Dunbar to Oregon

Seriously?

How many guys did Portland have in distance events @ the 2008 Olympic trials? 2. Kilburg and Moore in the 10k.

Oregon had 1, Colorado had 1, OKSt had 1 ...in either the 10 or 5.

Also, please remind me, where do Kiprop and Bolt train? .... Oh yeah, on dirt and grass tracks! Who needs Hayward?

Frankly, it sounds like Dunbar went soft and couldn't take the rigors of the honest distance training program at UP. It takes hard work to get to the top and it doesn't matter what facilities (or don't) you have, you need motivation to work your butt off year in and year out to be a competitive force on the track ....and it sounds like Dunbar has lost that. What does he think? He is going to show up to Oregon run and few workouts on Hayward and all of a sudden magically become a 13:15 guy?!?!?..Give me a break!

Can anyone list the top 5K times by Oregon guys in the the Vin era not named Rupp ( as Vin/Andy did not coach him)?

Conner is without a doubt one of the top distance coaches in D1. Period. Who else has taken a handful of OK guys and made consistent national top-15 teams? How many years in a row has Oregon qualified to NCAA XCs? how many consecutive years has Portland?

Distance running is for men and it sounds like Dunbar is a young boy who needs more gear, more manicured facilities, and better marketing to make him think he can run faster in a sport where your success is directly related to the intensity and diligences of your efforts.

This is one of the most stupid post I've read on letsrun in ages.

Actually seems like it is true. Not a stupid post at all.

coach d wrote:

People here lacking in track speed try to make believe that XC is somehow important, but in truth nobody in the USA makes a living based on what they do in cross country. Track is what matters, and if Dunbar wants a professional future, he needs to put down some track marks that would justify sponsorship.

This being an Olympic year, if he wants to take the long view and concentrate on the OT, he (and Vin) might not particularly care about whether he gets a release or not. He will certainly have a better shot at least qualifying if he has a real nonest-to-God track to train on. I don't know if this is the logic here, but it might very well be.

I don't think Dunbar has the talent for track. He is just a hard racing and tough, aerobic monster. But this thinking is spot on. Rob Conner has never coached an athlete who showed up to a US Senior Championship and wasn't already thinking about training for cross country.

He does a great job with cross country, but it is a pretty easy position to coach from. At the end of the day, Conner actually has more scholarship money in the distance area and that is a heck of a lot more important than how many pairs of Nikes you receive at Oregon.

From the "Fans of Trevor Dunbar" Facebook page:

Marcus Dunbar

Like Father, Like Son, After two and a half years of dedicated running for the Portland Pilots. Come January 9th, Trevor will become an Oregon Duck just as his Dad did 25 years earlier. Thanks to all of those that have helped Trevor up to this point in his career, especially Portland Coach Rob Conner. Good Luck Trevor! We will continue to keep Fans updated on this page.

Well here is a short list of some of the 5K guys Oregon has had in the last few years.

I'll just put up the whole list of sub 14 guys.

Rupp 13:18

Shadrack Biwott 13:36

Jordan McNamara 13:45

Matt Centrowitz 13:45

Luke Puskedra 13:46

AJ Acosta 13:46

Scott Wall 13:49

Chris Kwiatowski 13:51

Michael Maag 13:51

Diego Mercado 13:57

Danny Mercado 13:58

That's not including some of the other strong guys they have had that didn't run 5K. Parker Stinson should be joining the sub 14 ranks this season, and possibly a freshman or two like Jeremy Elkaim.

Now your post is - congrats.

100%'er wrote:

I don't think Dunbar has the talent for track. He is just a hard racing and tough, aerobic monster. But this thinking is spot on. Rob Conner has never coached an athlete who showed up to a US Senior Championship and wasn't already thinking about training for cross country.

He does a great job with cross country, but it is a pretty easy position to coach from. At the end of the day, Conner actually has more scholarship money in the distance area and that is a heck of a lot more important than how many pairs of Nikes you receive at Oregon.

My point is that if he wants a professional running career (and I don't actually know that he does) he has to figure out how to make a living. He is NOT going to make a living in XC, and 13:42 is not likely to get a whole lot of attention with the faster guys we have these days.

He needs to bring his track time down substantially (and he's got some time to do that--just think about the progress Miles Batty has made)....or he more or less goes the Bran Sell route. But he has to think about where he wants to be and how he's going to get there.

All you folks coming on here putting a kid down should examine your motives for doing such. Absent of that, maybe you could just grow up.

That list really isn't all too impressive.

CU since 08

13:18.46 Brent Vaughn

13:34.44 Joe Bosshard

13:39.34 Stephen Pifer

13:41.49 Andy Wacker

13:41.66 Kenyon Neuman

13:44.03 Matt Tebo

13:44.34 Richard Medina

13:49.56 Aldo Vega

13:54.53 Bradley Harkrader

13:54.61 Jordan Kyle

Should have went there

Should have GONE there.

Coaches News Network wrote:

All you folks coming on here putting a kid down should examine your motives for doing such. Absent of that, maybe you could just grow up.

I don't consider my voicing disagreement and disapproval with the decision Dunbar made to be putting him down. You're not going to conscript me into feeling nothing but happiness for Dunbar and the Ducks when that isn't what I am feeling, nor is it what I should be feeling. I think his decision is shortsighted and selfish, and I don't think Portland should release him. By leaving in the middle of the year, he is costing them scholarship money that had been allotted to him. You are entitled to voice your positive opinion of Dunbar just as I am entitled to voice my negative opinion of him.

"I don't consider my voicing disagreement and disapproval with the decision Dunbar made to be putting him down... I am entitled to voice my negative opinion of him"

=========

So having a "negative opinion" of someone is not the same as "putting him down". And we can assume the poster considers expressing a "negative opinion" of someone is actually praising that person. Talk about hypocrisy and doublespeak.

Running Maniac wrote:

"I don't consider my voicing disagreement and disapproval with the decision Dunbar made to be putting him down... I am entitled to voice my negative opinion of him"

=========

So having a "negative opinion" of someone is not the same as "putting him down". And we can assume the poster considers expressing a "negative opinion" of someone is actually praising that person. Talk about hypocrisy and doublespeak.

Words have different connotations depending upon the context in which they are use. I was responding to someone who appeared to be using "put down" in a context that suggests that people who are voicing their negative opinion of Dunbar's decision are doing so to belittle him or humiliate him without cause. My intention in offering my feedback in this thread is simply to express disappointment in his decision because I believe Portland is a great program where I think Dunbar would have ultimately thrived. I do think his decision to leave Portland is selfish and shortsighted, but I don't think Dunbar is a bad person because of it, nor do I wish anything but the best for him in his future running career. The English language is a little more nuanced than you apparently seem to think it is, as there are varying degrees of meaning between criticism and praise.

Interesting that you think that calling someone selfish is not putting him down. The rest of the universe would disagree.

Interesting that you think being selfish is intrinsically a bad thing. Also interesting that you think that if I think someone is acting selfishly in one instance, it means that I think that selfishness is a defining characteristic of that person. I think you're just a little over sensitive, and by a little I mean a lot. Dunbar is a great runner and he's currently in the spotlight because of his decision to leave Portland for UO. People are going to both praise and criticize his decision, so get over it already.

I bet you're a stud in forensics. Hope you have some athletic accomplishments of your own soon.

Wawawawawawawa

Vortex: You sound like a HS kid. Do you have a goal to run for the Pilots? Good for you. Once you are enrolled at University of Portland post it on letsrun and I'll send you my purple lettermans jacket.

Sorry you are disappointed, but you are way out of line by assigning labels like "selfish" and "shortsighted".