I mean, sorta. Comparing Birnbaum's outdoor season opener to other freshmen's peak indoor race is a bit misleading imo. I think a better comparison would be true freshmen who has run 3:44 or faster outdoors, or 3:55 or faster indoors. Was Graham Blanks way ahead of Grant Fisher in November because he was in peak shape for XC, while Fisher was still base training? Kinda, but it's not really a meaningful comparison.
Would've loved to see what he could do at UW. They're churning out great milers with local talent, imagine what they could do with a 3:37 high schooler (and first junior to go sub-4 since Ryun). I was wondering how Gorze would fare since he seemed like more of a 5k guy, but he ran a 10s 3k PB indoors (7:55), and he raced a full XC season. I don't know what they do there, but seems like Powell has no problem getting top recruits to make good progress while racing XC/indoors.
But for better or worse, he chose Oregon, and I think he should commit to that for at least a year. Sahlman didn't look good until like April of his freshman year. Jerry is a proven collegiate and pro coach, so I'm still trying to give him time to prove that his methods work.
Jerry and his staff bring no excitement to Hayward Field. The meet yesterday was boring and dull. It’s a shame someone decided to give Jerry the head Coach job at a major XC/ Track University. Not only was he far removed from college and not ready to be a coach at Oregon, he now screwed up BTC. They (meaning Nike) needs to put Jerry back with his Pro’s full time in order to get BTC back. You can’t be a full time college coach and pro coach at the same time. It’s been almost 2 years and BTC is destroyed and now U of Oregon is well on its way. The biggest take away here. It was selfish to think Jerry could coach Oregon and BTC at the same time at a high level. Everyone knew this and the proof is in the pudding.
What about all the true freshman not at Oregon who ran 3:59 or faster in the last three months? Technically, they’re all way ahead of him, right?
I mean, sorta. Comparing Birnbaum's outdoor season opener to other freshmen's peak indoor race is a bit misleading imo. I think a better comparison would be true freshmen who has run 3:44 or faster outdoors, or 3:55 or faster indoors. Was Graham Blanks way ahead of Grant Fisher in November because he was in peak shape for XC, while Fisher was still base training? Kinda, but it's not really a meaningful comparison.
Oregon freshman Simeon Birnbaum made his debut for the track team on Saturday at the Oregon Preview, running 3:45.27 for second place at Hayward Field. Watch...
3:45 is just not good for a freshman D1 1500m runner, but you have to give him a break because he is coming off of an injury. You can blame Jerry for the lack of racing, the many injuries and the overtraining. He's gotten amazing recruits. Results and signs of progress should be forthcoming.
He said he had been doing workouts for about a month. He's going to need a couple more months to be at a pr level. I hope that happens. After all, Harrison was out all of last year but still ran 3:38 unattached after the NCAA season was over.
Not impressed by this at all, he ran 3:37-3:40 three times as a high schooler last year. At least a 3:42 or faster would be considered good by him
And what did you run, Sparky?
Oh, shut up. We're talking about one of the greatest high schoolers of all time who's now in a program regularly billed as the best college distance program. Doesn't matter what some rando poster ran. It's fair to hold Simeon to a high standard. He would probably agree with this post!
He said he's coming off a pretty bad injury on his Strava (believe he said a stress fracture/reaction). Seems like Jerry's off to a great start with his star studded recruits.
He doesn't sound like he is enjoying his time at Oregon.
Mixed read. It’s clear he’s bummed to have not raced more and he was seriously disappointed with his performance yesterday, which is going to color the whole tone of the interview.
He doesn't sound like he is enjoying his time at Oregon.
I guess you're saying this because his tone is subdued? When asked about his time on at Oregon, he literally says, "It's a lot of fun...I've really enjoyed it."
Maybe he's lying, I guess, but maybe he's a little subdued because that's how he is on camera, or maybe he just thought he was further along after injury.
What was he supposed to say if he didn't enjoy it? Don't think that would have went very well with the coaching staff/teammates if he gave an answer such as it being ok or not as good as he was expecting.
Yeah I think we can all agree Jerry has been a bad hire for Oregon
But as BTC disbanded Nike stuck by their golden boy who fought for Shelby Houlihan in the media conversations after the positive test. Nike also had dirt on U of O Robert Johnson and did a baton pass from Nike Marketing to U of O Athletic Dept. So that Jerry still gets his money, just not in the way anyone planned or foresaw. U of O was a consolation prize.