Nick Willis

I know this is an open forum and people are free to state their opinion, etc. but there comes a point where people who make ignorant and unfounded statements about a person need to be corrected.

In the case of Nick Willis, the guy has been called a cheat, etc. Which are pretty major accustations. There have been numerous posts talking about an agent, contracts, etc.

Here are some ACTUAL facts:

A) In regards to an agent. Willis has not EVER had an agent. I know for a fact he is actually signing a contract this week and that particular marketing firm will announce that at that time. He has NEVER signed anything for anyone ever until now. He made it very clear publicly after the 2004 Olympics that he was going to run for the University of Michigan for one more year (2004-05) before turning professional (which is now). He is staying in Ann Arbor to finish his degree next year though.

B) The two newspaper articles stating he had an agent were New Zealand papers, both of which didn't state the process that the NCAA works through when an athlete in ANY sport is searching for an agent (because frankly no one outside of the US cares about the NCAA). There was once even an article where NZ legend John Walker said his friend Ray Flynn (agent and former world class miler) said something like "Willis has a lot of potential" and the next thing you know people were saying that Flynn must be Willis's agent.

C) I have worked within the NCAA system and know the NCAA rules. It is 100% legal to contact any outside marketing firm on your own while completing your elegibility to start comtemplating who you could sign with as a representative. This is no different then FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, BASEBALL, etc. or any other TRACK athlete (Spearmon, Clement, Ritz, etc.) who signed after their college season to turn professional.

D) Lastly, to anyone else who questions these statements, who do you think the University of Michigan, Ron Warhurst, Nick Willis, the marketing firms, NCAA, etc. are? All of these people are accutely aware of the boundaries that they function under and trust me they are under close scrutiny at all times. There is no way they would ever put themselves in a situation to jeopardize others or the system they represent. The NCAA has already investigated these alligations and verified there has never been any wrong-doing on anyones behalf in these circumstances. There were even witnesses to the interview in which Willis was misquoted and they were questioned.

I am not sure why Nick draws as much attention as he does from these boards accept for the fact that he is a talented middle-distance runner who is good at what he does like A LOT of other people in various facets of life. But I guess that when people try to build you up and put you in the spotlight, the also seek to tear you down.

Willis is a stand up guy with class, a lot of talent, works hard and does the hard yards needed to be good. Anyone who knows anything about him will tell you the same thing.

End of story.

I like to eat pickles.

Clear the air wrote:

Here are some ACTUAL facts:

B) The two newspaper articles stating he had an agent were New Zealand papers, both of which didn't state the process that the NCAA works through when an athlete in ANY sport is searching for an agent (because frankly no one outside of the US cares about the NCAA). There was once even an article where NZ legend John Walker said his friend Ray Flynn (agent and former world class miler) said something like "Willis has a lot of potential" and the next thing you know people were saying that Flynn must be Willis's agent.

"The market is very strong at the moment and there are three of four companies that my agent has been talking to. I'm not sure which one it will be, I'll just find out when I cross the finish line on Saturday."

That seems like a direct quote. Did the reporter get it wrong? The link to last summers article was broken, but I recall it saying that Walker said Flynn was managing Willis for the Europe stuff, and that is why people started asking the questions. Everyone thinks Willis has a lot of potential, just Walker saying it is enough, why bring in Flynn to the conversation. Whether the NZ press understands the NCAA rules is not relevant, they are just quoting people.

I have no reason to bust Willis' balls, just pointing out people have been reading.

Here is a link to last summer:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=505501&thread=505494

zubrek,

all is not as it seems.

I totally agree. Willis has an agent, no one is that surprised, except people keep trying to deny. I live in a town that has big time D1 sports, has a lot of minority, urban males on the roster, yet the parking lot is filled with nice cars of these same student-athletes. I can do the math.

Follow the money

well, that wasn't what i was alluding to, but at any rate Willis is a fine athlete and will do well.

