Options after getting kicked off Umass team

It's not like UMass Amherst is the most prestigious school out there and he is talking about transferring. If he was saying transferring out of an ivy, Stanford, etc based and he was a runner of this caliber I would say long term that doesn't make sense. UMass Amherst though?

I feel as though depending on what field he is studying, a move to a smaller college in New England would be a zero-sum move at least in an academic sense. He seems to place running high enough on the priority list to consider it, no.

Appreciate all the responses, positive and negative, they helped put things in perspective. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have posted this at all but I was pretty angry and reactionary. Still sorting things out and talking to umass people, but I'd say the club route is most likely, whether that's WMDP our somewhere else. I'm doing well here academically, and I don't pay anything, so for me to seriously consider transferring I'd need something close to full, which is super unlikely given that I'm mediocre at best. Mostly just want to make sure I dont lose touch with my teammates, because I've seen that happen to a lot of guys who have been cut or quit.

FarOutMan wrote:

The better UMass wrote:

Shoulda gone to lowell you chump. Umass is for scrubs and UML is on the rise

Did you know that Tom Dederian, Julius, Dr.J Irving, and Bill Cosby, all went to UMass?

Any famous people go to the Lowell cesspool?

None? Thought so.

Bob Hodge.

HRE wrote:

[quote]it's not me it's you wrote:

But no one is going to coach at the same place as he has for as long as he has without doing something right at the same time. Again, we have ONE aggrieved party's version of what happened and why.

Disagree. Sometimes a coach becomes entrenched at an institution and lasts forever because the school cares less about the sport than the coach does to stay. UMass cares mostly about football and basketball, and even there treats its athletes like cattle. The UMass track coach has lasted forever largely because the institution has no interest in dislodging him.

You were hanging in there until the Barack Obama quote, at which point you lost all credibility.

Dr_Yuengling wrote:

Appreciate all the responses, positive and negative, they helped put things in perspective. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have posted this at all but I was pretty angry and reactionary. Still sorting things out and talking to umass people, but I'd say the club route is most likely, whether that's WMDP our somewhere else. I'm doing well here academically, and I don't pay anything, so for me to seriously consider transferring I'd need something close to full, which is super unlikely given that I'm mediocre at best. Mostly just want to make sure I dont lose touch with my teammates, because I've seen that happen to a lot of guys who have been cut or quit.

I would apologize to your coach. It could be something as simple as "I am sorry this happened," (which probably isn't a lie and also doesn't admit guilt on your part, win/win) but a face to face apology will go a long way with someone in his position. It doesn't matter how that will affect your position on the team; you want to do this for your own peace of mind.

I predict that taking that step will give you a lot of clarity on what to do next.

All the best; I would love to read an update in the next week or so.

Even in sports a school doesn't care about a coach can go down the tubes if there are enough complaints about him. Again, this is one side of the story.

Back off bro.This program has produced great runners and athletes over the last 50 years. INCLUDING the past few years. Assuming you're some mediocre 4:30 mile chump (or equivalent) you have zero "credibility".

Wow, they already took you off the roster online? That was quick! I do see that you're on the 2015 roster though so you are being honest.

College4miler wrote:

It's not like UMass Amherst is the most prestigious school out there and he is talking about transferring. If he was saying transferring out of an ivy, Stanford, etc based and he was a runner of this caliber I would say long term that doesn't make sense. UMass Amherst though?

I feel as though depending on what field he is studying, a move to a smaller college in New England would be a zero-sum move at least in an academic sense. He seems to place running high enough on the priority list to consider it, no.

I think UMass Amherst is a pretty good degree. At least, it has worked out for me. If the OP can do better, then more power to the him. My two cents: since he has an academic ride, maybe he does the club route for his senior year, maintains or improves his capacities at the club level, graduates, then transfers as a graduate student to some place where he can work towards a masters degree while using his last year of eligibility.

In any case, good luck!

Hey Jay,

I am not going to say who I am but I am absolutely going to respond to this. I know the Umass track/xc program inside and out and as a result know that the above post is extremely immature, extremely misleading and downright incorrect on a number of accounts.

First off, I want to mention the following things about the performance of runners who have been coached by the above mentioned "80+ years old" coach over the past two years to attempt to bring some context to the notion insinuated above that this coach is "losing it" due to age.

First, the team had finished 4th and 2nd respectively in the previous two cross country championships with 4 individual all conference athletes and one athlete finishing 2nd in the 2015 xc championships.

On the track, the 800m indoor record was broken, the 1,000 meter 2nd best all time mark was set, the mile record was broken with a 4:01 mile, the 4th best all time mark in the mile was set at 4:07, the 2nd best all time mark in the DMR was set and the 4th best all time mark in the 4X800 was set.

