Talk:John McDonnell (coach)

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This article is making statements that really need further explanation. For example, it says that Coach McDonnell has won 42 NCAA national championships. However since he's only coached Arkansas for 29 years, the 42 is obviously not meaning the same thing as John Wooden's 10 national championships with UCLA basketball.

The difference is significant since it may mean that apples and oranges are being compared, but the article is making no effort to inform the reader of this. In fact, including the line "He has more national championships (42) than any coach in any sport in the history of college athletics." is going right after this comparison without citing references or even bothering to explain what is meant by a "national championship" or how Coach McDonnell can win more than one of them in a single year.

In short, this article reads like campaign rhetoric. It's full of technically true information, but no real context in which to judge that information. I hope that someone with close knowledge of Coach McDonnell's obviously impressive accomplishments can exand this article and fill in the contextual gaps. --Don Sowell 22:07, 15 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

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Clarification

Suggestions for anyone qualified and knowledgeable enough to make corrections to Coach McDonnell's page:

The article has a few places that could use some clarification or revision. At the beginning, it says:

"He began as the cross country and track head coach for the university in 1972 and became head track coach in 1978."

A person cannot begin as a "track head coach in 1972" and then become "head track coach in 1978." Also, the sport is track & field, not track.

There are several places in the bullet points of his accomplishments that need sorted out:

"25 consecutive conference titles in cross country with indoor track and outdoor track combined from 1987 to 1995"

Would make more sense to create another bullet point? ...one for just cross country...another for when indoor and outdoor track are combined? It is confusing when merged together and there is nothing gained by merging them together. I bet Arkansas track & field and cross country media guides have a lot more bullet points. More is good. Less is confusing because the info starts getting jammed together.

"34 consecutive league cross country championships, including 17 straight in the SEC (1974–2007)"

Clarify, consecutive means straight...straight means consecutive...did they stop winning in 2007? Where did the 34 come from...why is 17 special? On the surface, this bullet point makes no sense. Also, why is the word league used? Arkansas competes in a conference, not a league. Unless league is used in the name of the association of universities, it is better to use the description given. It is not the Southeastern league, it is the SEC, of the SWC...C for conference.

"54 individual national champions"

Only NCAA champions or also USATF national champions? If only NCAA it should be described as such. Perhaps another bullet point for how many of his athletes won national championships beyond NCAA...as in USATF or Ireland National Championships or any other national championships beyond NCAA.

"has coached 23 Olympians, including gold, silver and bronze medalists, 105 NCAA individual event champions and 331 individual event conference champions"

The Olympian part including gold, silver, and bronze medalists was already stated almost verbatim in an earlier bullet point so it sounds redundant. Also, it would be nice to know how many gold, silver, and bronze.

I'm being picky and the article is great...but for THE greatest coach in the history of NCAA we need to honor his contributions to track & field and cross country by helping make this page more accessible to those less familiar with him and less familiar with track & field and cross country. Herkimer27 (talk) 17:22, 21 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]