ryan foreman
Read my post. I didn't say Nike didn't like him. Just that I don't think they feel he is cut out to run a whole track club the way Nike demands it should. I have no doubt that Nike would love to retain Salazar to coach Rupp and probably Centro. Continue to give him all the resources Nike has and perhaps advise other coaches. Its just a matter of taking Salazar for what he is. He is a great coach and visionary in some ways. But he doesn't have the required temperament to build up trust with lots of new athletes. I think that has been demonstrated multiple times over.
People need to realize that Salazar is crazy. Literally. His obsessiveness is off the charts. Everything you have ever heard about NOP makes sense when you accept that.
Its great in some ways. But he is blind to the art of establishing trust with athletes that any coach needs to have. Rupp and Centro are unique. Rupp built a relationship with Salazar as a young kid. His parents were involved and it was before NOP ever existed. Centro has a dad who happens to be good, long time friends with Salazar. Because of those unique situations their relationship with Salazar works. Other athletes like Farah and Ritz have worked well with Salazar but only out of sheer maturity and drive to succeed. And even then it seems they end up having an arms length relationship with Salazar.
But if you take some random prodigy athlete like Mary Cain barely out of their parents house and new to the world, working with Salazar doesn't tend to end well. Obviously Nike wants to cultivate and develop new young talent and lots of it. To do that I think Salazar has become more of a hindrance.