Chattanooga Men's Program info

Here is my letter to the AD:

January 29, 2015

Mr. David Blackburn

Vice-Chancellor, Athletic Director

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

615 McCallie Ave.

Chattanooga, TN 37403

Dear Mr. Blackburn:

My name is Nic Crider, I graduated from UTC in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education and was a member of the cross-country and track teams. Throughout my career representing UTC I was able to win eleven Southern Conference titles, including three wins in-a-row in cross-country. I am extremely proud of this accomplishment because I am the only U.S. born athlete to accomplish this feat so far, not to add, I was representing my home state of Tennessee. In 1998, I was able to lead our team to our first Southern Conference cross-country team title, turn around a couple of weeks later and dominate the region to win the NCAA South Region where we again brought home the individual and team titles. We ran undefeated through the 1998 season leading into the National meet and I was undefeated as an individual. In qualifying for the NCAA Championships in Lawrence, KS, I was able to return to my birth state and run cross-country for the first time in front of a majority of my family. I was a huge interest story for the Topeka Capital-Journal as the news I was born in Kansas got out. When we returned to Chattanooga we were inducted into the Chattanooga Old Timers’ Athletics Hall of Fame. On the track, I was able to win eight more titles, be named indoor track performer of the meet twice, and set many school records, some of which still stand.

As a result of my individual accomplishments, I was featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” and was inducted into UTC’s Athletics Hall of Fame in my first year of eligibility (2005).

None of this would have happened had I not attended UTC and ran for Coach Gautier. I was a very highly recruited high school athlete during my time in Oak Ridge, TN. I received letters, phone calls, visits, etc. from the best programs in the country: Arkansas, Tennessee, Arizona, U.S. Naval Academy, and Princeton, among others. I chose UTC because of Bill Gautier and the world thought I was crazy, my own high school coach thought I had gone mad. Coach Gautier had a plan to make the program the best in the South and told me I was going to be a key part of his plan. I still remember the night he called to offer a scholarship and I could tell he did not expect me to say yes, and when I did the phone went silent. Coach had to ask me to repeat what I said, and then I heard a huge cheer from behind him as the guys on the team were there with him as he made the call. The rest as they say, is history.

I am so very saddened to hear another young man may not be able to write his own history under the guidance of Coach Gautier. He has played and still plays a huge role in who I am today. I used the same lessons he taught me out running intervals to the thousands of high school students I have taught to persevere. In my first coaching position, at Ringgold High School, where I was the only cross-country and track coach I had to use the same skills in management I witnessed him use time and time again as our only coach. When I was a teacher in a school that was made up of 99% minority students here in Louisville, I recalled how coach was simply himself in dealing with our minority student-athletes and the respect he earned from them in return. And now that I am a counselor in one of the best high schools in the country I use the lessons, most of which I did not realize at the time, in empathy and leadership we saw from him daily.

Most importantly, I met my wife, Amy, being a part of the cross-country and track teams and we now have two beautiful children. My oldest, who is a boy, wanted to follow in mommy and daddy’s footsteps and run for Chattanooga. When my son, Nolan, heard me on the phone the other day he asked me if he could still go to Chattanooga and if “Coach” was going to be ok. I just had to say, “I don’t think so.”

I know I am a part of the past, but I wanted you to know my Mocs story and the impact Coach Gautier has had on my family.

Sincerely,

Nic Crider

UTC Class of 2000

XC and Track

Athletics Hall of Fame, 2005

Emailing. This needs to be fixed.

Also, sorry. Was not attempting to comp your thread.

Bump

Mr. Crider is a genuinely good person who has helped too many people to count, myself included. I am obviously against cutting any track/cross country program, but if Chattanooga is the type of environment that produces the Mr. Cirders of the world, than that fact alone warrants its continued existence. A college cross country/track experience is more than PR's, conference championships, or even a nuisance in the athletic budget. It's a supremely pure and noble endeavor that produces lifelong friendships, skills, and positive personality traits that just can't be learned or found in a classroom. My complete support and well-wishes go my UTC running colleagues, I hope the university sees sanity on this issue.

Thanks for the texts earlier, the kind words, and supporting Men's Track at UTC.

Nic: The current ORHS coach thinks you're nuts, too. :-)

Seriously: strong letter. i cannot understand how cutting this hugely successful program can in any way be construed as a move in the right direction for the athletic department.

