Nico Young + Swoosh TC, Brand Mismatch or Bad Idea

Well it’s not working for Nico.

It will be like the Hiltz situation - on renew if you don't sign with Nike you can't stay in the group.

I assume Nico has a contract through 2028

he said on a podcast his Adidas contract goes until after the 2028 Olympics. at that point he'll most likely switch to Nike, unless another company steps up with a huge $$$ offer.

You're insulting Smith's integrity. Besides that, why would Smith ask to have Young and Luis grandfathered in if he wasn't intending on taking them to top shelf? Stupid thinking....and, if he's going to strictly play the Nike card, don't you think once contracts are expired he would try to bring them over to Swoosh?

It has been more than 10 usernames for the guy in this thread.

This isn’t about insulting Mike Smith’s integrity. No one is saying he’s sabotaging athletes or acting unethically. What’s being pointed out is a structural reality, not a moral one.
Mike Smith is now the head coach of a Nike backed program. His primary responsibility professionally and contractually is to develop and win with Nike athletes. That doesn’t mean he can’t coach an adidas athlete well, but it does mean his incentives, resources, and long term priorities are naturally aligned elsewhere.
With Nico specifically, the observation is simple, his performances have dipped since being in a Nike centric environment while remaining an adidas athlete. That’s not an accusation, it’s a factual performance trend people are noticing. Correlation isn’t intent, but it is fair to discuss outcomes.
As for the grandfathering argument, that actually proves the opposite of bad faith. Smith wouldn’t ask for Young and Luis to be grandfathered in unless he believed they had top-shelf potential. That move was about protecting their competitive opportunity, not brand politics. Coaches don’t burn political capital on athletes they don’t believe in.
The key distinction people miss is that
Smith’s job now isn’t to optimize adidas athletes for professional success, it’s to win championships for a Nike program. That’s not corruption, that’s employment reality. Once shoe contracts diverge, interests don’t fully align anymore, even if everyone remains professional.
And if Smith were truly “playing the Nike card,” the logical move wouldn’t be to suppress performance, it would be to wait until contracts expire and then try to recruit athletes into the Swoosh. That alone undermines the idea of intent or sabotage.

Runner: Sets American 5k record, wins a DL, makes worlds team, has 2 "bad" races in his postseason.

Letsrun: This guy is washed, his coach is a problem.

Typical message board trash. You can't expect guys to stay peaked all season unless their names rhyme with Bosh Goey.

Are we just going to pretend that Nico wasn't the only guy on the XC team to run at worlds? One of these things is not like the other... Strand ran the 2k (easier to maintain a peak, smaller disparity in times between athletes). Graham I'll give you, but it's not like he crushed the field, and he admitted that. SHK ran worlds, poor performance here. Gressier... I'm not even using my brain here, it's so clear Worlds effected World XC performances.

Literally people are trashing Nico after the same “Nike coach” got him to run 12:45 and win a DL then make 5/10/cross teams. Do people not realize that worlds was in September? Most people shut training down for a good period to reboot. Why do you want Nico in 12:45 shape in January for a cross race? So you guys can trash him more when he’s as cooked as Josh Hoey post USAs?

come on people.

Disagree. That’s the whole point , Nico is a 12:45 guy, one of the most talented runners in the world, and now he’s struggling to make a U.S. cross team. This isn’t about wanting him in peak shape in January, it’s about a clear drop relative to his own standard.
Resets are normal after Worlds, but top guys usually don’t look this far off for this long. Fair or not, when the decline lines up with joining the Nike group, people are going to question the setup. That’s not trashing. that’s reality at the top level. We are fans of Nico and it’s hard to watch the decline

How many athletes are on Swoosh Track Club?

That’s like saying its hard to watch the decline of Cole Hocker at GST. “Man, the guy wins gold at the olympics then can’t cack a podium in the 1500. He’ll probably never do anything worthwhile again.”

That comparison still doesn’t work. Cole Hocker didn’t decline. he won Olympic and WC gold, then ran one non-peak race at GST and didn’t podium. That’s normal variance.
Nico’s situation is different. This is multiple races over good stretch where he’s performing well below his own established level, barely making a U.S. cross team and then blowing up at Worlds on home soil. That’s not a one off.
What raises eyebrows is that this coincides with his current setup, especially when his Nike training partner is clearly progressing past him. The concern isn’t Nico’s talent, it’s whether a Nike centric group is actually built to maximize Nico, or if he’s being asked to fit a system that doesn’t suit him.

The current athletes will be “grandfathered” in with Smith through the life of their current deals with those brands and have the option to continue with him as their coach during that time. Once their deals expire, however, they must be Nike athletes to continue training with Smith.

Pretty cut and dry, and not unusual. Regarding Nico's training and racing with the Nike group, again, nothing to see here. Dude is coming off an amazing year and I'm sure the training plan won't be too much different from the "New" Nike group. Also, the group's training won't be the exact same for everyone, the basic structure will be the same, but the race schedules will be somewhat different.

Nico will be just fine.

100% agree.

He finished 5th (10,000m) and 6th (5000m) at the world championships in September. Yes, this is a bad patch (or as you put it "one off") where he has not performed to his level in TWO races. He will be back running sub 12:50 and 27 this year.

Swoosh TC does sound a little gay...it's perfect!

Sure, if by 'people' you mean one person bizarrely fixated on two off-season races by a guy who has run 12:45, won a Diamond League, won USAs, and ran well at World Champs since his current setup took effect; and if by 'noticing' you mean posting multiple times under different usernames for no discernible reason.

I think it’s definitely a bit ridiculous that people seem to be hinting at some Nike conspiracy behind Nico (very recent) underperformances. Based on his HS and college resume though, he was indeed a pretty great XC runner (or at least, roughly equivalent on grass to on the track).

I think the ratio shows people strongly disagree with your thought process.

winning diamond leagues this summer or world ultimate>>>>> USA cross in December

some athletes can do both but as Grant said in his recent long (really good interview) it’s incredibly hard to be on ALL the time. It’s partly the reason I worry about Jakob as a massive Jakob fan. Dude is on all the time and the last two years he’s been hindered by the injuries at key moments of the season.