Colin Christ updated Cal Men’s Gymnastics Donors, Alumni and Families:
… we would like to inform you that Head Coach Tim McNeill is currently on leave for the remainder of the season. We understand there may be questions and concerns, but we hope you would understand and respect our decision in putting this behind us for the time being so we can focus on the immediate future and what is best for this team and this program.
Furthermore, we have added JT (Jonathan) Okada, Cal Sports’ Psychologist and a long time supporter of Cal Gymnastics, to the coaching staff to help with some administrative and coaching duties for the conclusion of the season.
To make things clear, there will be no head coach title for the time being. The current assistant coach, Colin Christ, will be the “lead” coach, followed by JT Okada, Bryan del Castillo (Volunteer Assistant Coach) and Kyle Bunthuwong (Volunteer Assistant Coach). …
we are in the process of changing the team culture inside and outside the gym. I can proudly say that the team has never been more focused than they are right now. Not only is the coaching staff giving their undivided attention to the team, everyone in the gym is doing their part, or as former Head Coach Barry Weiner would put it, “grabbing an axe and chopping”. …
via @OnoNoKomachi1
13 comments ↓
Huh? What happened?
Tim NcNeill is one of the heroes of men’s NCAA gymnastics.
Nothing to worry about. He should be back.
I agree. huh?
And that public letter is really an embarassment whatever went down.
Oh…and someone dish please.
Yeah, weird. Tim was coaching last week. I haven’t heard anything, but if it isn’t something bad, whoever wrote that letter should stop, because it certainly sounds suspicious.
That letter was written by the acting head coach, Colin Christ. Cal actually put it in their own twitter feed.
If this was NCAA hoops or football, I doubt this would have been handled any differently. People would start wondering where the guy was. Part of the purpose of that letter was to keep people informed….something NCAA MAG is usually horrible at.
Keeping people informed does not mean giving out every little detail, and questions and speculation would have started up sooner or later no matter what.
The letter is very poorly handled. What the heck is the discussion of ‘improving the culture’ supposed to refer to (especially combined with an unexplained departure).
They would have been better off with some generic, short notice.
Wierd…
what ever happened to workout hard, study and compete on weekends. “Improving the culture”. Shut up and work out. Don’t talk about grabbing the ax, just pick it up.
The phrase “improving the culture” shows up quite often in interviews with NCAA coaches, especially around times of change or when teams have not been performing as well as they would like. It’s just the touchy feely version of ” shut up and work out”.
oh ok thanks Ono. I get it now. Not to up on the touchy feely versions. I hope they get it figured out. I know they have a lot of talented young guys. go Cal!!
[...] “Sunday Night Men’s Gymnastics” on the tube sounds like a great idea to me. The Bears, competing in their first meet under new interim Coach Colin Christ, looked very inspired in posting a season high team score. The Cardinal seemed to regroup well [...]
I was at the meet. The Bears have clearly been working out. Considering they have thirteen freshman, basically scholarship money, coaches with very little experience, and have so far been without their top man (Bailey), I doubt their culture was that broken to begin with.
That they are doing as well as they are is nothing short of a miracle. They are not that far off the pace of fully funded teams coached by guys with years of experience.
So why did McNeil leave?
Yes… fans want to know. Not out for the lurid details, but it sounds bad, provoking concern. Hope McNeill will be alright, and the team both.
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