Chas Webb here the real one, not my fake imposter "stick with whatever." As a Chattanooga resident I'm very opposed to this. I sent a letter to the A.D. here is what I wrote.

Dear Mr. Blackburn,

My name is Chas Webb and I am a UTC Alumnus. I graduated in 2010 with a civil engineering degree and I am a proud supporter of all things Chattanooga Mocs. First off I would like to commend you on the work you have done in restoring pride the University Athletics Department. It’s great to see the Chattanooga community really rally around the sports and athletes here.

One sport that Chattanooga has really embraced is running. Running has been an integral part of this community. I know this for a fact as I served as President of the Chattanooga Track Club for 18 months from 2012 to 2014. During that time I became involved in supporting and growing the track and field program at UTC. You may remember the check presentation the Chattanooga Track Club made to UTC during halftime of a Mocs basketball game last January. I know that check meant a lot to the program but it also meant a lot to the Chattanooga Track Club. The Chattanooga Track Club was proud to support many fine athletes in your program.

These athletes are not only prominent athletes but also give back to the community. Many members of the UTC Track and Field team volunteer on a regular basis at Chattanooga Track Club events. One of these events being a key event for both organizations; which was a cross country race held annually in September. This event supported the UTC track and field program and allowed the Chattanooga Track Club to continue to grow. In the summer of 2013 Coach Gautier and I teamed up with Front Runner Athletics to create a kids summer running clinic. This clinic allowed kids (and adults) to improve their fitness and wellness through running.

All of the things mentioned above have allowed the running community in Chattanooga to grow, which in turn has allowed the UTC Track and Field program to grow. The result for Chattanooga was our city being named the Runner Friendly Community of the year for 2013 as awarded by the Road Runners Club of America. This was an incredible honor for the city and for the running programs in this city. As someone who led the way in earning that award for the city, I can tell you we could not have done it without the help of Coach Gautier.

I’ve been running since 2001. I Received honors as a high school runner and tried out for the Track and Field team in 2006. I didn’t make the team but my respect for Coach Gautier was always strong. Though I wasn’t on the team, I stayed involved. I kept up with the results, would have lunch and go for runs with members of the team. We all had different schedules and training plans but one thing was constant, that was the respect everybody had for Coach Gautier. As somebody who is very involved with running I can tell you he is one of the most respected coaches in the area. His record and accomplishments as a runner and as a coach speak for themselves.

With all this in mind, I respectfully ask you to reconsider eliminating the men’s track and field program. I understand that somewhere something has to be eliminated. I understand that this is probably a very tough decision for you. However I strongly urge to reconsider. Please understand the effect that this would have not only on UTC but for the Chattanooga community. Chattanooga needs a track and field program and therefore in my opinion should not be eliminated.

Respectfully,

Chas Webb

Former President – Chattanooga Track Club

I've seen firsthand the profound effect the UTC program has had on Nic and his great family. Too many UTC track/cross people from past, present, and future will feel the consequences of this poor decision. Let's get to work and right the ship again!

I am glad to see the community support for the situation we are dealing with in Chattanooga right now. We have been reeling from this news all week and the flood of emails that the department and Coach Gautier have received have been terrific. But we can always use more.

I come at this from a very different perspective from a Nic Crider. Unlike Nic I was not highly recruited in high school. Coach Gautier took a chance on me and I took a chance on him. Like ALL of the athletes that embrace coach, I improved greatly as a runner, and more importantly as a person. I was no Nic Crider, but my name is on the same record board as his. It would be my wish that someday another runner in my shoes would take the same chance I took and remove my name from that board.

Below is my letter to David Blackburn, UTC Athletic Director. I implore all readers to send him an email. A quarter of a century of athletic and academic success under Bill Gautier is being thrown to the wayside by a department that does not understand the appreciation that so many people have had for the team, and for the sport.

