Nike's Global Director of Athletics John Capriotti Threatened To Kill Brooks Beasts Head Coach Danny Mackey At 2015 USAs

nice salad wrote:

inside info wrote:

After 2012 when Jager was resigning with Nike Cap gave him a major salary reduction and if he didn't resign he threatened to let Chris Solinsky and Matt Tegenkamp go as his punishment. Pretty much he used Jager's friends as pawns against him in order to resign their top steepler for a major reduction.

I'm not a Nike fan at all, but this sounds like a normal negotiation tactic. You say, hey, I only have so much money to spend on this group, so if I give it all to you then the others have to go. Jager could have called the bluff, if he was willing to walk out.

This wasn't a situation where Jager was taking money away from them. This was Cap preying on emotions and friendships to get a better deal for himself.

You obviously didn't read the article closely. A source confirmed to us that a death threat was made:

Here is another factual inaccuracy in your post.

Again, you didn't read the article. Mackey didn't motion for Capriotti to come over. It was the reverse.

cluelessdude wrote:

What did Mackey do to upset Capriotti so much??

That's a good question. I wasn't at USAs but when I heard talk from our guys in Eugene about this incident right after it happened, I immediately thought o myself, 'What provoked this?'

Considering this all came out right after the BBC/ProPublica allegations against the Nike Oregon Project, I wonder if the way the articles were written that Capriotti believes Mackey was one of sources in the BBC/PropPublica.

Now based on the details of the police report, that doesn't seem to be the case.

The option of anger over the way they are competing for a similar athlete is presented as a possibility in the story but that didn't really cross my mind as a possibility as it's' not like Brooks and Nike are really battling normally over athletes of the same caliber.

True

Former Jayhawk wrote:

Although I am a mildcat hater, firing Capriotti was one of the few things KSU has done right with their track program.

Many people on these boards said that Kara Goucher was making stuff up when she claimed that people were being threatened at this meet. Turns out that she was right.

Will usatf act on this or continue to let nike bully non-nike competitors.

Take a guess. Their inaction this from the start has been pathetic

Bahston baby wrote:

Will usatf act on this or continue to let nike bully non-nike competitors.

Take a guess. Their inaction this from the start has been pathetic

USATF is just a subsidiary of Nike at this point. What can they do after they sold themselves to Nike?

malmo wrote:

Have any of you ever worked for a company that wouldn't fire Salazar and Capriotti on the spot for their violent outbursts? I've worked in offices if you even raised your voice you were gone. No questions. No second chances. Out the door. When boundaries are firmly understood, it makes it easy to have a productive, cooperative, and pleasant work environment.

Yes, but this isn't a normal employee. It sounds like Capriott would know of all of the illegal PED usage by nike athletes over the years. If the Nike lab story about Rupp is true, he knows it. He knows of Athletics West doping, etc.

Capriotti is like the employee who knows the boss is having an affair. That employee can pretty much do whatever the hell they want as the know the boss will never fire them.

Capriotti has the dirt on Nike - hell maybe he produced it - but he still has it.

Goucher deserves props wrote:

Many people on these boards said that Kara Goucher was making stuff up when she claimed that people were being threatened at this meet. Turns out that she was right.

It's been a good week for Kara. She's likely to get upgraded to silver and now this.

Anyone know if she could go back and get an increased bonus for a silver medal versus bronze medal from Nike 8 years after the fact?

rojo wrote:

Goucher deserves props wrote:

Many people on these boards said that Kara Goucher was making stuff up when she claimed that people were being threatened at this meet. Turns out that she was right.

It's been a good week for Kara. She's likely to get upgraded to silver and now this.

Anyone know if she could go back and get an increased bonus for a silver medal versus bronze medal from Nike 8 years after the fact?

Failure certain the contract covered this. Probably limited to if they are still under contract.

Nike's lawyers aren't as sloppy as USATF.

But probably never know.

rojo wrote:

Goucher deserves props wrote:

Many people on these boards said that Kara Goucher was making stuff up when she claimed that people were being threatened at this meet. Turns out that she was right.

It's been a good week for Kara. She's likely to get upgraded to silver and now this.

Anyone know if she could go back and get an increased bonus for a silver medal versus bronze medal from Nike 8 years after the fact?

