Dick Booth Saga

[lonewolf]

I know, coaches lose their jobs all the time but sometimes it just ain'r right. Or smart.
I am not a Univ Ark alum but I have been a member of the UA Officials Association for about 20 years and work four or five meets a year there.
I deliberately avoid cultivating a close personal relationship with any active coach, or athlete while they are still competing, but have come to know Booth and several ex-Arkansas athletes, some of whom are now coaches and occasionally volunteer officials, fairly well.
Arkansas has had an unparalled and unbroken five generation succession of national and world class jumpers, both horizontal and high jump, while Booth was at Arkansas.
I have spoken with several Arkansas officials and former Arkansas horizontal jumpers, all devout Razorback boosters, who expressed their dismay at Booth's termination and how it has alienated their affection for UArk.
Booth is not only a good coach, he is a good guy and I predict Arkansas' recruiting of field event athletes will suffer.
Dick Booth is the "Dick Clark" of track and field. I had kinda lost track of time and did not think about Booth being 65 years old. I remember the first time I met him, in an airport waiting room somewhere, Indy I think, I mistook him to be one of his athletes.

[NormZylstra]

NW Arkansas Times
http://nwanews.com/nwat/Sports/78077/ (on the front page)

Chris Bucknam, the Northern Iowa coach hired to succeed McDonnell in the summer of 2008, announced Booth's non-return Thursday night after informing Booth Wednesday afternoon.

Many athletic administrators do not understand that T&F assistant coaches operate as mini-head coaches, building smaller communities inside a larger community. Bringing these groups together takes time.

Unless there's something fishy it seems odd Booth would be fired after such a short time.

Could Booth go to UCLA as a head coach?

[ndamix]

While change in the coaching landscape comes with the territory, needless to say, I was surprised when this story broke considering I don't think anyone in the Arkansas booster camp saw this coming.

I wish Coach Booth well in his future endeavors.

[BisonHurdler]

Big pick up for the Gators:

http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id=16224

[justblaze1011]

Beautiful coaching pick by Florida.

[lonewolf]

Will be poetic justice if Florida defeats Arkansas for a national title someday by winning critical field event points.

[KevinM]

Isn't it possible that we only know one side of the story? It seems rather unfair for this all to be put on Bucknam's shoulders.

[lonewolf]

Anything is possible but we only know what we know and many of us know Dick Booth.
The bottom line is: It is really none of our business and we have no authority to hold a kangaroo court but that doesn't stop us from having opinions.

[Speedfirst]

Isn't it possible that we only know one side of the story? It seems rather unfair for this all to be put on Bucknam's shoulders.

Co-sign

[ndamix]

Will be poetic justice if Florida defeats Arkansas for a national title someday by winning critical field event points.

With that young triple jumper (Christian Taylor) Florida has that took 3rd in the outdoor, who knows? It could happen.

[decafan]

I find this anti-Buchnam attitude astounding. Can you imagine a big-time college football or basketball coach going though this? Would we expect Bob Stoops to come into a new program and keep the long-time Offensive Coordinator? Of course not. Chris Buchnam is a good man and a terrific coach. One of his strong points is his ability to build an amazing coaching team. If Booth doesn't fit into that model, then Buchnam is a fool to keep him- regardless of how talented he is. I for one am really pulling for Chris Buchnam to be successful at Arkansas.

[ndamix]

I find this anti-Buchnam attitude astounding. Can you imagine a big-time college football or basketball coach going though this? Would we expect Bob Stoops to come into a new program and keep the long-time Offensive Coordinator? Of course not. Chris Buchnam is a good man and a terrific coach. One of his strong points is his ability to build an amazing coaching team. If Booth doesn't fit into that model, then Buchnam is a fool to keep him- regardless of how talented he is. I for one am really pulling for Chris Buchnam to be successful at Arkansas.

I don't believe anyone has an anti-Buchnam attitude with regards to his not retaining Dick Booth. I just think everyone is surprised at this development b/c it seem'd to have occur'd totally out of the blue and surprised a lot of folks both within & without the Razorback Nation.

In any case, Buchnam, as the head coach, has every right to mold his staff as he pleases; but one can still express their surprise/shock/dismay (or any other type of emotion one cares to name) when an experienced coach like Dick Booth is not retain'd.

Of course there is more to this story than what's being report'd; however, considering Coach Booth will be on the Florida Gator coaching staff, he's pick'd up & moved on.

[JimRed]

Being an Arkansas track fan, I am a little upset over this. Booth has been here for every track and field championship Arkansas won under Coach McDonnell. Here are some of Booth's accomplishments I got from another website

Jumps coach for U.S. Olympic track and field team,
2000 Games
-Coached 34 athletes to 133 All-America honors in 27
years at Arkansas
-Coached 12 athletes to 45 NCAA championships
-Coached 11 Olympians
-Coached an Olympic gold, two silver and a bronze
medalist
-Has coached or recruited every UA school record
holder in field events

At the same time, Bucknam has the right to hire his own staff to begin his own Arkansas dynasty and I am ready to give him some time to show some results. But this fire may come back to bite us in the butt, especially with Booth getting hired by a fellow SEC member.

[thesilentmajority]

Arkansas; continues the downward slide. Now Florida is that much stronger in the field events and with JJ Clark taking over at Tennessee, we should see them attract many of the top male middle distance/distance guys if the women's team is any indicator. They also still have Watts on board. So Arkansas, who won there champs on distance and jumping will now be left with what??? I think we are seeing the balance of power in the SEC shift away from razorback country, even if they do still have the championship meets as home meets.

[Dietmar239]

Booth is not only a good jumps coach he is the absolute best. The only person who comes close to the amount of jumps accolades (record holders coached, Olympic medalists or world champion's) would be Cliff Rovelto and Booth exceeds him even. Dude coached Hollis Conway over 2.40m. I don't care what your philosophies are Arkansas. Someone in admin needs a lobotomy.