::yawn::

phillies are playing some hot baseball

Willis lives in the basement of a crappy house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which he shares with a bunch of other guys on the track team. He doesn't have a car and just bought his first computer, three years after he started college. You can believe what you want about Willis, but the truth is that you are just like the majority of people on this board who speculate on matters about which they have no first hand information.

What are you alluding to? I have no hidden agenda, and I am not trying to judge Willis in anyway. From everything I have read he seems like a good guy. And the few times I have been able to see him race, he really looks like he has the goods to be something special.

Believe me, I know how track guys live in college. You just described how I lived many moons ago in college, and on about the same amount of money! But that does not preclude him from having an agent. No one has said that he has been getting money, cars, women, etc.

This is my input.

1) Willis is a super nice kid, grounded, modest and quite frankly the BEST 1500m runner in the NCAA is years (considering his age and pb's)

2) In a time were we all know there are NCAA athletes doping, and getting SPECIAL academic help... why focus on such a small thing.

3) Why is it that Rupp can actually train and run as a pro for an entire year.. but then you guys want to make a big point with Willis?

I was sweet seeing this guy run in the NCAA. I am glad he moved up and went to Michigan so that all the "ahters" wont keep pulling the webb crap and think warhurst isnt a good coach.

Testimonies

“The Past, the Present and the Future” - Nick Willis, a man on a mission!

Nick Willis (#2642) races at the

2004 Olympics in Athens.

The small island nation of New Zealand is about the size of two-thirds the state of California and has a population of less then four million people. Yet throughout their sporting history, the country has produced some of the best middle and long distance runners of all-time.

Runners like John Walker, Rod Dixon, Dick Quax, John Davies, Peter Snell, Murray Halberg, Richard Taylor, Peter O’ Donoghue, John Campbell and Jack Foster have either held world records, or else won Olympic, World Championship or Commonwealth Games medals in their respective events in track and cross country. Per capita, New Zealand has produced more sub-4:00 milers then any other country in the world (29 different men have broken the sub-4:00 barrier). Probably the most recognizable of these men is John Walker. In 1975 he became the first man in history to break the 3:50 barrier for the mile, also an Olympic champion over 1500m, as well as the first man to record over 100 sub-4:00 miles to his credit.

The mile has always been an event of worldwide interest. The 4:00 mile barrier is one of those events in sports that most people have some interest in. Dating back to May 6, 1954, when the UK’s Roger Bannister became the first man to go under 4:00 for the mile (3:59.4), it has always been seen as a formidable barrier to be challenged. The mile itself is a simple race to grasp, a common unit of measurement and a race short enough to hold the attention of spectators, yet long enough to require an amazing blend of strength and speed to compete at the highest levels. Ask any distance runner what the most common question the average man on the street asks them when they find out they are a serious runner and it’s usually something like, “What can you run a mile in and have you ever run a marathon?” We’ll save the marathon for another day, but as you can already see, this article is going to be about a miler, a very talented world-class miler in fact.

His name? Nick Willis. So where does young Nick Willis fit into the picture of the world’s greatest milers today? To understand Nick Willis, you need to know Nick Willis. Willis, who just recently turned 22, has already experienced a lifetime of battles in his sport, which have matured him beyond his years. The native of Lower Hutt, New Zealand is a man on a mission. His mission is simply to serve God and use the gift of running he has been given as a platform to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others.

Willis has already climbed past many of the legendary names of the New Zealand runners listed at the beginning of this article. Early in the winter of 2004, Willis set an NCAA indoor record of 7:44.90 for 3000m at the Adidas Boston Indoor Games. The race was only Willis’ second of the year and it came against a star-studded field including Ethiopia’s legendary Haile Gebrselassie, who was attempting an assault on the indoor 3000m world record. During the summer of 2004, Willis recorded the second fastest 1500m and mile times in New Zealand history (3:32.64 and 3:53.51), second only to John Walker’s national records. He also ran a 1:45.54 for 800m meters, which was only a second outside of former New Zealand Olympic champion Peter Snell’s national record. Last summer, Willis went head-to-head with the best in the world, racing around the globe in his preparations for the 2004 Athens Olympics Games. In Rome, Willis beat-out the current world record holder and Olympic champion over 1500m, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco. Willis’ time placed him a scant four-tenths of a second behind John Walker’s all-time personal best, which on the day it was run broke the existing world record.

