Robby Andrews Turns Pro

Given the distractions he's had to face, with the replacement of his coach with someone who is apparently not very good and Robby's need to effectively fire that coach, signing with an agent, moving his training base, etc., I'd cut Robby some slack this year.

Next year, I think you'll get some idea of what Robby's capable of. I don't know what to expect this year--depends on how messed up his prep phase was.

coach d wrote:

toro wrote:

Said Aouita- 3:46.76/3:29.46/1:43.86

Not to mention, 7:29/12:58/27:26

Missed Aouita, but that's still essentially the point I'm making. All time, only one or two people have ever done what Webb accomplished.

Absolutely terrible job of coaching by Raczko. Just hope Vig can get Webb to peak properly.

You're conveniently mentioning only the PEAKS, not the VALLEYS. The problem with Webb was his inconsistency. Pretty much his entire pro career a good season was followed by a bad season. If you're going to credit Razcko for the good moments you have to blame him also for the bad. Great 1500 runners like El G or Morceli rarely even had bad races, much less seasons.

Andrews needs to get past just shoe contracts. He needs to work on getting on a Wheaties box or something outside the realm of running. I think that's where the real money can be made and ultimately will develop the Robby Andrews brand.

Robby seems like a very happy-go-lucky, boy-next-door American kid. A good brand/image that some companies outside of running would love to have as part of their marketing campaign.

coach d wrote:

toro wrote:

Said Aouita- 3:46.76/3:29.46/1:43.86

Not to mention, 7:29/12:58/27:26

Missed Aouita, but that's still essentially the point I'm making. All time, only one or two people have ever done what Webb accomplished.

Absolutely terrible job of coaching by Raczko. Just hope Vig can get Webb to peak properly.

How many have won the WC or Olympics 800m/1500m/Mile event?

Great range is not an accomplishment. It's a characteristic. Records and championships are accomplishments.

Weird feel wrote:

This whole situation has a really strange feel . You wish the best for the kid but from watching the flotrack interview he seems so sheltered by Vig and his family.

Will Wheating run the 8 or the 1500 at the trials this year?

It seems like the 8 should make more sense for him as the 1500 is so strong this year.

The 1500 is strong? How many 1500m runners have the A standard vs how many 800m runners have the A standard. I'd say the 800 has a much deeper field.

coach d wrote:

aguesser wrote:

He probably meant it in the manner of "contractual", but as far as "making up" a word - this is a real word.

Kind of puts the know-it-alls in this thread in perspective. Also on the subject of "overracing", if you look up the results, you'll see that in Webb's best year--2007--Lagat raced more than he did, and all Lagat did that year was win 2 world championship golds.

Raczko got him to 3:46/3:30/1:43. Name ONE person other than Cram who has done that (and, no, Coe didn't, and Ngeny, El Guerrouj, and Lagat didn't either). The only thing Raczko did not seem to get was the concept in a long season of going back, rebuilding the base, building up, and peaking again--he never saw that competing in high school.

Are you kidding me? I can name at least 5 that have done that. Where have you been over the last 30yrs?

are Nike and Adidas really the Mecca for the pro-athlete?

Andrews is good but certainly not a superstar yet, so his contract won't be enormous. If he'll race in Europe, the announcers will probably say some like: "a new good American mid-distance runner, following the steps of Johnny Gray." Even in the USA his name isn't half as big as Webb or sprint stand-outs like Xavier Carter, Walter Dix and Jeff Demps are (or were).

Nike threw out Wallace Spearmon, even Terrence Trammell couldn't get a decent contract with either them. I think some of the best shotputters couldn't get their contract renewed. So is it really strange athletes and their managers look for other company's?

Jenny Simpson-Barringer told in an interview that NB, with the money also appealed to her because of their plans with her. Would Nike have those plans also for her? I don't think so. I think the NY-times had a nice article on that. Saucony revitalised their brand into a t&f brand rather and just a running brand by adding Spearmon, Lauryn Williams and Tianna Maddison to their 'roster'.

In that view it is Ray Flynn's agency that developped these kind of new opportunities for emerging athletes, so imo it isn't a terrible choice to join him and his team.

This story has 2 headlines:

"Robby Andrews Turns Pro"

AND

"Robby Andrews Drops Out of College"

Word around UVA is Andrews was facing academic ineligibility and went pro to avoid the embarrassment and to avert the risk of career stagnation.