Chris Miltenberg leaving Stanford to take over as director of T&F/CC at UNC

While Stanford is a fantastic school it is clearly not for everyone. Not every super stud coming out of high school wants to be pitted against the brightest students in the country in their English seminar. UNC, you still have those very bright kids but there is a larger mix of students who are still very studious but are not as high strung as Stanford students. Without a doubt, Stanford has an unrivaled allure to it. But the prestige of UNC is an extremely well-known force, especially on the east coast.

UNC is going to recruit awfully well against state schools (NCSU, Michigan, UVA, PSU, VT) and private schools (Duke, Penn, Georgetown) because it is a very selective (24% acceptance rate) but also not as intimidating as Stanford's 4%. Not every athlete needs, nor wants, to attend a school of the most extreme academic difficulty when they are making their decision to compete in college.

There is only so much time in the day of the student-athlete. Milt is going to be able to sell UNC to a way bigger pool of athletes than he was able to at Stanford because of those reasons. Chapel Hill sells itself! A super sized magnet is coming to suck all east coast studs down to Chapel Hill.

Milt wouldn't have left Stanford if he didn't believe in his ability to sell UNC to more people because of its comparatively lax admissions standards. Drew Hunter would've been a Tar Heel if Milt was there back in the day.

I hear Milt is looking for some young blood to assist in coaching and recruiting. Probably someone who knows the southeast well and the current recruiting environment. I would look no farther than two SEC volunteers Ashberry from Alabama or Harvey from Ole Miss.

sorry,,,,,,, wrote:

Are you kidding, he had two do well? With the recruits he has gotten over the 7 years they should have been killing it, total failure.

And Ratcliffe is a junior, just completed his first outdoor season under Milt, that is not a good thing, he has underperformed in a big way.

If you think Milt did a bad job at Stanford, you just flat out haven't been paying attention.

I hate posts like these. It just shows how clueless people are. Ratcliffe was 3rd in the 5k behind two of the greatest NCAA runners in recent history. You guys act like improvement is linear. It's not. There are several top level athletes each year that don't "perform up to expectations" all over the country for various reasons. You can't say that the guys who had the BEST overall program in the NCAA failed in any way.

The last three years in the men's 5k they've gone something like :

1st

1st and 3rd

2nd and 3rd

Who else has done that? And by the way, O'Keefe had a great track season that you're conveniently ignoring. Also, the men placed 5th in track with FOUR athletes. That's insane! Last year the women placed 3rd with a similar amount of kids.

Milt did a great job at Stanford. These kids that show up on campus each year are heavily involved with school and trying to balance being a top tier athlete AND student. It's tough. This isn't NAU where the kids are fine with taking a B or C if that means they'll win a national championships. They're just different types of kids. I am in no way a Stanford alumnus, but I just felt like I needed to drop some truth bombs on you.

I didn't even get to this part, but they're not too shabby in XC either.

And just to clarify, yes, they were chosen as the best overall program in the NCAA. I didn't just make that up. Who else did that?

Mo Saatara offered Stanford. Very progressive. First p5 Muslim head.

How many points did Stanford's sprinters and hurdlers score at Pac-12s?

Zero.

Across male and female.

A good coach develops a complete, well-rounded program. To have major disciplines in your team contributing nothing demonstrates either a lack of care or inability to put together a true team.

Tell that to Georgia or to pst Arkansas or LSU championship teams. You win with what you can win with

Stanford's Women’s team was 3rd outdoor in 2018 with big throws points.

The men's 4x4 made the final that same year.

Harrison Williams won the Pac-12 decathlon in 2018 and was NCAA runner up this year.

You're right....no balance. Just distance as far as I can tell.

Track isn't only the 5k wrote:

WinnytheBish wrote:

And just to clarify, yes, they were chosen as the best overall program in the NCAA. I didn't just make that up. Who else did that?

How many points did Stanford's sprinters and hurdlers score at Pac-12s?

Zero.

Across male and female.

A good coach develops a complete, well-rounded program. To have major disciplines in your team contributing nothing demonstrates either a lack of care or inability to put together a true team.

Again, they were picked as the best overall program in the nation. Are you dense?

They should be the best program in the nation... Stanford has won the directors' cup 25 straight years. Most NCAA titles of any school.

