Harvard woes

For those of you who think we are making this up, here is an opinion piece in the Harvard newspaper today, written by a (brave) assistant coach. FINALLY an adult in the program vindicating the women on the team. THANK YOU!

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/6/10/a-culture-of-excellence/#.WTyltgzkgxE.facebook

This looks pretty bad for the coaches

Wow. So in other words she's no longer coaching with Harvard...not after that at least for these coaches LOL.

onceafastcat wrote:

Joplas wrote:

No, he was just trying to calm down one of his athletes. You're leveling sexual implications where none existed.

Sincerely,

- not affiliated with Harvard

+1

I'm sure if the athletes father was upset you would have heard about it on his sports radio show. Give it a rest people...

Wrong.

The original video showed him tickling her side/waist.

If there was nothing to see, there would have been no reason to censor then pull the video.

Taken with a grain of salt coming from a 25-27 year old pole vaulter. That being said she's a great athlete and has been on the inside for multiple head coaches now if I read the article correctly.

It sounds like the issue has more to do with the nutritional culture there rather than something inappropriate happening romantically. So the video, which I did see before it was edited, is almost a distraction from the real issue over at Harvard: that performance is seen as a power to weight ratio problem and the real gains in performance are seen by reducing the demand side rather than increasing the supply side.

If they don't want to take those risks they need to move the field goal posts and be ok when the teams of skinnies beats them. It's nice to win, but at what expense?

Let's face it, the situation there is very unhealthy, one coach in particular is polluting the water. This will not end well for the staff including the head coach.

1st smoking gun: their athletic advisor (Gompers) rails against the program.

2nd smoking gun: a coach rails against the unhealthiness of the program.

Bill McCurdy Director of Track and Field AND A.D. still are ok with it.

Quite surprising.

I wonder if the president of Harvard (first female prez!) reads The Crimson.

3rd smoking gun is probably an athlete (or two) with some harsh specifics...

There seems to now be two threads about this article so I'll post my thoughts in both.

Lol a volunteer "coach" who trains with the athletes every day. Gee, I wonder if there is any bias here? These kids need to just move on and maybe confront the source like adults. University papers are notorious for trying to get dirt on the athletic department and they've stumbled on some "must-read" material here. The articles will keep coming until people stop reading them.

Remember the administration had an investigation already and had found nothing worth firing him for.

Honestly, as sad as it may be, is there anything here that does not happen at just about every other schoo, in the country, in every sport?

Student-athletes, both male and female in all sports, are constantly being harped on about their weight. Either to lose weight or gain weight.

Student-Athletes are always being asked/told to play hurt. "Take one for the team."

Is there any coach in the country who doesn't want his student-athletes to buy in? Are there many who are ok with being told they are wrong by their student-athletes?

In the end it sounds like Harvard is like every other school, every other sport, male or female. It sucks, but that's the way collegiate athletics is.

Coaching distance running during a national obesity epidemic is a pain in the arse.

The TruthBomb wrote:

Honestly, as sad as it may be, is there anything here that does not happen at just about every other schoo, in the country, in every sport?

Student-athletes, both male and female in all sports, are constantly being harped on about their weight. Either to lose weight or gain weight.

Student-Athletes are always being asked/told to play hurt. "Take one for the team."

Is there any coach in the country who doesn't want his student-athletes to buy in? Are there many who are ok with being told they are wrong by their student-athletes?

In the end it sounds like Harvard is like every other school, every other sport, male or female. It sucks, but that's the way collegiate athletics is.

First of all, it is Harvard, not any other school.

Does not happen every where obviously as no other threads going regarding these issues. How many other coaches have athlete sleeping in their office? How many teams have 80% injury rates?

if i remember correctly he was tickling her lower back

definitely inappropriate

Why taken with a grain of salt? Because she is young? Because she is a woman? Because she is a pole vaulter? This is exactly the attitude that the young women on the team faced from their coaches and the athletic administration. Along with the frequently expressed idea that these athletes are just complainers.

The author was at the track every day, and at every meet. She had nothing to do with working the runners, and was in a position to just observe PWD's interactions, and anyone can read the statistics. She is now officially persona non grata with the coaching staff, and it took guts for her to publish this. Imagine what she must have been observing for three years to reach a point where she needed to say something. She had nothing to gain. She worked with the one excellent coach on the staff. She is most certainly a credible witness.

Unfortunately, it is hard to explain that this is not because the team members are overweight...they are skinny, and now they are malnourished, too. Why so many stress fractures? One of their fastest runners is now very sick.

There is no team left. Even on the men's side - he brought in only ONE freshman last year, and that young man is preparing to leave the team now, too.

Many of the athletes that leave the team have found a way to walk on to other teams. They want to play and work hard and be on a team. A group of the former cross country runners made a training group for a half marathon in the fall. They called themselves ExXC, and had a larger roster than the Harvard's women XC team.

