Minnesota vs. Wisconisn Duel

I would not be surprised if they don't qualify for XC nationals in the fall.

XC

i would not be surpised

BuckyB wrote:

I would not be surprised if they don't qualify for XC nationals in the fall.

XC

i would not be surpised

Probably because McDonald won't come back or he will be injured.

I hope it turns out better than Hamilton-Burr Duel

Looks like the distance squad is skipping another meet. No wonder they have not been ready during championship season.

Mick is always preparing for cross country. It is ridiculous. Jerry had us ready for Big 10 Track always and we were winning titles. Talk about over coaching!

Gross really wrote:

Mick is always preparing for cross country. It is ridiculous. Jerry had us ready for Big 10 Track always and we were winning titles. Talk about over coaching!

That's because at that time Ed Nuttycombe was the Director of T&F. He probably required that a certain number of mid and distance runners to be ready for indoor and outdoor. Coach Nuttycombe could win Big Ten Track Titles.

Now Mick Byrne is the Director of T&F. Things have gone downhill since. He is not winning track titles anymore.

Did you notice that Jim Stintzi left one year after Mick became the Director of T&F. I liked him a lot.

Stinzi coached the women. How were they doing under him again?

Mick's Excuse Train wrote:

Gross really wrote:

Mick is always preparing for cross country. It is ridiculous. Jerry had us ready for Big 10 Track always and we were winning titles. Talk about over coaching!

That's because at that time Ed Nuttycombe was the Director of T&F. He probably required that a certain number of mid and distance runners to be ready for indoor and outdoor. Coach Nuttycombe could win Big Ten Track Titles.

Now Mick Byrne is the Director of T&F. Things have gone downhill since. He is not winning track titles anymore.

Did you notice that Jim Stintzi left one year after Mick became the Director of T&F. I liked him a lot.

One of the things Byrne did right was replace Stinzi with Jill Miller. Mick just needs to let her coach and not micromanage that program. They have become more consistent than his men's team.

Wi men have so much talent hanging around that just by luck, it will all click at one time. Maybe next XC season or the year after.

Miller time wrote:

Mick's Excuse Train wrote:

That's because at that time Ed Nuttycombe was the Director of T&F. He probably required that a certain number of mid and distance runners to be ready for indoor and outdoor. Coach Nuttycombe could win Big Ten Track Titles.

Now Mick Byrne is the Director of T&F. Things have gone downhill since. He is not winning track titles anymore.

Did you notice that Jim Stintzi left one year after Mick became the Director of T&F. I liked him a lot.

One of the things Byrne did right was replace Stinzi with Jill Miller. Mick just needs to let her coach and not micromanage that program. They have become more consistent than his men's team.

What comes around goes around. Replace Stinzi and now Mick's mens program is terrible. Mick should fire himself!

Wisco should just get it over with and hire Solinsky already so they can actually qualify for NCAAs on their home course next fall.

This. Here are the men's team's Big Ten results since Mick took over as the overall director:

Indoor Outdoor

2014 1st 1st

2015 10th T-8th

2016 2nd 8th

2017 3rd 4th

Not only are many of the distance studs still nowhere to be found. They're also not getting many contributions to make up for this in other areas this year. A lot of scholarships are being used by guys who can't get / stay healthy is killing the program as a whole. Competing for championships year after year used to be a staple of the program and now they're fighting to finish in the middle of the pack if that. I doubt Mick is on Barry's radar at the moment, but his seat should be getting warm if this keeps up for much longer. Coaches of other non revenue sports within the department have been shown the door for poor performance.

I still think Mick is a good distance coach, but the proof is in the pudding that both XC (won Big Tens just twice in 5 years after a 14 or whatever year win streak and missed Natty's twice) and Track have fallen off since he took over as the director.

Mick has been riding the Excuse Train for the last 3 years. Can't wait to hear what he has to say next.

Looks like Mick only took a DMR team to Notre Dame.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nd/sports/c-track/auto_pdf/2017-18/box_score/stats_20180218aaa.pdf

BuckyB wrote:

Looks like Mick only took a DMR team to Notre Dame.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nd/sports/c-track/auto_pdf/2017-18/box_score/stats_20180218aaa.pdf

This was the highlight of the men's indoor season.

Looks like Morgan is staying in Australia for the spring. I bet he turns pro before the fall.

I wouldn't be surprised nor would I blame him if he did go pro with the times he's been putting up. Totally coming from an outsider perspective, but for some reason he strikes me as the type that is loyal to the team and wants to gun for an individual and possibly a team XC title on their home course in the fall. Last fall he was basically ready to go and they contemplated running him at the Nutty invite, but he and/or Mick decided to redshirt with the goal to do big things in 2018 cited as the reasons publicly.

If he stays healthy through the spring he's obviously one of the favorites, arguably the favorite to win it. However, the team aspirations are completely up in the air at this point and revolve around his supporting cast getting and staying healthy. Hoare looks really strong this spring, but they need guys like Hacker, Hirsch, Gessner, and Snider to get there too and recent history has shown it's not a given by any means.

want a good laugh? "the distance crew is firing on all cylinders"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrToTc-egvs

The Badgers may score more points at the Big 10 meet from 800-5k and Dmr than any other team. I know that they have 1/2 of their guys sidelined with injuries and some underperforming. The last time I checked though, there was a scoring methodology used at track meets that doesn’t factor in those things. Success is determined by only the score, not the potential. So they are the best in the country at recruiting and not at getting the most out of the guys. The best coaches must recruit, develop mentally, and develop physically. Mick seems to be very good at only the first one. Somewhere like Oregon seems to be able to do all 3.

What happened to the Goohers that were responding to this thread? Their distance crew looks like they be near the bottom of the conference even though they had a solid cross country season. Their top 3k time is 8:27? What? The worst team from xc, Iowa, has 6 guys faster that that?