Summerville Head Cross Country Coach Bob Crowley resigned from his cross country coaching position last Monday, according to a letter sent to area high school coaches.
\"I resigned from coaching duties with the Summerville cross country and track and field programs in order to spend more time with my wife and 18-month old son,\" said Crowley. \"This was a difficult decision for me to make, but one that I am sure I will not regret.\"
Crowley mentioned in the letter to fellow coaches that he has appreciated all of them for their friendliness and for being supportive and helpful over the years. \"I will miss coaching against and with such quality people as yourself,\" said Crowley.
Steve Wilson will direct the 2006 Summerville Track and Field Program.
Summerville hosts the Outback Steakhouse/Azalea Invitational each track and field season.
Summerville seventh grader Sydney Hazel was first in for the girl\'s team with a 14th place finish in the 4A State Championships on Nov. 5. The Summerville girls were eighth as a team.
Clayton Thornton was the first finisher for the Summerville boys at the state meet. Thornton finished 18th overall. The Summerville boys team was 14th.
Crowley took the time to answer a few questions for scrunners.com below:
scrunners: What or whom gave you the idea to coach? And when did you start to coach?
crowley: I started to think about coaching in college. I wasn\'t too successful as a college runner due in part to injuries. Despite my injuries, I would still go to practice and meets and help out my coaches with timing, etc. By my senior year, I decided that I wanted to coach. My first paid coaching job was with my high school alma mater, St. James in Chester, Pa. in 1992. I coached Cross Country and Indoor Track that year.
scrunners: Was Summerville the only place you held a coaching position?
crowley: Aside from my experience at St. James and with some Junior Olympic teams, Summerville is the only other place that I have coached. I began working with Summerville when I was student teaching in the spring of 1994.
scrunners: When discussing with your athletes that you were resigning from your position how did you go about it and how did they react?
crowley: I waited until after the season was over because I did not want it to be a distraction for them. Because the season was over, the only time I could get most of them together was in the morning before school started. I met with them this past Thursday and told them. I was met with a bunch of blank stares and some jaws dropping. It was really awkward because I had to ask them to go to class shortly thereafter so they would not be tardy. I\'ve talked to quite a few of them since and they all understand and support my decision. They are a great group of people.
scrunners: Do any alumni from Summerville know that you have resigned from your coaching responsibilities?
crowley: Yes, I sent out an e-mail to some of them on Saturday (yesterday). Some new before that though. The first one found out about it a couple hours after I told the team. So one of them must have called this person while at school.
scrunners: Do you teach at Summerville HS? If so, what do you teach?
crowley: I\'ve taught social studies at Summerville since the 1994-1995 school year.
scrunners: Do you run yourself? If so, will you start to run more road races?
crowley: I have not run that much since I began coaching. I can never seem to find the time. I plan on getting out a little more often now, but I don\'t plan on running any races.
scrunners: What do you see happening with the sports of cross country and track and field in South Carolina?
crowley: I think for a smaller state, South Carolina stacks up pretty well in comparison to other states. Since I began coaching here in 1994, I\'ve noticed that performances in our sport have consistenlty improved from year to year. I attribute that to some great coaches in the state. We have a large number of knowledgeable and dedicated coaches who have done a wonderful job. Of course, we also have many dedicated, hard working and talented athletes doing their part as well.
scrunners: As a coach, what was your most challenging and exciting moment at Summerville? Explain.
crowley: I find every season challenging in its own way, but if I had to pick the most challenging and exciting it may have been the 2003 season. The Northwestern girls had arguably one of the best girls teams I had ever seen and beat us by 70 or so points at the Coaches Classic. I had to really work to convince our girls that they still had a title shot and at the same time, we were dealing with some key injuries. On the day of the state meet, everyone was healthy for the first time that season. We won the championship and four of the girls (Carlissa Heyward, Amanda Pulliam, Audrey Bone, and Sarah Massenburg) earned All-State honors. Everyone ran better then even I had expected. I woke up the next morning and I still couldn\'t believe what they had done. (scrunners.com note: In 2003 Summerville tallied 70 points at the state meet to Northwestern\'s 88.)
scrunners: What do you see happening with the sports at Summerville HS in the future?
crowley: I think Summerville will always have a winning athletic program. It\'s just part of the culture. We get great participation (in terms of numbers) and with those numbers come quality athletes. We have a very supportive community including parents, teachers and our administration. One of the reasons that I personally believe is responsible for the athletic success at Summerville is our expectations. At Summerville, winning games, matches, meets, region titles and state championships is expected, it\'s the norm. It can put a lot of pressure on you at times but that pressure has always resulted in great performances.
scrunners: On average, how many hours per week and how many months throughout the year did you dedicate to being a coach and role model to athletes?
crowley: We practice for about 2.5 hours a day for five days a week. We practice for about 50 weeks out of the year. We usually take off a couple of weeks after track and about four-five weeks after Thanksgiving. On average during the school year, I spend about 20-25 hours a week as a coach. During a week where we compete in meets, maybe 30-35 hours sometimes more if were traveling overnight.
