Jayzus!!! Many of the folks on this thread need to spend more time running and less time talking!
Bottom line: no one owes us a four-minute mile, so quit griping like we are being cheated if an athlete/coach indicates they would rather do it in a competitive race than in a set-up race.
Furthermore, the coach saying he was already a sub-4 type sounds like an honest statement about his physical condition. “He's a 4:02 miler, nothing more, nothing less,” except that if you’ve ever seen a fast mile race, you’d know there are different types of 4:02s. A 4:02 on an evenly-paced effort behind rabbits is a lot different from a 4:02 run in a tactical situation like this: 61.5, 62.0, 60.1, 58.4. Do you remember his 1:59 last 880y at New Balance Indoor? Or his 26 second finish in the Brooks 2M? Or his 1:58.1 closer at the USATF Junior meet?
It may be arguable, but I think a sane person could make the case that he was in sub-4 shape last season and we would have seen it HAD he been in a set-up race.
So let’s just chill. If you’re old enough, have a beer. We may see sub-4 indoors, we may see it outdoors, we may see it after he goes to Stanford, or we may never see it. No need to be attacking his coach and calling names. They’re doing a pretty damn good job.