Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Jennifer Randazzo steps down as Carlmont HS XC coach

From today's San Mateo Daily Journal and Nathan Mollat:
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?type=sports&title=Learning%20to%20play%20the%20game&id=1752946

"The Daily Journal received a copy of an email from Carlmont cross country coach Jennifer Randazzo to the rest of the PAL cross country coaches, who said she is stepping down as coach because of a new job opportunity that will eliminate a headache of a commute, in addition to other reasons. She lives in Fremont, taught in Mountain View and coached at Carlmont, which is an infinitely tougher commute than mine, so I can understand her wanting to work closer to home.
Randazzo took over the Carlmont program three years ago following the controversial departure of the previous coach. She then clashed with some of the runners who were still loyal to the previous coach. But over the last couple of years, Randazzo has proven she knows how to coach. She guided both the boys’ and girls’ teams three straight Peninsula Athletic League titles as well as Central Coast Section titles in two of her three years at the helm.
Count me among those who gave Randazzo a hard time when she first came aboard and turned the squad on its head with new training techniques. Maybe that’s why she hasn’t talked to me in three years. But she has proven she knows what she is doing. Granted, it helps to have the talent Carlmont churns out year in and year out, but it takes a good coach to harness that talent and bring out the best. Randazzo did that as well as anyone.
Here’s wishing Randazzo good luck in her future endeavors and for those interested in taking over the coaching reins, contact Carlmont High athletic director Patrick Smith at psmith@seq.org.
In fact, for a list of available coaching jobs at the various PAL schools, go to the PAL athletics website at www.smcoe.k12.ca.us/pal. Even easier, just Google “Peninsula Athletic League” and click on the “Coaching Jobs” link on the left side of the page. There you find openings for each school."

12 comments:

JimS said...

I hope the runners have someone to work with them.

summer teeth said...

Hmm, well although it probably won't happen, it would be interesting if somehow Carlmont would hire Gilkey back. Like I said it probably won't happen since Carlmont will likely not hire him back and chances are Gilkey doesn't want to go back (and since he also has a job right now as an XC coach elsewhere, right?.

I don't mean to bring up this issue again, since it's long over. But I often wonder how well Carlmont would do if Gilkey was their coach again.

Anonymous said...

He never stopped being the coach. It's why she left.

Would it be any different? They won with him, they won without him. They will win with the next guy. Truth is any decent coach would avoid Carlmont like the plague.

Just shows its about talent, not coaching.

Keith Reyen said...

Justine Fedronic,Stanford University; Jessie Peteren, Syracuse University; Abby Barker, Tufts University; Ben Heck U.C. Riverside; Dustin Sjoerdsma, Western Washington University; Jeffrey Stalun, University of Washington; Sarah Schreck, U.C. Santa Barbara; Megan Schearer, University of Arizona. The foregoing is the list of runners coached by Jeff Gilkey who are currently running or about to be running at the collegiate level, many at D1 and several on scholarship. It is not that easy or common to be able to get so many athletes from high school up to the next level. The success is a result of a two way commitment between athlete and coach. This type of success should be celebrated and encouraged. Here is to hoping that Carlmont can bury the hatchet and bring Coach Gilkey back.

Anonymous said...

They would have run D1 whoever was coach.

There's more to coaching than numbers. Obviously he is not the kind of coach they want there. He broke the rules, obviously not ok with Carlmont admin. His coaching style is not a fit. Too many parents get hung up on numbers. Time for parents to move on.

Carlmont parent said...

Gilkey instilled in those runners a fantastic work ethic .....and lazy athletes don't succeed. That has flowed on.

Why would he want to go back to Carlmont after how the admin shafted him????

Keith Reyen said...

Question for anonymous. Why do you post anonymously?

Anonymous said...

No more anonymous than Carlmont parent is. You mad I'm right bro?

Jennifer Randazzo said...

Hi All...Jennifer Randazzo here. I just want to say thank you to everyone for the support over the past few years. This has been a wild road and I am sad to leave Carlmont. This was a really hard decision to make as I have spent the whole summer training with my team and we actually went away to camp last week together and had a fantastic time. I am a teacher. As everyone knows, we don't make the big bucks. We choose to make a positive difference in kid's lives in trade for big salaries. I wouldn't change what I do for the world. I am getting married this October and my fiancĂ© and I just purchased a home. I spent 2 days crunching out numbers and financially, because of the commute, I could no longer afford to coach at Carlmont. That is the only reason. There is no hidden agenda. This has been hard for me and the athletes. The ignorant remarks are not necessary. FOUR years ago, there were many false accusations against me by people who post on this site, which the school district investigated. These are public records of the districts and if you go see them, they all prove to be false and the leaders of these accusations were proven to be "not credible sources". Once again, these are the people who are still commenting and bringing down wonderful kids who are on the team and don't deserve this type of negative attention. This has to stop. One of the parents wrote me a really touching email last night that sums up how our team was when I was a coach. She said, "you taught my child to be well rounded, he has learned life lessons that he will be able to take with him forever"....I didn't coach at Carlmont to gain power and control like some make it out to be. I took the coaching position at Carlmont because I wanted to be the change that I wish to see in the world. If we force into children’s' heads that running and winning are everything, what happens to them if them if they don't win or they get injured and can't run anymore? It makes them feel that there is nothing left for them...unfortunately, when I came to Carlmont, I dealt with this type of attitude and it is really sad. We must teach student-athlete's to be well rounded individuals so that they still have good spirits if they don't win or if god forbids they have a major injury. After the many emails, phone calls, and text messages I received from coaches, parents, and athletes yesterday when the announcement was made, I can tell that I made that difference for my athletes and they make me so proud seeing how far they have come. I wish the best for Carlmont and the new coach. Good luck to them this season! The team and the new coach have my full support. I really hope that people can stop putting such a negative light on what was such a positive thing. God Bless.

Keith Reyen said...

I am neither mad nor deluded into thinking that what gets printed here will influence what happens next at Carlmont. I put my name on my posts so anyone who cares knows exactly who is expressing a view. I am proud to call Jeff Gilkey a friend and am impressed with his positive influence on young athletes year after year. The kids who train with Jeff now were not around when all the controversy occurred, but I am willing to bet that if you ask their parents which mentors have the most positive influence on their kids Jeff will on the list or will be the list period. I don't, know any.one whose child was coached by Jeff who would say anything other than he was born to coach and should be doing it somewhere.

Anonymous said...

Why are you still going on about this. Did you not read Jennifer's post above? Sums everything up nicely.

Time to stop Keith.

Albert Caruana said...

I think the comments above are sufficient for this post. Best of luck to all of you associated with the Carlmont program and best of luck to you Jennifer with your future.

Let the season begin.

Popular Posts