To see Willis running at full flight is something any coach can appreciate. He is a rare bird indeed. His top-end raw sprint speed isn’t mind-boggling, but his speed-endurance is incredible. To watch Willis run, he looks the most comfortable when cranking out 60 second laps. Many people have commented that he looks like a man running a 5:00 minute mile when he is running under 4:00 pace. His efficiency is almost mechanical. If you observed Willis running along easy with a group of runners knocking out a long run, he wouldn’t stand out particularly except that he is a bit more of a forefoot striker. Willis is not a small runner either at 6’1” and 150 pounds. He is a strength runner who can also hold his own in cross-country as well, having represented New Zealand at the World Cross Country Championships. His overall range is what makes him such a good runner with the ability to compete on the track at any distance from 800m through 5,000m if needed. His natural racing instincts are one of his greatest assets, as well as his ability to focus on the task at hand and demand an extreme effort from himself when needed most.

Willis is also the youngest New Zealander ever to break 4:00 for a mile. His first sub-four (3:58.15) came during the 2003 indoor track season while competing in the famed Meyo Mile at the University of Notre Dame. At that time, Nick was still under 20 years of age. Prior to that, while still living in New Zealand in 2002, Willis had run a 4:01 mile and then went on that year to place fourth in the finals of the 1500m at the 2002 World Junior Championships before going to the University of Michigan in August of 2002.

Once in Athens, Willis held his own as one of the youngest competitors of the Games when he qualified out of his first round heat into the semi-finals of the 1500m. While competing in the semi-finals, Willis came agonizingly close to making the finals, missing the cut by less then two-tenths of a second in a blanket finish. It was a tactical race that ended with him recording a blazing 1:48 split over the final 800m. Willis had no reason to hang his head though. At just 21, he had already proven he could compete with the best in the world and there would be a bright future ahead of him in the years to come.

So where is Nick Willis now and what is he doing? Well, I suppose you could say Nick is not your typical world-class athlete. Actually, he is a student at the University of Michigan in the United States. Nick lives in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan where he shares an old home just off the campus with three other students. Well, actually Willis lives in the basement of the old home. His floor is concrete, his walls are brick and his ceiling is covered in various pipes. Willis doesn’t own a computer, a car or a television set. Not only is Willis unlike your typical American college student, he lives nowhere near the lifestyle of what one would expect of a world-class Olympian. But don’t let that fool you. Nick is an astute student of the sport and very up to date on his track and field history, especially in the middle distances. He knows where he ranks amidst the best men ever to run in his event and he doesn’t take that honor lightly.

But maybe that’s part of what makes Nick Willis a popular runner to cheer for. He’s almost an anti-celebrity, despite the fact that most people on the streets of New Zealand recognize his name. In the United States, the media, especially in the college running world, has closely covered his college running career. Again, it all goes back to Willis’ character, who he is, where he comes from and what his priorities in life are. Part of this interest also stems from his availability to the public. He’s an English-speaking fellow competing against the best in the world over a historic racing distance, which has been dominated in recent years by athletes from Africa. Simply put, people are drawn to Willis out of curiosity, not just runners, just average people and that’s the way he likes it.

The word “simple” would describe Nick Willis’ lifestyle well. He’s quick with a smile, good on the guitar, handy with a golf club and passionate when speaking to others about God’s love for them and discussing the Bible. Mostly, he’s just an average guy that can run pretty fast and has a desire to enjoy the life God has given him to the fullest. In some ways, he could be considered a modern day Eric Liddell (the main character in the movie “Chariots of Fire”) with a keen focus on developing solid friendships with people from around the world.

