Said he chose NAU because of the culture and everyone on the team was super serious and he didn't see that at other schools.
I do agree everyone at NAU is going to be all in but assume that exists at Oklahoma State and others.
FWIW, this is a similar message to that relayed by Theo Quax and Luis Grijalva on the Coffee Club podcast. They basically said it was like a professional training group, and they appeared to like how everyone was serious about excellence.
he wants a career as a professional runner so he's trying to find a college that'll best set him up for it. it's literally the reason people who have already figured out what they want to do pick colleges.
Hopefully he makes a good chunk of money from running and doesn't need a real job for the last 35 years of his working life
It’s no surprise why NAU and BYU are successful and producing more professionals with a championship mindset. That focus and dedication to craft pays dividends. The coaching at both schools seems vey dedicated to development and athletic longevity than putting fresh meat through the grinder for conference wins and headlines.
I was at the Oxy Invite last night and one thing that stood out was how Mike Smith and Diljeet Taylor were basically coaching together. Smith encouraged and shouted out splits for Whitni Morgan and Coach Taylor did the same for Nico Young and Colin Sahlman. and after the 1500 I overheard Coach Taylor giving Maggie Congdon advice on her kick.
don't get me wrong, I'm sure they're competitive but a good coach doesn't care what college or pro sponsor someone has on their kit. it's in their nature to identify talent and want it to succeed.
What he said is kind of silly, and any runner, at any school, can be as serious about running as they want to be.
Yes, you can be great without a group of like-minded runners to train with, but there's something powerful when a group is on the same page. There's a reason most professionals train with others.
What he said is kind of silly, and any runner, at any school, can be as serious about running as they want to be.
Yes, you can be great without a group of like-minded runners to train with, but there's something powerful when a group is on the same page. There's a reason most professionals train with others.
Sure, but this thread is about collegiate running and some athletes will give more weight to obtaining a degree from a top academic school or even just location. Virgin and Bob Kennedy chose the closest D-1 schools to their hometowns and were very serious about running.
Yes, you can be great without a group of like-minded runners to train with, but there's something powerful when a group is on the same page. There's a reason most professionals train with others.
Sure, but this thread is about collegiate running and some athletes will give more weight to obtaining a degree from a top academic school or even just location. Virgin and Bob Kennedy chose the closest D-1 schools to their hometowns and were very serious about running.
why did people do that back then? Was travel time just a lot longer?
Yes, you can be great without a group of like-minded runners to train with, but there's something powerful when a group is on the same page. There's a reason most professionals train with others.
Sure, but this thread is about collegiate running and some athletes will give more weight to obtaining a degree from a top academic school or even just location. Virgin and Bob Kennedy chose the closest D-1 schools to their hometowns and were very serious about running.
Kennedy went to IU because his father did, and OSU is closer to his home town.
Sure, but this thread is about collegiate running and some athletes will give more weight to obtaining a degree from a top academic school or even just location. Virgin and Bob Kennedy chose the closest D-1 schools to their hometowns and were very serious about running.
Kennedy went to IU because his father did, and OSU is closer to his home town.
It was still within the state and maybe going there because father did is another example of not choosing to go to the best running schools.
It’s no surprise why NAU and BYU are successful and producing more professionals with a championship mindset. That focus and dedication to craft pays dividends. The coaching at both schools seems vey dedicated to development and athletic longevity than putting fresh meat through the grinder for conference wins and headlines.
I was at the Oxy Invite last night and one thing that stood out was how Mike Smith and Diljeet Taylor were basically coaching together. Smith encouraged and shouted out splits for Whitni Morgan and Coach Taylor did the same for Nico Young and Colin Sahlman. and after the 1500 I overheard Coach Taylor giving Maggie Congdon advice on her kick.
don't get me wrong, I'm sure they're competitive but a good coach doesn't care what college or pro sponsor someone has on their kit. it's in their nature to identify talent and want it to succeed.
Very cool observation. Makes me like them even more
Yes but he wasn't talking about individual runners. He was talking about teams. It is like saying a particular team does higher mileage than other teams and you point out some individuals on other teams who do high mileage.
Sam Bell was a helluva coach. And they just had two world-class milers on the team.
They weren’t world class, and for an elite 5/10K runner, having good milers on the team would be nothing compared to the experience of running at today’s NAU.
Said he chose NAU because of the culture and everyone on the team was super serious and he didn't see that at other schools.
I do agree everyone at NAU is going to be all in but assume that exists at Oklahoma State and others.
I once had a recruit whose grandparents had set aside a trust fund for his college education, so finances weren't an issue. He expressed his desire to attend NAU, but his mom jokingly remarked, "I want you to receive a quality education." As a result, the kid ended up going to Georgetown. Some students choose NAU with hopes of turning professional, which is fine, but in the long run, professional earnings often fall short.
Well a guy on Stanford like Ky Robinson could argue the same thing against them academically
Yes they could, but that's not Sahlman's point. Sahlman wants to go all-in on running, for better or for worse, and he has said that NAU is the best place to do that.
Is going all in on running at NAU a risk I would take or encourage those I care about to take? Absolutely not. But we don't know what Colin's alternative was or, frankly, what it's like to be someone of his talent level. As far as I can tell, he's made the right choice. Rooting for him as we go into NCAAs and Olympic Trials!
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