By now, we all know the sad state of affairs on both the men's and women's side. This Knoxville based writer has summed it up pretty well. Supporters of JJ Clark had 2 basic points when alumni expressed concern 4 years ago when he took the reigns: 1) He is a women's and middle distance specialist, it may take some time...well, 4 years later, both suck at UT now. How do we explain that? 2) He was not allowed to assemble his own staff (which I'm not sure is valid b/c how many Olympic sports work like football where everyone is removed?). Well, 2 years ago Clark fired George Watts and Norbert Elliot (both of whom are having highly successfully coaching careers elsewhere) and replaced them with his own people. Well, we still suck AND his distance coach left 6 months into her tenure. Hmmm... Anyway, please read this link which is an unbiased but rough look at UT Track by legendary Marvin West.
http://www.shoppernewsnow.com/columnTemplates/west.aspx
Also, here are some basic points from UT's wonderful performance a the 2013 SEC meet:
Both teams finished 8th (men out of 12 teams, women out of 14 teams)
Men totaled 32 points (7th last year with 40.5 pts/8th in 2011). Women totaled 29 (4th last year with 68 pts/3rd in 2011)
Men lost 7 points from 2012
Women lost 36 points from 2012 (not including the 10 points by the DMR losing 3 members)
NCAA: Women finished tied for 48th place with 3 points
NCAA: Men had two competitors but did not score any points
MEN'S SIDE
Sprints (60-400/60H/4X400) contributed 7 points from 2 scorers (Terry Benson and 4X4). They lose 3 points from Benson who has exhausted eligibility meaning he will not contribute outdoors either. The 4X400 was 5th out of 8 teams (Arkansas/South Carolina were DQ’d but beat us before they were DQ’d pushing us to 7th)
Distance (800-5000/DMR) contributed 4 points from 1 scorer (DMR).
Throws (Shot Put/Weight Throw) contributed 8 points from 2 scorers (Matthew Hoty and Cameron Brown).
Horizontal Jumps (Long Jump/Triple Jump) contributed 0 points.
Vertical Jumps (Pole Vault/High Jump) contributed 13 points from 2 competitors in the Pole Vault (Jake Blankenship and Chase Brannon). For the 2nd straight year Tennessee has not entered a High Jumper.
Tennessee men scored in only 6 of the 16 contested events.
WOMEN'S SIDE
Sprints (60-400/4X4/60H) contributed 3 points to the teams total of 29 points in the form of the 4X400. Sidenote: the 4X400 had 11 teams complete the race (Florida was DQ’d leaving 10 teams) meaning to score you had to beat 3 teams to score any points.
Distance (800-5000/DMR) contributed 11 points (Nijgia Snapp (6) and DMR (5)). Snapp is a senior
Throws (Shot Put/WT) contributed 5 points (Jessie Harrison (2) and Cassie Wertman (3)).
Horizontal Jumps (LJ/TJ) contributed 3 points (Kia Jackson). Jackson is a senior.
Vertical Jumps (Pv/HJ) contributed 7 points.