Coach Chris Miltenberg resigns

[Nevada Hoya]

to become the Director of Track & Field/Head Cross Country Coach at Stanford University.

Of course, this is a big loss; I would see it as an analogy of if JTII left for Oklahoma after the NCAA win in 1984. Coach Milt brought us our second NCAA title last year with the women's XC team, and he had a chance of getting a repeat this year.

We have to congratulate Coach Milt for his efforts on steering the women XC and track and field teams to great results, including the NCAA title. He is leaving to accept one of the charmed programs in track and field.

Now we have to compete against his teams. A search will be on to choose his replacement; in the meantime Coach Henner will direct the women.

[sleepyjackson21]

Big big loss. Really hurts. Best of luck to Coach Milt, he did a fantastic job while he was here. Go Hoyas!

[RusskyHoya]

I've only had a couple of interactions with Chris, all through his wife, a former coworker. Even in those few moments, he struck me as being a really good guy and a Georgetown alum (B'02) we can all be proud of.

All the very best wishes to him and Colleen (a double Hoya and former GU runner herself) in Palo Alto. If we're really lucky, we'll be able to entice him back to the Hilltop whenever Mr. Henner decides to call it a career.

[quickplay]

I at least hope Gtown threw everything they could at him to make him stay. This is a bad loss.

[DFW HOYA]

Aug 28, 2012 8:47:49 GMT -5 quickplay said:

I at least hope Gtown threw everything they could at him to make him stay. This is a bad loss.

I'm not sure what they could have thrown him--Stanford is the gold standard in intercollegiate sports, from their $400 million athletics endowment to having named chairs for its coaching positions to the facilities that Georgetown has no wherewithal to match. I'm not sure of the internal reaction to Bernard Muir hiring someone away from GU, but regardless, Stanford is a great opportunity for any coach.

It's been 16 years since the last on-campus track meet and over ten since the track was removed from the top of Yates for safety issues, not to return. Georgetown still competes at a high level in the sport. At some point, something's got to give, however, and that's what keep coaches up at night; or, in the case of Ron Helmer before him, he ran out of patience and took a better offer elsewhere.

For those readers unaware of the trials and tribulations to run a nationally prominent track team with the barest of essentials, the 2006 Washington Post article below is a reminder of what the team still faces. Simply put, he won't have to deal with this at Stanford.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501725.html

[Nevada Hoya]

Aug 27, 2012 23:21:29 GMT -5 RusskyHoya said:

I've only had a couple of interactions with Chris, all through his wife, a former coworker. Even in those few moments, he struck me as being a really good guy and a Georgetown alum (B'02) we can all be proud of.

All the very best wishes to him and Colleen (a double Hoya and former GU runner herself) in Palo Alto. If we're really lucky, we'll be able to entice him back to the Hilltop whenever Mr. Henner decides to call it a career.

Ditto.

I saw the writing on the wall, when Colleen resigned from the admissions office a few months ago. I was hoping against hope that he would stay, but, as DFW says, Stanford is a charmed position.

[Nevada Hoya]

www.gostanford.com/sports/c-track/spec-rel/082712aaa.html

[quickplay]

Aug 28, 2012 10:03:01 GMT -5 DFW HOYA said:

Aug 28, 2012 8:47:49 GMT -5 quickplay said:

I at least hope Gtown threw everything they could at him to make him stay. This is a bad loss.

I'm not sure what they could have thrown him--Stanford is the gold standard in intercollegiate sports, from their $400 million athletics endowment to having named chairs for its coaching positions to the facilities that Georgetown has no wherewithal to match. I'm not sure of the internal reaction to Bernard Muir hiring someone away from GU, but regardless, Stanford is a great opportunity for any coach.

It's been 16 years since the last on-campus track meet and over ten since the track was removed from the top of Yates for safety issues, not to return. Georgetown still competes at a high level in the sport. At some point, something's got to give, however, and that's what keep coaches up at night; or, in the case of Ron Helmer before him, he ran out of patience and took a better offer elsewhere.

For those readers unaware of the trials and tribulations to run a nationally prominent track team with the barest of essentials, the 2006 Washington Post article below is a reminder of what the team still faces. Simply put, he won't have to deal with this at Stanford.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501725.html

You hit the nail on the head. Ultimately, I guess it would be tough to promise him improvements; he ran for us so he knows the reality of the track team.