Additionally, in outdoor track, the 5th best all time mark in the 1500m was set, the 6th best all time mark in the steeple chase was set, and the 3rd and 4th best all time marks in the 4X800m relayss were set.

What all of these historic Umass performance having occured in just the past two years indicates is that the coach is not really the common denominator here but rather that it might just be an athlete or multiple athletes who are too immature to take responsibility for their own actions. It is clear from the above post that you as an individual athlete are extremely soft and far too immature to even consider looking internally as to why you and your teammates did not perform well. Maybe the athletes aren't eating or sleeping well, maybe they drink too much alcohol or do not train smart when deviating from what the coach says, i don't know exactly because there are just too many variables.

What I do know is that it is a soft, unprofessional and immature move to attempt to pin the poor performance of the UMass XC team on a coach who has consistently and recently demonstrated the ability to coach at a very high level. Hopefully you learn to grow up soon.

I was on OB's first team in 1967. He was young and we knew he had been an 800 runner. We ran his workouts and ran much more on the other days. It worked. Three guys from that freshman team eventually ran sub 2:20 marathons. We ran road races. One time OB came to NYC with us as we ran a marathon. But he did not take credit or blame for any of our race results. He was only the coach. If we screwed up a race, it was our fault, not his. It would have been his fault if the bus had gone to the wrong track for a meet, but that never happened. It is to his credit that we got shoes and stuff, meal money, not-so-bad hotel.

Yes, he got pissed off if someone did something stupid, but not much more than the stupid perpetrator.

I have learned since then as a post-collegiate coach that if an athletes comes to me blaming a previous coach for a lack of performance, the poor performance will most likely continue.

But we know this guy's name and we will be looking in results for it. I hope to see it high up in the column.

Tom

I don't take shiz from anyone. It's a way of life. If you have to ask, you'll never understand. You're soft. Sorry.

asdfasdfa wrote:

Derry_DansonJr wrote:

Omg so spineless and pathetic. You can take your obedience to the bank. But your savings might evaporate some day in the next market crash. #suckergame how do people like you have no cognitive dissonance, running distance but leading a sycophant life, in institutional hand holding?

Care to give me a single example in your life where mouthing off to authority did anything for you? There are tons more productive ways to advocate for change. Attack people and you tend to hit walls. A lot easier to engage the person and get them to adopt your position. This is basic Dale Carnegie stuff.

I think the fact that he has coached there for 40+ years highly refutes this argument--nearly all the records are under his tenure and non of which are incredibly impressive for a Division I track/college program, especially as the flagship school for a state that produces a fair amount of talented high school runner.

I have raced and run with Ben Grouleau (2:25, 3:48, 4:01) and Paolo Tavares (6th mark in 3ksteeple) before. Ben is incredibly talented runner and athlete and I believe should have superseded his actual performance. Paolo spent high school wrestling and wasn't anywhere close to his ceiling before starting his full-time transition to running.

Plenty of talented guys from MA have run at Umass to never be heard of again--I don't find it surprising that the talent pool has seemed to divert itself to UMASS Lowell over the years.

Derry_DansonJr wrote:

I don't take shiz from anyone. It's a way of life. If you have to ask, you'll never understand. You're soft. Sorry.

asdfasdfa wrote:

Care to give me a single example in your life where mouthing off to authority did anything for you? There are tons more productive ways to advocate for change. Attack people and you tend to hit walls. A lot easier to engage the person and get them to adopt your position. This is basic Dale Carnegie stuff.

And how is it working out for you? Tells us of all the success stories where not taking shit has made your life show much better? Maybe instead of worrying about if something makes your soft or not, you should focus on getting what you want.

College4miler wrote:

It's not like UMass Amherst is the most prestigious school out there and he is talking about transferring. If he was saying transferring out of an ivy, Stanford, etc based and he was a runner of this caliber I would say long term that doesn't make sense. UMass Amherst though?

I feel as though depending on what field he is studying, a move to a smaller college in New England would be a zero-sum move at least in an academic sense. He seems to place running high enough on the priority list to consider it, no.

Transfering schools after the first year tends to cost you 6+ months as schools have slightly different requirements. Not saying Amherst is a great school or anything but the school was good enough initially. It probably still is.

I ran for coach OB a long time ago. He is a horrible person and horrible coach. He kicked you off because you made him feel threatened. This doesn't surprise me at all with a piece of sh*t person such as himself.

He is one of 3 people in my life I hate with an extreme passion.

Back in the day, there was a young man on the team who was hooking up with OB's daughter. When OB found out, he made the young man run endless 400 repeats. He didn't let the kid stop until the boy finally just quit the team.

You've tried racing clean, it didn't work, time for some EPO etc. Best of luck.

Turn on the way-back machine Mr. Peabody: you, Ron Wayne, and Leo Duarte all sub 2:20?

Awesome.