Mt Sac is 100 miles from Tinseltown, It's out in the boonies. A worser dump than Hayward Field. Hotels are cheaper. ONT has 1,000 times more flights than EUG. But Mt Sac is not primo for Major Media at all. Only rich little fanboi webbies will be there with uninformed writers, crappy vids and atrocious snapshots we've all seen 1,000,000 times in the past.
Here's an Oregonian article about how Oregon State was initially supposed to hold the meet this year, but delayed construction on their stadium forced the meet to move. However, buried in the lead was about how Oregon declined to host the meet this year and the general state of the program. Below is the relevant quote.
Ken Goe/Oregonlive wrote:
"Oregon’s 2023 regular season schedule is nothing like the ones during Lananna’s tenure. In 2006, Lananna’s first season, the Ducks hosted a preview meet on March 18, the Pepsi Team Invitational, a four-way meet with team scores, on April 8, the Oregon Invitational April 20-22 and the Oregon Twilight on May 5. By 2008, Oregon had added a men’s dual meet with UCLA. Lananna and Johnson scheduled regular media availabilities in which coaches and athletes met with reporters in advance of major meets. Lananna hosted weekly TrackTown Tuesday booster events in which coaches and athletes would talk to fans. Those things aren’t happening now. And it’s not only the bells and whistles that have disappeared. UO athletes competed at Hayward just twice this season, at the Oregon Preview on May 17-18 and the Oregon Twilight on May 5. The Preview was held the week after the NCAA Indoor Championships, and last week’s Twilight, a week before the Pac-12 meet. In both cases, many of Oregon’s top athletes were held out. The Ducks have had a disappointing season competitively. The UO men, who won the NCAA Indoor Championships as recently as 2021, were represented in that meet this season by just one athlete. Distance runner Elliott Cook finished seventh in the mile. The UO women, who won seven of eight NCAA indoor titles between 2010 and 2017, placed 11th. The Ducks swept the Pac-12 team titles in 2022. No one is projecting that to happen this year. It looks on paper like the UO men’s streak of 15 consecutive conference team championships will come to an abrupt end.
The quote points out that Lanana and Johnson added home meets to the schedule and made themselves and athletes available for public events and media. Jerry, on the other hand, only held two home meets and has basically killed all media availability. The article also points out the quick decline in the program as well.
There's also this juicy tidbit from Lanana, who is calling out Jerry's BS on why UO declined to host the meet.
Ken Goe/Oregonlive wrote:
In an email, UO athletic department spokesperson Jimmy Stanton wrote that Oregon declined the Pac-12 meet because “of the extensive planning that goes into hosting a significant track and field event, and since this particular one needed relocation late in the process, a time window to create a first-class event to our standards wasn’t available.”
Not everyone buys the reasoning. Vin Lananna, who oversaw Oregon’s track program as coach from 2005 to 2012 and from an administrative capacity as associate athletic from 2012-19, never passed on an opportunity to host a big meet.
Lananna now is the coach at Virginia. Replying by text message how much time it would have taken to prepare for an opportunity like the one presented this year, Lananna said, “Pretty quick turnaround.”
Mt. SAC’s Hilmer Lodge Stadium apparently wasn’t unduly inconvenienced by the available preparation time.
Oregon track coach Jerry Schumacher is in his first year at the helm. If Lananna and Robert Johnson, UO coach from 2012-22, would have aggressively sought the 2023 Pac-12 championships, Schumacher’s feelings aren’t clear.
He declined an interview request to discuss his thoughts about hosting this year’s Pac-12 meet.
That last bold part - typical Jerry LOL
Anyway, I can't help but reflect on Jerry's performance so far when compared to Martin Smith, who was run out of town for essentially doing just as much as Jerry. Smith had little/no public engagement and few home meets with no major events, but at least his teams were doing better. Maybe it's time to admit he was a bad hire?
Martin Smith is and was an a$$hole.
Still too early to tell if Jerry was a bad hire. Nobody seemed to care how bad UO sucked in xc recently but now it's Jerry's fault suddenly lol
MTSAC Is 20 miles from LA and OC, great town of Walnut with bridle trails and million dollar homes. There is a reason it’s a such a destination for XC and Track.
Anyway, I can't help but reflect on Jerry's performance so far when compared to Martin Smith, who was run out of town for essentially doing just as much as Jerry. Smith had little/no public engagement and few home meets with no major events, but at least his teams were doing better. Maybe it's time to admit he was a bad hire?
Maybe it's time to realize Jerrry was just hired last summer.
