What is Pete Dolan the UCSB head coach like?

do you want the opinion of some middle aged man in Wisconsin or do you want the opinion of student-athletes in the program?

if you want the former, post here.

If you want the latter, ask the people on the team that actually share experiences you will have.

ummm, well its kinda a mixed bag.

He does get some great results from certain individuals every year (this past year standouts included Scott Smith, Julian DeRubira, Ryan MArtin, and danielle domenichelli). So if you are wondering if he can produce national caliber runners, he for sure can.

Now, if you wanna know about the man...he is one to take favorites. Mostly the better you are the more he likes you, obviously some generalization. The biggest thing you need to know about his personality is that he likes being in charge. He like being the head guy where everything is his decision. He doesn't care much for your opinion and really wants everything his way.

Here's an example of something that really happened (albeit over 5 years ago).

The team was looking for a new sprint coach and Dolan asked some of his runners (like a couple not whole squad) to be present at the interviews so they could have a say in who their new coach was gonna be (this was during summer so the runners had to drive however far they lived to be at the interviews). After the interviews were completed all the runners unanimously decided on one of the candidates. Dolan then said, "Well, its a good thing I am head coach and its solely my decision and I have the last say." Dolan went with the other candidate.

Now its true that the head coach has the executive decision, but I felt that it was kinda rude to make the other runners come and drive from hours away, just to stomp on their opinions. When hearing this story, it made me feel like Dolan only had the runners come just to make them feel like they were special when in reality he didn't care how they felt at all.

There are other stories, but in reality you need to talk to someone on the distance team-me personally, I was on the team fairly recently but no longer. Dolan is not the reason I am no longer on the team.

thanks... I saw there are some good teams and runners, how does the team like him? Whats his coaching philosophy? that would suck if he was an asshole...

My son's girlfriend ran for him for 4 years. She came in as about an 18:15 5k and finished with a 16:5x 5k. She got a lot faster, but generally thought Dolan was something of an arrogant jerk, while acknowledging that his training was well thought out and effective.

go to big west conference championships. notice how many girls are injured and watching while wearing boots. or suffering from anemia. it's ridiculous.

how many of the runners on the team are injured? I know ucsb usually wins their conference meet.

bump

xx chick, if you're so interested in the UCSB program and pete, call or email pete and ask him your questions, he'll make himself available. tell him you read on the message boards that people think he's a dick and let him respond to you. his contact info is on the UCSB athletic website. you're probably not meant for the team (or a UC school) if you're looking for information this important to your future on this message board.

I've known of coach Dolan for about 20 years now. As mentioned before, I've heard yays and nays but in personal interactions with him and actually knowing people that have run for him, I'd happily send an athlete, male or female his way. Santa Barbara is an awesome city, UCSB is a solid school, and Dolan's a decent guy with integrity who knows how to coach.

Why do you hate Nazi-Zionists. Are you a terrorist ?

Just so you know, the word on the street amoung most of the talent factory high schools in So-Cal is that UCLA is a viable option again to send distance athletes to who want to stay in state. Between Braden & Gray things are happening in Westwood. Take a look at the talent they landed for the women's team last year-not bad. After the previous regime, it can only get better.

First: You should run for Cal Poly SLO; the women's team is going to get real good, real soon.

Second: Don't try and find out about Coach Dolan, or any other coach on a worldwide message board like letsrun. Talk to your HS coach, go on a recruiting trip and meet the team, listen to your gut. All you'll find on here is extremes and bias, either he'll be the best coach in CA, or the worst.

Why place the opinion of someone you've never met over what your own experiences can tell you? For what it's worth, I ran against his teams for 5 years and always found him to be a honest, smart, straight forward coach that gets a lot out of the very little the UCSB Athletic Dept. gives him. I always had my hands full with his guys, and we loved putting the beat down on his teams at Big West Champs on their home course in 2000.

Base you decision on where you want to run, where you want to go to school, where you feel most comfortable with the team, and where you believe in the system. Don't base it on opinions that may or may not be worth a damn, mine included, but least I use my name when I post...

-Boother

I think he honestly believes he is forever doomed to work with lessor talent, and that the only way to 'compete' is to run 'em into the ground, hoping for the best. This mindset has held the whole UCSB program back for years.

