Vandy's Track Coach

the rest of the staff????? wrote:

what happens to steve keith?

Nothing, assumedly, because he has his own, distinct program.

The PAC 10, Big East, and ACC aren't exactly loaded with academic powerhouses either. Vandy's academic standards limit the pool of athletes they can attract, but if they improve facilities, coaching, and emphasize athletics like Stanford, et al, then they can compete with anyone--baseball, basketball, and tennis are already doing it.

T.C wrote:

yea but Vandy is in the SEC. Academics are on the back burner at all schools except Vandy and Miss. State.

jmikeatkins

What you did is pick out the few examples of Vandy's success. I don't dispute that. But their football team has stunk for a long time. One year doesn't make a successful program. Their Basketball program has stunk for a long time. One or two years doesn't make them a powerhouse. I think they do pretty well given the resources they have, but I still maintain my point. Do they really think the Vandy track can compete in the SEC? There is not way that will happen. I don't care if you hire Pat Henry from Texas A&M. No one can be successful in the SEC at Vandy. No one!!!

Stanford, Cal-Berkley, Georgetown, UVA, UNC. Just a few academic powerhouses in these conferences.

Those schools you mentioned have a long tradition of track and field. I don't think Vandy has had a track team as long. What... maybe ten, fifteen years?

dreamworld: You impute that no one (you repeat it for emphasis) can be successful in the SEC at Vandy, and yet, off the top of my head I can rattle off at least 8 athletes who placed in the top 3 outdoors at the SEC Conference meet in the last 10 years. There are probab;y quite a few more, and I've only listed outdoor.

Stacey Carpenter | 1500m: 2nd '98

Erika Schneble | 5000m: 1st '04 2nd '06

Kylene Kwonurko | 3000m S/C: 1st '02

Ryan Tolbert | 400mH: 1st '95 '96 '97 '98

Leslie Vidmar | SP: 2nd '97

Julie Walk | Heptathlon: 2nd '97

Josie Hahn | Heptathon: 1st '05

Garnetta Holloway | Heptathlon: 1st '06

With Coach Shepard not around next year, there may well be a shift, and a greater emphasis on distance running. I don't have any empirical data to back this up, but I believe that it is a lot easier to find distance runners who can get admitted to Vandy than it is sprinters.

If Vandy took some of the scholarships they have been giving to sprinters who rarely score points at SECs and started redistributing those among distance runners, I think you might see an improvement. Just my $0.02.

Also: Their most recent recruit, Rita Jorgensen (2:13/4:53/10:35 800/1600/3200), got a FULL ACADEMIC ride.

Washington State, Oregon State, Oregon, Louisville, West Virginia, Miami, Florida State, NC State . . . Yeah, those schools are turning out dozens of Rhodes Scholars. I heard Galen Rupp and AJ Acosta like to warm up with a few differential equations as part of their pre meet warmup.Academic schools can do very well if they have good funding and make athletics an institutional priority. Vandy's got the dough but they never consistently supported athletics. Put enough money into the programs and build up the athletic staff and I'm sure you could probably convince a few bright, talented athletes to skip out on winters in South Bend and D.C. for Nashville.

TJ wrote:

Stanford, Cal-Berkley, Georgetown, UVA, UNC. Just a few academic powerhouses in these conferences.

Spivey did well. The program improved, certainly in terms of depth. He also recruited at least one top-caliber runner. Factor in as well what he had to compete against in the SEC. Finally, for those who know, look what he had to contend against in the track program at Vandy.

Maybe the question raised by this thread has some connection to why Spivey left.

Vanderbilt is known for its academics, not its athletics. I'm from Atlanta and am an incoming freshman for the Class of 2011. I'm a HUGE sports guy, but I choose Vanderbilt because its a great school. Vanderbilt is a major researching school, and this is where the money goes, not to sports. If I wanted to go to school for sports I would have gone to UGA.

Remember, Vandy Track is fully funded. You can't tell me that if you had just ONE full scholarship to offer you couldn't sign a girl who could score in the SEC.....let alone a fully funed program.

Sorry, Vandy could be middle of the pack at SEC's and score some points on a consistent basis at Nationals. Nothing crazy, but they could be decent.

Vandy is poorly managed. The fact that they suck comes from poor leadership in the athletic administration for years. They seem to have a few good teams now but I believe that it is in spite of the administration.

There is no way that a decent xc/distance coach in a fully funded program with high academic standards (yes, that is an advantage in a distance running program) cannot succeed. They should make it to NCAA's 3 out of every 4 years at least.

We'll see if the new guy can do something. Everything is in place to be successful but the right coaches.

How are you going to leave South Carolina's track program--especially the ladies--out of the SEC conversation??

Good point.

good! i heard it's hard to work w/ her. she doesn't listen.

Lance Brauman will return to coaching? Special work release program perhaps?

bandit40 wrote:

Lori Shepard's contract will not be renewed for next season.

http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/w-track/spec-rel/051707aaa.html

Some other factors to consider. Vanderbilt disbanded it's athletic department (administration and AD) last year. They do not have men's indoor or outdoor track, and barely men's cross country (probably no scholarships). All of the successful women's track programs at elite academic schools also have men's track programs.

i was there in the 90s

they seemed to recruit women who were of the same religious beliefs (some sort of fundamental christianity common to that part of the country) of the two coaches at the time (shepard being one)

i heard shepard use the phrase "jew down" when discussing

negotiating prices; she said she didn't see anything wrong with such a phrase

i don't think the pervasiveness of the beliefs did much for team chemistry; and i wondered if recruits who had different beliefs felt alienated

i don't know how all that might have changed with spivey though

2006-2007 highlights

women's bowling - national champs

baseball - sec champs; have been ranked #1 in NCAA most of season

men's basketball - lost insweet 16

women's basketball - upset in 2nd round (ranked 9th in country)

women's tennis - lost in sweet 16

women's lacrosse - 10th in country

women's golf - qualified for ncaa champs (top 24 teams)

men only have 6 varsity teams (xc, fb, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf) - football and cross country never have any success (within the SEC)

women have 9 teams (xc, track, soccer, baketball, tennis, golf, lacrosse, bowling, swimming) - swimming is new - these teams have had some success (xc, track, and soccer have had the least)

how many D1 schools have such a small number of sports? (off the top of my head...rice has one fewer)

Two words... Title Nine