chad hall has officially transferred to uc riverside

Big Bear's Chad Hall leaves Oregon to run for UCR

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

By ALLAN STEELE

The Press-Enterprise

Former Big Bear High standout Chad Hall has committed to UC Riverside and will be eligible to run in the upcoming cross country and track and field seasons.

Hall, who won a California state cross country title and a Footlocker national championship in 2006, had spent the past year at the University of Oregon.

He finished 13th in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Western Regional meet in May.

Hall, the younger brother of Olympic marathoner Ryan Hall, was one of the most sought-after recruits in the country after winning the state individual title and leading the Bears to a team title.

Hall also finished second in the 3,200 at the state track and field championships in his junior and senior seasons.

The UCR program has been growing since moving to Division I in 2001. The Highlanders men's cross country team finished 12th at the west regionals this past fall, the program's best finish.

The men's team will look to replace seniors Raul Lara and Ulices Pina. Pina, along with Brenda Martinez from the women's team, became the first UCR runners to advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Hall redshirted at Oregon during the cross country season and will have four years of eligibility remaining. He will have three years left in track and field.

Chad needed to make this move. At Oregon, he found himself buried down in a depth chart that was unreal. He would have struggled for the next two years to make the top 7 in cross country and in track would, at best, been a 3rd or 4 best on the team. How come the Foot Locker national champ is not showing better in college? My guess is that he was near peaked out in high school. Over 100 miles per week and at altitude. That is the max (except for Gerry Lingren) for most young runners. Very little room for upping the work load. Other than name factor, I was surprise Oregon took a chance on him. Anyway, good luck Chad.

Thats terrible news.

Riverside??! Why not UCLA or CP-SLO or even USC? Then again, it's not like he was at Cal or Harvard. He's transferring from Oregon, the Arkansas of the west coast, so maybe that would limit things, academically speaking.

UC Riverside has a good coach, Irv Ray, and he'll be a great coach/mentor for Chad. The team is improving, and chad may feel he can improve under Ray's coaching style. The school is closer to his home which may be a good thing, and academically the school may have his major that Oregon didn't have.

I don't understand why collegiate runners don't shoot for universities with the best academic reputation.

Running is not a high income sport, so use that talent to secure a partial or full scholarship to a school that might give you a better start on a career.

If you have the talent, the running will be there. In fact, a school with less of a running reputation, but better academically, could take the pressure off the athlete that comes via lots of other top recruits and demanding coaches. The athlete might flourish in a relatively more laid back program.

yes, academic reputation is important. A school with a good reputation may not offer the student with the best opportunity in some situtations. I knew a guy(soccer player) who transferred from UCLA to Linfield (small school in oregon). Big change in athletics and academics, but he flourished in the smaller school and had an opportunity to play in the games. He got better grades/learnerd more, got his undergrad, and ended up going into law school. Everyone thrives in different schools regardless of reputation.

U of Oregon (along with Nike) is borderline criminal in how they recruit, how they cheat, or should I say manipulate the rules to get what they want. It is sometimes very difficult to see this when you are insulated by the system. I know first hand that German was not interested in Oregon because of the practices of Vinnie and Alberto and the entire Nike machine.

Chad is a man of God and although this way of doing business may not be criminal it certainly is not ethical. Again, THIS IS VERY DIFFICULT TO SEE WHEN YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY NIKE. Chad's brother is a high profile Asics athlete that is no longer a Nike guy (like he was at Stanford). Ryan is privy to the hypocricy that is Eugene, Nike, and U of O. As an outsider, he can shed some light on the situation to his younger brother. It is sickening to those that have been on both sides of things.

Good move wrote:

Chad needed to make this move. At Oregon, he found himself buried down in a depth chart that was unreal. He would have struggled for the next two years to make the top 7 in cross country and in track would, at best, been a 3rd or 4 best on the team. How come the Foot Locker national champ is not showing better in college? My guess is that he was near peaked out in high school. Over 100 miles per week and at altitude. That is the max (except for Gerry Lingren) for most young runners. Very little room for upping the work load. Other than name factor, I was surprise Oregon took a chance on him. Anyway, good luck Chad.

I don\'t have the times in front of me but I seem to remember Ryan Hall\'s college career being a little bumpy in the first couple years. Obviously we know how that has turned out. Could this be the case with Chad?

Ryan's career was very bumpy. About once a year he would run a good time (I believe he ran 13:45 his freshman year, and then his junior year he finished second at XC nats behind Ritz), but until his senior outdoor season, he was never able to string together any kind of consistency. The Halls are clearly a strong family unit, and both of them trained a lot in high school, so it is not surprising that the adjustment would be difficult for one or both of them. Here's hoping that Chad will flourish in an environment that is more tailored to suit his needs.

chad digs brenda. i'd transfer too. brenda is hot. the only thing is, can chad handle the academics ? the uc's are tops in the nation and don't give any slack to athletes.

Yeah, but it's UC Riverside.

You do not provide a single fact -- not one -- to support your rambling claims. You use words like "criminal", "manipulate", "not ethical", "hypocricy" and "sickening". I can use those words also. D. Trickle, you are a criminal who manipulates rules in a way that is not ethical; your hypocrisy is sickening. Now let me ask you, D. Trickle or anyone else. Do you believe me? Of course not because I am just stringing together a bunch of loaded words, without any facts. Now, why should I believe your rant? The unsubsantiated anti-Nike, anti-Oregon, anti-Salazar tirades on this board are tiresome. Oh, and WRITING IN ALL CAPS doesn't persuade me.

Even if Ray is a good coach, he is going to deal with running in a lot of smog and heat in the summer -- not the ideal environment.

UC Riverside isn't a bad school but I bet he could have gone to a school with better academics, but he probably isn't interested in that if he spouts off about God.

If I were in his position I would do the same thing. Ryan never ran well under Vin and only began to perform up to level he had shown in high school after Vin's departure. That obviously isn't going to happen anytime soon at Oregon, so he should do what he believes is best for his running career.

i love your post. thank you. oh and i am not on NIKE's payroll.

Oh I see so only men of god are ethical. For some reason the words priest and little boys are coming to mind.

D Trickle wrote:

Chad is a man of God and although this way of doing business may not be criminal it certainly is not ethical.

uc riverside is not cal or ucla, but every uc school is highly competitive to get into. my guess is that 3.6/1300-1400 is the avg. for admissions there.

obviously wants to get closer to home but on paper the move from a program with tons of great comp in practice and great meets with little travel needed is a big mistake.

Vin's no longer around to help grease Chad's admission into Stanford like he did with half of the runners who went there under his watch.