Ron Mann - Louisville

Coach Caboose,

I still run, but it is strictly recreational. I had fun racing the roads for a couple of years after I turned 40, but it wasn't as much fun when I was training just as hard to run slower. It was also time to turn my attention and time to my family, who had sacrificed over the years to make it all happen for me. My oldest son is in 9th grade. We also adopted a Russian orphan 2 years ago. I am teaching girls PE and coaching cross country and track at a small, private, Christian school in Temecula, CA. My son runs for me, but plays baseball in the spring. The shared family passion is NASCAR- go Jeff Gordon!

By the way, Ron Mann was never my coach. I was coached by Vince O'Boyle from 1975 until 1999 - a longer relationship than most marriages! Ron is a good friend of Vince's and that is how I met him long ago. I think one of the reasons I was able to do so well for so long was sticking with Vince and what worked for me. Guys like Vince and Ron are few and far between. They give so much of their time and themselves and it is because they love what they do and love helping others. It certainly isn't for the $$. I also could never have accomplished what I did without my husband, Tom by my side.

Thanks for asking, and for being in my corner.

Ruth Wysocki

As for the XC guys:

Seacat - coming off an injury

Sheikh - not sure about a redshirt, but def. not running

Bowling, Hurst, Davis - Booted? NO! Quit... maybe there is some truth to some of the negative posts on this forum!!

Why would Bowling, Hurst and Davis quit? Weren't they all, at least Hurst and Bowling, making progress during XC? I guess they didn't like the new system from a championship coach.

This is Brian Hurst. I told Coach Allen that I wouldn't get on here and say anything, but I think I need to clear my name and get some things straightened out because reading this stuff is getting on my nerves. I'm not going to go into all areas of the subjects said on this absurd and juvenile message board because it appears to me that some people are acting extremely childish and are expressing opinions when they just don't know the facts. And just to let you know, I haven't posted any messages besides the one backing up Isaac Lafond - the post about him having mono. That's the only thing I've posted on here and none of the other posts have been from the athletes mentioned on here (Bowling, Davis, etc.). I was tired of you people giving Isaac crap when you know nothing about the situation. So if you don't know what's going on, quit trying to assume you know. And by the way, Michael Jesse is NOT a cancer to the team, as so many people on this message board think. You all do not know him personally and know nothing about this team, so quit trying to make him look like a "cancer". He’s not and I know first hand that he’s not – he’s a good teammate.

The reason I left the team for the spring is that I was getting VERY behind in school and I needed to get my grades and engineering classes straightened out. Track was taking up way too much time and I’m in school to go to school and I’m not on any athletic scholarship, so you can see where my priorities and obligations are. I was also very burned out on running and have been for a long time (even during last fall). I got to the point where I didn’t even want to get out the door and jog around the block on my own. Track was becoming more of a job and I wasn’t having any fun at it. My heart wasn’t in it and hadn’t been for awhile, so I made a decision to leave the team for now. I still have the option to come back to the team in the fall, so we’ll see where I stand when that time comes, but I have over 3 months to think about that. There is no ill will between me and the coaches and I wish the team the best of luck. I just hope that this clears some things up and hopefully everyone on here will quit making assumptions.

And if you want to know why Kyle Bowling or Chris Davis left the team, ask them on your own because I’m not going to make assumptions on why they’re gone and end up causing a massive uproar on this stupid message board. I want everyone to quit writing things if you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m tired of this and I’m tired of seeing my name on this message board. So now everyone should see that I did not leave because I “didn’t like the new system from a championship coach.”

Well, it looks like Hurst shut everyone up. It's about time. It takes someone close to the action to actually set the story straight and for everyone to quiet their mouths. Hurst is the man and nice job for shutting everyone up.

I will say one thing ron mann is a nice guy, but him and coach allen are f***in used car salesman, they would try to sell ice to the eskimos. If you ask me i think that fat bastard tom jurich is a f***in cock suckin mother f***er, who is a f***in drunk gene weis did more for that program with absolutely nothing, than those grease balls have done with the moon and the f***in stars, and dont get me started on coach brazier what a f***in fudge packer hes queerer than a football bat. And lets talk about the guys he has kicked of the team and or quit, Kyle bowling top ten in ky jr year, 3155 10k xc regionals soph, brian hurst top 5 state sr year, chris davis 2620 at pre nats open, 155 800 iu soph year, michael jesse, dont even get me started on that kids talent, isaac lafond, arguably the 2nd best distance runner in the state of ky, and the list goes on and on across the field, ie matt berrier 6'7 hj, and this team is so overrated this year, their is clearly no leader, korir folds like a card table in cold weather, kaiser is the biggest choke artist in history, even go back to state xc his sr year, he copped out then saying he had a knee injury, my ass, wes seacat, does one race make your career ie fresh conference usa, michael jesse was far and away better than him, and i wonder why nurani was so crazy bc they had him so focused on the olympics he could hardly breathe

for all im concerned all those f**s on the coaching staff can go over to jurichs house and have a f***in gravy train

gene weis forever tom jurich never

"fudge packer hes queerer than a football bat"

What exactly is a football bat?

Louisville seems to be holding their own without the tallents of Mr. Jesse and Mr. "2nd best in the state" LaFond. If these guys are such tallents, why didn't they transfer?

Oh, that's right, they had already transferred once. My intuition would tell me these guys had something else going on, i.e. problems with the student part of student-athlete, lack of interpersonal skills, mental problems, the list could be very long.

LaFond was overraced in high school and it showed in college. Just ask his daddy.

The Hurst boys were engineering majors. They didn't get kicked off the team. Just didn't have the time to make the commitment Mann wanted them to. It happens, that's why they are STUDENT-athletes. There are more important things in life than being the #4 or #5 man on an XC team.

One of the boys, maybe Bowling or Jesse or Davis, showed up fat and out of shape. Others couldn't hang with the "student" aspect, others got sick. It happens. They have a better team now than a year ago or any year Weiss was there. Their 2nd runner is a talented freshman that Weiss could not have recruited. That's just the facts. Both Seacat and Kaiser I believe had injury problems over the summer. They have improved and will improve. Louisville is about 3-4 years away from NCAAs. Just watch.

sure they have a better team now or any time Weis was there: they have the scholarship money to do so. gene couldn't give anyone more than $2000 a year and now these new guys are all almost on full scholarship (tuition, books, living expenses, etc.). you can't do a whole lot by offering incoming freshman only $2000 when tuition, books, and room and board will run you close to $6000 a semester at u of l (and that's IN-STATE tuition). I hope everyone starts doing the math and tries to see how good of a job gene did with what he was given. people need to recognize that and give him respect. his last year he produced a cross team that finished 3rd without hurst or jesse or lafond running (those are the 3 kentucky runners that would have contributed and that doesn't even count korir and sheik who helped u of l to the SAME finish the following year) and a track team that finished 5th (both his best finishes as a team for his entire tenure). ron mann is a well established coach and has the credentials to recruit top talent and now he has the resources to do what he wants. u of l will be big in the future, but gene weis deserves lots of respect for what he accomplished with extremely limited resources.