Jonathan Gault's story about the race in which Chris Solinsky ran 26:59 has some interesting tidbits about Alberto Salazar. Basically, Salazar wanted Rupp to (a) win and (b) get the American Record. He was worried that one of the rabbits--a guy named Daniel Salel--might beat Rupp. Salel was hired to rabbit the race by Jerry Schumaker, so Salazar leaned on Schumaker to force Salel to drop out of the race after completing his rabbitting duties:
"Salazar and his assistant, Oregon Project high performance director Darren Treasure, were concerned Salel could beat Rupp, so before the race, Treasure told Schumacher to tell Salel he was not allowed to finish."
In other words, Salazar any potential threat removed.
Solinksy's agent must have gotten the message. Before the race, he instructed Salel: "You can finish the race, but make sure you don’t trip Rupp. In fact, don’t go anywhere near Rupp." God forbid someone try to run in the vicinity of Nike's golden goose.
Then, after the race, Salazar was butt-hurt because Solinksy won the race, according to Evan Jager:
“The way I remember it is that Alberto was under the assumption that Jerry knew the whole time that Chris was gonna beat Galen and he had felt deceived that Jerry didn’t tell him such,” Jager says.
So, all in all, it's a very unattractive portrait of Salazar. A few caveats:
1) I don't know how much of this is true. There are two sides to every story, and I find it a little hard to believe that any adult--let alone a respected coach--would act in the manner being described here. I would like to hear Salazar's side.
2) I don't hold any of this against Rupp.