D3 Atlantic Region 2014 XC

wow, SLU with a 20sec spread at nationals? That's insane, every other team in the top 10 had at least a 53sec spread. Their lack of front runners killed them on the big stage, but a solid run and probably where they deserved to end up.

Super Duper wrote:

You know who sucks? The Atlantic Region. No team in the top 10.

Looks like the NCAA made a good choice to only take 3 teams.

3 All-Americans which is decent I suppose...

Women's race - SLU 3rd, Genny 5th, 6 AA's.

@sjfc wrote:

http://athletics.sjfc.edu/roster.aspx?rp_id=5622

sober non-idiot wrote:

In other news, St. John Fisher is really stepping up their game in anonymous message board smack talk... only you didn\'t hide your email. Not so anonymous, definitely pathetic.

Is that really a St. John fisher email address? If so who is it?

What a slow idiot!

2 things:

Just because a st johns fisher kid said stupid things on here about Geneseo, doesn't mean its cool to post a link to his picture on here. I don't even know the kid but just imagine how much that sucks. Take it down. Honestly, just because he posted something stupid, doesn't mean that ok. And how do you actually know its "his" email.

On a funny note, I've known people to create gmails that have other teams names in them (but from a year or two back off the team), and then comment on here as said person, bashing ones own team. lol

Geneseo did perform badly. But, I don't think it will honestly get better from here. Woodie is gone now, and well....he was honestly the reason they were so good. Yeah he had a couple of down years, but overall he coached more All-Americans than most other coaches in the region.

Early 2015 preseason top-10 rankings:

1) Houghton

2) Alfred

3) Potsdam

4) Purchase

5) Geneseo

6) CCNY

7) Alfred State

8) Cobleskill

9) Hobart

10) Nazareth

SUNY G BELIEVE!!!!

What was the last time anyone did this little with such talent? Woods' last year has to be seen as a huge flop on the mens side. Not a single guy in the top 100?

Last I knew Woodsie was coach not Moore. Woodsie makes the decisions. Runners do what they are told. Woodsie is the only one to blame. Someone said last year that he gets all the talent but doesn't do anything with it I do believe this is true now. They should of had 2 AA's but they got steadily worse over the last 3 wks. It sucks they do have talent but not a talented coach.

gxc wrote:

Last I knew Woodsie was coach not Moore. Woodsie makes the decisions. Runners do what they are told. Woodsie is the only one to blame. Someone said last year that he gets all the talent but doesn't do anything with it I do believe this is true now. They should of had 2 AA's but they got steadily worse over the last 3 wks. It sucks they do have talent but not a talented coach.

Agree that it was a poor NCAA for the men's team. BUT...

Coach Woods is hands down the best CURRENT coach in the AR, considering all the "talent" required to be a coach. Their is no other coach in the AR that has the "talent" of Woodsie.

An argument could be made for Jack Daniels, but he left the AR until this past year.

Woodsie has been faithful to the AR since the early 90's. He has become a legend. Even if you are jealous of him or don't like him, you at least recognize him and know his name (that can't be said of all AR coaches). To my knowledge, he helped with the early development of the fastest 5k man and marathon woman that this region has ever produced post-collegiately.

Woodsie's "talent" is his ability to charm every individual he meets with his unique look, care free attitude and charisma second only to Winston Churchill. Most importantly he has a unique ability to make his athletes believe in their own. Something that most coaches lack and will never be able to learn.

So yeah, I disagree with the end part of your post.

Mike Howard is a significantly better coach than Woods. Go compare the HS careers of his top 7 girls from yesterday that came in 3rd at NCAAs to any of Woods' teams. Howard does way more with way less. He has had more consistent success on the women's side in the last decade.

What does it say about Woods' training if some of his athletes run better post-collegiately than they do in college? Chichester ran a fantastic marathon once he left Geneseo. I don't believe he was ever an All-American while training under Woods. He may get his athletes to fall in love with the sport so that they are primed for post-collegiate success, but it must be pointed out that most of his current athletes simply have not developed in college. This fall, it almost seems as if his male athletes did a better job of training on their own over the summer than they did under his watch during the fall because they ran their best in September/early October.

Woods is undoubtedly a great man who connects well with athletes and the community. I completely agree that these are important pieces of being a college coach, but I wouldn't confuse them with the most important aspect of collegiate coaching-developing athletes. It seems to me as if the recent improvements in d3 nationwide have left his program behind.

First off lets take a step back and review something. Coaches do not win races, Athletes win races. Coaches create a plan that they believe will give their athletes the best chance to preform, but a coach cannot run the race for the athlete. I believe if there is any fault to be put it is on the Athlete, then the coach. Everyone on this board was praising the Geneseo duo all season but for no reason. Not of their performances every were that good. They never ran races in control or with any domination. When you look at splits in their "good" performances it shows them pushing hard in the beginning and then holding on, barely, to finish well. That is how they ran this year. They always ran like a high school kids: Go out fast and either scare away the competition, or be ahead by enough that you can crawl into the finish in front.

