Gags back to Rutgers

Interesting. The article calls him a "volunteer coach". I'm assuming that means he will have open reign of the mid and distance squad, but simply won't accept a paycheck. I'm not sure how the dynamic would work if there is another "official" distance/mid-d coach at Rutgers who is supposed to outrank Gags...

Good for him. The guy is still doing what he loves and shows no sign of slowing down.

Back in the Big East ! Go get 'em Gags!

How long will it take before Gags has Rutgers guys beating the current Georgetown guys?????

Old Hoya wrote:

How long will it take before Gags has Rutgers guys beating the current Georgetown guys?????

Probably this season.

The current Georgetown guys aren't very good.

Francis El wrote:

Interesting. The article calls him a "volunteer coach". I'm assuming that means he will have open reign of the mid and distance squad, but simply won't accept a paycheck. I'm not sure how the dynamic would work if there is another "official" distance/mid-d coach at Rutgers who is supposed to outrank Gags...

Good for him. The guy is still doing what he loves and shows no sign of slowing down.

The school is broke. They probably aren't willing to pay for his services.

Dr. Dent wrote:

The current Georgetown guys aren't very good.

Please pay attention. That way you won't sound so stupid when you post.

What did u say? wrote:

Dr. Dent wrote:

The current Georgetown guys aren't very good.

Please pay attention. That way you won't sound so stupid when you post.

rutgers runners must feel like they won the lottery. congratulations guys.

yeah it's gonna be a nice change! Though I'm not sure how different it will be since the old rutgers coach used all coach gags' workouts anyways

thank god! wrote:

yeah it's gonna be a nice change! Though I'm not sure how different it will be since the old rutgers coach used all coach gags' workouts anyways

Having the recipes, doesn't make you a good cook.

RU alum wrote:

Francis El wrote:

Interesting. The article calls him a "volunteer coach". I'm assuming that means he will have open reign of the mid and distance squad, but simply won't accept a paycheck. I'm not sure how the dynamic would work if there is another "official" distance/mid-d coach at Rutgers who is supposed to outrank Gags...

Good for him. The guy is still doing what he loves and shows no sign of slowing down.

The school is broke. They probably aren't willing to pay for his services.

I don't think that's in question. My question is: what is the current coaching situation there- ie, what is he stepping in to? Who was the previous distance coach, and will he still be there?

thank god! wrote:

yeah it's gonna be a nice change! Though I'm not sure how different it will be since the old rutgers coach used all coach gags' workouts anyways

if you think having the workouts makes you an equal coach, you have never been well coached. i know people who were coached by gags at g-town, guys who ran for him with the farm team and people who run for him now that he's back in nj. dude's an inspiring guy by all accounts. that's the difference between coaching someone and training someone. the distance scene at rutgers has been stagnant and flat for so long. all of a sudden their stock went up big time.

the big question i'd have if i were a high school kid coming out of school is how long is gags planning to stay? i'd hate to commit to rutgers only to have gags leave in a year or two.

The head track and field coach, Mike Mulqueen, is also the distance coach. He isn't going anywhere. In reality this is just being set up so Gags doesn't get kicked off the Rutgers track in case the athletic director decides to be a dick about him coaching his pros there. See the situation at Texas. The two will likely schedule the track workouts of the collegiate kids and the pro group back to back so there is a seamless transition between the Rutgers/NJNYTC (that Mulqueen apparently assists on) practices.

this is all silly talk.

gags needs a facility to coach his nj/ny track club.

rutgers coach will do whatever gags says.

to make it feel like a deal, gags is saying "sure, put me down as a volunteer."

but in actuality, it's just a means to an end, so he can continue to coach his post-collegiate group.

silly talk wrote:

this is all silly talk.

gags needs a facility to coach his nj/ny track club.

rutgers coach will do whatever gags says.

to make it feel like a deal, gags is saying "sure, put me down as a volunteer."

but in actuality, it's just a means to an end, so he can continue to coach his post-collegiate group.

If you think that's it, then you really have no clue.

Gags was the former head coach at Rutgers. His assistant, Mike Mulqueen, is now the head coach. Mulqueen is one of Gags' best friends - if not his best friend in the coaching community. They've been friends for over 30 years. Mulqueen was actually Gags' athlete way back in the day, when Gags was the assistant coach at Manhattan, with Mulqueen on those teams - including the 1973 NCAA championship team.

Mulqueen is the Rutgers head coach. He had been coaching the distance runners, but it is really not his forte (he was a 400 hurdler in college.) He's had some middle distance success, but mainly it was with long sprinters. He readily admits that he's not a great distance coach.

Gags still has the fire in his belly to coach. And he wants to coach collegiate athletes too. Gags is one of the most competitive people I have ever met in my life. If you think for a second that Gags is just doing this so his post-collegiates have a place to train, then think again. I'll bet that within a year Gags will have a small stable of MD guys who will be within reach of NCAAs.

The reason for the "volunteer" status is that the NCAA limits the amount of paid coaches a team can have, plus Rutgers' financial situation with athletics. Rutgers has a pretty good multi-event/jumps coach, and a decent sprint coach. They don't have a ton of money - the athletic dept as a whole has taken $115 million from the university in the past 6 years (most of that football), so Mulqueen is on a pretty tight budget.

This deal works out best for everyone. Post-grads get a place to train. Rutgers gets the best MD coach in the country for free. Gags gets back to doing what he loves - coaching guys to beat the piss out of Villanova. And now Gtown too - I'm sure Gags doesn't forget the way Georgetown unceremoniously showed him the door 10 years ago.

Bad move by Gtown, treating an American coaching icon like dirt.

Can someone explain why and how giving Gag's the boot played out?

This is the most sensible post I've read of late--intelligent with the appropriate amount of disdain mixed in. As a result, you should really be banned from this website: nothing fails like success.

So what does Dan Wilson have to do with all of this??

He loves Hummus.