Matt Centrowitz named director of XC/track & field at Manhattan College

It is interesting far it seems someone's name will get them, despite mounds of evidence that they are not qualified for a job.

I hope they have a good lawyer on retainer, and have hired someone else to do the administrative work that he won’t do.

Dirty Dean Heller wrote:

I hope they have a good lawyer on retainer, and have hired someone else to do the administrative work that he won’t do.

You can also look at the rate that which athletes transferred/quit the team or plateaued/were inconsistent by their senior year. The team went off a cliff very quickly by the late 2000s, with the exception of a good season or 2 in the early 2010s.

I ran for AU in the early 2000s, and while I got more fit every year, the team was better each year (several Footlocker finalists who were better than I ever was their first day freshman year) so I never made varsity cross. Some of the other walk-ons made some substantial progress from high school, but I was injured so often that I'd have some great fitness, but never really be able to show it in races. The workouts and training plan simply weren't individualized enough for decent-but-not-great, runners (I was a 9:30s 3200 guy in high school). I ended up not running senior year (didn't quit, just was too injured all the time... it was always something different).

A little bit better ancillary support with injury prevention (strength programming, stretching, etc...) would have helped me, and some teammates, a lot. Phil Wharton came in to help teach us some stretching stuff from time to time, but that wasn't sufficient.

The women's team... boy, he made a lot of them cry with "tough love". The female alumni ran a Ragnar-type race a few years back called "Centro's Survivors" because that's how they kind of felt.

Great hire for Manhattan College. Going back to the glory days.

i wonder if Manhattan College administrators came to this site to read about how great of a hire it was

and now are terrified, knowing they dropped the ball

Centrowitz, Cantello, it’s all the same. Verbally abusive despots who stay employed because the fast athletes that “made it through” go to bat for them and the ones that quit and complain are seen as “sour grapes.” Straight from the abuser’s handbook.

He made his runners hate running. Even in the glory days a top guy or two would just walk away from the sport their senior year. That caught up with the program pretty quickly, and he’s not a good enough coach to develop enough mediocre runners to make up for it.

Been there before wrote:

He made his runners hate running. Even in the glory days a top guy or two would just walk away from the sport their senior year. That caught up with the program pretty quickly, and he’s not a good enough coach to develop enough mediocre runners to make up for it.

It’s even harder when the lack of recruiting causes the team to stop signing Footlocker XC caliber athletes as they were in their heyday in the mid 2009s.

more stories please, these are very entertaining

specific examples are best

gtgteed wrote:

It is interesting far it seems someone's name will get them, despite mounds of evidence that they are not qualified for a job.

Welcome to coaching in America!

Back a few years ago (when American was relevant as a program and Centro was relevant as a coach) he was holding court 1 night at the Hotel Del during Foot Locker Nats weekend and telling all who would listen how he was the total brains behind the old Reebok Enclave. How before he showed up Gags had no clue what he was doing and how Centro taught Gags all he knew. Any success the team had was all Centro

call 911 wrote:

Back a few years ago (when American was relevant as a program and Centro was relevant as a coach) he was holding court 1 night at the Hotel Del during Foot Locker Nats weekend and telling all who would listen how he was the total brains behind the old Reebok Enclave. How before he showed up Gags had no clue what he was doing and how Centro taught Gags all he knew. Any success the team had was all Centro

This must have been 2006 when his son was out there. With Matt’s track record of recruiting, can’t imagine he’d have gone to Footlocker for any other reason.

He made a teammate take off his American jersey after a bad race, turn it inside out and cover his face with it as he walked back to our teams area. He didn't want the AU name or this runners face associated with him.

He was not very motivating or encouraging. He never worked with you on form or mechanics. Never helped runners set goals, worked on race strategy or met with you about anything unless you went to see him.

I went from a 17 min 5k to under 15:30 my freshman year, and under 15 my sophomore year. Most of that is due to millage, support of my teammates, strength coaching, etc. Anyone who goes from high school type workouts, to college level running should improve.

One of the big reasons I improved was because he was coaching 10-20 post collegiate local runners privately and having them join our work outs. They were great to talk to and get advise from, both as athletes and students. He did encourage us to talk with them, as he could not fill that role.

Proof that once having been a great runner is no guarantee you’ll be a great coach.

Wow, did you want your hand held and spoon fed to! Your an example of whats happened to American distance running, its to hard, I don't want to do the the things necessary to improve but will certainly complain a lot along the way. Coach is too tough and pushes me.

Whartons stretching and strengthening program is great. Follow just 3-4 things daily and your there, sounds like you wanted some-type of magic and be hand held daily.

Personalized individual workouts? Its not a health club with a personal trainer.

Here are the antics you speak of:

1) Started the program at AU from scratch

2) Took team to NCAA in cross country, with just 3 scholarships

3) Prepares you for life after track, makes you think on your own - things your boss will expect of you when you start a career

4) Personally when from 9:30 in high school to 24:40 in cross my freshman year. My mother died at end of freshman cross country - no person could ever have been more supportive to myself and my father than Matt both at the time and continually throguh the years.

5) Those who bash him about their running careers probably have similar issues with their current bosses - "my boss is too hard on me"

Would never claim that Centro is a saint, but despite his many flaws, the man can certainly coach.

Let’s all just realize that anything written by Kevin Tschirhart, world class bozo that he is, must be taken with a grain of salt. Don’t believe me? Ask his teammates at both AU and UVA or either of the coaches. Vig kicked him off the team! Or just go check his social media. What a turkey.

LIRunner21 wrote:

Here are the antics you speak of:

1) Started the program at AU from scratch

2) Took team to NCAA in cross country, with just 3 scholarships

3) Prepares you for life after track, makes you think on your own - things your boss will expect of you when you start a career

4) Personally when from 9:30 in high school to 24:40 in cross my freshman year. My mother died at end of freshman cross country - no person could ever have been more supportive to myself and my father than Matt both at the time and continually throguh the years.

5) Those who bash him about their running careers probably have similar issues with their current bosses - "my boss is too hard on me"

Would you say all of Matt’s coaching tactics were appropriate and would be fully supported by the administration if they heard the full story?

In response to ”baby me,” part of a coach’s duties are to ensure to the best of their ability that athletes stay healthy and/or receive the care they need. American has never had the roster size/talent of a program like Stanford/Oregon/Colorado where athletes can get injured and have someone else adequately fill in for them.