UT Track and Field

#1
vol66

vol66

GBO!!!
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#1
I just spent the last few hours watching the NCAA Track and Field Championship, first day.

I don't know if this is the proper forum, so mods feel free to move it.

I don't know how else to say it. The UT Track and Field Team has been decimated. The best we could manage today was 7th in the pole vault.

I knew we weren't sending many athletes, but to see, with my own two eyes how out classed the few we did send were...it's a tragedy. I don't blame the athletes, I'm sure they are doing the best they can.

I think MTSU had more athletes, and I know Wichita State did.

This seems worse than the way the baseball program was Raleighed. If the Administration is going to allow this to continue, they might as well disband the program and put that money towards two sports they want to commit too. It's really sad, really sad. GBO!
 
#4
#4
volfanhill said:
We have sucked at most sports for too long...thanks Hamilton
Click to expand...

This is actually worse than that. We have a pretty decent 4x100 men's team. They dropped the baton on the first exchange. They were the only team of the 24 to do that.

We have no student athletes competing tomorrow, actually we've got discuss and javelin on the men's side left (Friday, I think) and that is it. None of the women participating today advanced.

In truth, we have a field team, we're out of the mix for track.
 
#6
#6
My best friend's Daughter signed a Full Ride to Ole Miss to run long distance in track...she has either won or finished in the top 3 in State the last 3 yrs in 3200 and 1600...TN coaches called her and set up a visit...then backed out without ever calling her...they had to call him and he made up some lame excuse...she ran track and cross country(which she won a STate also) for McMinn County...right in TN back yard...
 
#8
#8
It goes back to the athletic dept n what they deem as success. The perception I get is they want ut mid pack in all sports n they will be happy. Which is freaking unacceptable in my eyes.

When I was on campus our track n field, tennis and baseball teams were all national power's but we had different leadership n different expectations.. now not so much.
 
#9
#9
vol66 said:
I just spent the last few hours watching the NCAA Track and Field Championship, first day.

I don't know if this is the proper forum, so mods feel free to move it.

I don't know how else to say it. The UT Track and Field Team has been decimated. The best we could manage today was 7th in the pole vault.

I knew we weren't sending many athletes, but to see, with my own two eyes how out classed the few we did send were...it's a tragedy. I don't blame the athletes, I'm sure they are doing the best they can.

I think MTSU had more athletes, and I know Wichita State did.

This seems worse than the way the baseball program was Raleighed. If the Administration is going to allow this to continue, they might as well disband the program and put that money towards two sports they want to commit too. It's really sad, really sad. GBO!
Click to expand...



Seems the program was better before they consolidated the men & womens programs. Isn't J.J. in charge of both programs now, rather than a head men's coach and a head women's coach?
 
#10
#10
Rudy123 said:
Seems the program was better before they consolidated the men & womens programs. Isn't J.J. in charge of both programs now, rather than a head men's coach and a head women's coach?
Click to expand...

Yes, they used to be separate. In terms of the olympic sports, Track & Field needs to be priority #1 at UT once they can afford it. We need separate team head coaches, probably need to let J.J. go, and build the a new indoor track facility.

If all sports were viewed equally Track & Field was actually the biggest casualty of the Mike Hamilton era.
 
#11
#11
volfan414life said:
before Arkansas joined the sec Tennessee won the sec and ncaa titals regularly
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SEC yes....not NCAA. However we are talking about the Chuck Rohe era. We are talking about Olympians and AA superstars. Flowers, High, Skinner, Hardy, McAllany, Henderson, Self, Kell, Bond, Wilson...we are talking 10,000 spectators at a UT v Villanova dual meet. We are talking serious big time T&F.
 
#12
#12
I told myself I wouldn't let this turn into a bash the coach and athletes thread. I really do think it is about more.

One of my pet peeves, as a Knoxville guy, is how the city will close a school, for instance. Then they do the least amount of maintenance possible. The once totally functioning school eventually becomes an eyesore in the neighborhood. They will sell it to a developer eventually, for pennies on the dollar and that company will have to spend a small fortune to repair the building.

It's legal. There's not much the community can do about it but complain.

This is what UT has done to the Track and Field Team.

JJ Clark has a lot of accolades. Most regarding women's INDOOR and cross country. I stress indoor for a couple reasons. #1. Recruiting. Athletes want to practice year around, not having an indoor facility hurts recruiting, BIG TIME. #2. It's hard to believe that a coach who has done so well at Indoor track in the past doesn't have a facility, it's crazy...and it reeks of not planning.

I'm not defending the results of the coach here, I'm saying it's bigger than that. The Administration should have known the bind they were putting the program in. If they didn't know, it's a failure.

The once proud UT Track and Field team is a shell of it's self and a lot of folks have stood by and watched it decay, like one of those school buildings.

I don't pretend to know anything at all about track and field, I only know what I see with my own eyes. It looks a lot like baseball to me. You can't just bring in a top flight coach and turn it around anymore because the best teams in the country are all in your conference. How do you get better than Vandy in baseball in 2 years? You don't. It's not possible. This is going to be a long haul to turn around especially if the T&F Alums stay split, that's right...guilty too.

