers retch and heave and gasp and sweat and stagger through their workouts. And they came back for more without complaining. These athletes did what was asked of them
In doing their part, these athletes will think less of their fellow men and women in the future if what was promised to them after so much hard work is taken away by a capricious administration. As someone who was slighted by Virginia Intermont, I can say this with complete authority. It's been a little harder for me to trust people now.
These are not rich young runners with families that can spring for airline tickets. These are gritty, hard-working, inner-city runners, people with amazing cultural backgrounds from other countries, all young men who will NEVER get another chance to race at their COLLEGE national meet. This is a meet they righteously trained for and rightfully qualified for.
They deserve to go to Fresno and I implore you to help Virginia Intermont get to NAIA nationals. These kids got up at 6:00 a.m. every morning for their a.m. workouts. I took them to the pool and trailheads all fall. These kids showed up every Tuesday afternoon and hammered up to 10K worth of intervals. I timed them. They trained so very hard, they trained honestly, they gave it their all, and no one really gave a rip about them. Virginia Intermont's athletes deserve to go to NAIA nationals in 2007. The NAIA national meet will be a lot poorer if the Cobras are unable to be in attendance. Even their most heated rivals will readily admit that.
So please read the attached e-mail and if you can help send an athlete to NAIA nationals with your frequent flyer miles or donations, they would be grateful beyond what words can express. So will I. So will Coach Simmons. So will their parents, some of whom cannot afford to send their child to nationals. The athletes' eyes have been on this prize, the brass ring ... all year long and now it's taken away by yet another callous administrative blunder. This is not acceptable in the running world.
Please help them if you can and I will guarantee you that they would run their hearts out and make you proud that you helped them get there.
These boys can run. They're good guys. Just give them one chance to prove it to you.
If possible my family will be donating one seat on a plane for a deserving VIC athlete.
Thank you for reading this e-mail and forward it to your friends. If you have any questions, contact myself or the head coach at Virginia Intermont College at the following listing:
Carl Rose
Cell: 925-482-5272
co/ Scott Simmons, head track coach
Virginia Intermont College (Home of the VIC Cobras)
1013 Moore Street
Bristol, VA 24201