Nick grew up as the youngest of three children to Richard and Rosalie Willis. Nick’s older brother Steve (exactly eight years older to the day) was also a sub-4:00 miler himself. Having recorded personal bests of 3:59, 3:40, 2:22 and 1:48 over the mile, 1500m, 1000m and 800m distances, Steve also went to college in the United States on a running scholarship where he won an NCAA II National Championship over 1500m while at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. Steve also competed on various New Zealand national teams until he had his career cut short by a major knee injury. In between Steve and Nick age-wise is their sister Mieke. She also had talent as a runner growing up and still competes in ultra-distance races today. Both Steve and Mieke are now teachers as well as active in various ministries back in New Zealand. Steve was the founder of Ignite Sport, an athletic ministry sponsored by Youth for Christ and also coaches many young runners in the Hutt Valley today. Steve is married to the former Caro Hunt, herself a former New Zealand sprint champion and now the director of Ignite Sport.

When Nick was 4, Mieke 8 and Steve 12, their mother Rosalie passed away from cancer. Their father Richard, along with their Aunt Gil, and with the support of many others, raised the family until Richard remarried years later (to Penelope and they now have two young daughters Ruby and Harriet). While growing up, Nick and the family spent a lot of time around the track and cross-country running scene in New Zealand. Obviously, having an older brother like Steve helped blaze a trail for Nick to follow, but Nick was still a man who walked to the beat of his own drummer as he sorted through his own life.

Nick shared, “Throughout my life, I have been cared for and blessed with amazing opportunities. Before my mother died, she had peace knowing that the Lord would care for her children and they would do great things in His name one day. Seventeen years later, I am seeing her prayers being answered to amazing accuracy through my brother, sister, and my own situation. It hasn't been a smooth ride, but there is no denying the Lord's presence through all of our lives. The amazing gift of running God has entrusted to me just blows me away. The things that the Lord allows my legs to do is my witness to the plans he has laid out for me.”

During my trips to New Zealand over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to get to know Nicks’s former coach Don Dalgliesh. Don has been involved in the New Zealand track and cross-country scene for decades. He has coached hundreds of youngsters, many of which have gone on to be among New Zealand’s best runners. Don has known Nick and his family for many years, having coached Nick’s older brother Steve as well. Don coached Nick primarily from ages 14 through 19 before Nick matriculated to the United States to attend school at the University of Michigan. I asked Don to share some of his thoughts about Nick and here’s what he had to say:

“I would think that the people who had the greatest influence on Nick while growing up would be his father, Richard and his brother, Steve. Obviously, the loss of his mother early in his life would also have had a great effect.

I became involved with Nick when he started school at Hutt Valley High School, but he had already had success at athletics before I started working with him. He had held titles in our Colgate Games, which are for children, aged 7 to 14, at distances ranging from 200m to 1500m. In fact, Nick still holds the 7-year record for 200m at the Wellington Children’s Champs. He was already pushing the limits even then, as in children’s events, you can’t run the 800m until you are 10 years old, but Nick was sneaking into 800's when he was only 8 years old. Until I started working with Nick, he had not undertaken an organized training program. So at 14 years of age, Richard asked me to set a speed-work routine for Nick. I asked him what he had been doing, and he said 200's and 300's. So I asked him what times he had been running for 300m and he said about 45 seconds. So the first session I set him up was 6 x 300m at 48 seconds with three minutes rest. The result was as follows: 1st rep 45s, 2nd rep 47s, 3rd rep 49s, 4th rep 52s, 5th rep 55s, 6th rep DNS (did not start). Not the most promising start. But in later years, we often referred back to this session, just to keep Nick's feet firmly on the ground. In these days, Nick did not run cross-country seriously, but played rugby and fitted in some cross-country races, usually when he thought he could win.

