1:47.67 HSer Josh Hoey turns pro - Thoughts?

That was more my thinking. I just figured there couldn't be much of a market for him. A full ride can be worth what $75,000+ a year.

I was all for Mary Cain going pro as I figured she'd could pull in much, much more than the value of a college scholarship.

In this case, if it's about equal I think most kids should go to college.

I'm a bit surprised Robert's initial reaction was disgust. But my initial reaction was more along the lines of people when they post on here "What? Why? Who?"

I think Robert is a bit like Pres. Trump. He has an initial reaction and puts it out there. But if you read Robert's full post by the end of it it is much more reasonable than just being disgusted. Most of us would probably delete the initial part on disgust but that's how he felt.

A WNBA salary is likely equally to about the value of a full-ride. So he'd just be changing like for like.

If he got anywhere near Drew Hunter money then fine, but there was a lot of buzz around Drew. I think most posters on here wouldn't have been able to tell you what Hoey had done this year.

That is so extreme. A kid is getting the financial resources to pursue his dream and going for it. I'm fine with him taking it. You could easily argue this is one of the great parts of our society. Lots of different opportunities.

Worked for Alan Webb and Mary Cain...

I think it depends on the details of the contract he was offered. Maybe he's getting his education paid for and would rather be coached individually by a pro coach than run for a school. Impossible to judge this decision without knowing more.

I do think the fact that he shows promise in the mile makes him a more viable prospect.

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This is the stupidity we've come to expect from Rojo.

They don't want to sponsor a 1:47 guy, that's the past. He's not going to go back in time and race the 17-18 season again. They want to sponsor a previously 1:47 guy who they are hoping is ready to run 1:44-1:45. They want to sponsor a guy who ran faster than anyone ever has indoors in HS. They want the Brazier or Harris before they have breakout freshman years and everyone offers them the world. If he fails to make that jump, then it's irrelevant anyway whether he went to college or pro, other than he got $$ in the meantime. But if he does make that jump, he's big news and locked up already.

Can someone tell me more on Hoey's background? How did he start working with Mahon who is in California if he's in Pa?

"Why wouldn't you want to go to college - it's the best 4 years of your life? "

Sorry to hear your life peaked so long ago.

As for Robert- his post reminds me of the Louis Luchini situation.

Luchini had a change to go chase the "A" standard in 2004 and Robert started a petition asking him to step aside. Since our motto is "where your dreams become reality" the petition wasn't a good idea.

http://www.letsrun.com/2004/luchini.php

But speaking of Louis I was driving in Maine yesterday and saw this and pulled over and sent it to Robert. Louis is running for State Senate.

http://www.letsrun.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_20180829_135135291_HDR.jpg

bloviating wrote:

Idiotic stream of consciousness post by a “journalist” of the sport. Spoken like a Republican trust fund baby though. What I find disgusting is an uninformed “adult” using his platform to question the decision on an 18 yo. Besides the mythical status of sub 4, this isn’t much different than Drew Hunter turning pro and his gangly new born pony running continues to be gushed over. Why should these kids be raced into the ground for system that cares little about them. For a “brand” development? What a joke!

I wasn't being a journalist. I literaly was giving you my stream of conscious thoughts.

I've been thinking about this some more over night while I was sleeping. The main thing I should have said is it's his life and he can make whatever decision he should make. When I read about how he's also good at the mile and coached by Mahon, I felt a lot better about it but I put the "disgusting" line in beause that's what I thought when I first heard it.

The one other thing I'd also like to say is I don't think college makes sense for everyone from an academic standpoint. I've never understood why in the US everyone is expected to go to college - we still need electricians, plumbers, etc. If he's not academic, then going pro early makes much more sense. I still think the competitive opportunities in college are great and think that college is training wheels for learning to be an adult and live on your own but understand it more if that's the case.

Adidas has also sponsored Ajee Wilson, Drew Hunter, and Noah Lyles straight out of high school. Are we that surprised they signed another HS athlete? Mahon's adidas ties probably had a lot to do with it as well.

I say why not go for it now? He has 2 years until the Olympic Trials, and Mahon and Hoey may feel that his best chance of being an Olympian is training professionally away from the grind of multiple competitive seasons in college (XC, indoor, outdoor, plus professional summer meets).

