James Li

I met coach Li in the NW. I can't say much about his coaching, but a complete jerk (depending on who you were or who was around). Nice one minute, doesn't know you the next.

I agree he is a little spacey but i dont know about calling him a jerk

I don't know how Li got coach of the year. His men got last at Pac 10's and hes never had a good American I can recall run for his team. He's not even the best coach in the state of Arizona.

Double gold at the WCs counts for something.

Maybe USATF just wanted to figure out a way to get Bernard Lagat out to their meeting in Honolulu

Not only were they the last team in the Pac 10 champs, their top five took the LAST five scoring positions.

From the Arizona Daily Wildcat, "The men, on the other hand, tallied 260 points, 94 points higher than seventh-place Washington State. In fact, Arizona's top finisher - sophomore Dylan Fitzpatrick, who paced the squad by finishing the 8-kilometer race 50th in 24:41 - did not even run a time better than the top six runners of any other squad."

We all hail the coach of the year!

They will probably be good next year when he gets in 7 more kenyans who have already run 13:40. But he must be a good coach because he wins regionals every year with all his kenyans... Right? Oh wait, no.

A little spacy. That's the understatement of the year. Anyone know he hired a new distance assistant yet?

i dont think he is a good coach if he has only produced one pro in 15 years i think there are many other coaches who have more credits but dont get recog. a few years back he had all the top runners at arizona but they all did not produce to their potential whats up with that coaching?

coach of the year awards are rarely for the best coach

He's not even the best coach in Tucson. I can think of three right off the top of my head who are better. UA isn't even the best team in town these days...and I don't just mean Pima CC...the UA guys couldn't beat the top 7 guys from The Running Shop Team. Heck, I could run for UA and I am a schmuck. On a brighter note, the post-collegiate guys (Mpanga, Cheseret, etc) are tearing up the road whore circuit around here, though some of them might run with Abdi under Coach Dave Murray.

The key is track and field...his athlete got two golds in track and field...plus the award was given before pac 10s. Lets wait and see if he has any fast guys this track season to see if he really deserves all of this criticism

obviously you didnt run the turkey trot where the running shop guys got crushed, and coaching cheseret to a 13:13 5k is bad coaching?

Follow the money...

http://www.letsrun.com/2007/li1128.php

Did you notice the name of the award?

"USATF Nike Coach of the Year"

His Nike athlete won the World Championships!

No Coach helping an Adidas, Asics, New Balance or Saucony athlete would have won it.

Are u serious wrote:

I don't know how Li got coach of the year. His men got last at Pac 10's and hes never had a good American I can recall run for his team. He's not even the best coach in the state of Arizona.

Simple, its called a f***ed up system and USATF is going to hell along with its asshat CEO who condones dopping on various levels too achieve success.

hopefully most of you are far too stupid to realize that running is not what you think it is, and the philly cheese stake phaggots that run it are a bunch of little dicked queers that god will punish in due time. In hell, with their friends Hitler and Che.

enjoy.

As goes Central Arizona College (CAC) so goes U. Arizona.

explains why mo trafeh left the program...

so since he got the coach of the yeah for one event what does he get for the guys running so bad at PAC 10, i dont blame the athletes though i think they run according to their training but i could be wrong.

They had a young and not a very talented team this season. Coach Li just coached the WORLD CHAMPION in the 5,000m and 1500m. Get over it! He is doing something right!