So our first assignment was the New Zealand Secondary Schools Track Championships at age 14, competing in the Under-16 age group. The 800m had three rounds in two days, with a heat about 6:00 pm on Saturday, semi-final at 10:00 am on Sunday and final at 2:00 pm on Sunday. Nick ran 2:09 in the heat to qualify for the semi, which was a PB (personal best). He then ran 2:09 in the semi to qualify for the final, and he almost walked the last 50m as he was in an automatic qualifying position, which had us thinking that he could run well under 2:09 in the final. However, he ran 2:09 again in the final, as his lack of conditioning came back to haunt him. At this stage, we had only been working together for about eight weeks. At the next year’s championships, we decided to run the 1500m, as this event only has two rounds, heats at 10:00 am on Saturday and final at 3:00 pm on Sunday, and Nick's lack of background work would not be such a factor. At this stage, Nick would have been lucky to average 30km (19 miles) per week in training. He qualified easily in his heat, and won the final quite comfortably in 4:12. We liked to include one 3000m race in Nick's racing each year, and the week after winning the 1500m title, Nick ran against the 2nd place-getter in the 3000m, and beat him in a time about 10 seconds faster than the other athlete had run at the previous weeks’ championships.

During this year, Nick had competed in the Secondary Schools 4km Cross-Country Championships. He had studied the previous years results, and the entries for this year’s race, and had noted that only one boy who had beaten him the previous year was still in the same grade for this year, so Nick reasoned that if he beat this boy, he should win. Don’t forget these races have a field of about 250 athletes. So from the start, the two of them went at it, hammer and tongs, with the obvious result. By the time they had reached halfway, they had both shot their bolt, and were rapidly receding back through the field. Nick managed to rally a little and recovered to finish 9th. A good learning experience!! All the time, we were developing Nick's awareness of what we were doing, and why we were doing it, so that Nick became educated as to the impact of his training on his racing and vice versa.

The next year Nick turned 16 years of age, and moved into the senior category for Secondary Schools events, and we stayed with the 1500m as he was still playing rugby in winter. The following year, Nick came to me and said that he was giving up playing rugby, as he had now realized that to compete at the highest level on the track, he needed the background strength provided by cross-country. This was the start of an outstanding year, in which he won four Athletics NZ titles, 8000m cross-country, 8000m road racing, 800m and 1500m. He also won the 800m and 1500m double at New Zealand Secondary Schools, with the finals only one hour apart, and also ran a 4:01 mile that year. He also broke the NZ record Under-18 for 800m twice. So what had changed?

Firstly, he had his first full cross-country season behind him, secondly we had upped his weekly mileage to about 50km (31 miles) per week, and thirdly Nick's self-belief had become much stronger. He now had considerable input into the structure of his training regime, and was rapidly expanding his knowledge of all things athletic. During the next year (2002), he won the NZ Under-20 3000m title, qualified for the World Junior Champs in Jamaica and decided to take up a scholarship at Michigan. Quite a year!!!! By this time, Nick was planning his own training and racing schedule and was now reaching 75km (47 miles) a week in training. At the start of this year, he produced for me his planned training and racing program. We sat down and went through it, and we only changed two training sessions. That’s an athlete who knows what works for him and when to do it. I was lucky enough to be able to travel to Jamaica with Nick and was able to watch his performances there. There were two rounds for the 1500m, with two days between the heats and the final. Conditions were not ideal for distance running at 30 plus degrees Centigrade (86 plus degrees Fahrenheit) and 70% humidity!!

