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

arp wrote:

Mr Peanutbutter wrote:

This article is crazy. I'm pretty sure that I would be fired from my job for acting like that. Considering that he was being followed by a reporter, I'm assuming that this is a toned down version of Centro. I'm not surprised that there were mass transfers out of American.

Based on that article, I wouldn't have minded running there. The question Centro asked of Dellinger is exactly what I would have done.

This here Matt guy sounds like my kinda fellow, you know grab em by the pvssy eh? Lock em up, all these crybaby snowflakes that can’t handle a real man.

Coach Matt and many of the athletes still owe me money for the week I spent with them working on their bodies. I'm not sure why I never got paid, but it sounded like the athletes thought the school was paying, but Coach Matt spent that money at Chadwhicks. It's really a shame that none of those jacklags paid me.

coach is a good guy and triggered people need to grow up

That article shows that he is a great coach, his results much better than some here are trying to portray--for instance, that was five straight Patriot League xc titles at the point it was written, 20 all-Americans, a third D1 in the men's 1500m, which is tough, and several straight nationals team qualifications in a regionals that includes Georgetown, Villanova, and Princeton but in which only the top two were sure to go. The way in which he was a hard guy was the opposite of most college coaches, not yelling at guys to go faster and breaking them down and cutting scholarships when they were injured, but rather demanding of them that they slow down to hit paces (a key problem in workouts for college xc runners who always want to go way faster than their 8k pace and as a result never get used to running the pace they have the potential to run) and that they take it easy when they are injured or ill.

just look at some of the stories about what bowerman did - such as pissing on a student-athlete.

Centro's behavior may not be politically correct, but doesn't mean he is a bad guy.

He was tough on his son, and his son ended up winning an olympic gold medal.

f. dwyer wrote:

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

Probably five people on earth understand the meaning of this post. Fred Dwyer started coaching Manhattan in 1969 and had a huge recruiting class. I remember two guys in particular, Joe Savage (we used to call him "Doc"), who went to Roselle Catholic, in NJ (he was an animal--big guy), and Marty Walsh (very slight in build), from Tottenville HS, in Staten Island. They joined up with the Lovett brothers, John and Peter, and Tony Colon. Everyone on the NY scene thought they would become a big-time program, and while they did okay (Savage, for example, ran 3:41 for 1500), some guys never broke through. One guy, Ed McBride, had so much potential (I worked out with him a few days one summer--a huge engine), but he never trained, and Dwyer just kept yelling at him.

Thanks for bringing some memories back.

Didn't Fred Dwyer once tell Matt that you can't make chicken soup out of chicken sh!t?

I guess that's just how these guys deliver their message...

Matt Centrowitz. Great American, 2 time Olympian. So many losers criticizing him for no reason. You aren’t two time Olympians. SAD!

I told Marianne to hire her. I need someone to drink with!!

This thread is a lot like the Metcalf thread, except that Metcalf got fired and this clown got HIRED.

Smarter than the generals wrote:

Matt Centrowitz. Great American, 2 time Olympian. So many losers criticizing him for no reason. You aren’t two time Olympians. SAD!

He was a one time Olympian '76. He did not compete in Moscow so not a two time Olympian.

Montesquieu wrote:

Probably five people on earth understand the meaning of this post. Fred Dwyer started coaching Manhattan in 1969 and had a huge recruiting class. I remember two guys in particular, Joe Savage (we used to call him "Doc"), who went to Roselle Catholic, in NJ (he was an animal--big guy), and Marty Walsh (very slight in build), from Tottenville HS, in Staten Island. They joined up with the Lovett brothers, John and Peter, and Tony Colon. Everyone on the NY scene thought they would become a big-time program, and while they did okay (Savage, for example, ran 3:41 for 1500), some guys never broke through. One guy, Ed McBride, had so much potential (I worked out with him a few days one summer--a huge engine), but he never trained, and Dwyer just kept yelling at him.

Thanks for bringing some memories back.

Pete and Paul Squires, Mike Keogh, Earl Bruce as well.

Then there's Willie McLaughlin. Heard he's got some pretty quick offspring.

Allbeury, no shït. No Americans competed in the 1980 Olympics, I canceled them! Centro still qualified and would have run if I allowed him. He would have crushed that cheater Yifter! What are you a Commie?! How many olympics did you run in?

I agree Jimmy. He would have smoked Yifter. Allbeury is a twat. #Bozogate

I remember Keogh especially, and the Squires, but not Bruce or McLaughlin. Keogh went to Essex, where Dwyer had coached (Liquori among others). Of course all of this makes me remember the guys from Andrew Jackson (Queens) and Boys High (Brooklyn). Speaking of animals, Jim Jackson ("Jimmy Jack") was another one in the 880, but he was a year or two before Savage. The NY/NJ high school track scene in the late 60s was really something special.

Montesquieu wrote:

Pete and Paul Squires, Mike Keogh, Earl Bruce as well.

Then there's Willie McLaughlin. Heard he's got some pretty quick offspring.

I remember Keogh especially, and the Squires, but not Bruce or McLaughlin. Keogh went to Essex, where Dwyer had coached (Liquori among others). Of course all of this makes me remember the guys from Andrew Jackson (Queens) and Boys High (Brooklyn). Speaking of animals, Jim Jackson ("Jimmy Jack") was another one in the 880, but he was a year or two before Savage. The NY/NJ high school track scene in the late 60s was really something special.[/quote]

Cliff Bruce was an 880 type who finished 3rd in the 1000yds for the '73 indoor NCAA champs.

Willie McLaughlin was mid '80's.

You all sound so soft. Especially those without experience being in the program. You all speak with 100% certainty that Coach was a "verbally abusive, sometimes physically abusive, drunkard".

Did coach yell at you when you needed to be yelled at? Of course.

Did coach yell at you when you didn't need to be yelled at? Hell yeah he did. The man has a temper. Does that make him a terrible person, verbally abusive, and a bad coach? Absolutely not.

He only yelled at kids for two reasons:

1. You were an idiot/didn't care about running and should no longer be on the team.

2. He saw tons of potential in you as a runner, but you weren't committed enough to his program.

Both of those things frustrated coach endlessly because he had given everything he has to our sport and doesn't understand people that can't do that. "They aren't a bad person, they just want to do other things than run."

Was coach physically abusive? Absolutely not.

Did coach like to drink? Yes. He likes to have a good time just like every other human being.

Did coach show up to practice drunk? Absolutely not.

Coach prepared me for the real world more than any adult that I know. He is a great mentor and person to talk to.

Manhattan will be a great fit for coach. I wish him all the best.

Former eagle is spot on. My freshman year I said why do I get yelled at. I am number one guy on team. You never yell at xxx(on JV) and I am way better. All Matt said is you have potential xxx has none

I haven’t really used that language of referring to him as “verbally or physically abusive or a drunkard” in describing him as a coach or a man. Since you have labeled his detractors as soft, I can only assume you are referring to me as well.

I believe that the program could have been even better in the short team and with more sustained success if Matt’s approach to communicating with his athletes was different. You admitted that people (myself included) got needlessly yelled at. I don’t think it makes me soft to say that it gets infuriating and confusing to exist in such an environment after a while.

I agree that there were times where “ tough love” was warranted, and I take no issue with receiving such treatment. It’s a coach’s job to hold people accountable when they mess up.