"Choosing to run for Coach and this program was the best decision of my young life.
I had an incredible experience that brought growth and meaning to my life and has shaped me to this day. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. If you want to be a part of something special, choose Coach Giambanco and Hofstra Track/ XC."
"I am writing this review to share my extremely negative experience with Coach Vincent Giambanco. It's disheartening to see how he manipulates athletes into writing glowing reviews by directly asking for them. This tactic speaks volumes about his character and the lack of genuine feedback he values.
Coach Giambanco consistently devalues his athletes, fostering an environment where personal growth and well-being take a backseat to his own ambitions. His rigidity and lack of understanding when life circumstances interfere with training are appalling. If you have a job interview or something of mere importance, expect to be made to feel guilty. It's as if he believes running is the only thing that matters, and personal responsibilities can simply be ignored.
It’s also important to highlight the coach's limited success. While he boasts about the achievements of Alex Masai, his overall coaching record is underwhelming. A coach's success is measured by the development of the entire team, not just one standout athlete.
If you're looking for a coach who genuinely cares about your development as an athlete and as a person, I strongly advise you to look elsewhere. Coach Giambanco's focus seems to be more on self-promotion than on the well-being of his athletes.
Save yourself the disappointment and find a coach who prioritizes your growth and supports you through life's challenges."
"The team culture here is amazing. Coach pours his heart and soul into scrapping and clawing for continued elevation of the program. The team attracts recruits that are hungry for success and understand the sacrifice and disciple required to do so.
The bread and butter of the program is the weekly Long Run at Rockefeller State Park every Sunday morning. Enjoy your Long Run with teammates climbing one hill after another on beautiful dirt carriage path trails along side your brothers and sisters. When you are done, stuff your face with bagels!!
Go Pride!"
"Coach take an effort based approach to training, he teaches the team how to monitor their body and take an enjoyable/ holistic approach to training. He emphasizes a big picture strategy where the goal is consistency and gradual improvement. He stresses the importance of student athletes communicating when they are over fatigued or have an ache or pain and adjusts training daily around individual. Each student athlete receives an individual training program each week, there is obviously overlaps as we train as a team and run a range of weekly mileage/ paces. These programs also include the practice times and locations so you know what to expect for the week and can plan effectively.
There is a former member of the team that has been writing negative reviews and trying to bring the program down, don't be fooled, this is a special program and coach has lead this team to new heights. If you are a distance runner looking for a passionate team and Coach, come to Hofstra - you will be happy you did so."
"The pursuit of excellence. Coach and this team is not for everyone. It's for those that hold themselves to a high standard. For those that take care of business. For those that strive to be the best version of themselves. Coach emphasizes behavior. He expects self discipline and buy in. If you commit to the proccess you will improve by leaps and bounds and be part of a special team. "
"If you love a nice sunrise you will love Coach :)
Coach believe in a rise and grind lifestyle - live a healthy lifestyle, early to bed/ early to rise and most importantly approach training with all of your heart. Love your teammates and love the process. 4 years goes by fast, choose Hofstra and Coach and you will have a very special experience pursuing your passion with like minded teammates and coaches."
"If you are a recruit and considering Hofstra University, look no further - the program is a special place where the team has a competitive mindset but approaches the sport in a very positive and holistic way. Coach is invested in the program beyond measure. He has created and nurtured a program where everyone’s love for the sport and shared goals creates a sense of purpose and meaning. I wouldn’t want to run for any other coach or team."
"The best coach in the NCAA. Completely transformed the program in a way that seemed impossible 10 years ago. Choose Hofstra, you’ll have a great experience with great teammate, training venues, and a Coach that will help you reach your full potential if you put in the work."
"Saddening to have Vince Giambanco as my coach, in fact, it’s sad to have a coach you never saw until it’s time for a meet. I was an athlete in the track and field program. I went through many assistant coaches during my time that merely did not care one bit about the program. They lacked experience, ambition, and pure knowledge about the sport. For coach Vince, he acted childish at the meets and tried to laugh with other coaches or parents while his athletes underperformed."
"Unfortunately, this coach's performance falls far below expectations. Their disregard for their athletes mental well-being, abuse of power, and narcissistic behavior create a toxic environment. Furthermore, their closed-mindedness and poor knowledge of the sport result in unfair treatment of athletes and questionable training decisions. It's evident that the team would benefit from either self-training or a new coach who is competent and fair. Additionally, leveraging athletes' past successes they had no hand in coaching is disingenuous. Ultimately, their coaching style not only fails to improve athletes' performance but also puts them at risk of injury"
"Coach Giambanco has taken over what was maybe the worst program in the NCAA in 2014 and has lead it to becoming. a destination for competitive distance runners. There is strong comradery amongst both the men’s and the women’s team and this is something that does not happen by accident. He treats everyone with respect and does his best to guide everyone to success while always putting the team first and holding a high standard for behavior and attitude. Coach Giambanco never, ever makes it about himself – you won’t see him on social media and if anyone tries to shine the light on him, he quickly steers it back to the team, staff, and support staff. Coach Giambanco understands it takes a team of people to accomplish anything and is humble enough to understand that the program is powered by man power, and the more strong characters the better.
