They should of moved the program to Boulder to accommodate the coach if they really wanted him to be the coach. It’s easy for 20 something runners with no kids to live anywhere. It’s not that for middle aged parents.
You seen housing prices in Boulder recently? Wouldn't call that "easy".
Honestly that is probably a large part of the reason. If Alan bought a house in Boulder in the early 2000s it could easily be worth 3-4x what he paid for it. If not more. No wonder he doesn't want to leave that.
Yeah, though still well above the national average, housing is much less expensive in Flag than in or around Boulder. Plus there are more people on the roster with families in Flag than in Boulder. In addition, Hoka just dropped money on opening a performance center in Flag. If moving all or part of the team was an expectation, it was tone deaf.
The people I feel worst for in all this is Baxter & Day. Both studs at NAU, arguably better than Luis G & Beamish throughout college, but graduated at a time where it seemed like Smith didn't want to coach post collegiates. Obviously wanted to stay in Flag so thought they'd team up at NAZ. Fast forward like a year later and Luis G is being coached by Smith and flourishing while Baxter & Day are stuck dealing with Rosario and Culpepper
The people I feel worst for in all this is Baxter & Day. Both studs at NAU, arguably better than Luis G & Beamish throughout college, but graduated at a time where it seemed like Smith didn't want to coach post collegiates. Obviously wanted to stay in Flag so thought they'd team up at NAZ. Fast forward like a year later and Luis G is being coached by Smith and flourishing while Baxter & Day are stuck dealing with Rosario and Culpepper
Okay, I just read up about Tyler Day from their athletes bio page Wow! If that's not a testament to Mike Smith's coaching skills, I don't know what is: he took someone who was overlooked and not one of the top recruits and made him into a 6-time A.A.
To be fair though, who knows if he really saw the untapped potential, or he just lucked out with a local boy, but NAU certainly improved his times!
TYLER’S STORY Tyler grew up in Gilbert, Ariz. where he was a State Champion for Mesquite High School. However, his high school personal bests of 4:20 for 1600 meters and 9:20 for 3200 meters were not enough to make him a sought-after recruit amongst the nation’s top NCAA distance programs. Instead, the huge Arizona sports fan chose to stay close to home and attend Northern Arizona University. The rest is NAU history. NCAA STATS At NAU, Tyler was a part of the one of the greatest four-year periods in the proud history of the Lumberjack cross country and track program. He and his teammates won three straight NCAA Cross Country Championships from 2016-2018. Individually, Tyler earned six first-team All American honors, and finished his career with a bang when he set the American collegiate record at 5,000 meters indoors (13:16.95). His other personal bests include a 7:45.70 for 3,000 meters and 28:04.44 for 10,000 meters.