A good coach can get a motivated 18:15 runner to 16:50's in about 9 months, not 4 years.

What he said

This may sound ridiculous but if i were you, i'd go on the ucsb cross country website, get the names of some of the 4th or 5th years on the team and facebook message them to ask them what they think of dolan. Obviously you're going to get some of the better reactions towards dolan because these are the guys/girls that have lasted through the years. The biggest problem with Dolan is that he has to deal with 2 things: the incredible lack of funds from the school and the availability of so many cool things in Santa Barbara. As many people know, Santa Barbara, Ca is a very beautiful place on the beach so its easy to get caught up and find yourself going off in another direction. Dolan has to deal with all the guys/girls that come to the team that are mentally weak and don't care enough about running (which ultimately leads them to doing other things such as getting the "college experience" or quiting to surf or other things). As long as you want to be fast, i personally can guarantee you that you will be if you went to ucsb (assuming you stay healthy.. and the ones that want it, find a way to be healthy). Yes, at times you may be like "wtf?" about him but 99 times out of 100, you'll realize a week, a month, or even a year or two later that he was right (even if you were just 100% not in agreement). I've been through the program. I was a fast recruit out of high school and I blamed Dolan for me not running fast. Then i realized all the things i was doing wrong and realized that it was my fault for not caring enough. After that, i trusted in his coaching and the program and i ended my career a better runner and even more importantly, a better man.

Again, TALK TO THE GUYS/GIRLS ON THE TEAM.

I have seen the term arrogant on here a number of times and it's spot on. I travelled from across the country to visit some UCs and meet with the coaches during my Junior year in HS. We set up meetings ahead of time and Dolan blew me off. My family and I spent over an hour trying to track him down before asking some guy who was playing tennis at the courts near his "office" (actually a trailer) where we could find Pete Dolan. The guy said "I'm Pete Dolan." I ended up going to another UC and beating a number of UCSB runners during college.

It does seem like he gets the job done.

Pete Dolan was a horrible coach (he doesn't deserve the title)! He will only coach you if you are producing for the team (top 7) in the current season. He will not develop you as a runner!

-He would only take his top 5 to some meets and forget to give out workouts to everyone else (Some of us called up our old HS coaches for training help then). I believe Pete never knew or cared.

-His program emphasizes early season high milage, then speed, and then anaerobic speed. this sounds great, but he always brought anaerobic speed in too early.

-In XC, we would peak at Pre-Nationals, every season. (see previous one)

-Most of his hard workouts are generic interval workouts without specific pacing (i.e. 5k, 8k, 10k pacing level). It was just group 1 go, group 2 go, etc. Lots of us went too hard, too many times (looking back on it now).

-He repeatedly ran us into the ground with multiple teammates of mine getting injured for the season or ending their careers entirely.

-He is very authoritarian (big bully) and comes down hard if you don't do things his way. Again this is mainly for those not in the top 7.

-Sophmore year: Pete wouldn't speak to me [including coaching in races] for a month after I told him "I had to go home" instead of asking "may I go"

-If you are red-shirting XC, he won't let you run with the team; all practices for you are on your own. (He usually goes for his runs about 10 minutes or so after the team runs so he can see if anyone is breaking his rule)

-August 2005, his men's XC team tryout (non-freshman) was a continuous run at 5:10 pace until you drop or he said stop. He finally stopped after only 3 of us were left still going (close to 7 miles). (girls had intensity-equivalent pacing)

-His XC frosh boy's tryout is a 2-mile time trial of 9:45 or better. (Girls have intensity-equivalent time)

-If you fail a tryout, you had to wait outside his office for a "talk" and his "mercy/pity"

-He demands loyalty and full commitment of his runners, yet gives them none in return.

-He has made some of the XC women cry a few times.

In short, Pete is a horrible coach for most and a decent coach for his chosen few.

No matter where you choose to go, be sure it's a school where you would still enjoy to be at even if you couldn't run for the team.

PS: I ran for 5 years at UCSB on the XC and track teams.

PPS: Cal-Poly usually beat us men, but not always the women's team!