Morgan McDonald goes UA

I'm not surprised. There had been rumblings that they had been pursuing him, and they sponsor Wisconsin's athletic department.

But from what I can remember, he's easily their biggest signing ever. I know they have Rachel Schneider and Aisha Praught-Leer and Pat Casey, but I can't remember them signing a big name straight out of college.

Wonder who he will train with now. Does he stay with Mick Byrne and UA tries to build a group around him, like Reebok with Justyn Knight? Or does he go elsewhere?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Ge1luHRT4/

I’ve said it before...the rumor here in Madison is Morgan wanted to sign with Nike, but they wanted nothing to do with him...UA wants to start a training group with Mick as the coach...Morgan is the first... look for Ollie next

Jonathan Gault wrote:

I'm not surprised. There had been rumblings that they had been pursuing him, and they sponsor Wisconsin's athletic department.

But from what I can remember, he's easily their biggest signing ever. I know they have Rachel Schneider and Aisha Praught-Leer and Pat Casey, but I can't remember them signing a big name straight out of college.

Wonder who he will train with now. Does he stay with Mick Byrne and UA tries to build a group around him, like Reebok with Justyn Knight? Or does he go elsewhere?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Ge1luHRT4/

Yes, McDonald wants to stay with Mick at least through 2020. He also has a girlfriend that is American.

McDonald's agent Stephen Haas told me the plan is for McDonald to remain coached by Mick Byrne in Madison with trips to Flagstaff for altitude training.

Hard to believe that Nike wanted nothing to do with him, more likely wouldn't offer him as much as UA or maybe Bowerman and NOP felt like they were full and he didn't want OTC? Seems like he had as good of a senior year as you would want out of someone you are looking to sign.

Why didn't Nike "want anything to do with him"? Seems like he'd have been a great pickup with big upside.

As a Baltimore dweller and UA supporter (UA is based here), I'm excited to see them get more into track.

When the decide they're ready to form a Baltimore based team, it'll be time for me to come out of coaching retirement. ;)

Here is an article from the local paper:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-under-armour-mcdonald-20190719-g2m3wj4c3fh53do6mioff2udoq-story.html

contract amount?

More or less than Knight? I'd say slightly less

Suburban Punk wrote:

I’ve said it before...the rumor here in Madison is Morgan wanted to sign with Nike, but they wanted nothing to do with him...UA wants to start a training group with Mick as the coach...Morgan is the first... look for Ollie next

Jonathan Gault wrote:

I'm not surprised. There had been rumblings that they had been pursuing him, and they sponsor Wisconsin's athletic department.

But from what I can remember, he's easily their biggest signing ever. I know they have Rachel Schneider and Aisha Praught-Leer and Pat Casey, but I can't remember them signing a big name straight out of college.

Wonder who he will train with now. Does he stay with Mick Byrne and UA tries to build a group around him, like Reebok with Justyn Knight? Or does he go elsewhere?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Ge1luHRT4/

What I don't think people understand is offers from Nike are as much as $50,000 less than from standalone brands like Saucony and UA. Nike figures that the group, coach, facilities more than compensate for the difference. For whatever reason Nike does offer more to join OP than OTC or BTC. Maybe has something to do with athletes especially Americans avoiding OP

krsuno wrote:

What I don't think people understand is offers from Nike are as much as $50,000 less than from standalone brands like Saucony and UA. Nike figures that the group, coach, facilities more than compensate for the difference. For whatever reason Nike does offer more to join OP than OTC or BTC. Maybe has something to do with athletes especially Americans avoiding OP

That's correct. Also, Haas has great connections, he is managing several Olympians you can bet he got the best financial deal for McDonald. UA has insane marketing resources for things like this.

Even in other sports, Nike pays far less than others. Federer recently left Nike for Uniqlo for a $300 million 10-year deal. No way Nike would even pay one third of that, even tho he is a tennis legend.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

krsuno wrote:

What I don't think people understand is offers from Nike are as much as $50,000 less than from standalone brands like Saucony and UA. Nike figures that the group, coach, facilities more than compensate for the difference. For whatever reason Nike does offer more to join OP than OTC or BTC. Maybe has something to do with athletes especially Americans avoiding OP

That's correct. Also, Haas has great connections, he is managing several Olympians you can bet he got the best financial deal for McDonald. UA has insane marketing resources for things like this.

Even in other sports, Nike pays far less than others. Federer recently left Nike for Uniqlo for a $300 million 10-year deal. No way Nike would even pay one third of that, even tho he is a tennis legend.

Has is not even a real agent. Total sports signs anyone and everyone and under deliver their promises whe it comes time for a contract.

If they had any real UA connection than why isn’t Haas a sponsored coach for Schneider, Casey, Cheserek, etc?

Tour of you wrote:

Has is not even a real agent. Total sports signs anyone and everyone and under deliver their promises whe it comes time for a contract.

If they had any real UA connection than why isn’t Haas a sponsored coach for Schneider, Casey, Cheserek, etc?

Haas has been coaching and managing Cheserek for almost 2 years now. He is primarily a manager/agent these days, but still oversees the training of many athletes when they are in Flagstaff. He did a Workout Wednesday with Schneider not too long ago, and multiple ones with Cheserek.

Total Sports takes a nice cut off the deals, so it's in his best interest to give the athletes the best contract. They assign some to Nike, some to UA, and some to others. Each athlete is and each deal is different.

Will he still race in Asics?

What do you think, dumb@ss who can even spell track correctly?

tarckstar wrote:

Will he still race in Asics?

Jonathan Gault wrote:

I'm not surprised. There had been rumblings that they had been pursuing him, and they sponsor Wisconsin's athletic department.

But from what I can remember, he's easily their biggest signing ever. I know they have Rachel Schneider and Aisha Praught-Leer and Pat Casey, but I can't remember them signing a big name straight out of college.

Wonder who he will train with now. Does he stay with Mick Byrne and UA tries to build a group around him, like Reebok with Justyn Knight? Or does he go elsewhere?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Ge1luHRT4/

They signed another Wisco graduate, Georgia Ellenwood, the 2018 NCAA D1 Heptathlon champ.

UA is being more aggressive at Wisco and she was the first big name.