German Fernandez seen walking around Nike Corp in Beaverton.

Yeah...looks and charm. That goes a long way...when you are a used car salesman I guess. Gotta love the notion that education is unimportant...ya know make sure that the US only has 1/3 of the population with a college degree...that way we will be super well off for years to come. We can all run, like in Kenya and Ethiopia...b/c everyone wants to live there. Why do you think running is so popular???

He will finish college because he wants at least one collegiate record. As far as where he finishes is a different story.

MikeM wrote:

Yeah...looks and charm. That goes a long way...when you are a used car salesman I guess. Gotta love the notion that education is unimportant...ya know make sure that the US only has 1/3 of the population with a college degree...that way we will be super well off for years to come. We can all run, like in Kenya and Ethiopia...b/c everyone wants to live there. Why do you think running is so popular???

Ever hear of sarcasm?

Why is this on the front page! Seriously, this hasn't been independently verified. Brojo Journalism at work again.

I said this in the track and field news forum that he should go pro.He is far superior than all of college runners and has nothing to prove at that level.

NJGuy wrote:

Why is this on the front page! Seriously, this hasn't been independently verified. Brojo Journalism at work again.

It's a link to the (free-for-all that is the letsrun) message board, not an article with the "LRC" tag, thus there are different standards. They're just pointing you to something they think you might find interesting, not telling you that it's true.

What's with this recent kick of criticizing the Brojos' journalistic standards/integrity? Think of this web-site as a blog (but a good one--waaaay more often than not the stuff that people criticize the Brojos' for writing or linking to because it's unverified turns out to be right. I think that's why most of us come to this site.), not a stodgy newsgathering organization which checks and re-checks.

Come on you Oregon elites, somebody must have some info on what he is doing around here?

MikeM wrote:

Yeah...looks and charm. That goes a long way...when you are a used car salesman I guess. Gotta love the notion that education is unimportant...ya know make sure that the US only has 1/3 of the population with a college degree...that way we will be super well off for years to come. We can all run, like in Kenya and Ethiopia...b/c everyone wants to live there. Why do you think running is so popular???

Yeah, it's not like our percentage of citizens with college graduates isn't top 5 in the world or anything like that, with two of the three nations ahead of us being nations the size of one of our states.

Having 1/3 of the population with college degrees in a nation this large is an amazing thing, not to mention the amount of poverty there is in this country for us to still boast collegiate numbers that high is amazing.

PDubbs wrote: It's likely that the new 5k jr record holder may have more impressive races in his near future. I think this is why webb got such a big initial contract and while he isn't on webb's level in both regards, half of webb's contract is 125,00 a year. That doesn't seem too unrealistic.

What are you talking about? GF has exceeded Webb's impressive races by a land slide, and he's not coming off a crappy year like Webb was when he signed the contract.

So why post something showing we are on the decline? This isn't showing that we are well off...especially since a lot of our college graduates are choosing less and less rigorous degrees (ie very few science graduates) Also, one deceiving point here is a lot of other nation's HS programs are as rigorous as some of our college programs. Many international students come to the US University systems only to duplicate what they have already done in their home nations. Being a person with graduate degrees in math and econ a typical statement made by a lot of international students was that they had already covered a large portion of the material previously. So the statistic is misleading. Also, since it is a German thread about going early...I will stick to the point. He should get a college degree. After finishing with running it is highly unlikely he will be 'set for life.' If he finishes with a degree his post running earnings along with what he earns from running would make him well off...but recall he is from CA. So after living there for 3 yrs....he needs all the $$ he can get. Cool that he might have an opportunity to go pro though. If he gets on with a coach that thinks long-term he should be fine. Sometimes after running becomes more than a pursuit and then becomes ones vocation many have stagnated. I hope he has good results.

PDubbs wrote:

I'm not claiming to be an expert on how nike sets up their contracts, but it seems reasonable to me that Nike would pay Fernandez more for two reasons. One might be bigger name recognition ( hard to know without knowing your 3:35 guy),]. Second is locking him up for a few years and hoping he begins to reach his potential. It's likely that the new 5k jr record holder may have more impressive races in his near future. I think this is why webb got such a big initial contract and while he isn't on webb's level in both regards, half of webb's contract is 125,00 a year. That doesn't seem too unrealistic.

i'd add a third possible reason: he's mexican, and i'm sure having german would attract a large latino demographic to nike. given the fact that latinos are the largest growing group in america, i'm sure nike wants to provide shoes to some of those people. i know i'd buy some air GF's.

