When Lanana arrives at Oregon

Hayward Field, or if you want to be technical, Stevenson Track has always been closed to the public during practice hours. There was an unwritten code that you could work out during those hours if you "belonged" and stayed out of the way. The problem was that every hack in town -- those so-called "geezer pacemakers" and their 90 second 400's -- thought that they belonged on the track, as well. They don't. Martin Smith just enforced the Stevenson Track posted rules that have always been in place.

The irony of it all, is that hardly any of those geezer pacemakers, who demand to be kowtowed to "or else," are Oregon alums.

Salazar was upset that joggers were not allowed to run during practices, he recently told the Oregon media this.

Martin Smith did enforce this rule, but it's the way he enforced it that got him a ticket out of Eugene. He once told Marla Runyan, "Get off my f--king track!"

Nice diplomacy Marty.

As for my experience in Eugene questioned here, you would be correct. I did not like living there, despite that I have relatives there and some of my family originates from the city. I found the townspeople to be rude and arrogant, I found most of the community to be unfriendly, I got tired of being panhandled on ever street corner, and the incessant rain got old.

I enjoyed tennis at the YMCA, running on the Amazon trail, and UO football and hoops. (The women there are pretty narley, too, that is unless you like hairy armpits and unshaved legs.)

Martin's pathetic treatment of non team members on University tracks began long before his arrival in Eugene...at least in Madison, he was this way, regardless if practice was taking place or not.

Martin is a very angry man. While I agree with the way he built a track team, filling all events, his treatment of people and athletes was psychotic, and not even borderline psychotic.

I heard his first meeting with his distance runners on campus, within a few months on the job (he let Dellinger coach X-C that fall) is that he got in one guy's face and said, "You run like a bad f--k."

Well, I guess Marty would know about bad f's ... but that's uncalled for. I heard stories and stories of this kind of behavior for years, only at the UO would they let it go on for 9 freaking years. He's a raging lunatic. He can recruit, but he's a psycho.

things just look different there. I've lived and run in Eugene and it's like no place else. Oregon will be Oregon, kids will set Prs there just breathing the air. The Old Duck Mafia will never take of the green glasses and that's ok by me.

Northwestrun,

You're a classic pussy. Yes, I'm sure Smith is a certifiable lunatic. Just like Bobby Knight, Joe Paterno, John Wooden, Bo Schembeckler, Vincle Lumbardi, Vin Lananna and yes, Bill Bowerman.

Losers and pussys always have and always will make similar claims about alpha leaders. Take that to the bank. You find me a strong successful leader, and I'll find you a group of pussys who claim he's a lunatic.

Actually "The Point" you're a big pussy because you're not bold enough to keep the same handle. What will it be next hour, IMG8?

Get out of mommy's basement.

Yeah, Marty's a great coach -- that's why he's unemployed right now and he's runners got worse under his watch.

Marty's sayings, "Give me your tired, your poor, your 4:10 high school milers and I'll have them running 4:20 in no time!"

That's bullshit and you know it. Smith's runners never got worse. They just didn't improve as well as they might have in another program.

Give Martin Smith a 9:10 two miler and its almost a lock he'll turn out a sub 29:00 and 13:50 runner. Give him a 9:00 kid and he'll be 13:40 in three years.

And they will always be ready to run "well" at the big meets.

The glaring lack of superstars is what I noticed. And he got a lot of studs. But I think he was afraid to pull the plug and hammer like you need to to break 13:30 and 28:00.

(He did put out a couple of bigtime steeplers, however, mainly Dobert).

But don't say he's a shitty coach becasue he's not. I think he was always paranaoid about protecting his team success and the result might have been talking guys down to lower goals who were capable of running much faster if they took more risks.

Where the hell is this big announcement that has been mentioned? Vin himself told a number of coaches at NCAA's this past week that he was not going to take the offer, so either he was lying/protecting the announcement, or he really has no interest, in which case, who is up next?

Guys ran well at big meets? Who, when, where? They would run just well enough to get fifth or sixth.

I saw Hartmann run the Pac-10's in Pullman and was bold enough to run with the leaders the whole way, then he caved in the last lap as some Stanford guys with zero speed looked like Carl Lewis going by him.

Logsdon was a freaking animal in high school, an 8:10 3,000 guy; a 3:49 1,500 guy ... he barely broke 14 minutes most of his career at Oregon. A quality coach would've had him at 13:20 and low 28's by his junior year. Dobson had less talent than Logsdon coming out of high school.

Holts and some other guys always got their nice 5th place finishes at Pac-10 and Duck fans would be all giddy.

Considering the distance legacy at UO, I'm surprised Duck fans set the bar so low. Last year's X-C team didn't even make it to nationals; and the other UO teams that did make it often bombed.

You gotta quit dipping into the mushrooms with all the Jerry Garcia wannabes in Eugene.

Lance Deal gets Britnry Henry to throw World Record in the hammer as a junior; Lananna asks if she can double back in the 800m or run a leg on the 4x4 when shes done there.

Most great coaches are a little crazy. Martin was and is a great coach.

Das Neves was from San Diego... helix if im not mistaken... which is about 45 minutes from my house.

Martin "won't coach f@cking Californians!"

Northwestrun, you have been reading too much of bellamy's writings. Please at least be honest. The TRACK and FEILD program was in shambles when Smith took over. It is now one of the elite teeams in the nation.

Only a few coaches in the nation have coached as many all-american distance runners as Smith during his time at Oregon. He did this will ALSAL poisoning the well and then complaining because there was no water.

Smith has coached national championship teams and individuals. In both men and women. What other coaches in the nation can claim that?

If you want to say that a vocal group og eugeniacs wanted to see him gone even before he arrived. You would be correct. If you want to say that You did not like the way he did things fine that is your opinion.

BUt if you try to claim that Martin Smith is not one of the Grewatest coaches in track and feild then evidence and facts mean NOTHING to you.

..........

nice revival

Interesting to look back on this conversation, I remember seeing this argument over and over again a few years ago. Well, Lanana finishd fifth last year (matched Martin's highest finish at oregn) and looks to probably finish higher this year. Meanwhile Martin won the Big 12 title in track during his second year, proving once again he's one of the best track and field coaches in the nation. Northwest run certainly had an interesting point, he hated both the Eugene fans, and Martin Smith. He must be a really hateful person. Despite this, as far as I could see he was kind of right, the fault for martin's failure lay in both camps. The Eugene faithful never liked him, Salazar did poison the well and then complain about the lack of water, but Martin just refused to play the game. Now, the game is silly, but he's an intelligent man and should have realized that it was an important part of being head coach in Eugene. Also in the end, both people got what they wanted. Lananna will fill the program with distance runners as he has been, the cross country team will continue to thrive and the track team will slowly loose ground with a few exceptions, and Martin is in a place where they will let him run the program however he wants with little to no interference, Oklahoma will soon be a track power and cross country power.