Rojo I would follow up with Kara and ask about Cap using Solinksy and Teg as pawns to sign Jager for huge reduction.. Also take a look at their roster from a few years ago and ask those that aren't in the group anymore if they will share their experiences. You may be shocked with what you find out if they are willing to talk.

Just a suggestion...

Who is John Capriotti and what does he do? Is he the person in charge of giving contracts to runners?

Characters please wrote:

Who is John Capriotti and what does he do? Is he the person in charge of giving contracts to runners?

Since you won't go to the article I will bring the article to you.

In his role as global director of athletics, Capriotti determines where Nike’s sponsorship dollars go in the world of track and field. He has final say on Nike’s sponsorship negotiations with athlete agents, USATF and professional track meets. The VIP area overlooking the 1500-meter start at Hayward Field, where many Nike executives and their guests sit during the Olympic Trials and USATF Championships, is named “Cap’s Corner” after Capriotti.

Randy Oldman wrote:

malmo wrote:

[Have any of you ever worked for a company that wouldn't fire Salazar and Capriotti on the spot for their violent outbursts? I've worked in offices if you even raised your voice you were gone. No questions. No second chances. Out the door. When boundaries are firmly understood, it makes it easy to have a productive, cooperative, and pleasant work environment.

I've worked in offices where people have had fist-fights, smashed computers and set someone on fire but no-one got fired as long as they made money. That's Investment Banking for you.

Are any of those offices hiring? Sounds like a blast.

dkny64 wrote:

malmo wrote:

I'd love to hear what Josh Rowe has to say about all of this.

I'm guessing you mean this Josh Rowe -

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/josh-rowe/99/762/72a

- but I'm not familiar with his story. Can you bring those of us who don't know about Josh up to speed?

My understand is that Josh Rowe is one of the few white hats to ever work in Nike Running. Very few Nike employees have a good reputation in the industry. Jeff Johnson, Josh Rowe, that's about it.

I've been fairly pro Nike on most issues recently and this doesn't necessarily make me hate them or their products but this is ridiculous behavior. And to read that one of his employees was involved with beating someone up years ago is equally disappointing.

This is not just a Nike or track way of dealing with things. I recall similar crazy stories with Adidas and Nike regarding basketball contracts/sponsorships in a 30 for 30.

Regardless, I assume some of these issues are known by the board of directors of Nike. Looking at these individuals they don't strike me as people who are in on some weird Nike scheme to threaten people in the track world. Why don't they use some power to change things? Are these people really that untouchable or is this that far under their radar? I realize it's a small segment of the Nike portfolio and perhaps they just don't care. I've been on plenty of boards but none of these size and maybe these issues are just that far beneath them.

click the link wrote:

Characters please wrote:

Who is John Capriotti and what does he do? Is he the person in charge of giving contracts to runners?

Since you won't go to the article I will bring the article to you.

In his role as global director of athletics, Capriotti determines where Nike’s sponsorship dollars go in the world of track and field. He has final say on Nike’s sponsorship negotiations with athlete agents, USATF and professional track meets. The VIP area overlooking the 1500-meter start at Hayward Field, where many Nike executives and their guests sit during the Olympic Trials and USATF Championships, is named “Cap’s Corner” after Capriotti.

Perfect. Now, why was Capriotti so mad? Mackey must have done something, no?

If this is what Kara was talking about, she needs to walk it back a bit. When I heard Kara's quote, I thought Nike was cornering former NOP athletes with a battery of lawyers warning them that they will get sued if they talk or something similar. This looks to just be an incident with a hot head, type-A Nike guy blatantly crossing the line in a beef with a rival over recruiting athletes. While Capriotti's actions, if true, are indefensible, they are a far cry from Kara's implication that Nike goons were out telling people that they better watch what they say about the NOP allegations if they wanted to keep their knee caps.

Judging by the pics of him which a previous poster linked to, Capriotti better be careful whom he physically threatens or he'll wake up in the hospital.

Having worked for several large corporations, I can't even conceive of a situation where a senior executive gets in a public tussle while representing the company at an industry event, physically intimidates and allegedly threatens to kill a competitor to the extent a police report is generated...and nothing happens. No suspension or firing, no corporate or personal apology, just business as usual. Same as with Salazar's outburst at indoors. While Nike's financial results are very good, this bullying aspect of their corporate culture is seriously effed up.