Varsity Blues: Stanford Sailing Team moves forward; Clinton Hayes named Interim Head Coach
SAN FRANCISCO (#1191) – Text of an email sent on Thursday to young sailors who are (or were) prospective Stanford sailing team recruits by Clinton Hayes, the newly appointed Interim Head Coach. Our thanks to the several FOSI who forwarded it to your Ed. As a simple country boy who attended a humble public university (UMich), I couldn't resist making a few editorial comments [in brackets]....
Subject: Stanford Sailing Coaching Transition
Hi All,
As a perspective [sic; no doubt Mr Hayes meant "prospective"] future sailing athlete at Stanford, I wanted to reach out and address the recent news you have undoubtedly heard about Stanford Sailing and our now former head coach. The official statement by Stanford provides a very accurate summary of the facts: https://news.stanford.edu/2019/03/12/stanford-statement/.
We are very disturbed by this news and understand that you probably are as well. I am confident that despite the involvement of the former coach in the admissions scheme, none of our current recruits are [sic; should be "is" – Ed.] involved with any fabricated information about their [sic; "his or her" –Ed.] athletic experience. I am equally confident that the same is true of each of you.
I have been named Interim Head Coach for the rest of the season and Belle [Strachan] is continuing her role as assistant coach. It’s too early right now to know exactly how the coaching transition will play out this summer, but there is likely to be a national search for the best candidate possible. Speaking from over a decade of experience in college sailing, the Stanford head coaching job is one of, if not the most, desirable positions in the college sailing world. Whoever ends up in the head coaching position permanently will be highly qualified and will continue the tradition of success here at Stanford.
The school has been very supportive of the team through all of this. Our athletic directors, trainer, media relations, and sports phycologist [sic; "psychologist"] have all been present and are there to support the current and future athletes on the sailing team. We are lucky to have such tremendous support form the university and that will continue in the future.
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me or our sports administrator Jamie Breslin, Senior Associate Athletics Director Facilities, Operations & Events, Stanford University:
We look forward to a continued dialog with each of you. Some of you have visited already, others will do so later this year or next year. Please use me as your primary recruiting contact moving forward. As discussed with many of you already, the most important timeline is getting in all of your grades, test scores, and updated sailing resume once your junior year is completed.
Good luck with your studies and sailing!
Clinton
More on Clinton Hayes here, and Belle Strachan here, courtesy of the Stanford Athletic Department website.
This post dedicated Julia Wedekind and Richard Enersen, two FOSI who are esteemed grammarians and, er, Stanford alumnae.