Athletes that did not buy into the PWD cult (not program - its not a program, it's a cult of personality) were ignored, and their college careers went nowhere. He set up two different practice times, and kept "his girls" away from the non-worshippers. He frequently failed to show up to their practices. He did not put much effort into their workouts, and rarely checked up on them. For some of the athletes, this lack of attention was a relief - but they were not being coached, and their performances showed that.

Other athletes, the ones PWD had completely lost patience with, were put in a group with a separate, volunteer coach!! They, at least, had an excellent coach to work with.

So much lost potential, lost talent. I understand that sports can be cut throat, but these are not athletes on scholarship for the sport. They are not professionals. They are hard working student athletes and they want to be a part of team for the pure love of the sport. They want to be the best athlete and student they can. That is the alleged mission of Harvard and Ivy League athletics. PWD does not embody that. I do not wish him ill. It would be great if he could get a job working with athletes outside of the college system, where he cannot abuse a power position. He can work for a group that sponsors and organizes marathons. Anything but coaching young people, and especially not young women. It is impossible to explain here the toxicity of the current team culture, and I refuse to believe that every college is like that. I know for a fact, they aren't. Every recent fifth year runner at another school has reported back about how different, fun, free, challenging, exhilarating, it is to run for other coaches. Some of them have won national championships at the other school, so these are not low level programs. All of them have improved tremendously. Without injuries!! And they are allowed, even encouraged, to eat!!

Long post...sorry about that...but in summary, if you are a parent of a daughter, DO NOT LET HER RUN FOR PWD!!

They would do better making her the HEAD coach and "draining the swamp" of the rest of them.

You are misguided. There appear to be many issues with the coach including the inappropriate attention you mention. The BRAVE author of the article is addressing a very dangerous culture that has resulted in so many injuries and unhealthy practices. We have to believe her. She has nothing to gain (except the utmost respect) and everything to lose. She obviously cares for the athletes What I believe is horrendous (NOT an understatement) is that these athletes have been let down unbelievably by the entire athletic department of perhaps the most prestigious university in the world. Their complaints have been not only ignored, there has been retribution! Forget the athletic department, they have failed the athletes miserably. It's time for administrators to take care of this. It's time to clean this mess up.

The TruthBomb wrote:

Honestly, as sad as it may be, is there anything here that does not happen at just about every other schoo, in the country, in every sport?

Student-athletes, both male and female in all sports, are constantly being harped on about their weight. Either to lose weight or gain weight.

Student-Athletes are always being asked/told to play hurt. "Take one for the team."

Is there any coach in the country who doesn't want his student-athletes to buy in? Are there many who are ok with being told they are wrong by their student-athletes?

In the end it sounds like Harvard is like every other school, every other sport, male or female. It sucks, but that's the way collegiate athletics is.

Actually this doesn't happen everywhere. I ran Divison 1 XC/track (I'm female) and our coach never harped on us about our weight or trying to lose weight and definitely didn't force us to run injured. We actually had a very healthy team environment and I think that is why so many girls thrived and were not constantly injured.

What I don't get is how the coaches can't see that they will eventually (if they haven't already) ruin their team..everyone will be either injured, sick or have left. If he truly wants to be a good and top program, why would he risk all of that and injure all his runners? Sad situation

Has there been a doctor who has confirmed these athletes are malnourished or is this just something the team keeps saying? Like someone said above, it seems like this is something that happens at every program and leave it to Harvard kids to think their situation is any more important than the rest of the world.

Beardingus wrote:

Has there been a doctor who has confirmed these athletes are malnourished or is this just something the team keeps saying? Like someone said above, it seems like this is something that happens at every program and leave it to Harvard kids to think their situation is any more important than the rest of the world.

Beardingus, I feel like it's time for you to apply for a job in the Trump administration. Your capacity for misinformation and misguided arrogance is Spicer-esque. Let's dissect your pathetic attempt at an argument.

1. How could a doctor "confirm" a patient's medical history in the media? That would be a blatant violation of doctor-patient confidentiality. If I spoke to your doctor, he couldn't confirm that you'd been diagnosed with "chronic jackassery", even though it's obvious to everyone that your suffer from that particular malady. Do you appreciate the benefits of medical privacy now?

2. It's hard to know where to start with your "it happens everywhere" position - the breadth of stupidity here is astounding. You purport to possess knowledge about the T&F world, yet to don't seem to be aware that Harvard is clearly an outlier. Have you read the other posts on this thread, which describe what it's like to participate in a functional program? Is every other program beset with such problems? Basically, ya dumb.

I'm curious: what is your real agenda? Are you just bitter and misinformed or do you have another reason to attack the Harvard T&F athletes?

Beardingus wrote:

Has there been a doctor who has confirmed these athletes are malnourished or is this just something the team keeps saying? Like someone said above, it seems like this is something that happens at every program and leave it to Harvard kids to think their situation is any more important than the rest of the world.

Because it is not my place to divulge other people's medical histories, I cannot give you specifics. But in answer to your question - yes.