First, overall I'm just teasing a bit. Jousting on the board with insights and opinions is what it's all about right? Second, I'm not delusional, I'm simply making sure these student-athletes and the coaches get their due - the joy they are obviously experiencing in those glitzy photos and videos is REAL and winning a title matters. Absolutely, a MAC title is not as 'prestigious' in T&F as other accomplishments, rankings, and Nationals appearances. Maybe the squad is lacking those with Mitchell gone, but the reality is if MAC Titles were easy Mitchell would have won them every year, he didn't. Mitchell had 16 men's titles (8 indoor/8 outdoor) over his 27 campaigns per his bio. If it were easy, he would have won the Cross Country Championship with Clayton Murphy, etc. He didn't. In 2023 the school won it's first ever Men's CC championship.
MAC Championships mattered under Coach Mitchell. He won 33 of them! I would argue, Conference titles are perhaps considered the most important accomplishment for a NCAA TEAMS year in and year out no matter what NCAA level and the quality of competition in the conference itself. A conference title is a title for the team. Last I checked only those 'nationally' ranked athletes and the coaches get to truly bask in the joy of qualifying to go onto Nationals, it is not as team-oriented as a conference title is.
I get T&F could be considered more of an individual sport vs. a team sport in terms of what matters more. I know to some extent this is comparing apples and oranges and T&F enthusiasts like yourself and 72 Roo will argue you can't compare at all... but think about some of the other Akron's sports that win consistently in the MAC and move onto higher levels of competition and rankings. Swimming & diving for example - would Akron and Peresie have 11 out of 12 titles if they weren't competing in the MAC? Once Peresie's team celebrates the MAC title, jumps in the pool etc. you don't hear much after that about the athletes that move on and qualify for Nationals unless you're a specific fan of that sport. In MBB, the MAC is not even in the Top 20 of Conferences - this year MAC MBB could have been dead last at times Nationally based on the horrendous level of competition. For Akron fans does the weak level of conference competition take away at all from the MBB team result winning the regular season MBB title? Did it matter to the coaches or athletes? Do they add an asterisk by the title based on how bad the competition is? The past 3 of 4 yrs they've made the NCAA Tourny - the MBB equivalent of the 'Nationals' so to speak and lost in the first round, yet Akron fans celebrate Akron and John Groce for what they do in the conference, despite how horrible it is.
Seriously, help those of us less informed about T&F understand, what do you have against Coach RG? Is it just the lack of success outside of the MAC, at the Regional and National level? Back in 2022/23 you were ranting about all the wins fueled by mostly leftovers from Coach Mitchell and here we are again with you pointing out that Garretson is a Mitchell holdover. I guess next year we'll see where things stand as you can stop crediting Mitchell holdovers for the team's success. If Akron is at the bottom of the MAC once Mitchell's lone holdover is gone, I promise I will be right there when you ask where I'm at in your post and I'll take the heat.
Finally, I am also realistic, Coach Mitchell had a 27-year career as Akron's T&F HC -- phenomenal! This isn't a comparison and shouldn't be of Mitchell vs. Gonzales head to head, but you seem to want Coach RG to boil the ocean in her brief tenure at Akron based on what Mitchell achieved across 27 years at the school. Coach Mitchell is a HOF coach no doubt but it took John Groce time to come behind the footsteps of Coach Dambrot. The reality is many times it's impossible to ever replace a HOFer. I'm just happy to see our Zips student athletes celebrating conference championships as a team! Go Zips!
