Alan Webb Leaves Arkansas Little Rock to Take High School Coaching Gig in Arkansas

duck sauce wrote:

shootpost wrote:

Forget politics and what he did as a runner for a second.

I don't think he is a very good coach. I also think he has some personality flaws that turn poeple off.

Best US miler ever, and can only land a gig at are Little Rock? And then leaves there after producing absolutely no results? Odd to me.

small religious school seems like a good fit for him. can't imagine many guys who aren't specifically looking for that vibe would want to be coached by him.

I agree completely. I was educated in catholic schools and you NEED to be a certain type of person (or have a certain vibe like you said) to excel in those environments and Webb seems like a great fit for it. Also, maybe he doesn't want the big time pressure of dealing with high level collegiate talent, etc.

I wish him all the best.

pavement88 wrote:

[quote]

Maybe I've been out of the church too long, but wouldn't it be really weird for a non-priest to teach religion at a Catholic school?

It is not at all odd for a layperson to teach religion at a Catholic school. My kids go to Catholic School and have had only the occasional "religious" as a teacher.

For the record, Webb converted to Catholicism in 2017. The movement in the Catholic Church for the last decade or so has been toward developing a more personal relationship with God and living your Faith (as opposed to the Joe Biden-style "I am a Catholic because I was baptized as a baby".) This is why he may sound like what one thinks of as a Born Again Christian.

. . . And whatever happened to the Catholic elite runners thread from last week?

shootpost wrote:

Best US miler ever, and can only land a gig at are Little Rock? And then leaves there after producing absolutely no results? Odd to me.

Wait, Webb changed course shortly after another quick change? Who could have predicted?

loco taco wrote:

Pretty sweet for the high school kids he'll coaching.

I thought his career trajectory was towards getting a college head coaching job somewhere, but now Webb seems to be transitioning out of coaching and towards priesthood or some type or religious path?

Will this have any impact on the truck repair business?

His career trajectory is rapidly accelerating towards rocking back and forth while murmuring to himself.

Hope I can help by dispelling a few misconceptions re: Catholicism that have cropped up in this thread:

1. Webb becoming a priest: While there are a couple of ways to be a married Catholic priest (or Deacon), the degree Webb is pursuing is not what prepares one for the priesthood. It's a lay degree; he's not entering a seminary. While I don't know all the particulars of his situation, I don't think he qualifies to be a married priest under any of the exemptions.

2. Webb doesn't seem like a 'typical' Catholic: Catholicism is the most globally diverse religion in history. The Church's ability to make room for many people who profess one faith to live it out in varied--though not essentially contradictory--ways is one of her great institutional strengths. The Church full of a dazzling array of religious orders, some of whom are eager to be out in the world evangelizing, and others secluded in quiet contemplation, only allowing speech for a brief period once a week. The point is, even within the US you're gonna have lots of different kinds of Catholics. And, like any other institution of any size, you'll have good people and bad people and kind of indifferent people who are along for the ride.

3. Sainthood: To be a saint and to be recognized/canonized by the Church are different things. All canonized saints are saints, but not all saints are canonized. A saint is simply a person who lives in heaven--they don't even have to be human (e.g., St. Michael the Archangel is a spirit and not a human). There are a bunch of things that need to happen to be canonized, but at present there must be, amongst other requirements, two miracles investigated and verified by the group tasked with considering a person's "cause" for sainthood. The Church calls all her members to be saints, because the point of the Church is to effect the reconciliation of God and man through grace. Since being a saint just means living peacably with God in heaven eternally, the whole point of the Catholic religion is to produce as many saints as possible.

Nota bene: Answer 3 doesn't have in view the concept of the "living saint" which is a tricky and quite unofficial designation.

Ever heard of Cole Hocker? He’s out of Indianapolis Cathedral high school.

phillip rivers wrote:

Ever heard of Cole Hocker? He’s out of Indianapolis Cathedral high school.

The Christian hating democrats on this board need to be banned.

Now, Philip Rivers is an indisputably good Catholic boy.

shootpost wrote:

Forget politics and what he did as a runner for a second.

I don't think he is a very good coach. I also think he has some personality flaws that turn poeple off.

Best US miler ever, and can only land a gig at are Little Rock? And then leaves there after producing absolutely no results? Odd to me.

Nothing about Webb's running career makes me think he would be a good coach. He was prone to over-training, never peaked at the right time as a pro, committed numerous tactical blunders, and was prone to irrational emotional outbursts.

And that's not even getting into his relationships with his coaches: he never trusted Warhurst at Michigan (see sub 4), is no longer speaking with Razko, the coach who he he had his greates success with (see the Summer of Webb LRC article), then at the went through coaches at a rapid clip at the end of his career (Salazar, Shumaker, Vig).

Last paragraph is dead on. Now couple that with therecent Loco CathliCo stage he seems to be in at the moment and your likely to get a training plan that includes 20x400 all out and it you dont hit your times you have to lash your own back......

See above post for how to be chill and normal.

VO2Max Burrito wrote:

hemorrhoid wrote:

Transitioning to priesthood was my impression too. One on of Alan's Instagram posts (or interview?) he mentions a goal of achieving sainthood. I don't know how the Catholic church decides to grant sainthood but becoming a priest might help.

To become a saint, you have to perform a miracle and have it recognized by the Catholic Church (usually post-mortum) as such. Webb’s miracle was the American record I guess.

I don't recall Webb being so outspokenly religious during HS, college, or during his pro career through triathlon. Has he always been so religiously oriented?[/quote]

He may have taken to religion as a method of coping with the emotional difficulties he could be having transitioning to his life beyond running. Jim Ryun went through something like this.

I think we are all thinking too deeply about a man who does not think deeply. This is a move made by someone stuck in a developmental stage. His HS years were on the public stage and he was a god amongst men at that time. To go coach college athletes was/is a stretch as he never transitioned to or through this stage well. See above comments regarding Warhurst, and the immaturity he showed within that portion of his career. As a pro he was worse, talent for days, I recall AlSal commenting on his talent level, but too as mentioned his head game was his weak spot.

As a local elite in PDX it always seemed he was a fish out of water, here is a guy who two years prior was on NOP, and now could not finish top 5 in local races and was an also ran in XC? I have to attribute this all to mental health and his lack of trust guidance through the very stages of his career, you don’t just lace them up as the American mile holder and not have some baggage to wade through when getting smoked in a local Turkey Trot.

The move to coach at a HS is more one to do with ego, as is proclaiming to want to be a saint. He wants to be revered for that stage of his life and to live in that world.

MetAlanWebbOnceYearsAgo wrote:

One on of Alan's Instagram posts (or interview?) he mentions a goal of achieving sainthood. I don't know how the Catholic church decides to grant sainthood but becoming a priest might help.

Pretty much anyone who voluntarily takes on the task of coaching high school boys is deserving of sainthood.

Catholicism isn’t the most globally diverse religion. It isn’t even the most globally diverse abrahamic religion