Centro News

Centro is still out west. They just had a big ceremony for his dad's retirement, and he was back for that. His dad is done coaching, I think it was just time for him to move on. I have heard he still has a sort of advisor role with American for now. Between the book, big Centro also works with a local post collegiate group.

As far as Centro and NOP I keep seeing him in Hasay's videos so I would guess he is still with them. I could see NOP splitting into groups. Hasay and Rupp in the longer group, and Centro, Murhphy, etc with the shorter group.

redux wrote:

I’m today’s story he’s wearing an NOP jacket.

in today's story he's in Arnold maryland. In today's story it's 24 degrees.

weather in Portland is 47 and raining.

He's living out east now. put the pieces of the puzzle together. You think he flew out East 4 book promotion and his dad's ceremny? and then flew back west to get an instagram story of his new apartment in portland? when it's obviously not portland based on the surroundins. and then flew back to maryland today to pick up his sister for the workout? Hes there you guys. He is not with NOP. Just needed a warm jacket and that's what he had available.

You all know that Centro loves to toy with people, right? A few years back I remember there was a thread on letsrun about him and he decided to play into everyone's hands and make them believe all the things that were being said. He had some cryptic tweets and instagram posts to make everyone believe the rumors. My guess is that he knows about this thread and is trying to mess with all of you. He is probably laughing his ass off at all you idiots from the comfort of his Portland home.

Did American get a new AD recently? Centro had coached there a long time, the team performance had been inconsistent and they have not run a team at XC regionals several times in the last few years. The rate of attrition on the roster is also pretty bad.[/quote]

The AD has been there a few years. I would disagree that the teams have been inconsistent in XC performance. The men have been routinely placing 4-6th place at conference and the women have been consistently 6-9th place in recent history. Both teams have opted to only bring a few individual runners to regionals on each side or no runners a few times.

Under the new leadership of Sean Graham, the team has had their best performance at conference XC on both sides in a few years and brought complete teams on the men’s and women’s side to regionals.

#Centrosack wrote:

redux wrote:

I’m today’s story he’s wearing an NOP jacket.

in today's story he's in Arnold maryland. In today's story it's 24 degrees.

weather in Portland is 47 and raining.

He's living out east now. put the pieces of the puzzle together. You think he flew out East 4 book promotion and his dad's ceremny? and then flew back west to get an instagram story of his new apartment in portland? when it's obviously not portland based on the surroundins. and then flew back to maryland today to pick up his sister for the workout? Hes there you guys. He is not with NOP. Just needed a warm jacket and that's what he had available.

"The younger Centrowitz made the decision in concert with his coach, Alberto Salazar." Yep, sounds like he's no longer with NOP.

I will say this I think big Centro is a crazy guy, and a heck of a coach, but his weakness was recruiting. I believe he had trouble getting kids interested, and that was the major reason behind the lack of overall success.

He was AU coach for 18 years or so and had about six good years in a weak conference. Not sure that's enough for "heckuva coach." No question he knows a lot about running, but he's no better at developing talent than hundreds of other coaches with less famous last names. He deserves credit for his own running career, and for raising two successful, humble daughters. No reason to make excuses for his coaching.

eastcoastcoach wrote:

I will say this I think big Centro is a crazy guy, and a heck of a coach, but his weakness was recruiting. I believe he had trouble getting kids interested, and that was the major reason behind the lack of overall success.

It takes effort to recruit, and often times his efforts were placed elsewhere besides trying to actively promote the program. Retaining the kids on the team was another issue. The team had quite a few of its top athletes transfer schools or quit altogether.

Dirty Dean Heller wrote:

eastcoastcoach wrote:

I will say this I think big Centro is a crazy guy, and a heck of a coach, but his weakness was recruiting. I believe he had trouble getting kids interested, and that was the major reason behind the lack of overall success.

It takes effort to recruit, and often times his efforts were placed elsewhere besides trying to actively promote the program. Retaining the kids on the team was another issue. The team had quite a few of its top athletes transfer schools or quit altogether.

That being said, there are examples of athletes in the program that have developed from decent HS runners (around 430 in the mile) into regional level college runners.

