When should German go Pro?

the obvious.... wrote:

Yeah,

That is why Rupp's parent's went 100k in debt to pay for his travel, coaching, expenses, and Salazar's petrol form Portland to Eugene.

The went by the rules, suckhead.

Some babies will just never stop being jealous.

henry david thoreau wrote:

Except Rupp has had every advantage of being pro without actually going Pro. And don't for a second say that isn't true. Rupp got away with some B.S. He was basically pro but ran for Oregon. German will stay all 4 years, but don't try comparing him and Rupp in that sense.

Rupp's parents aren't in debt jackass

Mrr82 wrote:

I know the economy is crap etc etc...but if Nike or any running company wanted to put their eggs in one basket, German would be the man to get it. If (i should say when) Nike picks up Rupp, German could be another shoe stores "Jordan" to counter attack.

Rupp is the guy who brought victory, glory, and alcohol related incidents back to the fabled Oregon program. German will always be a big yawn next to that backstory, regardless of how fast he gets.

Are you kidding me? No one cares about this bullshit.

MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD.

Hardly wrote:

Mrr82 wrote:

I know the economy is crap etc etc...but if Nike or any running company wanted to put their eggs in one basket, German would be the man to get it. If (i should say when) Nike picks up Rupp, German could be another shoe stores "Jordan" to counter attack.

Rupp is the guy who brought victory, glory, and alcohol related incidents back to the fabled Oregon program. German will always be a big yawn next to that backstory, regardless of how fast he gets.

No, Rupp did not bring alcohol related incidents back to Oregon.

You are just another jealous negative asshole.

If there was an alcohol incident, it was likely the athlete that was suspended from the team.

Additionally, a college team with an alcohol incident once a year...probably would not be a college team, it is just that most of them go unreported.

Beyond that, get a life, loser.

I think he meant it in a positive way, ie. bringing back the glory days of Pre, etc.

My OP wrote:

When German learns how to race, he should go pro. I'm probably the biggest German Fernandez fan on the planet, but I'm also intelligent enough to know that the kid has a LONG way to go to reach his potential. He's young and extremely ill prepared for the Pro racing circuit. He needs to learn how to mix it up with other young stars before he tries to take on the world. That's where I think Coach Smith is messing up. German doesn't need the confidence boost of running out front where it's safe and winning races in time trial fashion. He needs to get in and mix it up with some elbowing, position jockeying blue collars. There's no way he can live up to his potential without learning how to race.

German/Coach Smith deciding to race the USATF 5K was a step in this direction, as opposed to choosing to race the junior races. 4 pros beat him - he beat Riley, Fam, Quigley, Bauhs, Vaughn, etc. Good racing experience. He did just fine.

A contributor to German's improvement this year is his satisfaction with being at Oklahoma State. In every interview, he talks about how much he enjoys the school, going to football and basketball games, spending time with his teammates, and generally enjoying his college experience. If he continues to significantly improve next year, I expect he'll hang around because of the success he's having and the enjoyment of college life.

I think this is right on the money. In all the crazy posts about runners and going pro two things that are lost are the fact that

1) Running well comes from the enjoyment of training and racing. Being in a good environment cannot underestimated.

2) Going pro puts huge strains on runners due to the pressure it bring for results.

I can't help but thing that a lot of runners in the recent past who did decide to go pro earlier faltered from the pressure that it brought. If Evan Jagr didn't have 3-4 other runners in his group that were also a central focus I don't think he would have improved so quickly. It is great that he has an environment where he doesn't have Webb-like pressure where he MUST succeed. I want to see how he runs when it is expected of him to run well. When people are under a microscope in which every action/race is analyzed it is difficult to deal with for some athletes. I think it is incumbent upon the running community (if we really want to see runners succeed) to be much less critical. I hope German gets the full experience out of college and then takes on the pressures of competitive running once he has graduated.

If German stays all 4 years and continue to run exceptional while wearing the OSU colors. Then who says that he needs nike as a sponsor. Maybe Boone Pickens could pick him up and sponsor him, after all OSU football stadium is named after Boone Pickens and he has donated hundreds of millions to the school.

Now with Alan Webb nobody really knows what he would have done if he had stayed at the University of Michigan, however Kevin Sullivan, Nate Brannen and Nick Willis all made their Olympic Teams in the 1500m last year with Nick getting a bronze medal. Staying in school didn't hurt them!