USATF Coaches Education Meltdown

I poked my head into the coaches education room at the convention in December and it was a tiny little meeting. My hunch is the new USATF leadership stonewalled Boo enough knowing he would quit and the other longtimers would follow. It would appear this is like knocking down the old casinos in Vegas in order to build new ones. Like anything though who knows what will result, and will it really be better.

What is the real issue? USATF wants to pay drug coaches to speak instead of the guys that know what is going on? What is going on? What is the real reason?

Fat sprinter, the real reasons are not new reasons they are the same old reasons, but with a different twist. Egos out of control, entitlement, money issues, arrogance and anarchy. The same old thing. However, now USATF is being over-run by these problems because the new leadership is so very poor and is viewed as a good retirement job by those in power in Indianapolis. Just read the CEO blogs, attend the convention. This is not the heyday of track and field in this country and each day the sport slips further backwards, if that is possible. When the membership attacks its own pretty well respected education system it is a sign that it is in a major tailspin. Here you have the equivalent of Tony Dungy or Phil Jackson in Boo Schexnayder running your education system for the sport and the politics run him right out of town. Go figure. The USOC needs to step in even further onto USATF turf, but they are going through a leadership crisis of their own.

You all need to get your facts straight. However "great" you think these "geniuses" are??...(all you know of them is how nice they are, when you handed them your check for the clinic) they have mucked things up with their ego-driven, association views.

If your so close to them, know them so well, and have there "backs" to call for support....call them first and ask them the truth.

Or keep bitching, that's what this site seems to be about.

So what are the facts behind all of this?

What are "association views"?

Greater good, I'm willing to listen but you don't seem to want to explain. On the surface it looks more like the same old shit from usatf.

Chopper has it exactly right about why the people have resigned.

thegreatergood-

I'd love to hear what you could possibly say about these people and why they've resigned. Please share what you think you know.

Those in coaching education are among the most selfless and intelligent in the sport. Good luck trying to replace them with equally competent people.

so we have learned absolutely nothing about what is going on. what am i supposed to be writing letters about?

Higher ups were pressured to make a YOUTH Level 2 and put a hold on Level 3 and major course accreditation for the existing programs by the youth reps (who represent a large constituency of the voting block in USATF). This then trickled down to pressure on existing execs of coaching education to abandon programs that had been in the pipeline and being worked on for many years such as taking the course online, getting NCACE accreditation, and updating the existing curriculum to higher academic standards. This is despite the fact that the existing coaching education executives happily agreed to quickly put together a youth level 2 curriculum in time for this summer (on only 6 months notice...no small task for a bunch of volunteers). When dissent occurred the brown nosers and ass kissers quickly slipped in to do what they do best in spite of the best interests of the overall program; and the higher ups happily gave more say to those who agreed with them over those who disagreed that had been in the program for years and have the best interest of the coaching ed program in mind.

Is that enough to write about?

OK, I've been through the Level II program and when I hear about "ego driven" agendas and such, as the accusation above states, I have no idea what "The Greater Good" is talking about. These guys were humble and no one was making a ton of money. This wasn't a high priced "clinic", it was SCHOOL. I got educated, and it was a steal. My athletes are already better off!

Perhaps this person is one of the youth folks who simply want to horde resources to reinforce their sense of self importance. The ridiculous thing is that I was given all sorts of relevant info that WOULD make me a better youth coach, if I was in that business (and don't mistake my meaning there...for some, it IS a business.)

This is a mess. We're chasing off the guys who hold the top notch knowledge and are WILLING to pass it on for the love of the sport. Explain how this makes sense again?

Other than one 'insider' view, neither the discussion nor the referenced blog have given any specifics about what the politics is that caused the resignations from the USATF Coaches Education (CE) committee.

People have resigned from the administrative committee; nowhere does it say (yet, anyway) that these individuals have said they'll no longer be doing teaching.

From what I've seen, the Coaching Education committee (CE) has had a somewhat non-continuous history at the top level in the past decade. There have been a number of committee chairs and people involved who have come and gone for any number of reasons, and development/advancement of coaches education as a whole does not seem to have changed much.

The nation-wide program that's supposed to cover all levels of the sport still has not in practice matched the planned 3 levels of certification after 20 years of existence.

Maybe the current group that resigned - Boo only being the chair for a relatively short period - is unfortunately meeting the need for a clear working plan or some other overall accountability by a similarly new coaching coordination division in the national office.

