Pushed out of Oregon for Jerry, seemingly passed over by Nike for a pro group with that hollow OTC reboot, why is this guy not on a six-figure Nike contract?
What would he need to do to get Nike funding? Make Cole Hocker run 3:23?
Ben Thomas is a much better coach than Mike Smith, clearly. But Nike wanted this pro group to be at altitude.
Pretty short sited move by Nike when a Ben Thomas pro group could still do stints at altitude. They are picking the lesser coach but both pro groups would end up spending the same amount of time at altitude anyway.
Honestly, have no idea why a Nike group in Blacksburg would be a bad thing.
1) It's BEAUTIFUL there, athletes would love to train almost year-round.
2) As the last post mentioned, could easily do altitude stints. This could be Nike's Mid-D 800-5000 group, and Smith's NAU-Elite could be the 1500-Marathon.
3) East Coast expansion. All these Nike pro groups are out on the West Coast, not such a bad thing to have Cole Hocker swing by Boston a few times a year, or have Cooper Teare run a time trial in DC. Spreads out the nationwide brand.
Honestly, have no idea why a Nike group in Blacksburg would be a bad thing.
1) It's BEAUTIFUL there, athletes would love to train almost year-round.
2) As the last post mentioned, could easily do altitude stints. This could be Nike's Mid-D 800-5000 group, and Smith's NAU-Elite could be the 1500-Marathon.
3) East Coast expansion. All these Nike pro groups are out on the West Coast, not such a bad thing to have Cole Hocker swing by Boston a few times a year, or have Cooper Teare run a time trial in DC. Spreads out the nationwide brand.
This is clever. Scrap BTC, let Jerry focus on Oregon, scrap Union (obvious reasons.) Athletics East with Ben Thomas, Athletics West (reboot) with Smith: unified brand & easy to understand.
College athletes out of have three choices Smith (threshold focus), Thomas (hills/speed/tempo), or stay with their college coach.
Reboot the HS border clash, and make the two pro groups run an exhibition once a year at the end of their fall base block. Done and dusted.
This is clever. Scrap BTC, let Jerry focus on Oregon, scrap Union (obvious reasons.) Athletics East with Ben Thomas, Athletics West (reboot) with Smith: unified brand & easy to understand.
College athletes out of have three choices Smith (threshold focus), Thomas (hills/speed/tempo), or stay with their college coach.
Reboot the HS border clash, and make the two pro groups run an exhibition once a year at the end of their fall base block. Done and dusted.
Thomas has success with one athlete. Have you ever spoken to the man? It’s being nice saying he’s strange. This man can’t coach a real group. Good for him for having success with Cole, but most people don’t want to be coached by him
Can't imagine any Ben Thomas group wouldn't have Cole Hocker & Teare after this year. I think riding off a very successful U.S. men's distance olympics, Nike would be wise to rebrand their pro group to signify a new era.
There's no way Union Athletics generates more than 7$ in value.
lol "one guy" didn't he have half the Oregon roster sub-4, kept Aiden Tooker healthy which is harder than climbing Everest, and turned Teare into a 3:50 guy/NCAA champ at 22?
If you look at the SOVA posts they have Yacine Guermali at 3:40/13:28 (Gonzaga, Philippines) and Aiden Tooker 8:29 Steeple. Wisner posted that he retired after the trials, not sure if anyone else trains with them.
If you look at the SOVA posts they have Yacine Guermali at 3:40/13:28 (Gonzaga, Philippines) and Aiden Tooker 8:29 Steeple. Wisner posted that he retired after the trials, not sure if anyone else trains with them.
Rachel McArthur is also in the group (kind of comes packages with Teare) but it is pretty thin outside of those guys. I think a lot of that New Gen crew from Oregon has moved on from running, like Reed Brown, Mestler, Carter Christman, and those guys. It would be cool if they could get some of those guys back or get a comeback out of Charlie Hunter but it seems like Cole and Cooper are doing all right without the full crew from the glory days.
Matt Wisner improved every year under Ben Thomas. Wisner decided to retire tho because ain’t no one sponsoring that fool lol.
Not sure if he coaches him still but Jackson Mestler, steeplechase runner, is somehow sponsored by ASICS.
Also coached Rachel McArthur to US road mile championship and she PR’d every single event after not competing for 1 or 2 years. Sponsored by ASICS as well.
Lot of positives are coming from Ben Thomas. He knows how to coach, no matter the background.
Ben Thomas is a very quiet unassuming guy which may be why he doesn't get a lot of accolades, hates tooting his own horn but the dude can coach. His first college coaching gig was App State where he coached Mary Jane Harrelson to two NCAA 1500m titles (their only ncaa champion ever), then VA Tech with many all Americans (11) and the ncaa indoor DMR title there, then to Oregon w Hocker, Teare and another DMR NCAA record. everywhere he has gone there have been really good results. He just isn't the guy who would ever tell you so.