I feel that Chris is a traitor to Valby and the Florida program.
The distance program can be way better with a better coach, how many kids above 800 excelled the last 4 years? Not 1 boy in the 10k or 3k steeple at 2022 SECs, 2 in the 5k and 2 in the 1500 (both over 3:50). Parker would run fast with Holloway coaching her
I feel that Chris is a traitor to Valby and the Florida program.
The distance program can be way better with a better coach, how many kids above 800 excelled the last 4 years? Not 1 boy in the 10k or 3k steeple at 2022 SECs, 2 in the 5k and 2 in the 1500 (both over 3:50). Parker would run fast with Holloway coaching her
That’s what hiring the popular name gets you. Instead, hire someone who is used to not having much and can grind. There’s many coaches out there that’ll do very well if given the opportunity, we just don’t know their names well enough to shout em out on here. If you’re used to having scholarships and buying talent you won’t do well at UF.
Parker is about the only athlete that has run well under Solinsky. He gets the best kids from FL from 800 up every year and very few have even improved their HS times.
He doesn't get the best kids from Florida, not even close, there is hardly an influx of top florida distance talent going to UF.
His 2022 class included the #3 and the #18 best senior 2M girls.
He should not have any problems recruiting at Oregon.
One of those girls is Angelina Perez, who mainly went to Florida because she hates the cold and she wanted to go to college where it was warm, but still stay on the east coast.
Her parents were already planning to move to Florida after she graduated high school and she is very close to her mom so that factored into her decision as well.
That wasn't about Solinsky being a great recruiter. He got a little lucky on that one.
Having said that, Solinsky shouldn't have problems recruiting distance runners to Oregon because of the school's reputation for distance running and their great facilities, not because so many runners are dying to be coached by Solinsky.
Solinsky would probably bring a many time All-American and high scorer at nationals in xc, indoor track, and outdoor track. That in itself would be good enough, but he also is the one that got her to that point and was flexible enough to work through her cross training, rather than just get her injured on the roads. Jerry's training works. It is that simple. You don't get roughly half the guys who train with you to 13 flat or under, with two in the 12:40s, plus two American women to 14:20s, Frerichs to medals, multiple American records, without knowing what you are doing. The training is crazy seeming in its high quality volume, but for those who can stay healthy it is remarkably successful, and Solinsky (unlike Jerry) could adapt it to meet Valby's needs.
The difference being pro runners under contract have the onus on them to perform, whereas a college coach has the onus on him for his athletes to perform. A college coach has his athletes for only a few years. If it takes them 2 years to adapt to the training and then are frequently injured, it reflects badly on the college coach who needs his athletes to perform every year. It's ok for BTC if half the team is injured/underperforming if a few athletes perform at a high level. Fisher's brilliance last season obscured the fact that no one else from BTC had a great season. That won't work in college.
It has already been pointed out by a few people that Solinsky isn't even responding to women who would be immediate impact makers. That is sort of the opposite of recruiting.
It has already been pointed out by a few people that Solinsky isn't even responding to women who would be immediate impact makers. That is sort of the opposite of recruiting.
Maybe he didn’t have scholarship money at the time these recruits reach out to him. UF traditionally doesn’t put the majority of their money into distance. I am curious as to how fast these “impact” recruits were/are?