How has the NOP (UAC) fallen so badly from success? They should disband. Worst year ever?

crisscrosscountry wrote:

$baby wrote:

okay but Geordie actually has a coach who knows what he is doing, he is not a total headcase, and he is just more talented than Ribich

despite all this he's still ahead of Spencer in terms of actually having a contract, taking his training seriously (sometimes maybe too much so), and refraining from engaging in childish gimmicks.

honestly I think the shade on Spencer was Ribich's effort to match fellow podcast host and co-love of his life (with Olivia his wife) Josh Kerr's blunt no nonsense disdain for the situation. as a world class 1500 meter runner Kerr could legitimately question what Brooks was thinking in terms of Spencer's deal (they were thinking of free exposure) & Ribich, as always, followed his lead in his awkward bumbling way

All good points. I think it’s interesting though that in basically the same time Ritz established himself as a coach, Julian has seen his reputation crumble. It wasn’t that long ago that Julian was the coach of a world champion who could do no wrong, and several of the strongest runners in the US. Post NOP has been a total nightmare for Julian, while Ritz has taken a group of top NCAA runners and turned them into world beaters (or at least US beaters).

As for Spencer, I think if it had been the 2023 version who joined the Beast they’d be justified in ragging on him but at the time it was a pretty cool opportunity. It’s not like Spencer was totally unproven at the time and if covid hadn’t cancelled his season, he probably could’ve had a 1500 PR dangerously close to Ribich. Just seemed lame at the time to look down on someone trying to make it and I wonder if that contributed to Spencer not making the most of the opportunity.

crisscrosscountry wrote:

$baby wrote:

okay but Geordie actually has a coach who knows what he is doing, he is not a total headcase, and he is just more talented than Ribich

despite all this he's still ahead of Spencer in terms of actually having a contract, taking his training seriously (sometimes maybe too much so), and refraining from engaging in childish gimmicks.

honestly I think the shade on Spencer was Ribich's effort to match fellow podcast host and co-love of his life (with Olivia his wife) Josh Kerr's blunt no nonsense disdain for the situation. as a world class 1500 meter runner Kerr could legitimately question what Brooks was thinking in terms of Spencer's deal (they were thinking of free exposure) & Ribich, as always, followed his lead in his awkward bumbling way

All good points. I think it’s interesting though that in basically the same time Ritz established himself as a coach, Julian has seen his reputation crumble. It wasn’t that long ago that Julian was the coach of a world champion who could do no wrong, and several of the strongest runners in the US. Post NOP has been a total nightmare for Julian, while Ritz has taken a group of top NCAA runners and turned them into world beaters (or at least US beaters).

As for Spencer, I think if it had been the 2023 version who joined the Beast they’d be justified in ragging on him but at the time it was a pretty cool opportunity. It’s not like Spencer was totally unproven at the time and if covid hadn’t cancelled his season, he probably could’ve had a 1500 PR dangerously close to Ribich. Just seemed lame at the time to look down on someone trying to make it and I wonder if that contributed to Spencer not making the most of the opportunity.

Trackfan55 wrote:

crisscrosscountry wrote:

All good points. I think it’s interesting though that in basically the same time Ritz established himself as a coach, Julian has seen his reputation crumble. It wasn’t that long ago that Julian was the coach of a world champion who could do no wrong, and several of the strongest runners in the US. Post NOP has been a total nightmare for Julian, while Ritz has taken a group of top NCAA runners and turned them into world beaters (or at least US beaters).

As for Spencer, I think if it had been the 2023 version who joined the Beast they’d be justified in ragging on him but at the time it was a pretty cool opportunity. It’s not like Spencer was totally unproven at the time and if covid hadn’t cancelled his season, he probably could’ve had a 1500 PR dangerously close to Ribich. Just seemed lame at the time to look down on someone trying to make it and I wonder if that contributed to Spencer not making the most of the opportunity.

In my opinion, one of the biggest differences between Pete and Dathan is how hands on they are. Dathan is at every practice they have, he hired an assistant coach so that he has someone acting as coach in Boulder while he travels with the athletes in Europe. The assistant also handles all logistics from my understanding which leaves Dathan more time to coach. Contrast that with Pete who lives in Colorado and flies in for workouts then flies back home. Engles said he saw Pete twice during a 50 day training camp in Flag. Like c'mon man, you're a coach for a nike backed group, it just screams of lazy coaching. Like what else is more important that you can't just relocate to Portland? Like surely you knew what you were signing up for! I know coaches in the UK who work full time and coach on a voluntary basis and still manage to make it to every race and practice their athletes have.