In December it was announced that the University of Akron men's cross country program will be reinstated.
Back in the Spring of 2020, following the news that the program would be cut, one of the most vocal advocates for having that decision reversed was Clayton Murphy.
We spoke with him at that time about the development and what measures needed to be taken to ensure its return.
In an effort to bring this situation full circle, we asked Clayton to join our podcast again to help celebrate the reinstatement of men's XC at his alma mater.
The former Zip, multiple time Olympian and native Ohioan (2013 Tri-Village graduate) dissected what went into bringing men's cross country back to Akron and where the program goes from here, as they aspire to quickly and efficiently restore its prominence.
Related Coverage
Clayton Murphy interview on Akron cutting their men's XC program
(Posted to MileSplit on May 22nd, 2020)
Time Stamps ~
- 0:00 -- Episode Introduction
- 1:15 -- The importance of reinstating the program
- 3:00 -- Events that transpired between Spring of 2020 and Fall of 2022
- 6:30 -- His confidence level that we would reach a place where XC returned
- 9:30 -- Emotions now that the program has been successfully been restored
- 12:05 -- Now that the program is back how can it be best rebuilt
- 15:00 -- What his involvement in the program will be moving forward
- 19:00 -- Thoughts on NIL and the general landscape of college sports
- 23:10 -- Discussing the progression of the men's mile in the NCAA
- 28:05 -- His competition goals for 2023 and beyond
- 30:40 -- Episode Wrap-Up