As we all know that is an immature way of racing that only gets you so far. Because of the talent on the Gen team it was able to get them way farther than it should. Racing a smart and progressive race comes with maturity, something that can't be necessarily coached, only directed. I do believe Alfredo and Miles-Rath have shown more maturity in the past seasons, but did not show any of it this season. You may be able to blame that on Woodsie, but I doubt it. Those two have enough confidence in themselves that they did what they wanted to.

Done with my rampage on geneseo. All just my observations and opinions.

But if we are talking about the greatest coaches in the AR, their are two names that need to be thrown in here. First my favorite John Lynch of RPI, originally Platsburg. He has tons of AA titles to his athletes, and he hasn't been coaching that long. Also look what he has done to RPI, a team who was a joke 4 years ago, now gets a spot on the bubble two years running,( unfortunately screwed over two years running, proof in the individuals performance this past weekend).

The next name is Angelo Posillico, of Oneonta. Unfortunately they also got a bad end of the bargain this year, but look how far those athletes have come. Another group that 5 years ago would not be heard of in XC. He has made a team of mostly 800/1600 runners into pretty decent 8k cross country guys.

I think there is a lot more to come from these two teams in the coming years, and possibly a lot less to come from geneseo unless they change something soon.

You are not backing up your statement with facts. All time AAs, NCAA participation, post collegiate runners, school records, all in Woodsie's favor over Howard. I agree that Howard is a good coach, one of the top in the AR.

Was waiting for someone to bring up that first point. Responsibility for a poor performance should fall fairly equally between a coach and an athlete, and bad results cannot be pushed to the athlete or the coach alone without knowing more about the training leading up to the race.

Some solid choices as far as the coaches go. Following the old "You're only as good as your last game" cliche, both these guys deserve respect for doing great things to programs that haven't seen much XC success until recently.

I'd put Howard in front of Lynch. Lynch is definitely my third as far as coaches and that is because he hasn't been coaching long and doesn't have a legacy built. NYU's Nick McDonough would have been my second had he not switched schools this year. Oneonta's Posillio can talk himself up all he wants but he is not a distance coach, he is and always will be a thrower. He probably has those guys lifting like sprinters and is lucky that Matt LoPiccolo left. Jack Daniels get my honorary mention as he is currently the Wells College coach. But Woodsie is currently the #1 coach in the AR.

Let's see as a matter of fact geneseo guys are always told how to race go out fast, tempo 1/2 race, etc... Woodsie is coach and runners do what he says. These are not kids Enough of this crap it is not on the runners. Jorgeson stress fracture while running nationals last year missing this year milesrath stress fracture in indoor misses outdoor this year. He is a good coach but he has lost the touch in the last couple of years. I am glad to see him on his way

Geneseo promises to come into next year's nationals ranked 1st and then come in last. This is solely to top this year's performance.

shut head wrote:

Let's see as a matter of fact geneseo guys are always told how to race go out fast, tempo 1/2 race, etc... Woodsie is coach and runners do what he says. These are not kids Enough of this crap it is not on the runners. Jorgeson stress fracture while running nationals last year missing this year milesrath stress fracture in indoor misses outdoor this year. He is a good coach but he has lost the touch in the last couple of years. I am glad to see him on his way

What's your opinion on Mazzuca then? 2nd on the team all year and then 6th on the team at nationals. Did he not receive the same coaching as the rest of the athletes? At the end of the day, athletes can perform poorly regardless of what the coach says or does, and that puts some of the responsibility on them as well. I agree with you on the fact that he seems to have lost his touch as of late

Some people need to relax a little and not ride the emotion train. The blame for under achieving needs to be both the coach and athletes. Geneseo ran well beginning of the year and hasn't looked impressive since SUNYACS. To get worse over the season needs to fall somewhat on the coach because he is putting the training plan together. Now if the Geneseo guys are pushing it too hard and not following the plan then they are at fault as athletes but then again the coach needs to be aware and pull the reins back. Geneseo has had a fair share of injuries. It is hard to point a finger at athletes or the coach for this.

Woodsie is a legend though and deserves praise. He may have had some down years on the mens side. But the women were still impressive this year. Woodsie accolades speak for themselves, what happened on Saturday doesn't lessen his career or make him and less of a coach like some people are trying to say.

New topic, any one know what the head cross country situation is looking at Geneseo? Is Moore a lock to get the job, or are there outside candidates that are in serious contention? Should be an interesting transition.