Will Ritz take the Colorado job at the end of the year?

I can see this happening. If Wetmore steps down after Track season and Ritz starts in the fall of 2024 it would be after the Olympic Games.
Most Pro contracts only go through Olympic years including coaches.
This would give Ritz more time with Addy and Jude and still be able to coach a couple pros on the side.

Jenny Simpson was coached by Wetmore while running for New Balance and now Puma and that continues to be zero conflict with Nike.

He’s coaching centro? When did that happen?

Maybe he can do both? Has that ever been tried before?

From the outside looking in, what you write is very logical - a coaches dream.

Ritz, with On has quickly built an incredible professional program that is focused and structured. Both the coach and the company enthusiastically support the direction.

Ritz has a young family, a wife, and that is where many other factors come to play.

College programs (don’t know about Colorado) can pay big bucks, often much more than professional. College coaching is an easier travel gig then professional. Ritz was in Europe for his athletes indoor and outdoor races and camps (unlike BTC coaches). Some of that had to do with On being a Swiss company but also Ritz comes across as a coach that is totally invested in his athletes and what he does. College coaching is a different kind of fun working with and developing, mentoring. College budgets can be large and support staff is there. College coaching comes with added perks like free tuition for the coaches kids, pension, healthcare, car, sometimes a free house, booster inputs.

The professional coaching landscape in the US is very different than in Europe given the lucrative and less difficult nature of NCAA coaching. That is why, in the US, generally speaking, the best track and field coaches are in the NCAA system. There are exceptions. It is my perception that Ritz, Smith, Eyestone, Miltenberg, Powell’s, and others have a demeanor or mentality that can get the best out of both young college athletes and pros. I can’t say that about Schumacher and Flanagan.

Wouldn’t surprise if the Union Athletics coach (who lives in Colorado) gets it.

Who is Will Ritz?

i could be wrong, but i think colorado would be a higher paying position than on. maybe they would have to buyout his remaining contract but that wouldn't be a significant hurdle to hiring him. i bet he'd be making 250k at cu, maybe more

Ritz isn't going to be the replacement. I would expect CU to hire Culpepper. My longshot prediction is that they try to emulate UW and hire a husband/wife team - The Gouchers. All have links to the glory days of Colorado and, in light of the recently wrapped investigation, who better than Kara Goucher to coach, counsel, and advocate for young women athletes?
I can hear people furiously typing their objections already but in today's political climate, you know that this makes sense to university administrators and gives the Buffs an awesome feel good story and proof that they are cleaning up the CU program.

Wait what? I thought Alan Webb reached out to his old HS rival about kicking off the greatest comeback in American middle distance running history? Imagine what his 3:46 converts to with today’s super spikes?

If the job becomes available, it is clearly going to a discerning, diminutive, mad scientist.

No. It won’t be alumni, it won’t be anyone famous.

Remember athletic departments are run by athletic directors. Most athletic directs don’t know anything about sports let alone sports history in Olympic sports. We care more and are more informed about this position than they are.

If wetmore steps down, they will hire a track coach with some DI history and call it a day. CU’s athletic department does not care. After the coach prime experience they are all hanging by a thread anyway. They will go boring and safe. Probably promote someone from within

You're cute.

Wetmore should be out of there. The program is running on fumes. 30 years ago, all the top Colorado runners went to CU, and I couldn't tell you the last time a top-tier Colorado blue-chip prospect went to Boulder. It shouldn't be hard to recruit a top-5 class every year in Boulder, but Wetmore doesn't even seem to bother. CU should be recruiting as well as NAU, but that hasn't been true in more than a decade.

Wetmore's 70-year-old ponytailed, grumpy guru shtick isn't going to get better with age. No high school kid with choices is going to look at Wetmore and think he's a better mentor than Mike Smith, Andy Powell, or Dave Smith (or Jerry, for that matter). The sooner he's gone, the sooner CU will have a chance to return to prominence.

But the Ritz comment is silly. Ritz has a great gig; no way he's going to repeat the Jerry debacle by trying to coach ON and CU.

There’s no way CU will hire Culpepper after the trail of tears he left behind at NAZ elite and even further back with Rock and Roll Race Series and at one point Adidas.

No way he takes it. If I were him I would be enjoying the challenge of coaching from the 800m to the marathon and being backed by a committed sponsor. The college job may add some stability but the issues that come with dealing with young men and women of college age are a step down from coaching a pro team. Plus, who wants to deal with recruiting?

Plus, imagine all of the additional bureaucracy involved with being a university coach/staff. So annoying.

Private is the way to go, especially when you have a 3:43 miler whose performances are the best recruiting tool you can get.

Why is Wetmore likely out?

Also wouldn't Billy Nelson be next in line to coach...though he's not listed onlice as a coach there anymore. I give up

College coaches have to recruit/coach teenagers.

I think colorado is the only college job that Ritz even picks up the phone and listens to the call for before he declines and stays where he is at.

I have no idea if Wetmore is leaving, but the obvious call for CU would be to Mike Smith. Exceedingly successful at a distance focused school, familiar with altitude and prestige wise would be a promotion for him (obviously NAU has been more successful lately, but CU is still a more prestigious job overall). Im not sure he leaves NAU as he seems really happy at Flagstaff, but that is a much more realistic option than Ritz.

lol man I am a CU grad and stan but the idea that Mike Smith would have any interest whatsoever in the CU job is absolutely wild to me. Mike Smith has won more NCs at NAU already than CU has ever won in their history -- I don't think CU is the superior job, NAU is having no problem recruiting the absolute tip-top talent as-is, it's a more affordable city for elites and sub-elites to train and I think there is about a 0.0% chance Mike Smith does anything other than say "I am honored you thought of me, now bye bye."