That award was a combination of XC/indoor/outdoor. Not just outdoor track and field. You can blame his assistants for the lack of sprinting/hurdling performance but it has to be attributed somewhere.

Also, it should be incredibly easy to recruit when you can sell the value of a Stanford education...

That's ridiculous libel. PattySue ran 15:00-flat and Jeff Atkinson ran 3:35. He was rough around the edges but everyone loved Brooks.

Stanford Alum wrote:

I can't let the kind words for Brooks Johnson stand. He actually forced women to weigh themselves before practice, and according to a number of outstanding male alumni I have spoken with personally, didn't know what he was talking about in terms of training middle and long distance training. The runners who succeeded during his era did it in spite of him. But this is all moot, because based on the little I know (admittedly) about A.D. politics on The Farm these days, there isn't the chance of a snowball in hell of his returning.

Didn't UNC have a slight problem with academic fraud in the athletic dept not to long ago? Fine academic institution.

Stanford also tied for 4th indoor with Grant, a DMR team (with Grant) and Harrison Williams. And Okeefe got 3rd in the 5k and almost won the PAC 12 title in the 5k. He's coached 4 athletes to spots on the Bowerman Track Club roster.

He had a relatively young squad this year for XC and still got them to a 5th place spot. He did very well with Michael Vernau this year (hung with top pack in XC, sub 29 10k). Let's not forget he coached 7 sub 14 5k runners this spring and got a national champion in Steven Fahy.

When you take the acceptance rate and academic rigor at Stanford, he's done amazing at Stanford. You think NAU or Oregon or BYU are pulling the same weight academically? Not even close. They have all day to run miles.

Look, I'm not trying to blame the athletes there who haven't performed the best because I don't know them, but I can tell you from power 5 colleges that have MUCH less academic that sometimes these athletes just can't make it to the next level. Okay, they ran 4:05 in HS. You might think that runner goes sub 4 sophomore or junior year with a natural progression, but that's just not the reality. Students get to campus and have books, training load, social life, relationships, family problems, or they may have just burnt out from high school. Did anyone ever stop to think that students might be suffering from depression/anxiety? You just never know.

Track isn't only the 5k wrote:

WinnytheBish wrote:

And just to clarify, yes, they were chosen as the best overall program in the NCAA. I didn't just make that up. Who else did that?

How many points did Stanford's sprinters and hurdlers score at Pac-12s?

Zero.

Across male and female.

A good coach develops a complete, well-rounded program. To have major disciplines in your team contributing nothing demonstrates either a lack of care or inability to put together a true team.

Get real fool. Top sprinters can’t get into Stanford academically. 800 m and down, the top guys and gals can’t make the grade. That’s reality.

Well said and so true.

Stanford has won the Presidents Cup 25 years in a row. In case people didn’t know, the Presidents cup is awarded to the NCAA school having won the most NCAA championships in a given year.

It is also true that envy creates animosity. The best get bashed by the wannabes.

Milt has done an excellent job. He is no dummy. The UNC offer has to have covered off all that he desires with the backing of the university to build something amazing.

Have to say it is amazing how Fisher was so consistent his four years at Stanford. Consistent at the highest level on the track and academically. Can’t imagine many, if any, athletes take EE at Stanford and complete their degree in four years. All the while winning 12 athletic all American, academic all American, and NCAA national scholar athlete honors, plus the many championships wins and runner up showings that he accomplished.

Get real fool. Top sprinters can’t get into Stanford academically. 800 m and down, the top guys and gals can’t make the grade. That’s reality.

Source? Not saying you're wrong, but what's the evidence/rationale there? Because sprinters are more likely to have a different racial profile/background? C'mon...

Come on man!!

Stanford has the best distance recruiting class all the time, they should be great. Just keep them healthy and they will be very good, be a great coach and they will be GREAT. They have not been great under Milt.

Sorry, Stanford is the first destination for almost every top distance runner until they can't get in then they go elsewhere. They have not lived up to the level of their recruits.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Probably doesn’t want to live in a million dollar California crap shack. Taxes, traffic, homeless people. Yea I could see lots of reasons to leave.

Obviously you’ve never been to Palo Alto.