\"I resigned from coaching duties with the Summerville cross country and track and field programs in order to spend more time with my wife and 18-month old son,\" said Crowley. \"This was a difficult decision for me to make, but one that I am sure I will not regret.\"
Crowley mentioned in the letter to fellow coaches that he has appreciated all of them for their friendliness and for being supportive and helpful over the years. \"I will miss coaching against and with such quality people as yourself,\" said Crowley.
Steve Wilson will direct the 2006 Summerville Track and Field Program.
Summerville hosts the Outback Steakhouse/Azalea Invitational each track and field season.
Summerville seventh grader Sydney Hazel was first in for the girl\'s team with a 14th place finish in the 4A State Championships on Nov. 5. The Summerville girls were eighth as a team.
Clayton Thornton was the first finisher for the Summerville boys at the state meet. Thornton finished 18th overall. The Summerville boys team was 14th.
Crowley took the time to answer a few questions for scrunners.com below:
scrunners: What or whom gave you the idea to coach? And when did you start to coach?
crowley: I started to think about coaching in college. I wasn\'t too successful as a college runner due in part to injuries. Despite my injuries, I would still go to practice and meets and help out my coaches with timing, etc. By my senior year, I decided that I wanted to coach. My first paid coaching job was with my high school alma mater, St. James in Chester, Pa. in 1992. I coached Cross Country and Indoor Track that year.
scrunners: Was Summerville the only place you held a coaching position?
crowley: Aside from my experience at St. James and with some Junior Olympic teams, Summerville is the only other place that I have coached. I began working with Summerville when I was student teaching in the spring of 1994.
scrunners: When discussing with your athletes that you were resigning from your position how did you go about it and how did they react?
crowley: I waited until after the season was over because I did not want it to be a distraction for them. Because the season was over, the only time I could get most of them together was in the morning before school started. I met with them this past Thursday and told them. I was met with a bunch of blank stares and some jaws dropping. It was really awkward because I had to ask them to go to class shortly thereafter so they would not be tardy. I\'ve talked to quite a few of them since and they all understand and support my decision. They are a great group of people.
scrunners: Do any alumni from Summerville know that you have resigned from your coaching responsibilities?
crowley: Yes, I sent out an e-mail to some of them on Saturday (yesterday). Some new before that though. The first one found out about it a couple hours after I told the team. So one of them must have called this person while at school.
scrunners: Do you teach at Summerville HS? If so, what do you teach?
crowley: I\'ve taught social studies at Summerville since the 1994-1995 school year.
scrunners: Do you run yourself? If so, will you start to run more road races?
crowley: I have not run that much since I began coaching. I can never seem to find the time. I plan on getting out a little more often now, but I don\'t plan on running any races.
scrunners: What do you see happening with the sports of cross country and track and field in South Carolina?
crowley: I think for a smaller state, South Carolina stacks up pretty well in comparison to other states. Since I began coaching here in 1994, I\'ve noticed that performances in our sport have consistenlty improved from year to year. I attribute that to some great coaches in the state. We have a large number of knowledgeable and dedicated coaches who have done a wonderful job. Of course, we also have many dedicated, hard working and talented athletes doing their part as well.
scrunners: As a coach, what was your most challenging and exciting moment at Summerville? Explain.
crowley: I find every season challenging in its own way, but if I had to pick the most challenging and exciting it may have been the 2003 season. The Northwestern girls had arguably one of the best girls teams I had ever seen and beat us by 70 or so points at the Coaches Classic. I had to really work to convince our girls that they still had a title shot and at the same time, we were dealing with some key injuries. On the day of the state meet, everyone was healthy for the first time that season. We won the championship and four of the girls (Carlissa Heyward, Amanda Pulliam, Audrey Bone, and Sarah Massenburg) earned All-State honors. Everyone ran better then even I had expected. I woke up the next morning and I still couldn\'t believe what they had done. (scrunners.com note: In 2003 Summerville tallied 70 points at the state meet to Northwestern\'s 88.)
scrunners: What do you see happening with the sports at Summerville HS in the future?
crowley: I think Summerville will always have a winning athletic program. It\'s just part of the culture. We get great participation (in terms of numbers) and with those numbers come quality athletes. We have a very supportive community including parents, teachers and our administration. One of the reasons that I personally believe is responsible for the athletic success at Summerville is our expectations. At Summerville, winning games, matches, meets, region titles and state championships is expected, it\'s the norm. It can put a lot of pressure on you at times but that pressure has always resulted in great performances.
scrunners: On average, how many hours per week and how many months throughout the year did you dedicate to being a coach and role model to athletes?
crowley: We practice for about 2.5 hours a day for five days a week. We practice for about 50 weeks out of the year. We usually take off a couple of weeks after track and about four-five weeks after Thanksgiving. On average during the school year, I spend about 20-25 hours a week as a coach. During a week where we compete in meets, maybe 30-35 hours sometimes more if were traveling overnight.