Dirty Dean Heller wrote:

eastcoastcoach wrote:

I will say this I think big Centro is a crazy guy, and a heck of a coach, but his weakness was recruiting. I believe he had trouble getting kids interested, and that was the major reason behind the lack of overall success.

It takes effort to recruit, and often times his efforts were placed elsewhere besides trying to actively promote the program. Retaining the kids on the team was another issue. The team had quite a few of its top athletes transfer schools or quit altogether.

I could see where Centro might have some difficulty connecting with snowflakes.

kermudge wrote:

Dirty Dean Heller wrote:

It takes effort to recruit, and often times his efforts were placed elsewhere besides trying to actively promote the program. Retaining the kids on the team was another issue. The team had quite a few of its top athletes transfer schools or quit altogether.

I could see where Centro might have some difficulty connecting with snowflakes.

The damn snowflakes are such a problem that the top performances and the depth of high school and college runners has exploded over the last 2 decades while AU has regressed as a team the last 10 years. George Bush was President the last time AU won a conference XC title. Last I checked, coaches were ultimately judged by the performances of their athletes.

Dean Ambrose wrote:

kermudge wrote:

I could see where Centro might have some difficulty connecting with snowflakes.

The damn snowflakes are such a problem that the top performances and the depth of high school and college runners has exploded over the last 2 decades while AU has regressed as a team the last 10 years. George Bush was President the last time AU won a conference XC title. Last I checked, coaches were ultimately judged by the performances of their athletes.

I went on a recruiting visit there in 2008 and was one of maybe 10 recruits on the trip and none of them ended up at American. I was also told that an entire recruiting class had just quit the team. American was one of my top choices before the recruiting trip and I basically wrote the school off after that weekend.

he was definitely in Maryland today and posted another instagram from his "new apartment"

It wouldn't shock me if Centro simply retires. Probably not. But after the high of winning Olympic gold. Given that you practically have to live like a monk to achieve elite greatness in distance running. And given that monetary rewards are not that great even for the best distance runners (its nothing you can retire comfortably on). Its easy to imagine that Centro could just want to move on to the next part of his life.

I went on a recruiting visit there in 2008 and was one of maybe 10 recruits on the trip and none of them ended up at American. I was also told that an entire recruiting class had just quit the team. American was one of my top choices before the recruiting trip and I basically wrote the school off after that weekend.[/quote]

Those are significant red flags when you have most of a recruiting class no longer on the team. Part of the downfall of the program was small recruiting classes coupled with a high attrition rate of those athletes. Both of those fall under the purview of the coach. A “heckuva coach” would have been able to sustain some measure of long-term success. Navy has consistently been a top 2-3 program in the Patriot League for the men for the past 10-15 years including consecutive team bids to NCAA XC.

Nobody goes to a patriot league school, let alone American, for great coaching. You go because it’s the best academic conference outside of the Ivy League. (A big step down from the Ivy League admittedly, but unlike the Ivies you can get at athletic schollarship.)

Larrynassar wrote:

Nobody goes to a patriot league school, let alone American, for great coaching. You go because it’s the best academic conference outside of the Ivy League. (A big step down from the Ivy League admittedly, but unlike the Ivies you can get at athletic schollarship.)

Are you implying that there is shithole coaching in the Patriot League? Wouldn’t it be great if one of those AD’s said to get that SOB off the track. He’s fired.

Larrynassar wrote:

Nobody goes to a patriot league school, let alone American, for great coaching. You go because it’s the best academic conference outside of the Ivy League. (A big step down from the Ivy League admittedly, but unlike the Ivies you can get at athletic schollarship.)

^Have you never heard of the NESCAC?

east coast ____ wrote:

Larrynassar wrote:

Nobody goes to a patriot league school, let alone American, for great coaching. You go because it’s the best academic conference outside of the Ivy League. (A big step down from the Ivy League admittedly, but unlike the Ivies you can get at athletic schollarship.)

^Have you never heard of the NESCAC?

I didn’t know the NESCAC could offer athletic scholarships. Please tell us more. From my understanding, the NESCAC is for people that aren’t fast or smart enough for the Ivy League or fast enough to get money from a Patriot League school.