What is Lananna thinking?

wouldn't you want a kid to improve after college? Most of the colorado kids have gone on to do wonderful things after college- I doubt that they could have done that without the ridiculously strong foundation they earned while Buffs. I also don't understand the Wetmore bashing. The guy is quiet, modest, extremely helpful, etc. It's success envy. His teams / athletes usually pull through when it counts and rarely does his teams back down from a fight. Wanna bash some coaches?- bash UTEP, Arkansas, Georgetown, and Villanova among others- both exceedingly talented programs that managed moderate/ sub par results. In the end it starts with the athlete-coach relationship. The athlete needs to losten- the coach needs to have vision. Best coach at NCAA THIS year- Byrne at IONA. I don't mind of he gets foreigners (private school) he develops and his kids ahve a great experience. If you want to get better off moderate talent (4:20/9:20)and your parents have deep pockets- go to Iona, American, William and Mary, Portland. You'll get better.

>>I doubt that they could have done that without the ridiculously strong foundation they earned while Buffs.

Yeah right! Who are the CU runners who've gone on to be good post-collegians? That's right, his best recruits. Past FL champions, sub-9 HS runners. They would have done well anywhere else.

uh?

You're the dumbest human being in the world.

Donnie Diznuck wrote:

If Wetmore is such an amazing coach, then why do his top athletes tend to shine after college? Yes they are good in college (because they were top recruits) but they get much better after.

It's called progression and development, you dumbfvck! Congratulations for posting the most idiotic view of the day, hell week!

Inexperienced runners typically go out too fast in major competitions; sometimes you are so caught up in the hype that you don't realize how fast you are running. During Colorado's rein they capitalized on this by purposely holding back. Also, Colorado's high milege program was more optimized for 10K than 8k.

Elite athletes, which I would put McD, Lomong and Rupp in that category, usually go out conservative in championship races. Colorado would have been better off if they planned to react to the situation as opposed sticking to going out slow when the leaders are going out in only 5 minutes.

Right--the idea is to follow your plan regardless of what the other runners do. If you are going to run 4:50's, run them regardless.

Getting boxed is an easy thing to avoid if you're careful.

I personally am not impressed with Lannana at all for winning a title. First off, in my opinion Oregon has some huge advantages that no other school has. The fact that Phil Knight backs them up is a huge recruiting tool. Oregon has such a rich tradition in distance running with very powerful alumni. They simply DECIDED that they wanted Oregon to be good again so they bought Lannana and brought in Rupp thanks to Salazar. Without Rupp, Oregon would not have won nationals. He trained with a professional coach (who also happened to be his high school coach) for a year before coming to Oregon. Nike funds Oregon so much and they bring in Lannana along with Rupp, plus their popular reputation thanks to PRE and Bowerman, what high school elite who lives on the west coast wouldn\'t choose to go there?

I am not bashing Oregon or saying things are unfair, because they deserve what Nike gives them. They were created by all Oregon runners. Of course those guys are going to want to donate money and support their University. I would do the same. But its not like Lannana built his team by himself. He did not recruit Rupp. He doesn\'t even coach Rupp! Lets face it, Oregon only had 5 good runners at nationals, without Rupp they would have had to score Acosta and that adds a TON of points!

Colorado does get talent, but not nearly to the extent Oregon does or Wisconsin for that matter. When you have the talent Oregon has, running from the front is the smartest probably most years because these guys belong up there. Many of the CU runners are not talented enough to go out in front so they focus on running a more even pace and moving up. So many guys in college are stupid and do not know how to race and go out way too fast. Running even is the most efficient way to run but if you are not talented enough to run 4:50\'s or under the whole way that places you in dead last almost.

I think Wetmore is an excellent coach who teaches his runners to run the smartest race they can run. It will pay off when stacked teams like Oregon are vulnerable, but it will be difficult for him to beat a team that is that much more talented when they have 5 runners execute perfect races (which was the case this year). Wetmore defeated two STACKED wisconsin teams when they were vulnerable. I hope every high school kid who breaks 9 doesn\'t automatically go to Oregon because that makes NCAA XC a lot less interesting. We need to mix it up more!

Can any one close to the situation give us some insight as to what props the Powells are due for Oregon's success?

Crappy College Runner wrote:

I hope every high school kid who breaks 9 doesn't automatically go to Oregon because that makes NCAA XC a lot less interesting.

I agree.

Daniels' Running Formula? Are you serious? A better name for that book would be Running for Dummies.

Billy Graham wrote:

Daniels' Running Formula? Are you serious? A better name for that book would be Running for Dummies.

Um, that was the point. But thanks.

The quote is just Lannana being a giant dick. Pretty strong words from a "coach" whose success comes from recruiting and Nike as opposed to actual coaching.

Anyone remember Wetmore bashing the previous year's champion coach? On yeah, he didn't. He has class.

Lananna gets his orders directly from Phil Knight in weekly meetings they have. He tells Coach who to put in the lineup each week during X-C. That's why they had such a crazy pattern of 'who was running', week to week. Phil's call.

Those who say that Lanana only wins because he can recruit and because of Nike don't get it. First, he's a great coach. He consistently had Dartmouth, an Ivy, in the top 10 in Cross for several years. His record at Stanford was outstanding, and now, an NCAA title at Oregon. Secondly, the fact that he can recruit is a big part of coaching. You can know more than anybody else, but if you have nobody with talent to coach, then your ability will go unused. Vin's a great recruiter, and any college coach in the country will tell you that recruiting is a huge part of your coaching. Even if he gets great support from Nike, he still had to win the meet. If we took this rational to the pro's, why doesn't the US sweeo everything at the Olympics and the Worlds, because we have the most here. The fact is that Vin got the kids into school, trained them well, and peaked them perfectly. That's great coaching. The fact that he's done it now at several schools points to his greatness.

By the way, Wetmore is also a great coach, who gets top-flight recruits, trains them well, and usually peaks them correctly. However, don't diss Martin Smith. He has done it with great distance teams, and has done it with outstanding Track and Field squads.

Mark Wetmore is a good man.

As far as Lananna, I hate to begrudge a man while he is enjoying his success. His persona is the clothing he wears. Some find it fashionable and some a repulsed by it.

Either way I congratulate his success and the success of the teams in general. His back is being patted and I'm sure there is a sense of calm in his mind as the pressure to perform has been taken off.

He is in a position to feel insecure as I know I'd be if the pressure from the Nike and the huge salary and bonuses are there to be justified.

His insecurity, he wears it on his sleeve, despite his talent. It would be nicer if he exuded real warmth and confidence, not canned political how do you dos and quick snips at the heals of others that threaten his power, but then again, this is where his weakness is. He probably can't see it, or he doesn't care.

bluebell wrote:

The quote is just Lannana being a giant dick.

How so? He doesn't believe you can win running from the back. What's so offensive about that remark?

MA Coach wrote:

Even if he gets great support from Nike, he still had to win the meet. If we took this rational to the pro's, why doesn't the US sweeo everything at the Olympics and the Worlds, because we have the most here.

Actually, if you take it (and the term is actually "rationale") to the pro's, the US would sweep everything at the Olympics and at Worlds if all the resources could be used to recruit talent from outside the borders (or tax base) with all nations freely recruiting talent for their teams. There's no NCAA rule that states anything like the squad at UO can only have citizens of Oregon and not any citizens of California or Washington or any other state on the roster.