The new distance coach at Florida will be.... Chris Solinsky

Who should get the job at WM?

http://www.tribeathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=621

Or

http://www.tribeathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=658

Gut it out wrote:

Who should get the job at WM?

Anyway they can beg Gibby to go back? I doubt it.

W&M should talk to Pat Henner about coaching in Virginia again.

He would have both Cross Country teams back to Nationals within 3 years !

All about the money wrote:

Blows my mind that folks think this is about money. There is NO REAL money in coaching beyond a few Director/head coaching positions at the Power 5 programs. If you make more than $60k coaching distance you're doing very very well. $100k to coach XC and Distance is an income level few will ever achieve.

You coach because it's what you love to do. You coach because you want your career to be in the sport. You take the job at Florida because you want to be at Nationals twice a year, every year. And you want to have a shot at winning.

Texas A&M is basically operating the same way as Florida. Here's how much their distance coach is making:

Leaving the beautiful winter weather of Wisconsin for florida, and bikini clad co eds..

Gator Nation wrote:

asdfasdf wrote:

Too bad he doesn't coach the sprints. Hakim Sani Brown of Japan is coming to UF this year.

I don't think Hakim Sani Brown chose Florida because sprint coaching is a problem...

Of course not. I meant that if he coached sprinting, he'd have a lot better athletes in comparison to the distance program.

Public salaries for the new school year have not been posted yet anyway.

If he's smart, he received an agreement to get improved scholarship money or financial aid for distance runners.

I would assume that he is building up his resume to become a head coach at a major program eventually. This is a tough place to recruit American distance runners, because the weather really reduces the number of serious high school distance runners in the state. Nevertheless, the heat and humidity have an effect similar to altitude training, not to mention toughness, which translates well when you race in cooler or drier weather up north or out west. You can also train around 6:30-8 in the morning and it is not that bad. The football team is generating so much money now that tiny proportions of it are trickling down to non-revenue sports, which to xc and track amount to a huge boon.

How about just stating they go for a stud period......does it really have to be Kenyan, Irishman, blah blah blah....... get some athletes that want to be good and develop them. I would imagine Chris has that ability but once again everyone thinks that because someone can run fast that somehow makes them a super coach. That isn't always the case and you should know that. Good luck to Chris it should be interesting to see how it all goes for him.

Gut it out wrote:

Who should get the job at WM?

http://www.tribeathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=621

Or

http://www.tribeathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=658

Henderson was handling recruiting and he's a good guy. I hope he's the one.

asdfasdf wrote:

Nevertheless, the heat and humidity have an effect similar to altitude training, not to mention toughness, which translates well when you race in cooler or drier weather up north or out west. You can also train around 6:30-8 in the morning and it is not that bad.

Do people believe this? Not at all trying to present it in a jerky manner, I am honestly asking whether people believe this?

Someone who really knows wrote:

Gut it out wrote:

Who should get the job at WM?

http://www.tribeathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=621

Or

http://www.tribeathletics.com/coaches.aspx?rc=658

Henderson was handling recruiting and he's a good guy. I hope he's the one.

Neither one should be the head men's distance. Henderson is was only a spotwatch holder and director ops before. Get some young blood in thier that has a pedigree in working for great programs. Plenty of them out there.

W&M needs to make a power move here. Bring back an alumni like Jason Dunn. I know he is at UVA in a Director of Operations position, but he is just passing the time, he has no business in a position like this.

Organizational Structure wrote:

One of Spanger's comments to MileSplit after leaving for Boston University:

"For me, it was the opportunity to coach at a academically prestigious university with outstanding facilities and training environment for distance runners. Also, the chance to be a head cross country coach again was appealing."

I was told that this would be happening by a source a little over a month ago. According to the source, Spangler was actually fired for subpar distance performances and recruiting. He was apparently notified of this earlier this year but my guess is Florida didn't want make any announcements regarding the coaching change until they felt they were closing in on a viable replacement.

FLInsider wrote:

Organizational Structure wrote:

One of Spanger's comments to MileSplit after leaving for Boston University:

"For me, it was the opportunity to coach at a academically prestigious university with outstanding facilities and training environment for distance runners. Also, the chance to be a head cross country coach again was appealing."

I was told that this would be happening by a source a little over a month ago. According to the source, Spangler was actually fired for subpar distance performances and recruiting. He was apparently notified of this earlier this year but my guess is Florida didn't want make any announcements regarding the coaching change until they felt they were closing in on a viable replacement.

How many weeks until Mouse takes the athletes away from the new coach?

Which really makes me wonder how long Solinsky will last at Florida. Recruiting distance runners is hard when most of the money is being used on sprinters and throwers. I've talked to a lot of the top in-state talents who went to other schools and in general they would have received little to no athletic scholarship money from Florida. I remember being at a running camp in the summer of 2011 and one of the counselors who was close to Jimmy Clark (7th at 2010 FLN) mentioned that he was only getting help with books and that he was lucky to even get that much.

Trump2020OP wrote:

Not easy to coach in Florida humidity.

Pretty easy to acclimate to it. Pays off later when you get to travel.

How much do you think not being an Olympian cost Solinsky?

I'm think at least 20%... perhaps $20K... an Olympian title is like an MBA.

Well, Mr "Insider," you must be really "inside" to know all that! I guess some guy at a running camp is a worthy source.

1. Most in state distance runners receive "Bright Futures" ( you know, smart people) and a small amount of scholarship money, which covers quite a bit.

2. "Money" is also fluid, i.e., better performance can earn more money.

3. And then, of course, there is always the money paid to the people who are probable scorers in the SEC, and the NCAA.

A 4:08, 8:55 high schooler, is really good, but how many points is he going to score in the SEC, or NCAA. Grant Holloway, a really good high schooler gets a full ride because he is capable of a few points at the big meets.

Where should the money go?

If a high schooler like German Fernandez, or Drew Hunter was available, I suspect they wouldn't have to pay at UF.

LetsRun.com wrote:

Multiple sources have told us that.

If Florida is such a tough place to coach then how do you explain the dominance of Frank Shorter, Jack Bachelor, and Jeff Galloway back in the 1970s?