Mr. Blackburn,

I write to you concerning the UTC Athletic Department’s recent decision to cut the Men’s Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field teams and to limit its Men’s Cross Country Program in its ability to perform. I am an alumnus of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, a current graduate student, a member of the UTC GOLD Council, and a previous Running Moc. I loved every minute of my five years spent competing for Mocs and representing my school, which became rooted in my own self-identity, much as it did for the men who ran by my side. I was and have always been extremely appreciative of the support I received from the school and the Athletic Department in allowing me to pursue my dreams in athletics and to get the best from myself both athletically and academically. However, I am extremely disappointed in the decision to discontinue the program. My decision to come to UTC was largely based around Coach Bill Gautier, and I have never regretted that decision for a moment. It was Bill’s passion for the sport, his commitment to his runners, and his tireless desire to help his student-athletes succeed in all facets of life that convinced me to be a part of his program. I will always be proud of my accomplishments in cross country and track, because I know that Coach Gautier drove me to be the very best I could be and to represent my school at the highest level possible. But I will always be more proud of my accomplishments outside of athletics as a result of the well-rounded education I received from Coach Gautier. Six years after my initial decision, I have two degrees, a wonderful start to a career, a wife, and a beautiful daughter thanks in large part to the guidance Coach provided. I have a group of men and women who I will consider friends for the rest of my life thanks to the track and cross country teams. I have a school I can look back on proudly to call my Alma Mater thanks to these programs. And I have someone who I consider a father figure, guiding force, mentor, and close friend, in coach.

I am only one in a long line of successful running Mocs who I am certain would mirror my sentiments. Coach Gautier has taken boys from their families and sculpted them to be men that society will hold up as the very example of success. Coach’s teams have produced doctors, attorneys, scientists, engineers, educators, accountants, coaches and businesspeople, among the myriad of other successful graduates he has shaped. His men have earned five of the last six Dayle May awards recognizing the highest academic performer in the Athletic Department each year. Seven of the fifteen Academic All-Americans UTC has ever produced were runners under the tutelage of Coach Gautier. Both the track and cross country teams have boasted the highest GPAs in the nation on several occasions during my tenure here.

The community has been made a better place because of the close ties of the cross country and track teams and Coach Gautier to the city itself. The teams have always had a hand in the identity of the city and have been celebrated in victory by alumni, friends, and fans in the community who consider themselves Mocs, and friends of the school. Close relationships with the Chattanooga Track Club have resulted in a boom of successful road races that the city can be proud of. The Ironman and Half Ironman Championships came to the city. Coach Gautier offers his services for free during the summer to operate a running camp welcome to anyone who wants to share his passion for self-betterment, be they middle school students or retirees.

It disheartens me to see such an unfortunate end to a program spearheaded by a man who has bled Blue and Gold for a quarter of a century. When Coach could have moved on to bigger athletic departments and different schools, he remained here because he believed what all of his runners have always believed; that excellence can be achieved at UTC, and that his positive influence can be the guiding force for so many young men who desperately need it.

While I am disappointed by the end result of this decision, I am further displeased by the means with which it has been handled. In 2003 when the program faced termination Dr. Michael Jones met with the Athletics Department to find a solution to the problem. By all accounts a Title IV investigation has been ongoing for quite some time and the track and cross country teams, including Coach Gautier and Coach Uys, were only informed on the eve of the final decision, with no advanced notice given so that further efforts could be taken. While this is a numbers issue and not a budgetary issue, many on the outside wonder if the money could have, in fact, been raised to fund another women’s team or explore further options had ample notice been provided to the team, to donors, to alumni, and to the community. While I understand and respect the difficult position you have found yourself in, I cannot help but feel that the program was pulled out from under our feet before we ever had the opportunity to be a part of the process to solve the problem we find ourselves in.

I cannot express adamantly enough the positive influence that the track and field and cross country programs have had on my life and on the lives of so many others. The very principles which were stressed to me during my time here are principles that I hold dear in my everyday life. For twenty-three years men have taken a chance to come to run at Chattanooga and have been rewarded with a wonderful experience shared with friends for life who have consistently become UTCs very best and brightest. UTC Men’s track and cross country has been the standard bearer and Coach Gautier and his men have been outliers for as long as he has been here. It pains me to know that future high school students will not have the opportunity that I had; to compete for a team which values the truly important things.

I would welcome any response and would love the opportunity to further discuss with you my sentiments and those shared to me by my fellow alumni regarding this matter. Please feel free to contact me at any time either by email or by phone. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Lucas Cotter

"Mocs Fly Together"

I am a UT-Chattanooga graduate and former track/cross country runner. While running for UTC, I was able to complete my Bachelor of Science and Master in Business Administration, win three conference titles, set two school records (one of which has now been broken), and, most importantly like Nic Crider, meet my wife. I cannot put into words how much this program and the experience that I had at UTC means to me.

