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Lagat had easily been one of the world’s four or five leading distance runners of the previous 25 years, winning four NCAA championships at Washington State, the holder of two world records with a big-time profile. But Lagat was replaced in May after his men’s cross country teams never finished higher than seventh in a conference finals. Worse, the women’s team finished, in order, 12th, ninth, 10th and 16th in the last four conference championships. The UA did not have a runner finish higher than 36th in the Big 12 finals last fall.

Lagat is a wonderful human being. Who knows more about distance running than he does? But apparently his name didn’t register with high school athletes of the current recruiting generation, and thus the Wildcats could not rebuild their distance running programs. It has been a very long time since Dave Murray coached Arizona to Pac-12 championships in 1986, 1987, 1994, 1995 and 1999.

Lagat was the fifth Olympic medalist to be a head coach at Arizona. It wasn’t a resolute success. Diving coaches Cynthia Potter and Michele Mitchell, swimmer Rick DeMont and softball outfielder Caitlin Lowe are the others. Potter, Mitchell and DeMont all left the UA on their own terms after so-so careers. Other than Lowe, the only Olympic medalist now coaching at Arizona is assistant swimming coach Amanda Beard, part of a demanding rebuilding project.