From my local experience, I can state that

- I've not been able to obtain a current list of approved Level I instructors from anyone (the source is supposed to be "the committee") for the past four years

- CE was asked/charged with creating an on-line version of the Level I course; no progress was made.

- At least two individuals (not among the names in any of these discussions) have tried to come in and put on schools without notifying local associations of their plans or asking if we're planning on running our own, and without getting the association involved. Seemed like a profiteering scheme.

Three levels seem to cover all the constituencies of USATF, but the conflict appears to again be about who gets the priorities in a program that needs to be all things to all groups.

What is/was the CE committee plan to move along all three levels? What is the national office requests/plans?

And how are all of these in conflict with an athlete centered coaching education program (the latter phrase being emphasized in the opening 15 minuts of the Level I I oversaw this past summer).

Steve Vaitones

Steve,

I attended the Level One you mentioned this summer at the Governor's Academy. Thanks for posting on here and providing some feedback from someone within the office.

I just sent an e-mail to the USATF-NE athlete rep before I saw your post here. I think we'd all appreciate any updates as you hear about them, especially considering you are a legitimate source of information.

Steve, I can see this point of view, BUT...

1. How has USATF supported the Coaches Education program in terms of real funding?

2. What is the pay for the national CE coordinator?

3. Are we asking busy people with demanding jobs to organize a world class curriculum in their spare time, and then criticizing them when we don't give them the resources to carry it out?

4. Do you know how much money it costs to develop on-line learning software? (Full disclosure: My wife is a professional education online learning developer. It's not cheap.)

5. How much money has USATF allocated to such development?

If the program comes across as half-assed, maybe it's because it's gotten half-assed support. The bottom line is the product you got in the classroom was an incredible value, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT MATTERED.

As for Steve Vaitones' "local experiences", lists of instructors have been and are available to those applying to host a Level 1 School;

the "online version" of Level 1 got as far as the production stage before internal USATF politics (different arms expecting the project to serve conflicting purposes) dumped the project;

no Level 1 School is awarded, posted, or advertised until AFTER the local Association has been given three weeks to provide comment or inform the Level 1 Coordinator of potential conflicts -- including the Association already having a Level 1 School planned.

Coaching Education has been a labor of love (read = volunteer). Instructors (all levels), program developers, and organizers/coordinators have worked tirelessly on its development for little more than per diem and travel expenses to schools and, for some, to the USATF Annual Meetings.

Steve Vaitones wrote:

Other than one 'insider' view, neither the discussion nor the referenced blog have given any specifics about what the politics is that caused the resignations from the USATF Coaches Education (CE) committee.

Steve Vaitones

god dude, will you listen to yourself for just a moment? seriously, if anyone needed to take a stfu pill, it's you and the rest of your ilk. seriously, usatf? relevant? for whom?

Steve Vaitones wrote:

Other than one 'insider' view, neither the discussion nor the referenced blog have given any specifics about what the politics is that caused the resignations from the USATF Coaches Education (CE) committee.

blah blah blah blah blah

Steve Vaitones

Thanks for showing us you are either completely ignorant of the matter or just another sucker pawn trying to usurp those who are doing things right.

Practically every point you made showed how ignorant you are of existing laws and rules within the coaching education division. Congrats on being another moron in the long line of idiots to point the finger at others for their own ineptitude.

Anyone that knows Al Schmidt, Christensen, Mike Y and Boo knows that these guys were as selfless as it gets and did coaching education because they loved teaching and giving back to the US track community.They were not only some of the smartest in the sport they were also the most generous.

Just my takes....

Coaching Ed for some event areas was really really great, especially for HS and College coaches (Sprints, throws, jumps).

For the distances, since Vigil left (1980?) its been very weak and run by "lucky" SEC coaches.

I know this melt down has nothing to do with quality but when Al Schmidt tells me my runners need to run less, I gots to go. That's the only area that needs oversight.

Otherwise Corn and Boo and Scott were great effective guys.

Thanks for your service and even Al too. CE was not a glamour committee, it was guys (any girls?) who cared. Thank you, guys, very much for caring and even putting yourself out for criticism. You are bigger men than us and me.

Who dat?

Pink Elephant wrote:

Anyone that knows Al Schmidt, Christensen, Mike Y and Boo knows that these guys were as selfless as it gets and did coaching education because they loved teaching and giving back to the US track community.They were not only some of the smartest in the sport they were also the most generous.

+1, Well put.