U of W Track Coach Canned!

Randy Cole, maybe?

Good riddance. He ruined Carl Moe and so many others.

Yeah I thought Randy Cole was the head XC and track distance coach??

InWyo wrote:

http://county10.com/2012/05/14/uw-will-not-retain-track-yentes-era-comes-to-an-end-in-laramie/

Yes that U of W

Seriously...This guy was terrible. Particularly for the distance runners.

I hate to even ask as I don't want this to turn into a thread about flaming the guy, but could you explain why he was bad for distance runners? I ran for UW but was only a part of the team for a brief period and didn't really get to know the program or the Coach Yentes much. He seemed like a nice guy, but I didn't work with him and cannot comment either way on his quality as a coach.

To the other guy, Randy Cole is the distance coach and head xc coach. Yentes is (was) the head track coach and was in charge of sprints and hurdles.

Lobstah Claus wrote:

Good riddance. He ruined Carl Moe and so many others.

wrong U of W lol

Hopefully this means Randy Cole is out as the XC coach as well. Yentes was the reason such a bumbling close-minded fool was heading the XC program at UW. It'll be interesting to see who the search for a new coach brings. The AD has done pretty well with coaching hires in other sports since he's been around.

Too bad it's Greg millers last year of eligibility. He never reached his potential with that horrible coach.

pikaboo kids

Is caning still a legal form of professional discipline? I know that caning was a very prevalent form of punishment during the biblical time period but I thought society had evolved. Is he going to return to coach UofW after this disciplinary incident?

**BTW you mis-spelled CANING (it has a single N) Canning is a process used to can products.

Shut up Randy

Actually - Yentes was quite good at being a coach. It's not exactly easy to recruit in Wyoming. He also spent time volunteering at the grass root track/field level. Done quite a bit for the sport. So - know what you're talking about before blindly bashing him.

What I know is that the talent that the Wyoming team has had in the past 10 years, has been wasted to injuries. Also the six runners I personally know quite well, that ran in that program under his guidance have not ran a step since leaving the program (5-6 years). All those runners say the coaching staff at Wyoming needed to be replaced.

Also, the recruiting in Wyoming excuse is terrible. Of course I didn't expect Alicia Craig (Shay) to run for Wyoming, but behind that once in a decade talent for a small state like Wyoming, is a dense recruiting class that goes elsewhere because what is said about the Wyoming coaching staff. I ran in Montana and the top runner at Montana State was from Wyoming at that time, and my old coach continually gets quality runners from Wyoming. My wife ran for a cross country team that had 7 girls run in college with three of them going D-1. The top girl on her team went to Wyoming (mainly due to parental pressure because of the addition of the Hathaway scholarship in Wyoming), and she's the only one that no longer runs, and lost 2 years in college to injuries (and red-shirted another year because of injury). That would be fine if she had issues or was an isolated case, but this is the norm for 6 runners that I know who ran at that school.

Also, the grass-roots level of running in Wyoming absolutely sucks, so he didn't do much. Montana actually has track and cross country races that post-collegiate and masters runners can jump into. Wyoming has nothing like that.

The fact of the matter is that Wyoming used to be quite competitive in the Big 12 and now they can't even compete in the Mountain West.

InWyo wrote:

Yes that U of W

What's your point of reference? To the vast majority of the athletes in the nation, talking about the "U of W" does not mean Wyoming.

When was Wyoming in the big 12?

