Athlete Gets Coach Fired Midseason on Her Way Out to CU

Any Which Way But Loose wrote:

ohhh brother wrote:

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.

+1

re: "I'm just confused by the assumption here that because she was a HS star she must be a coddled prima donna with helicopter parents."

I would say about 80% of female distance stars are "coddled prima donna with helicopter parents". When things aren't going well, which happens quite frequently in the transition from H.S., if the athlete does not blame the coach, the parents will. Sometimes a young coach without a pedigree is better off starting out with blue collar talent.

Boosty wrote:

The really amusing part of this thread is the suggestion that a backwater school (or any school) has Cross Country Boosters. lol. And not just boosters, ones with power.

This is truly laughable.

Amen, brother. I laughed when I read that, too. the ADs at a D-1 program, or any size college program for that matter (except maybe Stanford, Oregon, and Colorado), consider cross a non-sport anyway and their coaches and hangers on, just pests. But boosters, say as in football or basketball? Not the guys I ran with.

This is seriously one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen on letsrun- and that's saying a lot. A completely unproven coach gets a recruit - not because he's a good recruiter but because she wanted to stay local - and she both goes backwards and gets hurt. The number two runner on the team also goes backwards as a Freshman. (If you really know the situation you'd know he was an idiot to even recruit the number two runner.) The mere fact that they had a Frosh 1-2 punch, neither of whom was improving, is enough to ship this guy.

Add to that it has been confirmed by this guy's adherent that the entire team wanted him gone. Why is this an issue? Bad coaches get fired, especially those with dubious ethics.

Next issue.

Jack Germond wrote:

...especially those with dubious ethics.

Next issue.

Whoa! WhOa! WHOA! Do tell of these "dubious ethics"? Running an injured athlete? Made promises he couldn't keep? What?

There's no way this guy was fired or forced out unless he did something illegal. ADs don't care about xc or xc coaches. and I doubt Montana has a serious group of boosters otherwise they would have a better program/history.

Maybe she didn't like being a big fish and wanted to go to a program where she isn't the star. She can hang back without 100% focus on everything she does.

Also- I'm surprised no one has mentioned maybe she didn't like the school and surrounding area. And maybe coach had it with coaching and wants to do other things with his life. He may have realized Montana isn't a great school and its out in the middle of nowhere.

Good luck to both of them.

Jack Germond wrote:

This is seriously one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen on letsrun- and that's saying a lot. A completely unproven coach gets a recruit - not because he's a good recruiter but because she wanted to stay local - and she both goes backwards and gets hurt. The number two runner on the team also goes backwards as a Freshman. (If you really know the situation you'd know he was an idiot to even recruit the number two runner.) The mere fact that they had a Frosh 1-2 punch, neither of whom was improving, is enough to ship this guy.

Add to that it has been confirmed by this guy's adherent that the entire team wanted him gone. Why is this an issue? Bad coaches get fired, especially those with dubious ethics.

Next issue.

^ This is the Dad.

Here's a lesson for you. The NCAA is not HS. Lots of FL & NXN finalists don't make NCAAs or crack the top 100. Your daughter didn't get go backwards. Lots of runners are just better.

Or perhaps you're saying you her Father are a better coach? I hear the place to go is North Carolina though, they allow daddy to tag along with them to college and coach their adult offspring. You can walk them to class and patch her lunch too.

Reality is she peaked in HS.

3rd in HS FL... What place do you think she should have got at NCAAs?

She's lucky to even make it.

Bunch of idle speculation so far. The facts were stated in the first post. Has anything else come out since?

Yawn

Are you suggesting non-Footlocker athletes would've found any better success?

This all has been great insight on why not to recruit Bryn...whoever it is that keeps posting. And BTW, Colorado was indifferent to her transfer..."sure, we'll let you show up."

At the end of the day its Women's Xcountry. It doesn't get any lower than that.

He'll need to find a new job. Maybe htis will wake him up

How does this happen while another coach is on leave pending legal charges? And the school or administration will not make any kind of statement.