When I was recruited around 10 years ago, there were promises promises promises. My freshman year promises promises promises. And so on. They just wait for the class they made promises to to graduate and then make promises to the next incoming class.

The off-campus track isn't bad, but you're never going to compete at a high level without dedicated facilities. Further, they've made no effort to get serious in the field events.

The coaches have done a great job with the resources they have, but I don't see much improving in the near future.

[Nevada Hoya]

The facilities issue has always been the elephant in the room for the past X years. I probably saw one of the last track meets on campus (you could even see the track from the air coming into Reagan). They did have some great LJ'ers and hammerthrowers (incidentally Kevin McMahon was throw coach at Stanford for a while, so the GU-Stanford pipeline has been open for a while). Now that is all gone, and without those field events, I don't think the Hoyas are ever going to win a BE outdoor championship. They are more competitive indoors, because indoors is stacked towards the middle distances.

I would be interested in what promises were made when you were recruited, quickplay.

[CAHoya07]

I don't like the idea of Muir poaching some of our top guys. But at the same time, can you blame him?

Stanford has a great track and field complex on campus that I've had the privilege to have run on back in high school. While not like Hayward Field in Oregon (another track I've been able to run on), it hosts some pretty big-time events.

And, well, that's all I really have to say about that.

[sleepyjackson21]

We have to take the good with the bad. We got our soccer coach Brian Wiese in part because Muir knew him from Notre Dame.

[Nevada Hoya]

Usually, several Hoya runners make the trip out to Stanford for at least one of their invitational meets a year. It will have added interest during the outdoor season in 2013.

[reformation]

Very bad news certainly--not sure what we could have done other than give him Henner's job.(young star coach like Milt under a so-so head coach who is not old/going anywhere is bound to get picked off) We lucked out with Miltenburg as coach and hopefully we'll get lucky again, though I guess there's a pretty big risk that the women's team will decline as the men's team has done under Henner. I would suspect that we also run the risk of a bunch of transfers if we do not get a very good replacement for Miltenburg.

Maybe we'll get someone who trained under gags like Miltenburg. Also he was obviously a great recruiter for Gtwn + Columbia before Gtwn. We will need someone who can recruit as well as coach. Milt was recruiting pretty well against Stanford, now that job will be even harder. Given a team loaded with top recruits I would think we could get somebody pretty good--timing might be pretty difficult though.

[reformation]

Saw a post on letsrun that claimed that former Gtwn runner Mike Smith was offered the job--have no idea if true--or typical idle speculation/misinformation

[Nevada Hoya]

Aug 30, 2012 0:01:36 GMT -5 reformation said:

Saw a post on letsrun that claimed that former Gtwn runner Mike Smith was offered the job--have no idea if true--or typical idle speculation/misinformation

Interesting. He was a distance runner; I also think he transferred into GU.

[birdman]

Aug 30, 2012 11:37:23 GMT -5 Nevada Hoya said:

Aug 30, 2012 0:01:36 GMT -5 reformation said:

Saw a post on letsrun that claimed that former Gtwn runner Mike Smith was offered the job--have no idea if true--or typical idle speculation/misinformation

Interesting. He was a distance runner; I also think he transferred into GU.

Came from JMU with Henner. Roomed with Milt for a year.

[Nevada Hoya]

Aug 30, 2012 14:40:49 GMT -5 birdman said:

Aug 30, 2012 11:37:23 GMT -5 Nevada Hoya said:

Interesting. He was a distance runner; I also think he transferred into GU.

Came from JMU with Henner. Roomed with Milt for a year.

Thanks.

[reformation]

Letsrun post claims that Mike Smith has already met with the team and will show up at Gtwn in 10 days. let's hope he's good, can keep the team together, and recruit as well as Miltenburg did.

for what its worth the chatboards say good things about him, though he is certainly untested in a position like this.

[Nevada Hoya]

Well, let's hope something rubbed off on him, when he roomed with Milt. If he truly is the choice, let us welcome him with open arms. He will probably work well with Coach Henner considering the JMU-GU connection.

[Nevada Hoya]

Now they are saying it is Brian Gully.

EDIT: we think it might be a hoax.