Wisconsin unofficially..... 8th at big tens. Michigan first Illinois second

George Atlas wrote:

This was going to happen eventually and I agree that with all that talent they will be back with a vengeance.

The days of Wisconsin loading up with 6-7 sub 9:10 2 mile recruits and dominating the Big 10 every year are over. American high school talent has evolved. Every school in the Big 10 has better prepared recruits. Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana in the 1980's would have had to give a 9:00 Midwest guy a full ride to keep them from going to Wisconsin on partials or even books.

They are a young team. They will be back.

Jerry Schumacher never seemed to have this issue.

I agree, if they can all stay healthy next year, they'll definitely be on the podium. With Malachy, Morgan, Joe, and Olin, you just need one more decent runner to have a great squad. And with the potential of not qualifying this year, those guys would be fired up!

2016 Podium wrote:

And with the potential of not qualifying this year, those guys would be fired up!

this is one thing that has bothered me greatly about these posts (besides the fact that they all approximately say the same thing and most of the arguments go in circles). I have not given up on Wisconsin today. They potentially have 4 very solid guys. 3 though are totally unproven. I think one of those guys can peak for regionals and another for nationals and they have a shot at qualifying. Michigan is just so damn good.

heyo wrote:

I have not given up on Wisconsin today. They potentially have 4 very solid guys. 3 though are totally unproven.

Who is unproven? I would agree that Olin is unproven on the Collegiate level, he definitely proved himself in High School with a runner-up finish at both NXN and Footlocker, as well as a 3rd place finish in Edinburgh. Malachy has definitely proven himself as a 3-time Big Ten champion and a 3-time All American (twice in XC, once in Track). I would also say Morgan proved himself at Big Tens this past weekend with his 5th place finish, he also finished in a respectable 10th at Adidas. That leaves Joe who has for sure proven himself on the track and just finished 10th at Big Tens in XC. So again I ask, who are these 3 "unproven" guys?

Mick thinks he is 10 times smarter than any other coach.

This redshirting and tempoing races led to getting drilled by teams with fraction of the talent.There is no acceptable excuse for Wisconsin to not qualify for NCAA. Michigan is the only other top 25 ranked team in the Great Lakes.

He has never been great with all that talent on the track, but if they miss cross country Nationals, that is terrible.

2016 Podium wrote:

heyo wrote:

I have not given up on Wisconsin today. They potentially have 4 very solid guys. 3 though are totally unproven.

Who is unproven? I would agree that Olin is unproven on the Collegiate level, he definitely proved himself in High School with a runner-up finish at both NXN and Footlocker, as well as a 3rd place finish in Edinburgh. Malachy has definitely proven himself as a 3-time Big Ten champion and a 3-time All American (twice in XC, once in Track). I would also say Morgan proved himself at Big Tens this past weekend with his 5th place finish, he also finished in a respectable 10th at Adidas. That leaves Joe who has for sure proven himself on the track and just finished 10th at Big Tens in XC. So again I ask, who are these 3 "unproven" guys?

Dude, what are you talking about? Olin is redshirting this year and Malachy will be fortunate to even run at regionals (and may have to drop out again). That leaves really only McDonald that you can count on (and to a lesser extent, Hardy). 2 guys at best. The others are all huge question marks.

Where the heck is Kai Wilmot?

Injured

Were we not discussing the 2016 Wisconsin team? The reply that Wisconsin potentially has 4 solid guys, 3 of which are unproven was a response to my post about the 2016 Wisconsin XC team. If we were talking about the current 2015 team then I'd like to know who the 4th solid guy is since we know Olin is redshirting? Also who are the 3 unproven guys?

They needed VanV pretty bad

He ran 27 min+ at Wisco in the open race.

no more excuses wrote:

Mick thinks he is 10 times smarter than any other coach.

This redshirting and tempoing races led to getting drilled by teams with fraction of the talent.There is no acceptable excuse for Wisconsin to not qualify for NCAA. Michigan is the only other top 25 ranked team in the Great Lakes.

He has never been great with all that talent on the track, but if they miss cross country Nationals, that is terrible.

This.

Mick should put every athlete on the XC/Track team "on the shelf" next year and then bring them all back in 2017 ready to tempo.

Mick is not to be blamed for one year of injuries. If that continues for a few years, then he can start taking blame. Otherwise, these "off with his head" posts should just stop. streaks have to end at some point, it doesn't mean the coach is to blame. Kentucky didn't make the NCAA March Madness tournament in 2013, just a year after winning the title. And fyi, for those who don't know, they have 64 teams who make the national tournament instead of 31 for xc. should Calipari have been fired after that year? heck no. people graduate, people leave, injuries happen, etc. relying on freshman and sophomores can lead to problems as well and it seems to have caught up to Wisconsin. Are they talented? Yes. Are they underperforming? Yes. But that happens. P.S. They would still stomp Eau Claire.

Mick the Stick wrote:

Mick is not to be blamed for one year of injuries. If that continues for a few years, then he can start taking blame. Otherwise, these "off with his head" posts should just stop. streaks have to end at some point, it doesn't mean the coach is to blame. Kentucky didn't make the NCAA March Madness tournament in 2013, just a year after winning the title. And fyi, for those who don't know, they have 64 teams who make the national tournament instead of 31 for xc. should Calipari have been fired after that year? heck no. people graduate, people leave, injuries happen, etc. relying on freshman and sophomores can lead to problems as well and it seems to have caught up to Wisconsin. Are they talented? Yes. Are they underperforming? Yes. But that happens. P.S. They would still stomp Eau Claire.

Hi Coach!

I thought Mick would address the media today. Things are very quiet in Madison.

Schizo wrote:

gobias industries wrote:

Leave the Wisco coaching decisions to those with the brainpower to understand the difference between "then" and "than".

Look how good leaving the decisions to the brainpower did. 8th for the men and 5th for the woman. Time for change.

Did Byrne ever win any BIG 10 titles previously? Or take and XC teams to Nationals ever? Is he even qualified to coach at the University level?

Oh wait, I found this, which says he was highly acclaimed:

I guess this was a long time ago though, and winning the National Championships and BIG 10s in XC and BIG 10s outdoors was a totally different deal back in 2011-12. A way different skill set back then. I mean, hell, some of this year's athletes were freshman back those OH SO MANY years.

Dude--that's a pretty funny/weak argument. $13k of over $1million given to athletic coaches, based on results from 3.5-4 years ago? Plus saying he had these same guys 4 years ago, but they haven't now panned out/gotten them injured as upperclassmen. Hard to tell if your actually cutting him or defending him!

I gotta a feeling they'll have a good bounce back at regionals and at least be in the hunt, but getting railed at Louisville now doesn't help them too much. They could have gotten some points had they all just raced it.

Wisco 6th at great lakes.