1) I think it's great he didn't volunteer to host the meet. There are WAY too many meets in Eugene.
2) Have you ever thought Jerry might be trying to get the team to a level that's worthy of drawing fan attention? Why would he want to host the meet when his men are going to be like 7th or 8th?
3) All of that said, he should still address the locals. I'd hold a press conference. "Hey we havent' been racing guys as this is Oregon and we have a standard of excellence. We love the fans but hope you understand it may be a year or two until we have a team worthy of being supported by the Duck faithful.
4) You think Phil Knight is regretting hiring one of the world's best distance coaches? No chance. I'm giving JErry the benefit of the doubt here and he was smart enough to tell Phil, "I'll only take the job if you realize it's going to take a while and I need ** years to get my stuff in order."
5) If Jerry is this media aloof and spectator aloof in 3 years, then we can have the conversatioon you want to have.
PS. The reality is the Oregon football team doens't do special crap to please the locals. They do what every other team is doing. If Jerry ends up doing that, but is super successful, you still want him fired?
You are such a Jerry brown mosey it’s embarrassing.
Wejo you let your slow twin brother play journalism too much.
Ben Thomas has the team rolling and scoring at nationals, Winning USA's, etc. not even 12 months ago. But Jerry takes over and it's a rebuilding year? I get the incoming sub 4 HS redshirted, but the team got worse in 1 year. Maybe they rebound next year but let's call a spade, a spade
Ben Thomas has the team rolling and scoring at nationals, Winning USA's, etc. not even 12 months ago. But Jerry takes over and it's a rebuilding year? I get the incoming sub 4 HS redshirted, but the team got worse in 1 year. Maybe they rebound next year but let's call a spade, a spade
Ben Thomas has the team rolling and scoring at nationals, Winning USA's, etc. not even 12 months ago. But Jerry takes over and it's a rebuilding year? I get the incoming sub 4 HS redshirted, but the team got worse in 1 year. Maybe they rebound next year but let's call a spade, a spade
Johnson got fired for some bad stuff and the team was bound for a decline anyway. Oregon had an amazing run of success but eventually you have to retool and rebuild.
Instead of trying to squeeze something out of this season, Jerry and staff are bottoming out and will be back next year.
This season was about getting the right staff in place, recruiting like crazy, getting dead weight onto the transfer portal to open up scholarship. Yeah they didn’t host 6 meets, but the NCAA calendar has changed since Vin was running Oregon in 07.
The article left out a big part of the story. After last season there was constant talk in Eugene of volunteer fatigue. They hosted a ton of meets and it was taking a toll on staff and volunteers, many of whom are getting up there in age and have other lives.
The schedule isn’t just about UO meets. Hayward has already had Preview, Oregon Relays, Marathon, Twilight. The schedule is pretty packed going forward with state HS champs, HS outdoor nationals, USATF nationals, Junior Olympic Nationals, Pre Classic.
Throwing in another major meet isn’t as easy as it sounds and would take a toll on staff, facilities, volunteers. Seems reasonable to pass on hosting.
Mt Sac is 100 miles from Tinseltown, It's out in the boonies. A worser dump than Hayward Field. Hotels are cheaper. ONT has 1,000 times more flights than EUG. But Mt Sac is not primo for Major Media at all. Only rich little fanboi webbies will be there with uninformed writers, crappy vids and atrocious snapshots we've all seen 1,000,000 times in the past.
LAX to Mt SAC is 42 miles.
Ontario Airport is 22 miles. NOt exactly in the boonies....
And there is ZERO break in humanity (homes, businesses, etc) in those 42 or 22 miles.
PS. The reality is the Oregon football team doens't do special crap to please the locals. They do what every other team is doing. If Jerry ends up doing that, but is super successful, you still want him fired?
As someone who follows the football team and has been around Eugene my entire life, this is incredibly untrue and woefully stupid. The coaches do lots of media and make their players available as well. Also, If a new football coach at Oregon finished lasted in the PAC-12 (which Jerry’s team is on track to do) after his predecessors won the conference 15 years in a row (Robert Johnson won in his first year btw), the fan base would be calling for his head.
There are going to be a lot of fans and boosters not pleased seeing the only ONE duck, the biggest profile distance school in the NCAA, in total compete tonight in the 10k and 1500.
The only booster that matters is Phil Knight. And he only cares that Jerry keeps his mouth shut. We’re not going to see Oregon be very good for awhile.
