National Championship Coach Fired - Arcadia Coach Jim O'Brien Fired From Track Team

they need to make room for a more DIVERSE coaching staff. we don't care about qualifications, just race.

Okay, I see your point, OP. But! If he has been fired twice, something is going on. Obviously head coach cannot fire him without school board approval, so something is going on.

Why doesn't he find another school where he can have his own team?

Link? Source?

O'Brien used to be the head track coach but resigned to spend more time with his wife and family.

Are You Kidding Me? = Jim O'Brien

I used to run the 400 for Arcadia HS. I was coached under the head track coach (Schultz) but I also saw what O'Brien did and even trained with him over the summer once with the xc team. O'Brien wasn't fired for legitimate reasons. Even though he was my coach, Schultz was a total a-hole and had little to no credentials prior to taking the Arcadia coaching position. Schultz was a real d*ck to O'Brien and really disliked him.

They differed on one idea:

Schultz believes that not all kids should be allowed to run at invitationals and it should only be the best athletes.

O'Brien believes that all his athletes should be allowed to run in invitationals as long as they qualify for the meet.

This may be a small difference between the two but it has led to becoming a big deal. O'Brien is a huge advocate FOR his athletes and wants to give every kid an opportunity (which is why he has 80 kids on the boys XC team).

The athletic director sides with the head track coach because of the sole reason that he is the head track coach for track and O'Brien is technically the assistant coach.

It's true about what's going on at Arcadia. I don't go to school there but I've run under O'Brien's club xc team in the past. He's a very classy guy... crazy... but classy. He does a lot for his athletes and from what I've heard from some of the Arcadia guys, he goes through a lot of crap with the administration to fight for what's best for his athletes. I guess at their school, like many others, football is a priority (even though their team sucks) and O'Brien is all about equality. He get's upset when his athletes aren't recognized after winning state and national championships, so he does his best to get the administration to have some sort of recognition for them. He is a true advocate for his athletes and will do anything for them. I wish I could run for his high school team because he's already done so much for me and I've only ran 1 race under him. Truly an AMAZING coach.

Penna wrote:

Why doesn't he find another school where he can have his own team?

Arcadia is a wealthy community that values education. I'm not sure if O'Brien is a teacher at Arcadia HS, but if he is, then he probably makes more money there than he could somewhere else.

Athletes of his coming on here to defend him certainly speaks well of O'Brien.

Yes, he is a teacher at the school.

10/10

One of the better trolls lately

Where's your source?

And O'Brien has not led Arcadia to 8 straight California Div. 1 State Championships? They've only won 2 in the last 8 years, and the Saugus girls hold the longest streak for most California state championships won in a row (currently 7).

He has led them to 8 straight state meet appearances which is the most of any Division 1 team.

And to Fluffy, I GUARANTEE you this is not me trolling. What would even be the reason for me to even make this up?

dude, there's no nc in ncaa DI-A college football nor high school xc.

To all the geniuses in this thread, boys XC and girls XC are different sports. Given that this thread is about a boys team, one can assume that any records/stats are in reference to boys XC, not girls XC.

Not So Fast Guy wrote:

Okay, I see your point, OP. But! If he has been fired twice, something is going on. Obviously head coach cannot fire him without school board approval, so something is going on.

Do school boards really get involved in the hiring and firing of assistant coaching jobs?

What a waste of time and money.

No.

My guess (if any of this is true) is that the AD only has the power to hire or fire coaches.

In this case, he would be pretty dumb to do so absent a very legit reason. In fact, if I were the AD I would run it by the principle first and make sure all ducks were in a row before whacking a coach that has had this kind of success.