UCLA track/xc director

"Trials"

She is still coaching her athletes at USC…that’s common in our business

She already did the press conference and announced her taking the UCLA job. It’s not common practice. It’s just another disaster for UCLA. All she had to do as wear a blank Nike shirt. Big time jerk move and disrespectful to wear USC shirt after accepting the UCLA job

She very likely begins her Ucla job 7/1, the start of the academic year. She is coaching USC athletes - and is on the USC dime for salary and travel - for the Trials.

Hayes is a Ucla alumna, she’s not screwing anyone over. The USC team was surprised and sad when Ucla announced her as the new director. It’s hard to leave athletes to take a new job. She’s doing it the expected way. Stop creating extra drama where there is none.

can't say for sure whether this is common or not--and i'm guessing the above poster really has no idea what's common or not either--but for me, as a diehard bruin, i appreciate her loyalty and sense of obligation to her CURRENT athletes. she should finish the season, since that is her professional obligation. not sure when her contract officially begins, but she's doing the right thing.

that's my story and i'm sticking to it,

cush

You can be nice all you want. I’m also a UCLA alum and I do find it beyond strange she would do a press conference on UCLA’s campus and has already accepted the UCLA job and still wears a USC shirt to the OT’s. I agree with the poster saying she should just wear a Nike shirt and skip the USC gear. Totally disrespectful move and it looks like things will stay the same at UCLA Track & Field.

Let me take a wild guess the team will stay the same and we will be looking for a new coach in the next 4 years.

this has nothing to do with nice. maybe you have inside info on when her contract ends at usc and begins at ucla? but even then, as a coach i'd personally be ok with any dispensations to finish the season with the athletes she started the season with. so maybe i am just nice like that...

on a related note: while i was stretching post-race on the floor in one of the athlete tents on sunday, quincy watts (who i sorta know since he competed against many of my bruin teammates while in college) came in and started talking to another coach sitting on a couch nearby. i shouted "hey, too bad you couldn't keep her on staff." he ignored me and continued to talk; i thought maybe he didn't hear me, so i shouted again, "hey, too bad you couldn't keep her on staff!" he interrupted his conversation with "excuse me, i think i'm hearing some noise over here," then looked at me, smiled, and said: "too soon." afterwards we joked a bit more on the back and forths, like them getting caryl, rai, and joanna, but us getting joanna back (these kinds of things go back at least as far back as jim bush), and he commented on how much she deserved the opportunity.

so, i get that people can be upset and competitive about rivalries, but this ain't russia vs. ukraine. no blood, no foul, nothing to see here. joanna will likely get as fair a chance to prove her mettle as previous coaches, and if fired in 4 years it won't be because she wore an SC shirt at the 2024 trials. lighten up francis...

Yes 100% agree with Hayes being disrespectful. No other coach would make a public announcement and show up at a meet with the rival schools logo. The mature thing to do if she had to actually finish her duties would be to not wear the USC logo. It’s not a school event, it’s the Olympic Trials.

Here’s where you’re wrong, all athletes at the Trials who are wearing their college uni are representing the organization that 1. trained them to the Oly Trials level, and 2. is paying for their airfare, hotel, food, uber or rental cars, AND COACHES. Do you not understand this is basic college sponsorship? The Oly Trials expenses come out of the team budget. Summer is the 4th season for Elite International Competitions (which is quite hard on coaches). Seeing an athlete with a college logo on their chest on NBC is marketing for recruits. Coaches wear their colleges’ “uniforms” for the same reason. You’re a coach, you should know this.

The Ucla AD called a press conference to make the announcement for recruiting purposes. Summer is beyond hectic for P4 recruiting. If the press conference had not been held yet, we’d all still be arguing about who we think would be getting the job.

Do you really worry that Hayes is placing USC above Ucla in her heart? The Olympic Gold Medalist who is excited to return to her alma mater as Director? Really? She is very excited about this. She is just crossing her T’s and dotting her I’s with her elite athletes who are trying to make the Olympic team. Coaching any Olympians is excellent for recruiting… at Ucla.

Any update on the UCLA assistants status?