Salazar is formally coaching Mary Cain

Im pumped for this development because this girl is the future of female distance running in America, but when I was reading the article I was enraged by the absurdity of how difficult it is to get a top notch talent and a top notch coach together. The Cain family has to pay Alberto a collegiate coaches rate, pay for all of her travel expenses, and pay for all of her race fees, just so she doesn't lose eligibility. If the Cain family wasn't independently wealthy, this arrangement would be impossible. It just seems like the ridiculous NCAA regulations are hurting American athletes by preventing top notch young athletes from working with top notch coaches.

Good move, imo.

Alberto coached Mary Slaney. BUSTED.

Alberto coaches Mary Cain. TO BE CONTINUED.

He shoulda gone with Sarah Baxter.

Um, how do you think teenage figure skater, gymnasts, tennis phenoms do it?

This is wonderful. One thing American runners often lack that greats of the past (Ovett, Coe, etc.) and present often had and have was a single coach who helped them develop from childhood/teen athletes to adults...

gringo wrote:

Alberto coached Mary Slaney. BUSTED.

Alberto coaches Mary Cain. TO BE CONTINUED.

Victor Conte announces he started working with Aberto Salazar (minute 19:40) when he first started in the drugs business... good luck Mary, if you know what you're getting yourself into...

Do you ever wonder why most professional gymnasts, figure skaters, and tennis players come from independently wealthy families? We are preventing a large majority of talent in America from getting the coaching they need to become world beaters

on a split. wrote:

Do you ever wonder why most professional gymnasts, figure skaters, and tennis players come from independently wealthy families? We are preventing a large majority of talent in America from getting the coaching they need to become world beaters

We aren't preventing anything She obviously can work with Salazar and is. Other phenoms can as well.

Article indicates entry into NYRR Dash to the Finish Line 5-K. Is this true (seems like a big step up from HS XC)?

That was informative...thanks for the link.

What does Salazar know about racing? Middle distance track is a contact sport. What can he bring to the table when it comes to improving Cain's raw speed? Her 400 PR is 55.5h, which equates to 55.74 FAT. Not bad for a high school middle distance runner, but not bad is not good enough. It was unimpressive at the Olympic Trials. Other than that, this seems like a good move for Mary Cain -- just as Ajee' Wilson's deferral of enrolling in Florida State was. In Wilson and Cain we have two major young talents.

ColdAssHonky wrote:

on a split. wrote:

Im pumped for this development because this girl is the future of female distance running in America, but when I was reading the article I was enraged by the absurdity of how difficult it is to get a top notch talent and a top notch coach together. The Cain family has to pay Alberto a collegiate coaches rate, pay for all of her travel expenses, and pay for all of her race fees, just so she doesn't lose eligibility. If the Cain family wasn't independently wealthy, this arrangement would be impossible. It just seems like the ridiculous NCAA regulations are hurting American athletes by preventing top notch young athletes from working with top notch coaches.

+1

The NCAA is not hurting anyone. No one is forcing Cain to run in the NCAA. It's not even necessary to participate in the NCAA for someone as good as she is.

goran wrote:

gringo wrote:

Alberto coached Mary Slaney. BUSTED.

Alberto coaches Mary Cain. TO BE CONTINUED.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iWIhMG4woI&feature=youtu.be

Victor Conte announces he started working with Aberto Salazar (minute 19:40) when he first started in the drugs business... good luck Mary, if you know what you're getting yourself into...

You are an idiot. He even states that until 2000, all the work he did with athletes was legit with no performance enhancing drugs. He has nothing to lose in that interview. Get your facts straight bucko.

Right over your head...

Jerome Kopf wrote:

What does Salazar know about racing? Middle distance track is a contact sport. What can he bring to the table when it comes to improving Cain's raw speed? Her 400 PR is 55.5h, which equates to 55.74 FAT. Not bad for a high school middle distance runner, but not bad is not good enough. It was unimpressive at the Olympic Trials. Other than that, this seems like a good move for Mary Cain -- just as Ajee' Wilson's deferral of enrolling in Florida State was. In Wilson and Cain we have two major young talents.

If she's working with Salazar, then she's going to be going 1500/5k, not 800/1500, and 55 is an adequate time for a 5k runner. I worry more about his ability to work with young women. Mary Decker and Caitlin Chock are the only two young elite women I can remember him working with. They both had issues independent of his coaching, but I'm not sure his obsessiveness helped the situation. Hopefully, Mary is more stable than those two.

Guess Epic Journey is right. Mary Cain is transitioning to 1500/5K.

Cain is 16. I wish she would stay with 800/1500 for now. If Cain were not capable of running the best high school 800 ever, I might think well of this move by her. Jim Mitchell thought she could run a sub-2 800 in high school. I do too. I do not think Cain is as good as Sara Baxter in the 5K, and Baxter will not be competitive against Kenyans. We'll see. Next spring I would rather see Cain run high school 400s. What I am getting around to thinking is a good 400 or 800 meter coach would be better for Cain than Salazar. I fear Mary Cain is on The Bridge To Nowhere, and would rather she hook up with Ajee' Wilson's coach. Either that or have Dr. Cain find out who Lance Roller's coach was when he was in high school and contact her. Mary Cain does not need a marque coach such as Salazar.

Quite honestly I am not sure if this is so good and here's why:

1. Alberto does not have a good history coaching women.

2. He is cherry picking the American Jr. Record holder. She better be good!!!

3. Missing out on the college experience. It's medal or fail.

Here's the good though...

Some coaches have proven they can take the 4:20 HS boy miler and turn them into elite sub 4 guys (I.e. Gary Towne), Alberto has shown he can take that elite runner to the top. Yes, Cain is elite as was Rupp.

With Nike's backing you can't turn this down right? I just hope a Lance Armstrong scandal isn't uncovered 10 years from now.

I suspect the appeal of Salazar is not just the marquee name - it is several things. I imagine Alberto emphasizing these things:

1) I was an elite junior and way overcooked things. I can keep MC from reaching for too much too soon.

2) I emphasize full person development. His athletes seem universally good people - Dathan, Kara, Galen, Mo - these are people with good lifestyles and worthy of emulation.

3) I brought Rupp up from HS in just this same way.

those three things explain much of why a parent would trust the guy.

Sure, you can point out that he has not done much with women and that he has no record of 1500 meter runners doing well. But overall, I suspect the Cains liked how Alberto approaches sport and life.