What the Hell Happened to Michigan's Track Program?

Ron warhurst left!

sub-4:00 revealed how crappy the weather can be in Ann Arbor. Blame Chris Lear.

No Ronnie, no more very nice.

It went way downhill before Ron left, not after.

It takes a lot more than distance runners to have a good track and field team.

But anyway, Craig Forys ran great at Big Tens, and their XC team qualified for nationals after a couple of down years.

Their women's team is doing big things!

Michigan is a wierd school. You would think they would have every reason to dominate in track. Big time athletic department. Yet I've never in 25 years noticed their track team ever had a winning team concept. They like to say they are "the Harvard" of the midwest. Maybe the athletes don't care about their athletics the same the rest of the Big 10 does. I don't blame them.

They have always underachieved. And they always get topnotch talent. Well I shouldn't say always. But Jeezus how the hell can they be so bad? Back in the day Michigan guys would brag about getting 50 bucks a day meal money when my school was giving out 15 dollars.

I never saw Michigan track as a team. They have won Big 10 titles a couple of times in cross with Warhurst in the last 30 years. They just don't to seem to take it that important. Many great individuals over the years. What did they score, 18 points at Big 10 Indoors this year, mainly by Forys.

Hmm. I heard a rumor that Warhurst started treating every runner like Willis after he ran for him (i.e. assuming they could all handle the same sick interval sessions). Not sure if there is any truth to that.

asfsdaf wrote:

Hmm. I heard a rumor that Warhurst started treating every runner like Willis after he ran for him (i.e. assuming they could all handle the same sick interval sessions). Not sure if there is any truth to that.

Ron generally trained his guys around the top runners. Made guys work harder - some of them last, a lot of them die off (myself included) - but altogether not the worst strategy (provided you have stars). If you don't have a superstar like a willis or sully to train around, that sort of program falls apart. strikes me with the exception of the team in the 80s the original poster mentioned, most of the decent/good teams you've seen at michigan since have been centred around stars... doesn't do much for depth though - have a look at the letsrun article on the guelph (canada) training program and the ability to specialize workouts/training for different types of runners.

Fred Laplante only has excuses and so does the team as a result. I was at the Duel meet vs OSU and the team looked very uninspired (and it was at Michigan!)

I think Gibby will struggle just as bad once Forys is done this year, but he seems tohave new life to his career since Gibby's arrival.

Gibby is an excellent coach, but the question is can he recruit. And, of course, he has no control over field events or sprints. Also, the cross country team is really not going to be very good next year. I just don't see it. Does the team have any recruits coming in? Doesn't it all come down to recruiting?

damanged goods wrote:

Gibby is an excellent coach, but the question is can he recruit. And, of course, he has no control over field events or sprints. Also, the cross country team is really not going to be very good next year. I just don't see it. Does the team have any recruits coming in? Doesn't it all come down to recruiting?

Tony Smoragiewicz signed to Michigan, Sub-9 3200m guy and has qualified for NXN & FLN multiple times placing 3rd at the 2010 FLN.

I think they'll be just fine

utopis wrote:

Fred Laplante only has excuses and so does the team as a result. I was at the Duel meet vs OSU and the team looked very uninspired (and it was at Michigan!)

I think Gibby will struggle just as bad once Forys is done this year, but he seems tohave new life to his career since Gibby's arrival.

I usually avoid these threads, since they often come down to coach-bashing. But I had to agree with this person; I too was at the OSU/UM (indoor) duel meet and Michigan just had no passion. I brought a friend to the meet and found myself apologizing - it just wasn't fun to watch.

Gibby seems to do well at the 5k/10k stuff but really struggles with the 800/mile types. I expect that he will start doing better once he gets more of his distance specialist runners in the program. It also seemed that he didn't get a bunch of studs at William and Mary.. just a bunch of deep teams that ran well in XC. It will be extremely hard for him to become competitive in the top-heavy big ten.

I look at it this way: They are a world class university with a tradition of excellence in the classroom and on the field. All of their sports teams took a hit under the former athletic director, but now Michigan its regaining its place of prominence. Both football and basketball teams are back to being acceptable. I know David Brandon doesn't accept subpar programs. Is it a matter of time before LaPlante is gone, or is he going to right this ship?

break it up wrote:

They like to say they are "the Harvard" of the midwest.

Harvard of the West

That's funny because Willis isn't exactly a guy who goes out and kills intervals. His online log (I'm not sure if it is still available but it used to be) doesn't have any really insane workouts, and he has admitted that he tends to run pretty lackluster sessions when he doesn't have anyone to work out with. Maybe he actually ended up treating every runner like Webb and Sully- from what I've heard, those guys could run some sick intervals.

Smorgz agreed to Michigan because they're letting him continue with his triathlon training (not going to work).

Gibby got William and Mary good on the backs of 9:25 2-milers running huge mileage and getting ready for Pre-Nationals XC, Regionals XC, NCAA XC, and then a Stanford outdoor meet to get NCAA marks. There was not a Dual meet against Ohio State and no conference meet (indoors or outdoors) that was even remotely important or competitive.

Nowadays, boy wonder has to be ready at 2 conference meets (TRACK). He better pray the AD thinks XC is an actual sport.

And losing Forys and April is huge. They have NOBODY else and will not be good at all next year! Good news is that W&M is on a downslide and perhaps Gibby can get old job back?

If given time, Gibby will consistently have the MIchigan xc program in the top 3 every year. With his very high mileage at a fast pace, he can get very good cross country results if he has the depth of 920-930 guys to adapt to the system. Very similar to the Hansons in many ways. Unfortunately, that method does not work for scoring many points in the Big10 in indoor and outdoor track. You need guys to score in the 600, 800, mile, 3000, 5000, DMR as the distance coach.

Warhurst recruited milers to run xc for him, then when track rolled around, they could run a range of distances for him. McGuire does the same for his women's program.

There is no excuse for having no one run the 800m under 1.50 in any given year at a major d1 school. Michigan can't get anyone under 1.52.

Brandon needs to hire a new sprints coach who can also coach 800m runners, or have LaPlante replace Gibby with a distance coach who can work with middle distance runners also.

It's not rocket science. Have them run hills in the fall, and run 200s, 300s, and 400s fast during the season!