Smith is back, Sooner win first Big 12 title

track fan wrote:

can't keep a good man down, Martin Smith delivers Sooners their first Big 12 title after only two years there...great job coach Smith!

Absolutely, those guys can look forward to a nice 3 hour "praise" session on Monday to "review" the highlights. Hopefully it won't run to long so they have to skip practice.

Gotta agree with the poster. Martin Smith is brilliant and he can coach...just let him coach and make the Nike brats stay away and he is fine. Can't wait to see MS at Sacramento in a few weeks. I personally want to shake his hand and congratulate him for being more genuine than the kind of corporate people that Nike idiots chum up to.

I'm sure the Nike Brats were crying without him with their Pac 10 title this weekend. Everyone has people they hate or love. It depends on whether they mesh well. Personally i would think that Martin was a dick, but it works for him and some of his athletes. They like it. Others would hate his iron fist style that in the opinion of folks up in Eugene was killing track town. Martin is great for Norman. No one cares about track there so he can do whatever he wants.

Oregon won Pac10 the way alum thought they were "supposed" to win - distances etc.

While he may be an unpleasant character (I have no idea), MS's results and methods at OR and OK show how you win consistently - sprinters (who can be in 3-4 finals), jumpers (often in running events as well) and throwers. All of these atheltes will often have a scholarship from another sport w/ deeper pockets. The pressure is on to WIN, with limited resources. Distance runners are not the way to accomplish this.

If anything, managing distance runners is much more difficult - a bunch of headcase frootloops who do not perform half the time. When was the last time you heard of a "headcase" sprinter? The whole point of sprint prepartion *is* execution, so when it comes to racetime, you are much more certain your athletes will perform.

Lets see who scores more points at NCs this year - that will be the real test.

If we average total NC points for the next 5 years (2007-2011), I would wager a reasonable amount ($10k) of money that OK will outscore OR.

you obviously don't coach, Sprinters are notoriously Headcases!

i wouldn't count on the corporate nike guys (who still give smith money) or smith when the times got tough. neither are "genuine" unless that means back stabbing then you would be accurate.

Oregon Supporter of Smith wrote:

Gotta agree with the poster. Martin Smith is brilliant and he can coach...just let him coach and make the Nike brats stay away and he is fine. Can't wait to see MS at Sacramento in a few weeks. I personally want to shake his hand and congratulate him for being more genuine than the kind of corporate people that Nike idiots chum up to.

Look at the pot calling the kettle black.

Those of you Oregon people that still feel the ned to bash Smith. You asre petty and small people. Here is my advice

GEt OVER IT.

You won you got Smith out. OK won they got Smith and WON a conference title. Smith Won... while at Oregon and now at Ok.

Can't any of you just let it be and wish Smith and Ok the best? If you are a small person it is time to grow up!!!

I just want to see Martin in those beautiful green tights again. Who cares about Track & Field, we want the green tights back!

Go Ducks!

tomc wrote:

you obviously don't coach, Sprinters are notoriously Headcases!

This is absolutely true.

My Favorite Martin wrote:

I just want to see Martin in those beautiful green tights again. Who cares about Track & Field, we want the green tights back!

Go Ducks!

Can I get a knees long jacket with some kermit legs hanging out the bottom? Can I get a story of one lunged runnin and a "you aint no goooood, an you knooooooow it!"

Can I get Bobby Knight and Martin Smith in the same room with a bottle of vodka, a couple tabs of acid, and 10 hour time limit to complete the game of Risk with the understanding that whoever wins will be forever known as the best coach in the midwest? And to make it real interesting, can I get some clipboard and garbage cans in the room for projectiles?

Go Smith, Go Smith, it's your birthday!

Beautiful post. Couldn't have said it better (although sprinters can be headcases too or pull up 'lame' when they're losing).

Fair post. Are you a distance runner? Would you care to wager NCAA Cross?

I would guess that he probably would not want to wager NCAA cross country. But it's not really a fair competition. Vin was gifted Galen Rupp, Shadrack Kiptoo, and a few other pretty good distance runners. Smith, on the other hand, was gifted a bunch of guys that couldn't win a state high school meet as a team. Vin had a slight head start. Now, Vin has also recruited better in the distances since he got to Oregon than Smith has at Oklahoma, but Vin is also going to have a lot more money to invest in distance runners. So, neither is a very fair bet, Oklahoma will play the game of winning at track, and doing well in cross, while Oregon will try to win in cross, and do well in track, both will accomplish their goals.

So who won the 1500m? The results don't show up for this race.

Oregon, Salazar and Nike blow goats

Way to go, Martin. I hope you and Renee are well and enjoying success "sooner" than expecxted.

Oh swell, the "whiners" are back. I sure hope wherever you are now, proabably at the Nike Hdqtrs, that you feel good about yourself. Never mind that you were taking the taxpayer's money, yet never knew your "qualifying" times, didn't wanna run in the bad weather, couldn't handle being told the truth and generally enjoyed hung around for some adulation for being on the Oregon team. Nevermind that you never laid out anything on the track if it was uncomfortable...nevermind that you always believed what your mommy had to say about being so perfect...nevermind that you couldn't handle the truth when Martin laid it on you. Whimps and whiners like you will eventually get what you deserve.

Bull. In "the opinion of the folks in Eugene". What an outrageous statement. True some Eugene whimps didn't like Smith because he was his own man and didn't give a crap about "the way it has always been done here". True also that many Eugene folks genuinely liked Martin, his wry sense of humor and his coaching genius. Fine, the Nike, ass kissers won out. Martin landed on his feet, has done miracles and is happy. The old time Oregon Martin haters got Vin. Vin does the same stuff that Martin tried to do, Vin just does it with the wool pulled over their blinded eyes.