For this reason, I also want to encourage everyone in the Letsrun community to reach out to David Blackburn, Chancellor Angle, and the other members of the Chancellor’s Athletic Board. If it were not for this program being saved once, I would honestly not be the person I am today. I chose to go to UTC because I knew that Coach Gautier could make me a better runner. However, he had an impact on me that is far more important than running. With Coach, being unsuccessful is not an option, and I am not just talking about running. I am talking about in life. He does everything in his power to enable his student-athletes to be better athletes, students, and people. If the program is cut, it will truly be a shame that other young men will not get to experience the influence of Coach Gautier.

Here was the email that I sent to Chancellor Angle Tuesday evening upon hearing this devastating news:

Chancellor Angle,

My name is Chris Berry, and I am a UT-Chattanooga graduate and former track/cross country runner.

I received the devastating news regarding the fate of the men’s track program today. Although I do not know all of the details, I have to say that this news was extremely upsetting for many reasons. Coach Gautier means the world to me. That man has put his heart and soul, not only into the cross country and track teams at UTC, but into the city of Chattanooga and the local running communities for nearly 25 years. For me personally, he has been a coach, a mentor, a father figure, and a best friend since the day I stepped foot onto the UTC campus as a freshman. The thing about Coach is that, when it comes to his athletes, he cares about far more than running. He coaches his athletes to be better students, but more importantly better people. I am now pursuing a Ph.D. in business at the University of Arkansas to become a professor, and this would never have been possible without the opportunity provided by Coach Gautier. His encouragement and direction allowed me to recognize and chase this dream. While at UTC alone, I was able to complete my undergraduate and master’s degrees while competing for the university. However, I am just one in a 23 year long line of Running Mocs that have gone on to pursue and achieve their career aspirations due to the influence of Coach Gautier and the opportunities provided by the track program.

By cutting the men’s track program, the UTC athletic department is ending a legacy that means a lot to alumni who each gave everything they had to become better student-athletes while at UTC. I am not sure if anything can be done at this point or if this decision can be reversed, but it should definitely be considered. If the history of great and successful people that ran for UTC is any indication, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and the Chattanooga community will miss out on great men that come to Chattanooga to run and leave as better human beings.

Sincerely,

Chris Berry

There is now a change.org petition, please sign. Emails have been flooding Chattanooga, keep it up.

https://www.change.org/p/chancellor-steve-angle-save-utc-men-s-track-and-field

Anybody get any responses?

Nic,

When the men's team was cut 7 years ago (and then reinstated) was the reason Title IX as it is this time?

How did they rationalize bringing the program back last time?

This seems a tough road. The university has said that either they need to add a women's sport or they needed to cut a men's sport but that they weren't in a position to add a women's sport. If I were you, I would find out from the AD how much money would be required to start another women's sport.

This article here -

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/sports/college/story/2015/jan/28/utc-cutting-mens-track-and-field-teams/285048/

- says they considered...

"...lacrosse, bowling, crew or sand volleyball."

I would find out how much is required to begin a program there (get the AD to give a dollar amount) and then do some crowd funding. You can make the argument that the spirit of Title IX is to give more women an opportunity, not to take opportunity away from men.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear this.

I honestly cannot remember. This time they appear to be using Title IX as a curtain to hide the real issue, the budget.

The AD has been approached in regards to adding women's sports or roster spots and the answer comes back to money. I have a feeling we found this out in the 9th hour so we couldn't drum up the support and add roster spots to women's track to offset the men's team. In all of the email replies I have seen the most resounding theme is money, Title IX is only lightly referenced.

Chattanooga is one of the few schools remaining in the south with a wrestling program and are allowed over 3 bodies per weight class to be on their roster. If you only allow them to keep 2 per weight class, they reduce by 10-15 guys which equals the men's track program.

Money.

PSA TO ALL OF LETSRUN

Nic Crider would like you to know he was fast 14-18 years ago. Carry on.

Bonny Cotton wrote:

PSA TO ALL OF LETSRUN

Nic Crider would like you to know he was fast 14-18 years ago. Carry on.

Why are you mad bro?

Deer UTC Coaching Staff and Passionate Alumni:

What is the point of continuing a track team that has no field events?

signed: a fan of real track teams, not glorified jogging clubs

Bump.

Bump