Oregon men at Pac-12s: 1 in 8, 1 in 15, 4 in 5k, 0 in 10k - Mass redshirt?

That list - including his own son - is amazing. Now in another thread, I just defended Jerry but do feel like he needs to give an explanation to the media. Is there any local media left or should we reach out.

I wonder if we will see any changes to that stacked recruiting class as a result of this

The idea in a conference meet is to score as many points as possible. If a coach perceives that a runner can't finish top 8 he'll look at other events to place athletes. Jerry probably perceived that most of the distance races were very competitive so no reason to enter a 3:46 guy in the 1500, for example. On the other hand, he has three entered in the men's steeple. All three are in the mid 8:50s, which is not that great, but it's a weak event in the Pac-12 this year, so his thinking is that one or more of the entrants can grab some points.

Which is why coaches usually try and enter as many athletes as possible in a conference championship. Racing will be tactical and slow. What better environment to give to your athletes after a season of hard work. Redshirting healthy runners outside of freshman year is generally a bad idea. What happens next year when they actually are injured? There are probably a bunch of runners that won't be in UO uniforms next year that should be competing.

If my coach's philosophy is that I'm not racing unless/until he thinks I can score at the conference championship, I'm transferring.

Especially for some of these in-state kids on the roster, they're very very unlikely to get to that level. Why not throw some bodies in the 10k? They just made cross nationals as a team 6 months ago

I think there's a good chance that Jerry said to the men that (unlike the women) - we're realistically not in a position to do anything as a team this year, so it's up to you, but I'm supportive of anyone/everyone redshirting and getting a year of my training under your belt. Still weird they're not racing unattached in home meets, tho

There is no AD on planet earth that would allow this, ESPECIALLY at Oregon. They would ask why they are paying a coach (Jerry) hundreds of thousands of dollars to willfully not be competitive at conference, which is the meet they care most about anyway. Are you really suggesting that a fifteen year win streak is about to end because Jerry didn’t want to enter guys to compete? Then what are they paying him for???? A school famous for its distance program not racing their guys at the conference is an embarrassment and inexcusable, and if I were the AD, I’d have a meeting with him first this Monday morning demanding and explanation.

Not a meeting!

If your 3:46 guy is a freshman or sophomore, you run them so they can learn how to score points next year. If they are a junior or senior, you run them so they get the best college experience that you can give them.

A coach should never hold out a healthy runner just because of self-created time standards.

The whole situation is weird. I asked a few times about Elliott Cook and why he has been running unattached but nobody has answered. He has big potential as a 1500/mile guy and could have getting points. Seems like a lot of wasted potential to me.

Oftentimes coaches will have athletes redshirt to be more sure that there is a stream of more seasons of a strong squad and it is probable that an athlete will be in school longer than 4 years and/or be attending graduate school. This whole Oregon situation doesn't seem like that, though.

It I were Cook I would transfer and if I were a high schooler I would think twice before committing to Oregon.

I agree. A coach being paid like Schumacher should put athletes on the track. All those redshirt's are a major red flag. Is he nuts or something? A control freak? During the days of Bowerman and Dellinger, their athletes *competed.* High school distance stars should avoid Oregon. A guy goes sub-4, heads to Oregon and never does anything all year? How weird is that? It's an insane asylum in Eugene these days.

Has anyone thought that maybe that's the point? Find out who REALLY wants to be here? Not who just wants to be a walkon on the team and get the gear.

Look, I don't know what's going on but the idea that Jerry hasn't discussed this with the AD and/or Phil Knight is laughable. Jerry is a smart guy. He's politically savvy enough to have survived and thrived as the BTC coach even though Phil's boy Salazar DESPISED him. And now Phil hired him to run his beloved alma mater.

You think he's just gone rogue and is doing this without them knowing? They've either discussed it or when they hired him it was clear he had 100% full authority to do as he pleased.

Now I do think he should explain it to the locals but maybe he has? I know he had a movie night and has had some contact with them. There was even a full press event online.

At NCAA indoors, I heard the rumor he wasn't racing the guys as they weren't ready . Keep em out until next year. But isn't this his own son's last year? Now that to me seems bizarre.

Wouldn't be surprised if his son ends up on BTC and somehow runs 13:0x out of nowhere.

Are teams in the PAC 12 limited in the number of entries they can have at the conference meet?

Rojo, I looked at the list of athletes you posted. Except for Cook and maybe one or two others none of them are ready to compete at the conference meet. The Pac-12 is known to be a strong middle distance/distance conference and this year is no exception. Look at the men's final. Gormley made it, but Washington is loaded up with six athletes, all of whom would destroy any of the Oregon guys that were not entered (except for Cook), and the rest of the field are all 3:44 and faster guys.

Most of the athletes you listed were recruited by Ben Thomas and they haven't made the strides needed to compete against the best that Washington, Stanford, Colorado, etc. have entered. And the freshmen didn't advance enough either. That's why someone like Josh Edwards was redshirted. I don't know what the story is with Harrison. I suspect he was injured. However, he did some pacing at the Oregon Twilight meet so Jerry is pointing him to next season.

I agree that Schumacher could be more upfront with media and fans but the entries for this meet make sense, all things considered.

Maybe they are doing the same model as other successful track programs.

Houston, USC, Florida, LSU… any of them run a distance runner at conference? How many men’s distance points did Petros score at Georgia usually?

JK, I think Jerry has high standards and if you can’t score or be ranked top 15 in your event you don’t get on the bus

Going from 8:20 to low 13s is a huge jump

He was interviewed after he ran unattached at the last meet. He said he’s red shirting because they discussed the fact he would then have a full year of eligibility for his 5th year. Already having xc and indoor. Sounded like a decision they made together

exactly