He lost Cooper Teare and qualified an entire team for NCAAs, so his cross-country season was pretty solid and Aaron Beninfeld had a good final season under him. Beninfeld is already sub-13:20 under his tutelage. Most of his runners are freshmen and sophomores
I think a guy like Jerry S deserves a "pass" for one year, just because of his prestige. That does not mean, however, there aren't things he could have done better this year. For starters, he could have at least explained to the public "yeah, we are taking this year to retool, rebuild, set things up for an even greater future of the program" instead of just refusing to talk to the media.
But sure, I'll give him a pass for this year. Next year, however, I am expecting good things and big things from him. Giving up all these opportunities this year should only have been a sacrifice for rebuilding this year. Passing up on racing, hosting meets, connecting with fans, etc. etc. is not a coaching style. Maybe you can do the reclusive hermit style in the pro scene, but not in the NCAA. It's just bad coaching. I've said this before.
So frankly, yes, if this happens again next year, there is reason to be concerned.
Maybe it's time to realize Jerrry was just hired last summer.
1) I think it's great he didn't volunteer to host the meet. There are WAY too many meets in Eugene.
2) Have you ever thought Jerry might be trying to get the team to a level that's worthy of drawing fan attention? Why would he want to host the meet when his men are going to be like 7th or 8th?
3) All of that said, he should still address the locals. I'd hold a press conference. "Hey we havent' been racing guys as this is Oregon and we have a standard of excellence. We love the fans but hope you understand it may be a year or two until we have a team worthy of being supported by the Duck faithful.
4) You think Phil Knight is regretting hiring one of the world's best distance coaches? No chance. I'm giving JErry the benefit of the doubt here and he was smart enough to tell Phil, "I'll only take the job if you realize it's going to take a while and I need ** years to get my stuff in order."
5) If Jerry is this media aloof and spectator aloof in 3 years, then we can have the conversatioon you want to have.
PS. The reality is the Oregon football team doens't do special crap to please the locals. They do what every other team is doing. If Jerry ends up doing that, but is super successful, you still want him fired?
Why do you d!ck ride this guy so much?
You spend half your articles complaining that athletes dont race enough, then you turn around and excuse a college coach not racing his athletes because they might not win. Gtfo
rebuilding happens but not even competing is pathetic and you know it
Yikes, relax man. Not everyone thinks Jerry was a bad hire as it's way too early to tell. Disagreeing doesn't make you a "d!ck rider" no matter how much you daydream about it.
This site is just a joke when it comes to who they villianize and who they worship. Suspicions about Shelby were probably more credible than Galen and yet only she while being coached by Jerry got popped. And yeah it sucks when those you respect let you down but continuing to hold Jerry in high regard and defend him while demonizing others is pathetic. Give him 3 years when he should be banned from coaching anywhere...
Eugene became boring to track fans because of overracing. I'm not saying, no one goes there anymore; it's too crowded. I'm saying that when you hold every single track meet, minor or major, in Eugene, it gets boring. It should be more of a special event. So, let them race elsewhere and when they come back to Eugene, people will care again.
However, Jerry doesn't care a bit about any of that. He is all about championship results in the distances and that means a year of adjustment to his insanely high volume of Badger miles, repeats, and intense speedwork. We'll see some more athletes out for champs this year but he's keeping his powder dry for next year when he has the incredible recruiting class coming in to go with the talented redshirts like Harrison.
Kind of surprising that in this whole thread there was no commentary on the actual results of Pac-12s. Through 8 of 21 events, Oregon was 4th in the men's race and 2nd in the women's. A lot of their points were through the weights, as they got an excellent throws coach along with Jerry, but they also added 10 in the men's steeple, 5 in the women's. They had three women's 1500m qualifiers, but generally speaking the distances were not looking fantastic for them this year. They look to be down in the sprints as well but they are going to get some contributions from the women sprinters.
Jerry and Solinsky had the audacity throughout the years to $hit on Wisconsin to everyone who would listen. Now both of them have buried the O that a handful of recruits won’t change. On top of that, Jerry never did media requests and won’t change any time soon. Solinsky will tell everyone who listens how good of a coach he is, yet he’s don’t absolutely nothing so far. This was a poor decision on the administrations part
As for comments about Oregon's recruiting classes: It doesn't matter when the athletes DON'T COMPETE. The school brings in high school superstars and then puts them into straight jackets, solitary confinement, puts them out to pasture. Schumacher is some alternate version of Salazar. Different, but strange just the same.
I would urge any high school track athlete to avoid Oregon like the plague. Go to a healthy environment. Washington is doing well. North Carolina, Virginia, Villanova, etc. Don't make the critical decision about college based on past glories, the Pre mystique, Hayward Field and all that. Reality in the present is all that matters.