woah wrote:
how often does a school get like...8 all americans, not even the dukies get that for hoops...
In 1997 Vin did the same thing at Stanford.
He brought in:
-Jamie Gifford (2x FL finalist, 9:00, 3:52)
-Isaac Hawkins (2x FL Finalist, 4:07/8:58 state meet double, 8:56 for 2nd at Nats in the 2mile)
-Jonathon Riley (3:43, National Champ indoors- Mile/2mile, 2x FL)
-Gabe Jennings (4:02, 2xFL, etc)
There were 3-4 more HS Studs whos names escape me. That particular year only about 15% made it through his system, but such is the way of The Vin. Two that happened to thrive under (that year) him were NCaa Champs and went on to represent the US at either the Oly or WC.
He can also afford to burn through them because this isnt a one time thing. The year before this class he brought in Stember (and others- Murley, a 3x FL guy and others...) and the next year Andy Powell (and about 10 other AA types).
Stember, Jennings, Riley and Powell were probably 4 of the 5 (Karie) best HS milers in 10+ years and Vin took 3 of them and turned them into studs.
Powell (the 4th) ran 3:40.5 as a true frosh but had injury problems for the rest of his career.
I expect a similar scenerio at UofO where a small percentage thrive but those that do go to greater heights than 95% of HS stars.