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Skolly wrote:

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asdadfsdfsdf wrote:

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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.

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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.

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

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Star wrote:

I think this could be a pretty good thing.
We don't know all of the details.

For one, I think San Diego would be a good area for year round training.
Nice weather all of the time.
No problem finding hills.

He has a good coach and agent.

The college thing is unknown but if Adidas picks up his education costs, it would be smart to at least go to school part time.
It's also nice to not deal with dumb NCAA rules.

It looks like he is a miler in the making. He may have potential to make the 2020 Olympic team in the 1500m if his talent is raw and he responds well to training. But 2024 would be his prime.

Colleges are cutting programs and reducing track scholarships all over the country.
This may be the future to save the sport in the US.

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tn track fan wrote:

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

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Holy Communication Batman! wrote:

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!

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Predictor wrote:

I was initially skeptical of the decision. But giving up a $25K scholarship which still would have cost the family another $25k per year, for an $80k salary makes good financial sense. I know very little about him or his family so I am assuming that they did some soul searching and the decision had more to do with non-financials which actually made it a win-win.

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Muddler wrote:

For the price, college is way overrated and the majority should not be there. This is from someone with a masters degree in a real subject. Anyway, even if he was offered a full scholarship, there are a lot of ancillary costs such as over inflated room and board, books etc. Then he would most likely have to deal with a burn out coach who will threaten to pull the scholarship at the first sign of injury or weakness.

Did you really need a degree to run this website? I sure hope not. It seems that this kid made a good choice for him and he can still go to college if he wants to on his own terms. No one is stopping him .... (except perhaps for the astronomical costs).

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ex-runner wrote:

In the modern world having a degree is pretty much required for a white collar job.

Do you really think that a few years of a failed athletics career will be better than having a degree, for someone with no work experience to get a job?

Need a backup plan in any avenue, especially one as risky as sport. Even Dinah Asher-Smith who is right up there on the world stage got herself a good education first and foremost. It's a piece of paper that many jobs won't consider you without.

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aging wrote:

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ex-runner wrote:

In the modern world having a degree is pretty much required for a white collar job.

Do you really think that a few years of a failed athletics career will be better than having a degree, for someone with no work experience to get a job?

Need a backup plan in any avenue, especially one as risky as sport. Even Dinah Asher-Smith who is right up there on the world stage got herself a good education first and foremost. It's a piece of paper that many jobs won't consider you without.

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Degree means very little. Differentiable Skills gets you hired.

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ex-runner wrote:

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polarbear wrote:

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rojo wrote:

My thoughts?

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

When I first saw it, I was like, "Is this a joke?"

A 1:47 guy goes pro. Why? Why wouldn't you want to go to college - it's the best 4 years of your life? Why would adidas want to sponsor a 1:47 guy?

I've never believed that the NCAA is bad for athletes whether it's football, basketball or track. College gives you reasonable goals. Now this guy can get his head beat in until he runs 1:44 and is relevant.

The only thing that makes me think this isn't the dumbest thing ever is he's got Terrence Mahon as a coach and Wetmore as an agent. I respect both of those guys. But the idea that the shoe companies need to pay people to go pro early pisses me off. I love college track. Let them be good there, develop a brand and then go pro.

And I also think 800 guys can be some of the hardest to develop. Now he's decent at xc right (just looked it up 7th fastest at PA state xc meet) so he's probably not a pure speed guy which is good. Actually, I just did some more research and he ran a 4:11 mile as a sophomore. Won Millrose mile this year. Ok, I'm feeling better than I initially was. If a pure 800 1:47 guy went pro, I'd be going crazy. I still don't like it. I just dont' think the point of modern society should be to maximize earnings and don't think we should be having guys go pro for a WNBA salary.

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More power to him.

It's this wierd american mind set that in certain sports (basketball, football, track and field) that the NCAA is the "natural" way of developing young athletes.

And so tell me the proud alma maters of Bekele, Rudisha, Coe, Ovett, Bolt?

European soccer and basketball players are on the professional track by early adolescence. There's no "one and done" debate in that system. For some reason NCAA folks have this entitled sense that athletes should be in their system before they go pro.

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Well Coe went to Loughborough which has a better Athletics pedigree than most American universities could wish for. He got a degree in economics or business.
Rudisha went to school at St Patrick's with Brother Colm and was given an education whilst being coached by perhaps the best set up for developing distance athletes that exists on Earth. Leaving high school he had run 1:44 and was World u20 Champ.

Bekele likely didn't get the opportunity to go to university. So many Africans would take that opportunity if given it.

Bolt had already run 19.9 by time he was this kids age. World Junior champion and record holder. Totally different. He was good enough to win senior medals already.

A 15 year old boy ran 1:47 in the UK this year. It's not a pro time.

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