It's time for change, it's been 4 seasons as a consolidated team... OR they can sit idly by and watch it crumble further.
 
#13
#13
I remember Chuck Rohe. I was at UT at the time and I was intensely proud of T&F. If the athletic department doesn't have the attitude (or the money) with expectations that the sport should compete for championships, then why field a team? Otherwise, how do we expect to recruit championship caliber athletes. You know the great athletes want to compete on a high level and compete for championships. They want to represent their school and have bragging rights with others. They want opportunities to excel in national and international meets. Otherwise, this is no more than considering that team sport to be a different form of scholarship program and giving scholarships to worthy students for the sake of giving them a scholarship as opposed to wanting to compete for championships. This is an issue for the UT administration as well as the athletic department. I do not fault any of our athletes who are no doubt as orange blooded as the rest of us. I am proud of their accomplishments and representation of the University of Tennessee.
 
#14
#14
Yes, we've had a strong track tradition. But wasn't there a major problem--not sure what--with our track coach, who was fired a year or two ago? And a couple of our better runners transferred, I believe. There have been coaching issues, and that, I think, explains why we're not very good right now.
 
#15
#15
armchair said:
Yes, we've had a strong track tradition. But wasn't there a major problem--not sure what--with our track coach, who was fired a year or two ago? And a couple of our better runners transferred, I believe. There have been coaching issues, and that, I think, explains why we're not very good right now.
Click to expand...

I'm not missing it. No doubt, the consolidation caused a fracture. Some athletes transferred out. When Clark was named Head Coach many were upset.

As for the coaching, well, I think the results speak for themselves. We've gotten a little bit worse every year and we are now at the bottom of the SEC. So yeah, something is definitely wrong. It's not working.

So without bashing the coach, I look beyond. If he's fired, who will take the job. Under what circumstances could we get a top flight coach when we lack some facilities other schools offer. Certainly, a coach would be looking at recruiting and whether or not he/she could be successful. It would have been a very attractive job at one point, I'm not sure that it is anymore. That fact doesn't fall on the coach alone.
 
#16
#16
BigOrangeCrush32 said:
My best friend's Daughter signed a Full Ride to Ole Miss to run long distance in track...she has either won or finished in the top 3 in State the last 3 yrs in 3200 and 1600...TN coaches called her and set up a visit...then backed out without ever calling her...they had to call him and he made up some lame excuse...she ran track and cross country(which she won a STate also) for McMinn County...right in TN back yard...
Click to expand...

I bet there's a lot of stories like this.
 
#18
#18
WVU05UT09 said:
Yes, they used to be separate. In terms of the olympic sports, Track & Field needs to be priority #1 at UT once they can afford it. We need separate team head coaches, probably need to let J.J. go, and build the a new indoor track facility.

If all sports were viewed equally Track & Field was actually the biggest casualty of the Mike Hamilton era.
Click to expand...

We do NOT need separate programs and head coaches. We just need a different coach. The programs were combined in the first place because that is how the vast majority of successful track and field programs in the country operate.

If we are going to be successful, we need better facilities, specifically an indoor facility.
 
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#19
#19
DeerPark12 said:
We do NOT need separate programs and head coaches. We just need a different coach. The programs were combined in the first place because that is how the vast majority of successful track and field programs in the country operate.

If we are going to be successful, we need better facilities, specifically an indoor facility.
Click to expand...
What in the world are we waiting on then? Our T&F is embarrassing right now.
 
#20
#20
We've got two athletes yet to perform at the NCAA Championship...I think we'd see a move made by July.
 
#23
#23
Quinn, who won the Florida Relays this season with a lifetime best throw of 231-7 (70.59m), was unable to improve his mark in his final two attempts, leaving him on the bubble in ninth. Just two throwers after Quinn, Oregon's Sam Crouser - who stood in 10th - hauled the javelin to 239-8 (73.07m) on his third and final attempt to burst the UT freshman's bubble and knock him out of the final round.

The Somerset, Mass., native would place 10th overall, the best finish by a Vol javelin thrower since 2007 when Matt Maloney took eighth at the NCAA meet.

"Kyle gave a valiant effort here today," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country J.J. Clark. "He almost PR'd and that's what you want at this meet."

Humphreys went on to improve his mark to 255-9 (77.95m) and take the 2013 NCAA title in the event, besting two-time defending champion Tim Glover (247-6/75.44m) of Illinois State.

"Overall, we had some rough performances, but the good news is we brought a very young group to Oregon and we're looking forward to bringing more people - doubling our numbers - back here for next year's NCAA Championships," said Clark. "We'll reload and build momentum for the future."
Click to expand...

A 7th place finish in the pole vault and a 10th place finish in the javelin is pretty much all there is to see here. I don't believe that he'll get another year.
 
#24
#24
LynxCIS

Lady Vols scored 0 pts. the lowest total since 2000.
The men scored 3/4 of a point to finished tied for last at 77th, with Cincinnati and Idaho State.
 
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