In the first round, Nick ran near the front and concentrated on finishing in the top four automatic qualifying positions from his heat, and seemed to qualify comfortably. But after he finished, he struggled to get enough oxygen into his lungs, and after being treated by the medical staff, was carried from the arena on a stretcher. It took him several hours to recover, and it seemed that he would have difficulty in being ready for the final. We sat down and went through everything very carefully and came to the conclusion that the problem had been that Nick's body temperature had risen so high that his body had started to shut down. So on the day of the final, when Nick started his warm-up, he was wearing an ice-jacket, and all throughout his warm-up, we were continuously applying ice to his arms and legs and head, and even when he went out onto the track, he still had a chunk of ice, which he was rubbing on his body, and this was not discarded until the start of the race. Nick had planned his splits and was able to run the splits he wanted while staying at the back of the field, and right on the pole line. With 300m to go, the field fanned out, and Nick was able to slip up along the pole line, and again as the field entered the final straight, they fanned out again, and gave Nick a dream run along the pole line to finish 4th, in a PB of 3:42, with the best placing by a Kiwi at World Juniors in the 1500m. He was the first non-African runner home while beating both Kenyans and being the one athlete who was not lying flat on his back after the race. What a turnaround in two days!!!!!

After Jamaica, Nick took up the scholarship at Michigan and moved to the States. There are many things I could say about Nick and why he is so good, but I could not begin to verbalize all of those thoughts. Nick was the ideal athlete to coach, always thinking about what he was doing and why he was doing it. He became very astute in recognizing the signals his body was giving him, and in interpreting those signals. He instinctively knew when to call it quits in a training session, when doing more would only result in damage.

I will share a final memory with you about Nick. When Nick was 15, he was selected to run in the Pacific Schools Champs in Australia. Only problem was that this meeting was in the first week of May, and the Hutt Rec track (a grass track) is only marked out until the middle of March. So we approached the groundskeeper to mark out a training track for us. Since the Hutt Rec is marked out for rugby from beginning of April, we had to settle for him marking 50m, 100m, 200m and 300m in the area behind the scoreboard, starting at the northern end of the ground and proceeding in a straight line to the southern end. Unfortunately, there was only 250 meters from one end of the grounds to the other, so to get to 300m,we had to do a right angle turn by the south fence and go another 50m along the fence. So 200m reps were done in a straight line and 300m reps were straight for 250m then a right angle turn and another 50m. In addition, the weather was not good during April and the lasting memory I have of Nick's preparation for this event was standing at the Rec, in pouring rain, on grass which was two inches long and soaking wet, timing Nick doing a session of 300m reps, when I could hardly see him start, and watching him trying to navigate the right angle turn along the south fence. Of course, in mid-April, 5:00 pm is nearly fully dark, but Nick was there, still running the times set, in the most difficult conditions you could ever imagine, and not a word of complaint. That’s what I will always remember!!!!”

As most who have followed the sport know, Nick has accumulated his fair share of successes for the University of Michigan. He has won NCAA Championships, Big 10 Conference titles, set NCAA and school records and has been named a multiple-time NCAA All-American, not to mention twice being named the Penn Relays Male Athlete of the year. In terms of competing at the college level in the United States, few have done what Willis has during his three years at Michigan. But Nick will tell you that running is simply the vehicle that the Lord used to bring him to Michigan. It was in the fall of 2003 when Willis made the decision to completely surrender his life to the Lord and commit his life to Jesus Christ and live “full-on” for God! From that day on running has taken on a whole new meaning to Willis and his passion is no longer to just chase titles and fast times, but instead to seek out every opportunity to glorify God and share his testimony through the platform God has given him.

Willis is very active in Athletes in Action and Campus Crusade for Christ on the University of Michigan campus. Nick also co-leads a weekly Bible study at his home for a handful of athletes and, of course, it doesn’t take much to talk him into strumming up some praise and worship songs on his guitar.

