Financially this was a good decision for him, but I think it was a poor decision for his development.
You could just as easily make the argument that staying in HS is bad for his development. The bottom line is, the family chose the money like so many phenoms before him.
Life as an athlete is short even if you have nothing but good luck. Take the money and run.
Be a kid for as long as you can, run with other kids. At least three NCAA years enjoying the college experience.
Entering the work world at 22 is how you do it.
Back in the day, 22 was about time to retire from competitive running. Herb Elliot retired at 22 in 1962 after winning the Olympics and racking up 44 wins total. Jim Ryun retired at 25, but he did most of his best running leading up to Olympic silver 21. He went on to become a US Senator. Cooper Lutkenhaus is following in their illustrious footsteps. Nothing wrong with embracing being a prodigy, and riding with it. If he's ready and he's excited, it's absolutely the right choice. I mean come on! Let it rip!
Most college runners don't run competitively after 22 either. Jakob was running Euros at his age.
The number determines if it is smart or dumb.. if you are offered 10m over 10 year guaranteed, you go pro. 50k/year for 10 years with reductions? Probably not worth it. In between you have tough choices.
Developmentally it can be harder to say. The US infrastructure for kids like this is sort of lacking.
$50K? His contract should match those of the top U.S. pros and he’s 4th on the all-time 800m list. It wouldn’t surprise me if he just signed the biggest contract ever, for an American middle distance, or distance runner.
I would think that you are very likely right. If it was a Hunter-sized deal it could pretty much set him up for life.
Great. Now we can expect him to race twice a year and wonder why his race tactics are bad. Fans lose. No ncaa. No friends. Just doing lonely workouts on an empty track. Nike will force him to leave his high school coach and some other coach will waste his talents. At least he gets paid, but watching Drew Hunter 2.0 play out again is going to be unbearable.
This is not Drew Hunter 2.0. Drew Hunter had horrendous mechanics, absolutely fighting his body every stride, which is why he has been unsuccessful. Everyone that knows the sport sees Cooper's gift, at his size and power, the kid is silent on the track. His feet don't make a sound. Effortless. No fighting body at all.
The other difference is, Hunter was signed for his promise, Cooper is pretty much already there. If he just remained a 1:42.xx guy with a big finish, he's a threat in almost any race, and nailed on make teams for the next decade+
Imagine being an 11th grade high school teacher and a kid asks you to miss class because he qualified for the world championships in Tokyo. "Fine, but I'm going to need to see a note!"
No one in Texas gives a rats a$$ about track. If it was football big deal. Track who cares
Same posters were all excited for Kessler to go pro. He had a couple years of only racing a couple times a year and displayed a compete disaster for race tactics. His improvement curve was stunted. He was “too good” to race ncaa, but really he wasn’t. Sure Cooper gets paid, but let’s not pretend this is the best development environment for him as a person or runner.
Another example is Drew Hunter. Webb tried it, but couldn’t make it fit.
This can’t be the best for his development as an athlete. There is nobody that can train with him at the high school level, few at the NCAA level. Watching the recent video, there is only so much he can do solo to continue to improve beyond the 1:42 low that’s made him. The support system requires to compete at the elite level is important. Socially or as a person, he will be just fine. Tough to think that this all happened because he lives in Texas though.
Per trackallaccess Cooper has gone pro and signed with Nike. He is going to continue training under his high school coach. Thoughts?
Smart kid. Strike while the iron is hot. Way too good for high school and college competition. Hopefully it was a big number.
Rumors Are That he was Forced to Sign A Non Disclosure Agreement, So he is Not allowed to give Details, Fans can Still Guess For Fun, But The Only ones that really know are Him, his Parents, Brothers and sisters if he has any and His Agent and The People Who represent the Company he signed with, Example If It was NIKE Phil KNight would know and Knight's Lawyers/Attorneys who represent Nike. But NONE of Them are allowed to tell you except Phil Knight as it his Company, but He wont.
Another example is Drew Hunter. Webb tried it, but couldn’t make it fit.
This can’t be the best for his development as an athlete. There is nobody that can train with him at the high school level, few at the NCAA level. Watching the recent video, there is only so much he can do solo to continue to improve beyond the 1:42 low that’s made him. The support system requires to compete at the elite level is important. Socially or as a person, he will be just fine. Tough to think that this all happened because he lives in Texas though.
The coach can have the other runners start ahead of him, just like Ruun’s coach back in the day, Webb’s coach, etc. You come off like a few other guys in the thread that seem to want Cooper to fail.
This is not Drew Hunter 2.0. Drew Hunter had horrendous mechanics, absolutely fighting his body every stride, which is why he has been unsuccessful. Everyone that knows the sport sees Cooper's gift, at his size and power, the kid is silent on the track. His feet don't make a sound. Effortless. No fighting body at all.
The other difference is, Hunter was signed for his promise, Cooper is pretty much already there. If he just remained a 1:42.xx guy with a big finish, he's a threat in almost any race, and nailed on make teams for the next decade+
Just to nitpick here, if you can run 1:42 you don’t really need “a big finish,” as the final time is what matters the most. So even if you ran 49.5 and 52.6 and you were fading a bit, you are a stud. At least for now.
Great. Now we can expect him to race twice a year and wonder why his race tactics are bad. Fans lose. No ncaa. No friends. Just doing lonely workouts on an empty track. Nike will force him to leave his high school coach and some other coach will waste his talents. At least he gets paid, but watching Drew Hunter 2.0 play out again is going to be unbearable.
This is not Drew Hunter 2.0. Drew Hunter had horrendous mechanics, absolutely fighting his body every stride, which is why he has been unsuccessful. Everyone that knows the sport sees Cooper's gift, at his size and power, the kid is silent on the track. His feet don't make a sound. Effortless. No fighting body at all.
Yeah, the difference in the talent level is huge. Drew Hunter didn't run something like sub 3:29 as a high schooler.
Let it forever be known that track all access had the scoop on this first.
TrackAllAccess broke an embargo that all other media entities were under. It wasn't supposed to be announced until later this week. They all knew it was coming. Nike likely not pleased with gordon.
coach has a very delicate job now. gonna have to replace dozens of races, that probably acted as 80% of his most important workouts. his schedule is going to look completely different now.
no more week after week of 400/800/4x4 triples etc.
Let's hope this isnt Drew Hunter 2.0 that becomes addicted to wine in his $1.6M Boulder 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house and then watches his same aged peers surpass him one after another, eventually placing a string of fourths in international qualifiers.
Drew has built a family and career from the deal he struck as a high schooler. I'd say he is a success. So what if he didn't have the running career some of us thought he might have.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
To address a few comments. Sports teams report their salaries for a few reasons. 1) is salary cap, they have to prove they are not violating the rules and 2) players' unions generally prefer and have it in collective bargaining because it allows individual players/agents bargaining power for market value.
No way Cooper signed for 75k/yr like some of you think. After taxes that is near nothing and you ignore Nike was not his only suitor so he took the BEST deal. His parents are educated and would understand life changing money, his agent is legit and is not advising him to take 75k/yr.
Yes his contract is certainly big and either for a long time (10 years) or it is Massive and for a short time (3 ish years).