University of Minnesota Men's T&F

The topic of the U of M's distance program's struggles has been brought up a few times recently on these boards, and I always they need a new head coach, and that Plaz is pretty much trash. I disagree that there he has a great history at the program, especially considering the talent that has gone through there.

Looking at team places at nationals, and recently even the rate of qualifying to NCAA's, it's pretty obvious he struggles. And as discussed in the Minnesota vs. Wisconsin dual thread, that's with some really amazing talent on the roster.

He's coached some individuals to some fast times, but I don't think that's that spectacular. I mean, after Hassan Mead ran 13:02 a year out of college, is it that impressive he ran 13:33 under Plasencia? Not to knock Hassan, he's a great guy and great athlete, but I don't think the coaching optimized his talent. Just an example.

Basically, I think Coach Plasencia had a few athletes that were impossible to screw up, and he didn't screw them up. But that's not difficult. Recent years have just revealed he's not consistent at coaching distance athletes who aren't as talented as Hassan.

Their results are worse than they could have been because some of their best distance guys were in slow heats. Obsa ran by himself in the slow 3k to place. Streich went 2:22-1:55 in his mile prelim but got beat out by 1:53 closes.

You probably don’t realize that your 2 examples are contardictory. The mile heats evenly distribute the runners. Your guy went with the tactical race by choice and failed. The fast heats of the 3k and 5k were tactical so your guys would have had the same issue. The slow heat wee honest races so average guys ere much better off being in the slow heats. The guy who won the slow heat of the 5k ran a nice pr while nobody in the fast heat did. Your guy was lucky to be in the slow heat of the 3k. He would have run 8:25 in the fat heat like the other guys did who ere 8:15 guys.

There are two Steve Plasencia's:

The first is the egotistical maniac Steve who doesnt have time for walk-ons and potential recruits that dont have footlocker accolades. Sat in his office with my dad and I some years back and let's just say I never considered the University of Minnesota after that even if I was going to be a non-athlete. But the point is i was invited there and did not feel like a guest at all. Afterwards my dad with a shrug of the shoulders basically said, "That is not a very nice guy."

But, by contrast, he can open up to people after youve run 4:04 or better, 14:15 or better or came in decorated enough with potential to be there. Then he is attentive, shows initiative and forthcoming.

Nobody is questioning his personal accolades or contributions to the University of Minnesota idea but I think he could work on his humility and control his emotions better. He can be a very unfriendly person and there is no room for that anywhere when youre a face of the institution.

2:22/1:55 800m splits and you think the 1:55 was the problem?

Why not let the women’s coach take over both programs? He is doing well.

Fire him wrote:

Why not let the women’s coach take over both programs? He is doing well.

Nah! What they need to do is bring old Bradley Wick back! Program hasn't been the same since he headed west. Everyone knows he was the brains behind Hassan Mead, I read it in his Bio!!!

Between Mario and Bradley, you can't go wrong!!!

Plasencia couldn't develop a roll of film, and people around the state have known that since shortly after he took over.

It's been hard to recruit given the lack of an outdoor facility. With that being built, hopefully the program will turn around...

Placenta cannot develop runners and inversely destroys the talented runners he does get. It's a shame that so much potential is wasted at that program. Recruits are better off looking at another D1 school or better yet, a top tier d3 school where they can actually improve and not get injured, burn out, or run the same times or slower that they ran in high school.

H. Mead wrote:

It's been hard to recruit given the lack of an outdoor facility. With that being built, hopefully the program will turn around...

This is nonsense. The women's program won Big Ten Outdoor in 2016 and just won Big Ten Indoor. Somehow they manage to succeed and recruit without an outdoor track. Current men's coach has a reputation as an introvert who is not flexible, not in tune with his runners and he is not developing talent. This is why recruiting isn't where it should be. I have read this posted by numerous people and heard it from a number of folks very close to the program.

Here's a fun story for y'all. Two years ago, Plasencia lets his own kid on the team. I know Alex and he's a good guy, but he is MUCH slower than any other recruit they've had in recent history. Usually you have to be a top 5 guy in the state to get a look from Plas, where Alex was outside of the top 60!! yes, 60!! in cross his senior year. Graduating that year as well with better prs than his kid, I never got as much as an email back from Plas. I also knew a guy with a 1:55, 4:20, and 15:40 5k who didn't get a spot while Plas's kid did. Pretty unreal. Also, the training there is pathetic and they have former state champions running 9:15 in 3ks and seniors running 4:34 in the mile. Pathetic excuse for a coach. The reason he gets recruits is because the U has deep pockets and is the only D1 school in the state, which produces great runners every year.

This is unrelated to your trashing of Coach Plas, but I have been to Minneapolis about 5 times now (always for business) and really it was Bloomington each time. However, I made the effort to go to downtown and into the nice neighborhoods that are near Downtown Minneapolis each time I went. Three of the times I drove with someone else (who was not adventurous) and we drove 650 miles from our BIG 10 city and so he was not interested in looking at the University.

Anyway, this last trip I was alone and did as much looking around as I could and I purposely went to look at the U and as far as I could tell the residence halls are on ONE bank's campus and some of the bigger lecture halls are on the other bank. Before this I had spent a lot of time at Michigan, MSU, Northwestern, University of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, going there for athletics and watching BIG 10s as well as other reasons.