The University of Michigan AIA director is Bruce Dishnow. Bruce has known Nick since 2003, when he started meeting with him weekly for discipleship and accountability. Bruce commented: “As soon as Nick became a believer, his relationship with Christ has been very real. Like every one else he has some ups and downs in his journey of faith, but his heart is sincere and vision is clear of desiring God to have first place in all areas of his life. The Holy Spirit quickly began to use the Scriptures to shape and change his views and lifestyle. I’ve seen Nick apply his faith in areas of everyday living: girlfriend, friends, running, injury, etc., trusting God to work all things together for good. He has a real heart to help others, especially desiring them to come to know the grace of God through Christ. Nick is a person of integrity and a straightforward communicator, so’ what you see is what you have’. When Nick thinks something is important, he goes after it with a whole heart. The Lord has captured Nick’s heart and so Nick is running with a whole heart with Him.”

So what is Nick Willis up to now while heading into his last collegiate season of outdoor track at the University of Michigan? Currently, you will find him training in preparation for this August’s World Track and Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Willis is currently over 80% through with completing his economics degree at Michigan and plans on remaining based in Ann Arbor after he has completed his degree, except for short stints back home in New Zealand and overseas to compete in Europe during the summers. 2006 will also bring a special opportunity to represent New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games next March in Melbourne, Australia.

But going to school and running are just part of Nick Willis’ life. Actually, neither are his top priorities. Sure he takes his running very seriously, but he will be the first to tell you that he is a Christian who happens to be a runner, not a runner who just happens to be a Christian.

Willis said, “This season has been just awesome, and I feel so blessed to be able to run this season following my injury in the fall. To be honest I didn’t really expect to be running indoors, but the Lord has been good, and it just blows my mind that he has allowed me to get back into shape so quickly. I am just out there to have fun now, and I have a completely different perspective towards the sport then earlier in my career. Those two months away from running really helped me get a grasp of what’s important in life, and I realized that running had become an obsession and a responsibility rather than just enjoying the God given gifts I had been blessed with.”

“I am still a baby learning all the ways to trust in His guidance, but I have every belief that God will use me to his highest degree, so long as I allow Him to. Whether it is though my training, racing, work or friendships, I pray that He will use the life I have been blessed with to honor and cherish the grace He has shown me and to help others seek out the Lord Jesus Christ.”

There is no doubt the Lord has a plan for this man’s life as He does for all of us. Time will tell what the Lord has in store for Nick, but seeing him on the medal stand would sure be great!

I am glad he moved up and went to Michigan so that all the "ahters" wont keep pulling the webb crap and think warhurst isnt a good coach.

or Andrew Ellerton who's improved about 3 seconds in the 800 since being there, and a gazillion seconds in the mile.

I just think the point people are making is that it does seem clear cut that he broke the rules. No ones saying they think it's worse then using drugs, or whatever. Nicks always been a stand up guy, but it does seem for whatever reason they broke the rules on this one. I'm glad nothings came of it, and look forward to what he does. But it doesn't change the situation. Whether the guy is a really nice guy shouldn't matter unfortunatly.

Zubrek -- you believe everything you read? I'm a journalist and I sure as hell don't. You don't think there's a chance he was misquoted? Whether he was or wasn't he's a great runner.

"you believe everything you read?" No, that is just

foolish.

"You don't think there's a chance he was misquoted?" Sure.

Do you think there is a chance he did have an agent? And, if he did, would you be all that surprised by it?

"I just think the point people are making is that it does seem clear cut that he broke the rules. No ones saying they think it's worse then using drugs, or whatever. Nicks always been a stand up guy, but it does seem for whatever reason they broke the rules on this one."

The situation has already been investigated by the NCAA. If Michigan or Willis had broken the rules, they would have been reprimanded or sanctioned in some way by the NCAA. A quote that is put in a newspaper article does not constitute evidence of wrong doing precisely because it can not be proved that the alleged statement was actually made. In this case, the newspapers have misquoted both Nick Willis and John Walker in regards to Nick's affiliation with an agent. Obviously the NCAA puts no stock in these newspaper quotes, because they have concluded that the University of Michigan and Nick Willis have not broken any rules. Those are the facts of the matter, and everything else is just speculation.

yes, mee too