Sorry... WAC

Dear distance nerds blindly flaming Yentes,

Do any of you remember the two world class triple jumpers at Wyoming one of which is currently the assistant jumps coach? Or the young lady that showed up with a 60 sec pr in the 400 that ran in the low 50s for yentes? Clearly you haven't been to Laramie if you think Wyoming is an easy or great place to recruit from. It's a bit tough when your neighbors to the immediate south are wetmore and c state. Also I can't imagine funding has ever been that great there. I bleed brown and gold but with a population of just over a few hundred thousand I would expect the too talent to leave the state for greener pastures. U W will sadly always be a begger not a chooser. Don't fool yourselves. Flame on boys.......

cowboy fan wrote:

Dear distance nerds blindly flaming Yentes,

Do any of you remember the two world class triple jumpers at Wyoming one of which is currently the assistant jumps coach? Or the young lady that showed up with a 60 sec pr in the 400 that ran in the low 50s for yentes? Clearly you haven't been to Laramie if you think Wyoming is an easy or great place to recruit from. It's a bit tough when your neighbors to the immediate south are wetmore and c state. Also I can't imagine funding has ever been that great there. I bleed brown and gold but with a population of just over a few hundred thousand I would expect the too talent to leave the state for greener pastures. U W will sadly always be a begger not a chooser. Don't fool yourselves. Flame on boys.......

So if he's so great, why exactly did he get fired?

The Cowboys don't compete with Wetmore for recruits. Colorado is just out of their league. Wetmore can get kids from around the country that can run in the 14s in the 5k coming out of high school. The Pokes just aren't going to attract that talent, but there are dozens of kids in Wyoming who are able to run in the 15s for a 5k right out of high school. In Wyoming with only one college, everyone bleeds brown and gold. I don't know a single person who doesn't have a Pokes sweater in this state. The goal for them shouldn't be competing for a national title, but we have the talent pool to compete in the conference.

Looking at the latest conference meet for Wyoming, the results a piss pore (http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wyo/sports/c-track/auto_pdf/2011-12/box_score/stats_20120512aaa.pdf). My high school average time would have been top 8 in the 400 in this conference (Wyoming didn't field a male runner in the 400), I ran faster in high school than their fastest 800 runner, and although I never ran a 1500 in high school (only ran mile/1600), I would be close to their fastest 1500 runner.

Greg Miller and Nick Ekel are both pretty talented, and they would beat my former college self or my high school self, but I guess the point I'm trying to make, is that this coaching staff can't even sustain the high school performances of their recruits, much less develop them. Just look at Miller's Bio:

How many times does it say he lost chunks of the season due to injuries the longer he was at that school?

InWyo, check your facts. It is quite easy to sit behind your computer in your basement and rag on people you know very little to nothing about. And you have quite a point when you say that your distance runner friend got injured (because distance runners NEVER get injured) under the tutelage of the sprints/jumps/hurdles coach!

But instead of discussing your lack of logic, let me just mention the facts. Coach Yentes has coached: 28 All-American Performances, 78 NCAA National Qualifiers, 64 Mountain West Conference Champions, 274 All-Mountain West Conference Performances, and one NCAA National Champion. Good luck finding stats like that from any other coaches at Wyoming.

And don't forget the 4 separate Coach of the Year awards he won.

All of this was accomplished with a shoestring budget, while recruiting kids to sprint and hurdle at 7200 feet, where it is winter three-quarters of the year. AND,(for over half of his tenure) to a school with no outdoor track. (Yes, they practiced for years at good ol' LHS' stellar outdoor facility!)Not too shabby.

Hope this helps clear things up a bit.

Yentes was fired due to pissing off admin... simple as that... What he did at Wyo is legendary!! Anyone who knows track and field knows this. FACT If you look at the sprinters/hurdlers/jumpers/relays he produced here - your jaw will drop. EXAMPLES: The #3 All Time 400H in NCAA History from Sheridan, WY 54.32!!! A relay team 3:30 by all girls from the state of wyoming!!! 54' 9" Triple jumper who came in with a 48' PR from high school. A girl from Burns, Wy HS - runs 51.72 400m A tiny girl from Star Valley HS in Wyo who ran 12.5 100m in HS - she runs 7.30 60m indoors - 53 low 400 and 11.6 100m His Top 10 list in sprints/hurdles/relays will not change! They rival most big name schools. One of the best coaches to ever grace the UWyo campus without a doubt...