Post MSU wrote:
MSU runners have a history of running better after they leave the program. Going further back, there were Herb Lindsay, Doug Kurtis, Mark Mesler and others.
Herb Lindsay was extremely successful during his years at MSU and holds several school records, and I believe, won several Big Ten titles. Clearly he dominated on the roads shortly after leaving MSU, but that's probably due to his continued maturity and work ethic afterward, not a sad comment on his time in E. Lansing.
Stan Mavis may have done better after his years at State, but his years there were not a complete waste.
Mark Messler quit the program due to Coach Gibbard. I won't bother to detail how Gibb destroyed distance running at MSU as it is too frustrating. But Messler won the Las Vegas Marathon during his junior(?) year at State, took substantial prize money there, and never looked back.
I'm pretty sure Doug Kurtis did not go to State. I've never heard him mentioned as going there.