Harvard woes

Glad I was rejected by Harvard wrote:

Or a prostate exam if you are male?

Mmmmmm... please?

I can appreciate that. The church "issue" was only one consideration among others. In the end, she chose a different program because of the subjective and amorphous perception of "fit"...not on this one issue. I am sure, if she knew her coach was supportive of her finding an alternative option for church, she could have embraced that. Dedication to excellence is not a problem with this girl,,,she admits there may be others out there that can beat her, but not because those others are working harder than her. I think she was wise to find a program that demands a lot, but doesn't consume her identity. We will see how it works out.

I admire your integrity and candor in the recruiting process. I bailed on a college coaching career because I was highly uncomfortable with the recruiting approach that was expected of me.

Go back & re-read my posts. I'm not saying this guy should be coaching women - in fact I'm saying the opposite if you read closely. At least you picked up on my "grooming" comment. What I AM trying to say is that if this just comes off like a witch hunt, he still WILL be coaching women. And not everything these women have accused him of - even if completely accurate - are out of line for a top DI program. But there IS more under the surface here. But lies like "he's the men's coach too" which are demonstrably false don't help your argument.

tip of the iceberg wrote:

Well, not sure it will ever settle. He is training them beyond their abilities and demanding more than they have to give. He can massage them and tell them he cares, but he only cares to the extent that they can make him look good.

Each year he will bring in a new class and a new star will replace the burned out previous star, this year it is Judy Pendergast replacing Courtney Smith (remember her, where is she?), next year it will be someone else else and on and on.

At some point they will figure out that they are pawns in his game.

How many top D1 programs aren't essentially the same? Are we not all pawns in someone's game unknowingly?

Late to the thread here but which coach is getting all the stick? JS? Or someone else?

Annie Dear is in for a rude awakening, I fear. WD is a classic narcissist

If I were JS I would be bigly mad this guy was dragging my name onto this board....again. Once you get to a place like Harvard all you have to do is treat your team with some respect. Apparently he doesnt understand these women are going to be your Dr. & Lawyers....really, let them have their 4th Amendment rights and quit touching them and stalking them on social media with weird pictures of them sleeping. Is that a picture Hillary Clinton wants on social media??? NO. The guy wants to sound all tough & competitive but he comes off as an unprofessional flake in public and on social media. Go attend some negotiation clinics at the law school if you have problems dealing with strong women who dont want to be portrayed as some guys flirty assesory. Donald Trump would be tweeting your fired if this guy worked for him. Make America Great Again Brand!

He has been using hallmark grooming techniques. The difficulty in the article is that none of the other side of the story is really being told. No one commented on record who was not in support of WD. And the comments from current team members are his party line. For example, Erin Dietz's comment about the girls being on the team just for fun under Coach Bayley. - Erin Dietz never even met Coach Bayley!! Anyone who stood up to his efforts to control every aspect of her life were labeled lazy. When what were thought to be confidential comments about the grooming were shared with the coaches, those athletes who spoke up were harassed or were punished.

He is the men's mid-distance coach. But Harvard has now brought in a volunteer coach who is coaching most of the distance and mid-distance men and women.

In the words of John Harvard: "this has turned into a real can of worms."

There are only two seniors left on the team, and they would be the last of Coach Bayley's recruits. One is distance and one is mid-distance, I think. No- the juniors would also have been recruited by Coach Bayley, but she left before their freshman season. Only two of them, too, although Courtney Smith is gone for the semester, so only one junior is left. Almost all of the sophomores are being coached now by the volunteer coach brought in.

Where is Courtney Smith? Why would she leave Harvard after her great fall season? Is she OK? She is a real talent.

He DOES coach several of the Harvard men. It's a true, objective fact. It's not a lie. "Hmmm, why have we never heard about them?" Great question!

I don't know details about Courtney Smith. I hope she is ok, too.

Hounddogharrier wrote:

Paul Gomper was the real deal as a distance runner. He obviously isn't just some helicopter parent mad because his kid isn't on varsity . Seems to me something is wrong there.

Paul was the real deal, that said he is a Harvard snoot, arrogant facility parent.

These kids want a social running club ivy league style. The coach was hired to have a winning team, score points, qualify kids for nationals.

Harvard Weight Loss Fan wrote:

What is an unreasonable amount of weight? Elite distance runners carry 12% body fat. So, can we all agree that Division 1 track is elite? And that Harvard is Division 1. Therefore, little chubby chicks that are above 18% should probably lose a couple pounds.

The athletic director has to make a choice, social running club or to be competitive team in their league.

Gompers is a conflict of interest and comes from an entirely different era and has a daughter on the team! He will be biased.

Said the guy who has never coached a college team. Any coach can win with recruiting. But, driving away donar support won't get you far in any job.

Bringing in talent is nice, but you have to keep it healthy to succeed, not to mention keeping them in school. Why is Courtney out of school this semester? Not scoring any points for Harvard, didn't score any last spring either being injured.

Too many warning signs. How can this guy be allowed to continue to coach?

I hope for those young women he no longer has a job after this year.