Sean Brosnan is out after one year at UCLA

After just one year at UCLA, Sean Brosnan‘s tenure as distance coach is over.

This evening, Brosnan confirmed to LetsRun.com that his contract wasn’t renewed for a second year at UCLA, despite the team enjoying success both on the track and in recruiting. Brosnan said he’s exploring what’s next for him but ruled out a return to the high school ranks where he built the greatest boys’ high school distance squad in history at Newbury Park.

During his one year at UCLA, Brosnan accomplished the following:

• Helped improve Ronan McMahon-Staggs‘ mile PR from 4:01 to 3:54.
• Helped improve Pete Herold’s 5,000 PR from 13:46 to 13:37 and steeple PR from 8:42 to 8:35, guiding him to an 10th place finish at NCAAs in the steeple.
• Helped improved Mia Barnett‘s 1500 PR from 4:11 to 4:08.
• Coached three women’s athletes to the NCAAs in outdoor track.
• Nabbed Barnett, Dalia Frias and others in the transfer portal.

Brosnan said he was told on Friday by an administrator that his contract wouldn’t be renewed because they “didn’t like how I led the team.” Brosnan feels like that was just PR talk.

Brosnan and Colin Sahlman at The Track Meet in 2022 (Kevin Morris Photo)

He said that his direct boss, Avery Anderson, the director of track & field and XC at UCLA, loved his work and wanted UCLA to keep him. Brosnan feels he wasn’t kept on because of the fallout after some other NCAA coaches complained he was tampering with their athletes before they hit the transfer portal.

Brosnan said he had even heard a rumor that one top NCAA coach had vowed to make sure he was fired. Brosnan said the NCAA investigated the claims and he cooperated with the investigation and even turned over his phone.

“Nothing was found. I’m 100% confident in that … There were no violations,” said Brosnan. “In my head, I think they are just over it … We’re an Olympic sport and schools don’t want to hear any noise.”

Despite Brosnan’s denials, the idea that Brosnan was tampering with athletes before they hit the portal was widespread as people have been alleging it on the LetsRun.com forum for months.

“I’m disappointed. I’m bummed. I’m upset. I don’t want to pretend like [I didn’t want to stay]. I wanted to be there. And I wish they would have kept me, but you know, if somebody doesn’t want me there at the top, that’s all it takes at the NCAA level to end it. And at the end of the day, this honestly is probably for the best, because if they’re willing to not re-sign me because of stuff like that (the allegations), then I probably don’t want to be there.”

Brosnan said at one point he had to show investigators one of his original Instagram posts as someone had photoshopped one of his Instagram posts to make it look like he was committing an NCAA violation in regards to one of the Young brothers and reported it to the NCAA.

Brosnan Will Not Return to the High School Ranks

Moving forward, Brosnan said he doesn’t know what the future holds but knows it will involve trying to get people to run really fast.

“There’s no more high school for me. I’m gonna either stay in college or go to post-collegians. That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m actually talking to different people trying to figure out my next move is. I just got off the phone with an agent friend of mine, and he’s helping me find a place and a direction and all this stuff, we’re trying to figure out what the best move would be for me. I definitely don’t want to coach back in high school. I loved, loved the time I was there, but that’s not what I want to do [moving forward],” said Brosnan.

“I just want – I want people to run fast. I want to help them run fast and reach their goals and do great things. I want to – I want women to run under four minutes [in the 1500]. I want guys to run close to 3:30. Those are the people I want to coach. That’s what I want to do.”

Talk about Brosnan’s departure from UCLA on our world-famous fan forum/message board.

MB: Confirmed by LRC: UCLA track coach, Sean Brosnan, won’t return to UCLA for year #2

From The Archives: The 2021 Newbury Park Boys Are the Greatest High School Cross Country Team in US History Brosnan had incredible success at the high school ranks with the Young brothers – Leo, Lex and Nico as well as the Sahlman brothers – Aaron and Colin.