He is very direct about what he expects and understands that it may not be the right program for everyone.
If you want to have an incredible college experience and be surrounded by great people – come here, just know the standard and expectations are high. Only good team members are wanted.
"
"If you run Cross country you hate him because you have to deal with his awful coaching, but if you run Track you still hate him but slightly less because you’ll never see him. He also talks like he’s AI generated."
"Coach was the only Coach that came to my home and spent time with my family. I chose Hofstra because of him. At first I struggled with my academics but with increased structure and a strict academic regiment I was able to bring my GPA to 3.7.
I ran fast and finished very high at the conference championship. Coach would have us over to his home, he took us to Maine for training camp where we spent a week bonding with our fellow teammate and staff. Coach and his wife Page would have us over to his home where the team would hav eat together. I ended up transferring to another school due to financial reasons but had my besrunning and running at Hofstra with Coach. He was very supportive when I spoke to him about transferring and encouraged me to do what I felt was best for me. When I saw Coach at competition now at the other school he came over and gave me a hug and asked me how I was doing. I would reccomend Coavh and the staff at Hofstra to anyone very one."
"From the day that coach Giambanco got to Hofstra, the program began improving. Prior to his arrival the team had exactly 1 male runner make all CAA - since then Hofstra has produced multiple medalists, including CAA champions and NE Regional champions. This is not a coincidence.
Coach Giambanco cares immensely about this program, and it reflects in the amount of time and effort he puts in. During my time he would arrive at 4:30am, and not leave until 6pm most days. From a personal standpoint he helped me improve as a runner, and as a leader. He definitely has a way of doing things - a way which might differ from one's high school experience - however I did not find him dogmatic. There were times when I approached him with ideas, and we worked to find common ground. Moreover, when I did get injured, he was understanding and patient. I never felt rushed to come back from an injury.
I found him to be deeply knowledgeable, passionate, and caring as a coach. If you are a runner complaining about weekly mileage, then you should find another sport. And, for those who do not understand the impact that coach Giambanco has had on the program, I implore you to look back at the results prior to his arrival. Hofstra was the worst team in the entire NCAA, bar none. He almost single handily brought the program from the absolute basement of the NCAA to a level of respectability. "
"From my personal experience, I didn’t enjoy him as my coach when I ran here. He only focused on the top runners which are usually from the cross country team. If you aren’t a top performer you won’t get that much attention even if you show you want to grow as an athlete. He never put actual time into a training plans. A lot of training was copied and pasted from one another’s and from previous weeks. Lack of originality. There was no considerations that we were also students. Up unnecessarily early to train and by mid day I’m falling asleep in classes. I’ve seen multiple athletes get hurt because they are overworked. No one needs to run 100 mile weeks to race a 10k. The fact he struggles to hold onto a full team and keep everyone healthy shows part of why he isn’t fit to be a D1 coach.He’s gone through multiple assistants in my time there because he can’t work well with others. If you don’t agree with him it’s a problem even when he’s wrong which is 95% of the time. He never put time into the track team. He made the assistant coach create our workouts and manage the team. It was known as the “developmental group”. The cross country and track team was kept separate when it came to training and the teams were small already so why not make them smaller right? I was genuinely surprised by all the good reviews but as I read them they are just people he chose to reach out to, to write a good one. I think he’s a good person which I gave him a bonus star on caring but in my 4 years at Hofstra I’ve yet to hear a positive experience between him and an athlete.
The team on the other hand is how you make of it. I enjoyed my team and they made it bearable. We didn’t like coach so it’s common thing we bonded over even tho there was a separation between the mens and girls team. Mainly became a maturity thing. "
"Violates NCAA rules, abuse of power, narcissistic, extremely closed minded, lacks common knowledge of the sport and poor training choices, unfair to most athletes and favors others, the team would be better off training ourselfs or with a new coach who knows what he's doing, he also uses athletes past success to show off the school when he never coached them before when they were fast, none of his athletes get faster instead they get injured!, do not train with this coach, you would be better off training your self with YouTube videos :/"
"Coach Giambanco, can not deal with the truth. He has read all of the bad reviews and instead of listening to them and trying to change, he has been calling up every person, athlete, and contact in his phone to get them to write a good review about him. He is dismissive and can never admit his faults especially when the change is in his best interest. He bosses his assistant coaches around and treats them like puppets, which is why there has not been a single one who stays for more than 2 years. His now assistant coach has her hand so far up her butt that she can not treat her athletes like humans."
