People don't really want Salazar caught.

I have always admired Coach Salazar and all his athletes, and Rupp is my favorite athlete, period, in track. However, as a coach, I want the truth to come out, whatever that truth may be. Endless speculation helps no one.

I expect Rupp will retire if the hammer comes down. I always thought Salazar was grooming him to take over NOP. Not sure what Rupp would do if coaching NOP was not possible because it would likely be disbanded.

Retired Rupp wrote:

I expect Rupp will retire if the hammer comes down. I always thought Salazar was grooming him to take over NOP. Not sure what Rupp would do if coaching NOP was not possible because it would likely be disbanded.

If Nike drops NOP, they will drop Bowerman TC as well. CLEAN HOUSE. Jerry has been a finger pointer for years but if you think he doesn't utilize the same lab at Nike headquarters you are nuts. Besides Nike will not be happy when they find out everything that Jerry has shared with the investigation.

Salazar owns the Oregon Project. It is the Nike Oregon Project as a naming agreement with Nike.

A Florida Coach wrote:

I have always admired Coach Salazar and all his athletes, and Rupp is my favorite athlete, period, in track. However, as a coach, I want the truth to come out, whatever that truth may be. Endless speculation helps no one.

Well said.

I don't know if I "admire" Salazar now - I liked him a lot in his running prime when I was a kid, but he seems kind of sleazy now. However, I do like watching a lot of his athletes. I also would want the truth to come out no matter what. I don't understand why any fan of the sport would not.

It would be devastating for track, which already has dismal interest levels in the US/Canada. The distractions with mixed gender in international competition is bad enough. It's starting to look like a clown show.

Retired Rupp wrote:

I always thought Salazar was grooming him

Yeah.

By "people" you mean usatf and IAAF people? Yes.

Them too. But as I said before. If Salazar goes then almost all go down including Hansons, Wetmore and Amy Yoder who are all working for our sport today. For sure BTC will be done.

I don't know how devastating it would be for track, really. This could just be my own outlook coaching high school, but for us it's all about the high school and college game. My athletes admire Rupp, Centro, et al, but it's something of a moot point aside from the Olympics—it just doesn't impact what we're doing daily and I think (hope at least) the hero worship isn't at the level NFL and NBA athletes garner. I try to push my athletes to admire their most-expectional peers like Tyrese Cooper more than older pros, for that matter.

In any case, I would just like to see someone get to the bottom of all this. David Epstein's article still haunts me: I don't want to believe it, but all the same I trust him, I trust Steve Magness. If we could get to the bottom of it, that would be useful to seal this chapter one way or the other and very helpful for hs-level athletes. I would like those who are going on to college careers to believe there is a level playing field.

Hmm. Why do you say Wetmore and Hansons would go down?

Normalcy Idiocy wrote:

They say they do but they don't. It goes far deeper than just Rupp and Farah.

Do you want Gouchers to be outed as cheats?

How will this change your thoughts about Wetmore letting them return?

What about Ritz?

The greatest HS runner ever is a cheat?

What about Amy Yoder?

She is currently in charge of Atlanta Track Club. Would they allow a proven drug cheat to continue as their coach.

What about DAN Browne?

The WCAP would not look proudly of a drug cheat in charge.

The list goes on and on. Chad Johnson and Hansons and so on and so on.

I like the way you think. It would open up a pandora's box but ultimately I don't agree with your conclusion.

1) Wetmore, it wouldn't change my attitude at all. How would he know what's going on? And let's say hypothetica that he is busted, it certainly doesn't mean everyone on the team was on the 'A' team and dirty. We've already seen in the emails that Salazar shares some things only with Rupp as they are so good.

2) As for Ritz, yes, it would raise questions about his 12:56 for sure but maybe the ageing star needed to get another contract and put food on the table. In the end, he left and refused to wear the NOP singlet when racing out of Michigan.

3) Dan Browne? It wouldn't change my opinion at all as well. Clearly Salazar was at a minimum trying to do it clean at some point. Why would I think a 27:45 type was dirty. I wouldn't.

OK, I'm getting tired.

rojo wrote:

Dan Browne? It wouldn't change my opinion at all as well. Clearly Salazar was at a minimum trying to do it clean at some point. Why would I think a 27:45 type was dirty. I wouldn't.

Everyone has forgotten what a huge failure the Oregon Project 1.0 was. Many on here probably don't even realize it existed pre-Rupp. Browne was really the only one to accomplish anything (made 2004 Olympic team in 10k and marathon but not even close to sniffing a medal).

I trust Steve

You are ridiculous.

You trust a man that admits to doping himself. Whether you think Alberto is guilty or not we know Magness is. He is most certainly not one of the good guys. He should most certainly lose his job.

Nike OP wrote:

Salazar owns the Oregon Project. It is the Nike Oregon Project as a naming agreement with Nike.

So Salazar owns the on campus medical lab? If Salazar goes down then Nike has huge legal exposure. Things are getting interesting now.

Interesting as never heard about hansons etc

Looking at the big picture, maybe it is best every bit of dirtiness is exposed and have all the major players be disgraced (not just Salazar, if deserving, but anyone involved from Nike, anyone involved, linked, or even associated with testing corruption, etc). What will it take to lead to a house-cleaning at the governing bodies? Only when everything is destroyed can it be rebuilt. Right now there are so many allegations across so many events/people/countries/agencies it's hard to watch any performance and not at least question whether the winner is legit or not. I don't want to believe that maintaining a super high level of skepticism across the board has to continue to forever.

Normalcy Idiocy wrote:

They say they do but they don't. It goes far deeper than just Rupp and Farah.

Do you want Gouchers to be outed as cheats?

How will this change your thoughts about Wetmore letting them return?

What about Ritz?

The greatest HS runner ever is a cheat?

What about Amy Yoder?

She is currently in charge of Atlanta Track Club. Would they allow a proven drug cheat to continue as their coach.

What about DAN Browne?

The WCAP would not look proudly of a drug cheat in charge.

The list goes on and on. Chad Johnson and Hansons and so on and so on.

Speak for yourself. I want all cheaters to go down.

Burn it down and rebuild from the ground up if we have to.

Too Big To Fail.

They will be charged, but after Galen's done. And it will be a slap on the wrist. No medals will be given back. It will all be washed under the rug.