What happened to Arcadia XC?

They fired O'Brien

^^

CIF-SS is pretty brutal

They had a program that was completely established and bought in when they won their national titles, but that coaching staff is now gone. Meanwhile, the competition has improved, making it tougher to get back to that caliber of program.

Also, things like this are usually fairly cyclical - lots of things came together in order for Arcadia to win those titles. That isn't always going to be the case.

York boys made it to NXN every year from 2004-2012 and won at NXN once and got second there twice, but they have never made it there since 2012.

nairb wrote:

How did the only boys team to win NXN twice go to a team unable to make State?

That's what happens when you lose your coach.

Those in CA would remember Jesuit high school was once a powerhouse (they make Arcadia’s short dynasty look pathetic). There’s some crazy stats about the school and they litter the all time lists.. Then the coach retired and nobody has heard of them for a while.

Other schools had dynasties as well until the coach leaves. Coaching really does make a difference!

Wayzata boys had a long time head coach who retired in 2014. Their assistant coach became their head coach after that.

Their team still makes it to NXN. The last time they didn’t make it was in 2012.

If Jesuit was in the cif ss they would have had trouble making it out of prelims most of the years of this so called dynasty. Maybe when Jesuit makes it to nxn even once you can start talking about how pathetic Arcadia is in comparison cubscout.

Loudoun Valley boys team is nearly the opposite. In 2013 they made it to state for the first time in a long time (if they had ever made it before then), and now they are national champs.

If they win NXN again this year, they will not only be the second boys team to win 2 NXN titles, but they will also be the first boys team to win 2 NXN titles in a row.

Sometimes the program is already on the down slide and the coach retires/leaves with the last great senior class leaving the next person to try to assemble a program from scraps the prior coach wouldn't have the same level success with either.

All scholastic programs go through cycles. Large schools, private schools that can recruit, and schools with great programs all weather the cycles better. Coaching is an important element to be sure, but even programs of great coaches have their ups and downs.

Jesusite wrote:

If Jesuit was in the cif ss they would have had trouble making it out of prelims most of the years of this so called dynasty. Maybe when Jesuit makes it to nxn even once you can start talking about how pathetic Arcadia is in comparison cubscout.

Jesuit made it to NXN in 2005

So, it raises the question, where is O'Brien now? Still coaching?

https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20846001/why-a-top-high-school-coach-was-fired/

Didn't he get a gig coaching at a community college?

Aren’t Great Oak and Newbury Park gonna be in this situation in a few years?

Unless you have a steady influx of talent and stable skilled coaching, schools inevitably fall into mediocrity. Changing demographics, the economy, and redistricting have a lot of influence.

Where I live, the public district added a new high school due to population growth and where new neighborhoods are being built. When they drew the new school boundaries, the brand new high school siphoned off talent that was attending two other high schools. The result - all three middle class schools now have very mediocre XC teams, the "wealthy" high school on the other side of town now gets a lot of easy wins in conference because their talent pool remained stable, and the local private Catholic school became even more dominant when some of the best athletes from the public schools transferred rather than stay on a weakened squad.

I imagine that a lot of this happens in California with new development and population influx to "IT!" towns/neighborhoods.

There are only a few schools that have never fallen into mediocrity. Examples are Southlake Carroll, The Woodlands, and CBA NJ. York is not where they used to be when Newton was still around, but they did go to NXN in 2019. CBA got a new head coach in 2016 and are still very good

They SHOULD HAVE been chosen as an at-large in 2019. But they were not. Instead, the committee chose a Texas school because they thought they were the best team in TX based on the stupid MERGE at the state meet and they ended up getting DEAD last. Eastwood raced before woodlands and SLC at state which made the footing more difficult for them. If the footing was the same, or if they all ran in the same race, SLC and woodlands would have beaten Eastwood at state

jesuit would have made NXN in 2020

I've taken over a program that once was really good. Boys took top 3 at state every year from 2009-2018 with two wins and one season with national rankings. Girls took top 3 every year from 2006-2019, with 4 wins and two seasons with national rankings. Teams were consistently 80+ kids. A new coach came in for the 2018 season. They were fired this summer after the boys made state for the first time since 2018, but took 7th, and the girls made state but took last. Last year, they had 50 kids, but only one freshman boy and 4 freshman girls. This year, we have 39 kids, with 15 of those being freshman. I had 9 kids that should have been returners that did not come back. I've been promised 4 years to essentially turn things around.

When a coach leaves, you have no guarantee that the next coach is going to do the things necessary to build a program or maintain it. From what I have seen, the training from the previous coach was a little off, but not terribly so. Honestly, the training was far better than the original coach. What they did do wrong was they fostered a really crappy culture. There's a lot of different things that can be program killers, and training isn't the only one, or maybe even the biggest one. The original coach made it a habit to connect with the feeder middle schools and recruit soccer players, and he was wildly successful. The previous coach was a jerk that refused to connect with even his current kids and let lots of really toxic things manifest and build.

Arcadia boys team qualified for state in 2022

ca.milesplit.com

Arcadia (SS) Results at CIF-State Cross Country Championships

MileSplits official Arcadia (SS) results for the 2022 CIF-State Cross Country Championships, hosted by Record Timing in Fresno CA.

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