"As a parent of 4 college student/athletes and a 40 year career in public education and law enforcement ; I fully endorse Coach Vincent Giambanco. When my daughter had narrowed her search to a small North East D1 college and one that embraced academic prowess and a competitive cross country program ; Hofstra University was a must visit. After contacting the school and a recruiting visit at my home by Coach Vince and staff, it was clear that this man embodied all the qualities necessary to promote a University , a competitive and challenging classroom and campus life for my daughter, while putting our entire family at ease with the knowledge he would watch over her as if she were his daughter. Once at Hofstra my daughters' transition was smooth and in the classroom the student /teacher ratio was low and challenging and Coach Vince was always available to help with even the smallest things on and off the field. I can conclude by saying that Coach Vince is a sincere and honest person. He challenged my daughter on the field to be the best she could be and taught her leadership by example. My daughter was a five year runner and captain for team Hofstra and was a High Honored student for all semesters through graduation. BEST OF LUCK COACH AND THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO."
"I have known Coach Vince for nearly 20 years. We competed against each other in college (at academically strong ACC schools) and remain close to this day. He's always shown himself to be deeply knowledgeable and passionate about XC/track. As a current HS coach, I often seek his advice about training and motivating young runners.
I have PRs of 4:02 mile and 3:44 1500. I made footlocker xc nationals twice in high school. I know this sport well - I know what a good coach looks like. And Vince is a good coach. I would let him coach my athletes - and I would let him coach my child -- which is the strongest possible endorsement of a coach. In addition, his coaching philosophy allows athletes to excel academically - his teams have one of the top GPAs in their conference.
In short, he's passionate about the sport and his athletes. To vince, his athletes a more than a stat sheet or roster spot. They're people whom he cares about deeply. "
"As a former athlete under Coach Vince Giambanco's guidance, I am compelled to share my disappointing experience. Despite his purported credentials in mental health, my time under his coaching was marked by a glaring lack of concern for individual needs, mental health, and academic welfare. One would expect a coach with a degree in mental health to prioritize the holistic well-being of their athletes. However, Coach Giambanco's actions spoke louder than his qualifications. I witnessed a blatant disregard for the mental health struggles of team members. Instead of offering support or resources, Coach Giambanco consistently brushed aside concerns, prioritizing performance over the well-being of his athletes. His indifference extended to academic obligations. Despite knowing the rigorous demands student-athletes face, Coach Giambanco showed little regard for our academic responsibilities. Practices often ran long. When approached about balancing academics with athletics, he offered little more than dismissive remarks, further exacerbating the stress on his athletes. Perhaps most egregious was Coach Giambanco's lack of interest in individual needs. Athletes were treated as mere cogs in a machine, expected to conform to their rigid training regimen without consideration for personal strengths or limitations. Instead of fostering growth and development, his coaching style stifled individuality, leaving many feeling unsupported and undervalued.
"
"Being one of Coach Vince's athletes he is an exemplary leader who wholeheartedly believes in the value of hard work and positivity. He impresses the importance of hard work in his athletes through his dedication and commitment to their development. Athletes can undergo challenges and that's normal as a sportsperson, despite's those challenges I was able to run my best time 13:39 for 5K under Coach Vince and his assistant coach Steph, and as a team, we are expecting more in the coming season to proof wrong those who are against the program."
"As a former supervisor to Vince, I can tell you first hand that you will not find a better advocate for their program and student athletes. Vince took over the program and gradually built up his and his program's credibility. As a leader, he checks every box you could ask for. This allowed Vince and the University to expand the program by adding indoor and outdoor track. Vince is not shy about advocating for his program and he always did so but putting the program first, before himself. When presented with challenges and obstacles Vince knows how to figure out solutions."
"Many years ago Vince was recruiting my son. My son was a high performer and being recruited by many coaches. The challenge was that he had special needs so with his great talent came a young man that would also require a lot of assistance. With many college coaches reaching out to us we felt like they were all trying to butter us up/ sell us something. Vince was different. Instead of selling, Vince took time to get to know our family, to open himself up and allow us to get to know him. We all created a meaningful relationship. We eventually realized that college would not be the path for our son. But the relationship would last, to this day Vince still takes the time to call my son, to meet up with him, to let him know that he is his friend. "
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