U of I Distance Job?

Ohio state's Robert Gary has been part of the rumor mill supposedly taking the distance helm at U of I. I think hes originally from Chicago making it a nice drive back home.

This has been on just about every message board. Coach Gary has addressed this with the team. HE IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE! He will be at Ohio State next year and for years to come. He is very pleased where the program is right now.

That verbal commitment to stay at Ohio State isn't worth the paper it is written on. Listen, see Alabama's football coach or Bowling Green's football coach about commitment. Money is Money is Money, baby.

There isnt a whole lot of money to go around in this sport, it isnt like football where college coaches get paid a ton of cash. Robert Gary will not leave Ohio State, I am sure of this, especially since I talked to him about this personally. He loves his young team and is recruiting a few studs this year that could help out next year if they sign there.

Remember there is not a distance opening at Illinois right now. It is a Head Track Coach opening. They will blow there money on a head track coach, not an assistant that is going to be the cross coach. Count Gary out, and start talking about candidates for the head job. Everybody keeps saying Jerry Clayton. Any other head coaching possiblities?

Are they hiring a head track coach (sprinter), and hiring an assistant (distance). Anyone in the know?

I have heard a strong rumor that Al Carius of North Central College will be the next coach at the University of Illinois. He would be a perfect fit.

Jerry Clayton will be the next head coach at the Unviversity of Illinois. His name has been rolling around for years. He is a field event coach and a former Illini!

I heard that rumors dont mean anything and that people who spread them are back of the pack losers. But now its my turn to start a rumor and have some message board fun: I heard that UofI has had talks with Donald Sutherland due to his outstanding coaching role in Without Limits, shhhhhh dont tell anyone.

I too have heard Jerry Clayton and I agree that it will be his decision on who he is going to hire. As for Gary, it is true that he loves it at Ohio State and is proud of the turn around that he ahs had with the distance program (because we used to SUCK!), but he gets zero respect there. After the team had an outstanding Big 10 meet (where Robert really got screwed out of the Big 10 Coach of the Year in my opinion) he heard nothing from the administration. He is working with some serious resource deficiencies and has begun to feel like they are taking advantage of him. I don't know if he would get more money at Illinois, but I do know that he makes SIGNIFICANTLY less than the other assistants at Ohio State and his own running career is winding down. He loves OSU and has as much freedom with training and planning than any coach in the country, but I know for a fact that he would take an interview at Illinois and most other places. As a side note, if you want to check on our administration's knowledge of track, Russ Rodgers (a rare combination of complete laziness and utter stupidity) is beloved by all!

It is a shame that Gary is even coaching. I thought he was one of the best steeple guys we've ever had and in an event where we actually have a small prayers chance of scoring a medal. Saw him completely solo 8:22 and said thank god we have someone besides Broe getting ready to do something in Europe and then he fizzeled out. I realize now that he has been coaching for 6 years. This is what is wrong with American distance running. He has to get a job!

Did you ever think that maybe he loves to coach and can do both very well at the same time? I mean think about it. He has wonderful facilities at OSU, has people to train with, and can start building up his career post competition at the same time. I also think that he realizes that his pro career is winding down and that there is a lot of young talent coming up like Lincoln and Slattery, to go with the already proven guys like Broe and Fam. Just my two cents.

SB Runner wrote:

Did you ever think that maybe he loves to coach and can do both very well at the same time? I mean think about it. He has wonderful facilities at OSU, has people to train with, and can start building up his career post competition at the same time.

As the close friend of a former elite athlete/coach, (now coach only), I can tell you that it is virtually impossible to compete at the highest level while coaching. The minute my friend started volunteer coaching, a job which he took very seriously, his performance waned. He still competed at an elite level, but his competitive fire began to get fueled by his kids competing, as well as from recruiting wars. He still trained hard, but he just wasn't the same athlete. Now he is a full-time coach, and a damn good one, but it saddens me (not him) to think what he could have accomplished had he held off from coaching for a few years. AND, he wasn't coaching 'cause he needed the money--he had a shoe contract that paid him quite well, so he volunteered. But you'll never get him to admit that his choice to start coaching had any negative impact on his personal performance, but it absolutely did. You just can't do them both.

I agree with not being able to do both. However, even the guys on the team have realized how Gary has learned what his body and focus. Unlike your friend, Gary has admitted that it takes away from his own training/racing; however, he feels that now the positives you mentioned far outweigh the negatives. He does things more one-on-one than wwhen he started and during cross season, he is just chilling. I know last year, we had a guy win the Junior 10k and Gary talked with him that morning and knew it would be a bad idea to stay because he does get pretty into it. I think he is becoming a very good coach, I hope the kids appreciate it, but I still think he'll be in that top 3 the next 2 years at US Champs (worlds and Olympics) and he'll pop a great time in Europe before it is all over. He is one of a only a handful of guys who aren't scared to go over to Europe and has been trying to do it for the last couple summers. Go Buckeyes!

Who cares? The Illini are terrible!

Reality wrote:

Who cares? The Illini are terrible!

That would be my question - what reason, if any, does anyone have for thinking that Illinois would treat a distance coach any better than OSU? I'm not trying to criticize (or at least, not based on any actual information), but UI does not, in my mind, have a history of paying much attention to the distances.

Very interesting comment about Illinois and not paying attention to the distances. You're right, absolutely no tradition at Illinois in that area!

School records:

1:44.8 (Big Ten Record),

3:33 (Big Ten Record),

8:32 steeple,

13:32 5k,

27:59 10k (Big Ten Record),

9:27 DMR,

7:15 3200 Relay (Big Ten Record)

Indoor:

800m 1:46.8 (Big Ten Record)

13:52 5,000m

You be the judge!

I'm guessing that many of those, particularly the middle distances, may be Marko Koers (I think that was the guy), who was (is?) very talented. But how do they do as a team in Big 10 cross?

There are schools with no track team at all right now that I'm sure have very good school records. I was really referring to recent history as a team. But I could be wrong - I just don't recall many recent discussions where anyone brought up UI as a "spoiler" in the distance scoring.

The Illini are terrible because they do not recruit. With the recruiting base they have in their state alone, there is just no excuse for how bad they are. Marko Koers just showed up in Champaign, completely unrecruited. There was a time when the Illini could get some of Illinois' finest without any effort. 2 very talented kids on our team are Prairie Staters who never even got a form letter from Illinois. One of them has a brother who was 6th at Foot Locker nationals...again, no letter. Why is this? We want answers!