1:47.67 HSer Josh Hoey turns pro - Thoughts?

Dr. Nira Cain-N'Degeocello wrote:

rojo wrote:

My thoughts?

This is disgusting and what's wrong with modern society. Honestly, that's what I'm thinking now.

You oversee a message board that is unquestionably a blight on the running community given how you operate it. (The rest of the site is great.) Whether you do this primarily for cash or for other reasons is irrelevant, because it's safe to say you don't have a meaningful idea of what "disgusting and wrong with modern society" even looks like.

But you are here.

Such a privilege to be a 800m runner with speed

Before going to bed every night say a prayer: “Oh God almighty

Oh God almighty

May I be given the fruit of the holy bum

To not be a bum” ( Psalm 93738.89)

God told me to go pro & psychologist ain’t sayin i schizo so Lets roll and give it a go

world’s only been around 5,000 years and Hoey was the chosen one say Jesus to me last night

MAKe america great and Rep Philadelphia!!!!

"I wasn't being a journalist. I literaly was giving you my stream of conscious thoughts. "

Stop.

Also, I'm all for college, but let's stop pretending that an Oregon degree is some life changing accomplishment. The kid can go to community college or take some online classes in the meantime and be just as well off in comparison.

Hall- Stanford scholarship

Wheating- Oregon scholarship

Acosta- Oregon scholarship

Granville- UCLA scholarship

Webb- pro

Solinsky-scholarship

Ritz- scholarship

Jennings-scholarship

Jennings is the most successful out of the group. What about the others? Scholarships don’t guarantee success after running.

3ringcircus wrote:

I was told this weekend, that 80K/year is actually the contract amount that he was given, from a reliable source. College wouldn't have been a good fit, Hoeys seem only concerned with the Hoeys.

Who should they be concerned about and how would that impact this decision?

When is Letsrun going to release their article on pro contract amounts?

This is risk management for both parties.

From the perspective of Adidas: If Hoey were to go to college and have a great career, Adidas wouldn’t have a shot at signing him. They figure it’s better to sign him now and have him locked in than to wait and see what happens and risk losing him.

From Hoey’s perspective: There is a chance that Hoey goes to college and fails to improve or gets injured. In that case, his market value goes to zero. Better to make the money now while it’s a sure thing than to gamble on what will happen over the next four years.

risk management wrote:

This is risk management for both parties.

From the perspective of Adidas: If Hoey were to go to college and have a great career, Adidas wouldn’t have a shot at signing him. They figure it’s better to sign him now and have him locked in than to wait and see what happens and risk losing him.

From Hoey’s perspective: There is a chance that Hoey goes to college and fails to improve or gets injured. In that case, his market value goes to zero. Better to make the money now while it’s a sure thing than to gamble on what will happen over the next four years.

Except that he could go to college somewhere for free and be all set afterwards to get a job, where now, if he fails, he may not have even made enough profit to cover the cost of a full college education.

How long before all these pro contracts jump the shark. It's not going to increase interest in the sport among non-runners nor attendance at meets. I doubt it will change peoples minds about what shoes to buy. I don't see the big picture

3ringcircus wrote:

I was told this weekend, that 80K/year is actually the contract amount that he was given, from a reliable source. College wouldn't have been a good fit, Hoeys seem only concerned with the Hoeys.

Why would a reliable source tell you? Also was the reliable source just making up numbers and you believed them. I just don't see what Addidas gets out of signing him. He has been training like a pro for the last four years. Ran pro meets instead of indoor states to set HS record. I agree with you in colleges would not be a good fit. His brother has been at two in two years. Where is he now ?

Except no one gets full scholarships anymore. Can anyone confirm what programs give full scholarships? Oregon doesn’t.

why is everyone on here assuming he will not get an education? he could very well be doing college and adidas paying for it, but not have to worry about full credit hours, classing conflicting with practice time, having to do cross, indoor and outdoor and then try for the summer track season.

and in light of all the EPO going on my bett is korir and surini slow down to 1:44 lows

I wonder how this will affect him down the road. His times are clearly top notch for a HS kid and still pretty good for a college kid at the elite level. But the difference from him vs another HS kid is that he has been running a more "pro" schedule already. Instead of racing at state meets and invitationals he went to pro/college meets to get dragged to some faster times.

While this worked as a HS kid it won't help him really develop. He might (probably will) lower his PR and it might be significantly lowered but he will be missing out on the opportunity to develop those tactical skills he might need to win races or navigate tactical prelims.

Looking back at the US champs this past year I wonder the same thing about Drew Hunters development. He looked like he ran a pretty good race until the last lap he looked every bit the HSer who skipped college when he ran a tactically poor race and took himself out of contention.

College is no longer a necessity, so I don't have an issue with that. Go into trades, or take a coding class. Jobs are there, and nobody cares if you went to a D1.

But, Lukas. And Drew. Just saying.

College track and field for HS elite such as Hoey:

Positives

1. Team experience

2. Cross country

3. Degree paid for

4. Athletic department backing

5. Tactical racing experience

6. Less lonely than pro training

7. Girls team

8. Lifetime loyalty to alma matter (could be a negative)

Negatives

1. Stuck in NCAA/conference meaningless competitions (minus nationals)

2. Running for very few fans

3. Can't make money

4. Team will inevitably pull down potential of a 1:47 HS athlete

5. Team drama

6. College class stressors/party life etc

7. Stuck with college coach

8. Team doesn't support you post season

9. Team doesn't care about your individual success (probably most important on list)

ROJENO wrote:

Rojo, you hypocrite. What is your website's motto again? "Where your dreams become reality."

Unless you're this kid, right? When he eschews the tried and true route to chase his dream you respond with:

"...This is disgusting and what's wrong with modern society."

Why, because you peaked in college and miss the good old days? Or because, as you stated, you think the $ is too little to be worth it?

Money is relative- who is to say that "a WNBA salary" (as you put it) isn't life-changing to him?

And please, for the love of God, brush up on your NCAA knowledge before you talk about it being good for all athletes and sports.

+100[/quote]

The college best four years mindset is why some many graduate with a pile of debt, no job prospects, a dependence on alcohol, and a miserable outlook on life.

m!ndweak wrote:why is everyone on here assuming he will not get an education? he could very well be doing college and adidas paying for it, but not have to worry about full credit hours, classing conflicting with practice time, having to do cross, indoor and outdoor and then try for the summer track season.

and in light of all the EPO going on my bett is korir and surini slow down to 1:44 lows

You obviously didn't see my earlier post about Adidas paying for his education. I'm hoping that Adidas is paying for his education.

Also a lot of people were assuming that he was getting a 100% scholarship. We don't know that for sure. Very few if any athletes get a 100% scholarship. Most are getting somewhere between 25% to 70% and some even less than 25% in all the non-revenue sports. (Football & Basketball is a different case) Time will tell if he made the right decision or not.

tn track fan wrote:

Wish him the best, but obviously huge leap from high school to pro. Must of got a nice contract.

Look, I know people hate the grammar police around here, but come on. "Must OF?" How utterly stupid does a person have to be not to know that the correct word is HAVE, not OF? Why do people insist on spelling words the way they sound instead of spelling them correctly?

This is all I want to know: Since it was a "God given opportunity," how did God get the word to Adidas, the Mission Athletics Club and Terrence Mahon that they had a Divine Mandate to participate in Hoey's professional career? Were there stone tablets involved? Angels at the foot of someone's bed? Instructions revealed on a burnt piece of toast? Inquiring minds want to know!