Cal Poly Track Team Suspended

Calicollegerunner wrote:

This is, unfortunately, being blown way out of proportion by the school, I talked to a friend on the team as immediately I was worried after seeing the article. According to them what really happened was it was a typical team college party, unfortunately, someone drank more then they could handle and ended up in the hospital. There they said they were a member of the track team, and apparently, the friend that brought them there said it was hazing. This led to the hospital reporting it to the school and the whole investigation, which most likely came down hard with the issues last year of Frat hazings. My Friend saw no forced drinking, forced exercise, or "sexual scavenger hunt" and has no clue where these details came from.

As a mustang Alum, this one obviously struck a chord with me. This is a ridiculous overreaction driven by fraternity incidents that have occurred over the past decade and a half. There is underage drinking on the Cal Poly team just like at hundreds of other teams in the country. As far as I know, there has never been any forced drinking on the team, peer pressure maybe but if someone didn't drink they were never made to. Maybe the scavenger hunt has changed over the years, and being on the distance side that wasn't really our deal, but I know of nothing sexual about it then or now.

This is a sad day for the program and Cal Poly is just the next program in what is going to continue to be a growing list of PC driven punishments. UCSB coach gets his name dragged through the muck and then fired without even knowing what he did wrong because some spoiled kids called in their helicopter parents. We are raising a generation of weaklings and have become hypocrites. We pretend force all these rules on college students and express outrage at stupid crap like that. While everyday NCAA institutions turn a blind eye to real issues like assault if it impacts one of their money generating sports. And don't even get me started on ethics in the business world.

Anyone celebrating this decision or trying to justify it. We are headed down a slippery slope and your institution may be next.

A bit unrelated but is SLO a good place to live?

I was a hurdler at a powerhouse Division 3 school (yes, I understand the oxymoron there) and this school was already on an NCAA-mandated probation when I arrived. Needless to say the original whistleblower had already left the program after heavy blowback toward him.

Anyway, little has changed, and over the next two years I witnessed some of the more messed up, humiliating, sexually deprived things one could imagine. The coaches knew about most of it and in a few instances actually kicked some of the more extreme perpetrators off the team, but no one outside of the school ever found out.

I wonder if it’s still going on....

Another example of liberals infringing on our first amendment rights...

More importantly, why is cal poly so crappy at running now? They used to make d1 nationals, now they suck in the west region. With a good school and beautiful training grounds, they should be a powerhouse. Conover isn't a great coach, but did he get worse?

B.E. DLS wrote:

More importantly, why is cal poly so crappy at running now? They used to make d1 nationals, now they suck in the west region. With a good school and beautiful training grounds, they should be a powerhouse. Conover isn't a great coach, but did he get worse?

Obviously they're too busy partying, duh.

B.E. DLS wrote:

More importantly, why is cal poly so crappy at running now? They used to make d1 nationals, now they suck in the west region. With a good school and beautiful training grounds, they should be a powerhouse. Conover isn't a great coach, but did he get worse?

Mark is a good coach, but apparently the culture is terrible. That will decimate a team.

fasdfsdfdf wrote:

B.E. DLS wrote:

More importantly, why is cal poly so crappy at running now? They used to make d1 nationals, now they suck in the west region. With a good school and beautiful training grounds, they should be a powerhouse. Conover isn't a great coach, but did he get worse?

Obviously they're too busy partying, duh.

They're not partying hard enough. Seriously, during my time there we partied way more than the team now and still made it more than half the years I was there. The groups before my time were way crazier and they made it most years too.

Mark is a good coach but I'm not sure he meshes as well with this generation of kids whereas before he could be the ultimate hardass. If he still coached with the same edge he had 20 years ago he would be fired within a year as some parent would throw a fit.

I feel like 15 years ago Poly was one of the best-coached programs and now others have caught up. Poly doesn't get the best talent. Unless things have changed since I left we had 6 scholarships for the entire men's track team. The joys of having a football team at a smaller D1 school. Plus Mark won't go out and recruit East African's. He does a little recruiting out of state now but that is relatively new.

Poly gets talent. Good talent. I know multiple underclassmen on the current team who party like crazy.

WinnytheBish wrote:

B.E. DLS wrote:

More importantly, why is cal poly so crappy at running now? They used to make d1 nationals, now they suck in the west region. With a good school and beautiful training grounds, they should be a powerhouse. Conover isn't a great coach, but did he get worse?

Mark is a good coach, but apparently the culture is terrible. That will decimate a team.

The "culture" starts at the top. Having known several team members, it's not surprising at all that Conover can not create a good environment. All were disappointed with the guy. Now that I'm coaching in CA, I would never send a runner there. He has had more than one CA state mile champion. The best runners from the best state. They do nothing.

No, they overcharge rent for completely garbage worn-down apartments. Housing is overpriced for what this city and the local area offers. Severe lack of diversity relative to the rest of California. A bunch of wannabe country folk. Don't be surprised by unintentional racism here. There's better places in California that can offer a similar experience; go further south near Santa Barbara or Socal. SLO is close to nice vacation towns though. Good hikes nearby. Beaches and parks nearby. Delicious barbeque. But still in the middle of no-where in central California. Also the locals hate the college students, even if the whole city's economy depends on the wild college crowd. Not surprised that the newspaper would drag Cal Poly through the mud like that.

But as far as running goes, it's a good place to run. The xc and track team are solid at this university; Runningwarehouse is in town. Hoka Aggies is also based here. Lots of hiking trails means lots of nice places to run; still a bit hilly.

Hello it's Not 1980 Anymore wrote:

[quote]Lokel Yokel wrote:

I can understand this in today's day and age. That said, this goes on at just about every college in america.

I'm a college coach and I can tell you that these things don't happen on our team. Times have changed, and it takes a more disciplined athlete to have success at the national level now. You either learn to live right, or you are left behind by the competition. When's the last time the Mustangs sent a team to the dance?

Yup, those guys all ran so slow in the 80s. Definitely wouldn't have been able to compete in today's NCAA. Are you kidding me?

Isn't John Capriotti one of the most famous Cal Poly track alums? Nothing that a few dollars from the Swoosh could fix..

This incident is kind of ironic. When I was a walk-on at UC Davis I was hazed by the upperclass runners. Initially I was surprised to learn that one of the ringleaders on that team now coaches at Cal Poly. Now it seems like maybe she is right at home in SLO. Ha ha Go Ags!

DII hero wrote:

This incident is kind of ironic. When I was a walk-on at UC Davis I was hazed by the upperclass runners. Initially I was surprised to learn that one of the ringleaders on that team now coaches at Cal Poly. Now it seems like maybe she is right at home in SLO. Ha ha Go Ags!

A complete and 100% lie.

I've been on the track a few times when the coach in question was out with her athletes so obviously a minor sample size compared to the claim made by the above snowflake but I can't see doing that, sorry. She's always been upbeat and gentle on the ladies, from what little i've observed. Me thinks you are a snowflake and/or full of mierda (sp?).

all dunne wrote:

WinnytheBish wrote:

Mark is a good coach, but apparently the culture is terrible. That will decimate a team.

The "culture" starts at the top. Having known several team members, it's not surprising at all that Conover can not create a good environment. All were disappointed with the guy. Now that I'm coaching in CA, I would never send a runner there. He has had more than one CA state mile champion. The best runners from the best state. They do nothing.

I had a stronger team culture in high school. I trust the mans training, well the workouts are all he mandates, but everything else is left to the athletes and you can see how that's gone. Whats one to do?