Those Wisconsin guys must not like Adidas spikes

adidas gave me my kit in the late 80's. really, the spikes weren't all that bad- i remember a pair of black middle distance shoes and bright yellow distance spikes. though, i must agree, nike spikes have to be the best i had- the original zoom d's with the blue stripe were like heaven- ran my first sub 4 in them...memories...and for the record, geb's spikes are not custom made. they are a cheap middle distance spike off the shelf...

HAHAHA, I agree man!

Actually those were custom made and we made them heavier and more cushion so he would run in Atlanta because the track was soooo hard. He said he wouldn't run if he didn't get custom spikes. For the record...he took both spikes to the track and ran with the lighter less cushioned ones---good thing he did.

I know our spikes suck. The designer is an idiot and won't listen. I hear New Balance has the same stubborn guy!!!!

I ran at a school that was sponsored by reebok in the late 90s - very few people liked them. I am sure this is rare, but our program had the budget to purchase other brands of shoes if you wanted/were good enough. We had guys running in asics, adidas, nike, etc... same goes for racing, if you wanted another brand of spikes or flats, the coaches would buy them for you. on the other hand, if you were able to run in the reebok shoes, you received tons of gear.

I am sure this is the same for Wisco - if the guys complain and do not like the spikes/trainers/etc., I am sure JS has the budget to purchase other brands.

They wear the trainers and the clothing, not the spikes.

We have had a guy kicked off the team in part because he didn't wear Adidas spikes in competition. The coaching staff was not happy when we asked if we could wear Nike spikes with the logo removed.

Barry has given a talkin' to the Jerry about it, but Jerry told his boys to just racing in what they want to. Jerry sticks up for his kids.

The Adidas spikes you're referring to are appropriately named:

~ Adistar MDs (black ones for middle distance)

~ Adistar LDs (yellow ones for long distance)

These were the same spikes many Eastern Europeans wore. Good memories.

we have to wear everything adidas when we're on the track(shoes, shorts, headbands, shirts, etc) for practice or at meets, but when we drive somewhere off campus to run we can wear whatever we want

Stolen Bikes Ride Faster wrote:

Barry has given a talkin' to the Jerry about it, but Jerry told his boys to just racing in what they want to. Jerry sticks up for his kids.

That is in large part what got Peter Tegen fired, by not listening to his bosses and trying to do things "his way". Yes you should stick up for your kids to a certain point, but when you go against what the bosses want, that can get you in big trouble. Obviously the administration doesn't necessarily care as much about how well you do in cross country or track at the Big Ten or national level or else Tegen would never have been fired. Not wearing Adidas spikes could ruin UW's relationship with Adidas and that will affect the football and basketball team and that is obviously what is truly important in an athletic department, no matter what us track and cross country fans think. Jerry just needs to be careful because it would suck if a coach of his caliber got fired for sticking up for his athletes.

I can't speak for wisconsin, but we are sponsored by adidas (i imagine wisco is also) and during competition or any type of school related event, we are required to wear adidas. I'm surprised that they are blatenly wearing the nike spikes...It's not like the adidas spikes are that bad (well the track ones at least).

Tegen got fired in large part for being outdated and easily replacable. There were other issues but that certainly is a major one. He was and still is a good coach but many of his ways were too old school for that university. If you don't think Wisco will care when they win the title you are wrong. The admins and Barry will congratulate Jerry and Nike or Addidas they will be proud and supportive. After all it is Jerry's job to coach and tell the kids to wear Addidas but when it comes down to it the kids wear what they want.

+ wrote:

I ran at a school that was sponsored by reebok in the late 90s - very few people liked them. I am sure this is rare, but our program had the budget to purchase other brands of shoes if you wanted/were good enough. We had guys running in asics, adidas, nike, etc... same goes for racing, if you wanted another brand of spikes or flats, the coaches would buy them for you. on the other hand, if you were able to run in the reebok shoes, you received tons of gear.

I am sure this is the same for Wisco - if the guys complain and do not like the spikes/trainers/etc., I am sure JS has the budget to purchase other brands.

did you run @ georgetown?

It's funny too when you look at that picture and realize that pretty much all of them are wearing a different style of Nike. Solinsky's got old school track Kennedy's, then there are Nike Zoom distance, xc kennedy's, new track kennedy's, zoom xc, etc. Pretty funny!

Tegen wrote:

Tegen got fired in large part for being outdated and easily replacable. There were other issues but that certainly is a major one. He was and still is a good coach but many of his ways were too old school for that university. If you don't think Wisco will care when they win the title you are wrong. The admins and Barry will congratulate Jerry and Nike or Addidas they will be proud and supportive. After all it is Jerry's job to coach and tell the kids to wear Addidas but when it comes down to it the kids wear what they want.

I am guessing you work at Wisconsin then since you are so sure of what you are saying. However, your facts are incorrect. Tegen did get fired because he chose not to follow the rules and complained about those rules. Many of those complaints were of insignificant things such as how much meal money he could give his athletes, but those complaints added up and this is essentially what got him fired.

Yes the Wisconsin administration will be very excited if Wisconsin wins the national cross country title, but Adidas will be extremely angry if they do it in Nike shoes. Adidas is not going to just let them wear Nike shoes at the national meet and not speak with the UW administration about it. A shoe deal is a huge deal in college athletics and you just can't go around ignoring the shoe deal.

What world do you live in by the way, where the coach does not have the authority to tell the athletes what shoes to wear. The Wisconsin administration made a deal with Adidas and if they don't honor that deal, this is a huge deal. If am guessing if Jerry told them I could get fired if I break the rules by letting you wear Nike shoes, I am guessing they will suck it up and wear the Adidas. Whether it will come down to that or not, I don't know, but this is a much bigger deal than you are making it out to be. This is a huge financial contract and they are breaking it.

Look at the Indiana guys they are all wearing NIke too. I have to say Sean Jefferson is looking a lot like Pre.

HAHA...i say addias needs to hold its end of the bargin up, and make decent spikes...

maybe it will take five kids and a coach, with bigger balls than you seem to have. To shove it in their face hard enough for them to see that.

Interesting -- what would they (UWisc, adidas) if their top 7 elected to sit out NCAAs as opposed to lacing up adidas? Mind you it likely would never come down to that, but who would buckle?

back in the late 90s..i purchased some blue adidas cosmos...they were very simple, 50 bucks, and one of the most comfortable shoes i've ever raced in. The next year they got all shiny, with added layers and I stopped getting them.

Haile used to always race in them as seen here:

http://www.ausdauerservice.de/inhalt/a-z/images/Haile1.JPG

Anyone else ever wore that pair before? Great spikes. Seems to have gone down hill since then.