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Earlier today, Florida State Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, Bob Braman, announced that he was retiring at the conclusion of the 2024 outdoor track season. Braman has acted as FSU's head coach for the past 21 years and has been on the team's coaching staff for a total of 24 years.
Braman is arguably best known for his three-peat of men's national team titles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships between 2006, 2007 and 2008. At the ACC level, the Seminoles have secured numerous conference titles on the track (indoor and outdoor) between both the men's and women's teams.
The retirement of Braman is a massive one as few jobs in all of NCAA track and field will hold as much as allure as Florida State currently does.
The Seminoles' athletic program as a whole is strongly backed financially. Plus, with rumors of a desired move to the more lucrative SEC (albeit, with a legal battle against the ACC still on the table) makes Braman's now-departed Director role that much more enticing.
From a distance running perspective, the ongoing structure of FSU's cross country and track teams could see changes in the near future. The Seminole men and women have leaned heavily on the transfer portal in recent years, using newly-recruited firepower to put themselves on the national stage.
As FSU opens their coaching search, there will likely be a heavy emphasis on landing a star-caliber name, especially as the 'Noles aim to strengthen their athletic standing in the highly volatile conference realignment era.
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Separately, Yale's now-former Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, David Shoehalter, is also set to retire at the conclusion of the 2024 outdoor track season. His announcement came this past Tuesday.
Shoehalter oversaw the Bulldogs' program as the team's Director since 2010 after previously operating as an assistant coach for Yale since 1994.
When it comes to distance running, the Yale men and women have not necessarily been viewed as national-caliber threats in recent years. That, however, has (very slowly) begun to change following the introduction of Matt Gutridge as the team's newest men's distance coach in 2022.
This past fall, the Yale men secured the overall win at the Paul Short Run, taking down a handful of talented teams including the Division Two national champions (Wingate) by 20 points. The Bulldog men also saw key names such as Winslow Atkeson, Sean Kay, Thomas Cirrito and Owen Karas post competitive middle distance marks during the winter and spring months (albeit, with varying levels of consistency).
Separately, Kayley DeLay highlights Yale's women's team -- a group led by Coach Taryn Sheehan -- as a fairly recent graduate who was a steeplechase superstar. The silver medalist at the NCAA Outdoor Championships now runs for Brooks as a pro athlete. Freshman Victoria Guerrier also has shown promise this year over 800 meters, posting a strong 2:04 personal best.
With Shoehalter departing the program, plenty of eyes will be on an athletic department that resides in the highly-revered Ivy League. At the moment, it's unclear to TSR what decision the university is leaning towards as far as their next hire is concerned.
It should also be noted that multiple sources have told The Stride Report that there may be further change within the Ivy League coaching ranks later this summer.