blah blah blah blah
Working with others can be a challenge if you are unwilling to meet them in the middle. I'd suggest you give this some thought and decide what type of person you want to be - someone who respects others or someone who doesn't. Doesn't sound like you were respecting the athlete's choices as well you are displaying a narrow mindedness with your statement 'Anyone who has coached high schoolers knows that a significant percentage of any track team have no interest in the sport but use it as an opportunity to give people grief.' Seems like you are looking for trouble.
Sorry I'm not conservative enough to agree with you and good luck in the job hunt.