I had never been to Purdue, Iowa, Minnesota, or Penn State before this past weekend. Since most of Minnesota is natural and uncrowded and there is plenty of space there I assumed that the U would be like that also. Now, keep in mind I was only there for about 30 minutes on Sunday, and I just drove around to where it looked interesting, but I found the campus to be kind of cramped and all uphill and downhill and it just looked a little unappealing.

For those of you who went there, I DO KNOW that it is an outstanding University and has a lot to offer and I think Minneapolis and Minnesota in general is wonderful, but is the campus a nice environment? I did not see many wide-open or green or unpaved places to run for example? I did think the extreme cliffs and the hills climbing right out of the Mississippi River was cool and something I don't think any other big midwest U has.

But are there golf courses or dirt or natural areas near the U to train on? Like I said, I did not investigate enough to get the whole story, but from what I saw it looked more urban and bleak than I imagined and less "natural area" than say Ann ARbor or East Lansing or its closer cousin Madison.

Plasencia has been there for over 20 years, so maybe he is doing something right ?

What is his general training plan ?

Someone commented that Plasencia is an introvert, impying that introverts cannot be good coaches. Is this always true ? Any examples of successful introvert coaches ? Isn't Salazar an introvert ?

Ghost in France

Ghost1 wrote:

Plasencia has been there for over 20 years, so maybe he is doing something right ?

What is his general training plan ?

Someone commented that Plasencia is an introvert, impying that introverts cannot be good coaches. Is this always true ? Any examples of successful introvert coaches ? Isn't Salazar an introvert ?

Ghost in France

My two cents...A head track coach of a major D1 program needs to be a dynamic personality and relate to a wide range of kids from sprinters to weight throwers to distance runners. Being a quirky inflexible introvert might work for a distance coach but is not a recipe for success as a head track coach. When your distance guys graduate and take a fifth year in other programs and improve significantly it suggests the recipe isn't even working for the distance kids. Certainly the distance results from Big Ten Indoors this year were not good and the overall team was bottom tier in the conference.

His training plan consists of comparatively low mileage for college distance runner(55-70 for 90% of the team) and workouts that many of his runner could have done in high school. There may still end up being a slight improvement over high school due to growth in college, but it’s underwhelming to say the least. If you look at the two kids that transferred last year, wayde hall and Matt Welch, you’ll see that they improved dramatically just from a change of environment, with Welch almost being an all American in cross and running 13:59 this indoor season at Portland, and wayde scoring for the 8th place Colorado state cross country team, after not making Minnesota’s traveling team previous years.

I certainly can’t think of anything plaz is doing right that would warrant him keeping his position. His lack of success and inability to develop kids is even beginning to have an effect on in state recruiting. The top two 3200 runner in Minnesota last spring went to Georgetown and Oklahoma State, and Minnesota’s Gatorade Cross country runner of the year went to Duke. They managed to get the 2016 state cross country champion, but in his one indoor race this year, he ran 9:15 in the 3k, a far cry from his 3200 pr of 9:07.

Ghost1 wrote:

Plasencia has been there for over 20 years, so maybe he is doing something right ?

His tenure has more to do with a Minnesotan tendency to stick with "our guy" and a hesitancy to upset the apple cart, even if things aren't going well.

Three recent examples are the Twins keeping Ron Gardenhire around several years past his expiration date, the Twins not holding Mauer accountable to the level his contract indicates, and the UofM keeping Lucia around despite that program getting a bit musty and no longer even the best hockey program in the state.

Love Minnesota, but ... wrote:

For those of you who went there, I DO KNOW that it is an outstanding University and has a lot to offer and I think Minneapolis and Minnesota in general is wonderful, but is the campus a nice environment? I did not see many wide-open or green or unpaved places to run for example? I did think the extreme cliffs and the hills climbing right out of the Mississippi River was cool and something I don't think any other big midwest U has.

But are there golf courses or dirt or natural areas near the U to train on? Like I said, I did not investigate enough to get the whole story, but from what I saw it looked more urban and bleak than I imagined and less "natural area" than say Ann ARbor or East Lansing or its closer cousin Madison.

A few things, I graduated high school in the mid 2000s and really wanted to go to the U, they were actively recruiting two athletes who finished ahead of me at state cross and 5 that finished behind me. I had to practically beg to get a visit even though I lived within driving distance of campus. Lets just say that after my visit with Plaz, I had no desire to go there anymore. He had an attitude that I was wasting his time, really didn't have a chance at making the roster, and told me that I shouldn't do a challenging major because I wouldn't be able to handle the workload in addition to what he expects out of his athletes. After the visit I didn't hear from them until after state track where they decided to offer me a scholarship, but I decided to go to a school that actually wanted me there.

I'm not saying that I was a world beater but I would have scored points for them and made top 7 in CC, it just really rubbed me the wrong way how dismissive he was of me...on second thought maybe he is the reason I ran well because I spitefully just wanted to pick off as many U of M runners as I could whenever I raced against them.

I now live in Minneapolis. As for the campus, it is in the middle of a metropolitan area and has to compete with many pro teams whereas many of the other Big 10 schools are the only show in town which isn't positive or negative but is the reality of the situation. However, in spite of where it is located I have found Minneapolis to be one of the better running cities I've lived in, there is a great network of bike/pedestrian paths with quite a bit of single track around if you pay attention (theodore wirth, chain of lakes, E & W River Roads, etc.) the one knock would be the winter weather but Minneapolis and St. Paul both do better job keeping their bike paths clean than their roads, there were only a few days this winter that I threw in the towel because of cold or ice. If you were attending the U of M there would be options to train other places on these rough days.