PDubbs wrote:I'm not claiming to be an expert on how nike sets up their contracts, but it seems reasonable to me that Nike would pay Fernandez more for two reasons. One might be bigger name recognition ( hard to know without knowing your 3:35 guy),]. Second is locking him up for a few years and hoping he begins to reach his potential. It's likely that the new 5k jr record holder may have more impressive races in his near future. I think this is why webb got such a big initial contract and while he isn't on webb's level in both regards, half of webb's contract is 125,00 a year. That doesn't seem too unrealistic.

First, there is no 3:35 1500 runner worth as much as German Fernandez. Lomong and Manzano are both probably faster than that now, and yet neither has generated the level of excitement that Fernandez has.

Second, mark my words, Fernandez will sign a contract worth closer to twice Webb's than to half of Webb's. Yes, closer to $500K/yr than to $125K/yr. They're not hiring him to be a regional sales manager, they're hiring him to be the face of the industry.

You need to be aware that once he will have signed with Nike the excitement will be gone. Nike know it as well I hope. He needs to get under 13mn to maiximize his potential.

One of the first points made in the article is how the US system isn't declining as much as other nations are doing better.

I agree that our college systems should be more rigorous, and that many liberal arts degrees don't have the kind of practicality that the sciences do.

I also agree that for German specifically, a degree would be far more valuable to him than any extra hype he'd get from going pro early.

Panic Attack wrote:

I'd be willing to take wagers from all comers. I'll give 2:1 odds that German is going to go pro within the next 90 days.

I will take your odds, $50 says he stays for over 90 days.

webby wrote:

Lomong and Manzano are both probably faster than that now, and yet neither has generated the level of excitement that Fernandez has.

They haven't?? Realize that Fernandez' excitement so far is just within the very small community of obsessed distance runners. In the publics eye, breaking that HS two mile record was not as prestigious as breaking the HS mile record, so he wasn't on Letterman as a high school student.

Lomong, however, they milked for everything he was worth with his whole lost boy story. The public knows who he is from Beijing, or at least they did for a few weeks. He doesn't ever need to improve, but just keep making national teams, and he's very marketable.

The public has never even heard of Fernandez.

Fernandez' excitement and future marketability all depends on the potential performances he puts up over the next 3-5 years. If he run 12:5x, then he's marketable with hype. If he runs 13:15, then he's just one of about 10-15 Americans in that range.

In a few years, when he's one of Nike's poster boys, it'll be be because of what he's done since the summer of 2009, not what he did before.

Meanwhile, Lomong just has to make the team, or even the national final, and he's good for a 2 minute piece 'up close' on TV every time he races. And if he actually starts winning something and starts making funny gestures like Bolt or airplaning like Abdi, that could be spun into some great PR for Nike.

He should definitely sign with Nike and go train with Jerry. Teg, Solinsky, Jager, Fernandez, Riley, Bairu... how could any situation in the US be better then that?

And he can still take classes. Webb took classes. I assume Jager takes classes. He can take 6-7 years to graduate and fit in a class schedule around his training and racing.

Taking kids straight after their 1st year of collegiate running and putting them in groups like this is what will bring US distance running ahead. Why after the 1st year? Its a good transition year where guys like German, Jager, etc, can up their training intensity and load without trying to hang with guys like Teg. After the 1st year, then they should be better prepared to hang on for dear life, and by their second year out (what would be junior year of college), they should be rolling.

Go pro. Only difference, is that instead of running and going to school, your running and going to school in a Corvette.

Besides, if he doesn't get a degree, he can always fall back on our soon be socialist country.

Webb ran 3:53 in high school, signed pro after a failed stint at Michigan.

Rupp finished college and hasn't turned pro yet. I'd much rather be in Rupp's position than Webb's.

The same for Fernandez. He will be in a much better position after finishing his college career. If he got $500,000 now it would be gone in five years.