On top of that, college isn't going anywhere. The same university that he wanted to go before this contract will still be there after this Olympic cycle. He will always have the chance to go to college, but he may not always have the chance to be an Olympian.

wejo wrote:

Can someone tell me more on Hoey's background? How did he start working with Mahon who is in California if he's in Pa?

Wejo - Josh Hoey's mother and father grew up in the Phila area. Fran ran at LaSalle University and Leslee ran at Penn State. Terrance Mahon (and his wife, Jen Rhines) both ran at Villanova. They continued to live in the Phila area while splitting time at Mammoth before Terrance retired from competing and became a full time coach. Terrance has been advising on the Hoey brother's training for years. He's the logical pro coach for Josh.

In all fairness, he never said he was going to be a "good" pro...

to early to jump wrote:

Not a good move in my opinion, not even sure it was a good move for Hunter. Too bad, he is missing out.

Fully agree with the above statement.

Can’t people just slow down? What’s the rush at 18 years old? Instant anything usually dissipates faster then anticipated.

It can be a lonely life for a professional runner. At 18 how does one relate to older guys with their own older life to go to after practice? Heck he can’t even go for a beer every now and then with his professional peers.

He is fast for an 18 year old but slow for a pro. Being a pro, one has to have a tough skin and a good head plus incredible support system as there will most certainly be disappointment, scrutiny, and exploitation. Experience and maturity will need to come very fast to deal with his new reality.

This kid gives up a $80k education for some free adidas gear and a travel stipend.

Have fun getting 11th place at the Prefontaine classic (where you got invited because you're a novelty rather than a contender) before dropping off into obscurity.

I was told this weekend, that 80K/year is actually the contract amount that he was given, from a reliable source. College wouldn't have been a good fit, Hoeys seem only concerned with the Hoeys.

Avocado's Number wrote:

I had no idea who he was until I saw the news this afternoon, but it struck me that there was no mention of what he is going to do, other than become a professional runner. Is he simply foregoing college, at least for the foreseeable future? I've never been a big fan of the NCAA, and I think that many young people have made bad decisions in choosing colleges based on a particular school's athletic program and the carrot of an "athletic scholarship," but I'd be uneasy about letting a planned 800-meter career completely derail a formal education at this point.

He says in effect that God offered him the contract, and he writes even more poorly than most high-school seniors. This combination suggests that academics don't occupy a high position on his priority list. And when you're 18 and extremely good at something, and someone dangles a modicum of dough in front of your face, it's very easy to think "College? I can always go that route later if I need to."

So, while this may prove a misguided decision, I can see plenty of people in his decision making it.

I agree with you and your dialog here.

I think as you though he still would have been far better of going to school, racing in college, adjusting to the collegiate level, moving up with his strength possible to be a better 1500 runner given his strength show in x-country.

He will miss so much, college team life, being part of history for a school, collegiate titles, something to look back on after he is done. Pro life for young runners is non of that.

He has good people around him, but neither of them have worked with a just graduated American high school kid.

rojo wrote:

My thoughts?

This is disgusting and what's wrong with modern society. Honestly, that's what I'm thinking now. Admittedly that's an uninformed view.

Thanks for the token overreaction.

rojo wrote:

My thoughts?

This is disgusting and what's wrong with modern society. Honestly, that's what I'm thinking now.

You oversee a message board that is unquestionably a blight on the running community given how you operate it. (The rest of the site is great.) Whether you do this primarily for cash or for other reasons is irrelevant, because it's safe to say you don't have a meaningful idea of what "disgusting and wrong with modern society" even looks like.

m!ndweak wrote:

Seyta wrote:

This does not seem like a good idea. His time is great for a high schooler. It is nothing in the pro and collegiate ranks.

kenyan "18"yr olds run around this time, hop on EPO and drop a 1:44 the next year, this kid will be fine

You mean 1:44 like Saruni?

Or 1:44 (1:42) like Korir?

Or 1:44 (1:42) like Murphy?

.....Last I checked, they primed their 800 talents in D1 athletics.

The same D1 that the fastest college age athletes from all over the world come to the US to hone their racing skills.

Hoey is not ready for pro 800s at all and will not have near the opportunities to develop his talent as he would in college.

Korir and Saruni knew the benefit of collegiate racing and are now primed to unleash new WR in the future. Holy may or may not get better but ditching NCAA racing is just throwing away valuable athletic opportunity.