Athlete Gets Coach Fired Midseason on Her Way Out to CU

Facts are mostly accurate, except that Coach Fehr was not fired. He decided to step down of his own accord. Being blindsided by a star athlete who decides she "hates him," as well as realizing the damage that athlete did to the recruiting potential within the state of Montana were some of the contributing factors.

Not sure I agree with the decision to step down, especially seeing as he is a young coach and an 'acceptable' one at that. Time will tel if the program will stay 'acceptable' or take a dive.

I guess that when you recruit a single star talent, you take the risk that your career is in the fickle hands of an 18-year old.

#TwerkoutTuesday wrote:

Facts are mostly accurate, except that Coach Fehr was not fired. He decided to step down of his own accord. Being blindsided by a star athlete who decides she "hates him," as well as realizing the damage that athlete did to the recruiting potential within the state of Montana were some of the contributing factors.

Not sure I agree with the decision to step down, especially seeing as he is a young coach and an 'acceptable' one at that. Time will tel if the program will stay 'acceptable' or take a dive.

I'm not buying it. Not for one second would a young coach with few connections "step down" on his own accord without being forced out. Officially- sure, it reads: "stepped down" but we all know that just a political bunch of bs.

I don't think his career is "ruined". He should take this as an opportunity to re-evaluate himself. There is obviously something he is doing that needs to be worked on. I don't think this kid would just "hate" for no reason. There is somethin for him to learn.

Guys way more established have trained for way worse and learned from their mistakes and moved on to other things. Look at guys like Vigilanti and Lane Anderson, Willy Wood or even Hadsell for that matter.

This guy will be fine.

#TwerkoutTuesday wrote:...He decided to step down of his own accord...

No idea if it applies to this situation or not, but the way this is phrased can be code for "forced to resign" or it can be truthful. More often, in my experience, it's the former.

I was in the same situation 4 years ago when I was terminated from a coaching position in that my supervisor asked if I wanted the press release to say that I was "resigning to pursue other opportunities". I told him I'd prefer we were honest about it and say that I was being fired. He was clearly surprised, said that nobody wants the announcement to say they got fired. Based on that the school chose to not write a press release. FWIW I still coach another sport at the same school and get strong reviews. While I was disappointed to end my coaching career in that sport doing so has opened a number of doors in very positive ways.

Coach Fehr, good luck in your next coaching position!

"How did the ambitions of Steve and Makena Morley -- his: break the U.S. mile record for his 45-49 age group of 4:16.09; hers: become a national champion -- become so closely aligned, and what choice did siblings Logan and Bryn, state champions themselves, have but to join the pack at an early age?"

A whole family of overachievers with talent.

The young coach was allowed to coach her for 4 months. He should show his gratitude for the opportunity he was given, and move on.

And I think that Trautmann took the record down to 4:12 ( more talent and burning desire ).

Northern Exposure wrote:

Alumni, boosters, and Morely supporters deliver incredible pressure to AD asking for Coach Fehr's job.

All you need to read. I'm sure the Montana XC boosters used their pull to replace the coach of their historic program.

Snooze Alarm wrote:

I guess that when you recruit a single star talent, you take the risk that your career is in the fickle hands of an 18-year old.

The above post is written in a snarky manner, but it does contain a lot of truth.

EVIAN wrote:

Snooze Alarm wrote:

I guess that when you recruit a single star talent, you take the risk that your career is in the fickle hands of an 18-year old.

The above post is written in a snarky manner, but it does contain a lot of truth.

Or her dad

All the rest of us are getting out of this is to not recruit her younger sister...

P5 Recruiter wrote:

All the rest of us are getting out of this is to not recruit her younger sister...

Exactly. Unless you love the Apache type of helicopter parent, equipped with enough ammo to make things dicey.

I would be surprised if very many schools had administration that would back an alumni or booster of the program over their own coach. Unless the coach was young and didn't have the inroads and network set up yet.

Old Coach New Tricks wrote:

There is obviously something he is doing that needs to be worked on. I don't think this kid would just "hate" for no reason.

I guess you have never met a primadonna 18 year old girl? Especially one who likely has a parent who is very involved in her running (always a disaster) and thinks he knows best. She probably had reasons and they are probably self absorbed and petty reasons that in no way warrant a coach being forced out. Good luck being a small fish in a big pond for the first time in your life at CU. You can be sure Wetmore won't put up with any crap.

I'm curious about this. When Tom Izzo was being courted for head coaching jobs by NBA teams, one of the deciding factors apparently was his concern that he wouldn't be able to rule as effectively over a bunch of multi-millionaire pros the way he can over college kids. So how does a frosh cross-country runner wield this much power? Because cross-country coaches are unknown and largely dispensable?

ohhh brother wrote:

Old Coach New Tricks wrote:

There is obviously something he is doing that needs to be worked on. I don't think this kid would just "hate" for no reason.

I guess you have never met a primadonna 18 year old girl? Especially one who likely has a parent who is very involved in her running (always a disaster) and thinks he knows best. She probably had reasons and they are probably self absorbed and petty reasons that in no way warrant a coach being forced out. Good luck being a small fish in a big pond for the first time in your life at CU. You can be sure Wetmore won't put up with any crap.

This happens in all sports...

The parent thinks the athlete should/could be better.

Blames the coach.

Convinces the athlete it is the coaches fault.

Now, athlete doesn't like coach and transfers/changes teams.

Good chance she doesn't achieve any higher level of success.

Wonder if her or her parents will try the same maneuver at Colorado with Wetmore. That will be fun to watch.

Stay tuned, could be fun wrote:

Wonder if her or her parents will try the same maneuver at Colorado with Wetmore. That will be fun to watch.

There definitely is a risk in being a young coach with a high profile recruit.

In all honesty, this reminds me of the Alan Webb situation. Webb went to Michigan, didn't do well and got out. If Warhurst was a 2nd year coach or it was 2015 not 2002, he might have been out.

Morley isn't Webb but in Montana circles she's a big deal.

Very disappointing if true. Fehr may be young but he is smart and personable. Everything seemed great on the outside until the announcement. Missoula could be a great running town but no coach ever seems to be able to get any momentum.

BTW - Can someone tell me why the original threads about Morley's transfer have been deleted. Letsrun.com conspiracy?

Link? Proof?

Who are these boosters? I have been around the program for 10 years and have yet to see these boosters. If they have these boosters why can't they get an indoor track built?