Schumacher Addresses Media Monday
October 22, 2007 | Men's Cross Country
Jerry Schumacher, the University of Wisconsin men's cross country coach, addressed the media Monday as part of the UW's regular weekly news conference.
Schumacher's Badgers will be going for a record-setting ninth Big Ten Conference championship this Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. Wisconsin will compete in the men 's 8,000-meter race beginning at 10:30 a.m. CT on the Ohio State University Golf Course.
The UW has won eight straight conference titles, which ties its own record of eight won from 1985 through 1992. The sixth-ranked Badgers will be challenged by 10th-ranked Michigan and 22nd-ranked Minnesota.
A complete transcription of the news conference follows below. A video archive of the news conference can be found by clicking on the Audio/Video link to the right.
Opening Statement: So far to date, the season has been, I think, going pretty well. We have a very young team, comprised mostly of ' The first couple meets, we ran about 12 kids and 10 of those 12 have been freshmen and sophomores, so (we're) very, very young. It's a talented group, but inexperience has been a big part of us.
Our first meet out at Oregon, I think we had a shot at winning that race. We just didn 't really I think quite understand how to do it. And hopefully, we've learned some things since then because when you enter the championship part of the season, you don't want to lose any meets that you're capable of winning. It 's an inexperienced team, but we're making progress every week that goes by. We're excited to be heading into the championship part of the season right now.
Jerry, who would you say leads the way for your squad'
It would be our two juniors, Stuart Eagon and Matt Withrow. They're definitely going to be our upfront runners. They also have the most experience. We won't graduate anybody from our team, probably from our top 10 this year. Those two young men, they should really provide the upfront power that we need on such a young team.
How many people run at Big Tens and do you know everyone who's going to be competing'
Nine athletes run or compete. We score five of those. And the lineup has not been solidified yet, but there will be a lot of young bodies in there. There will probably be three juniors and the other six athletes will be a combination of freshmen and sophomores.
Are Withrow and Eagon running '
Yes, they are definitely running.
What's the learning curve like for freshmen in your sport' What kinds of things do they have to go through/
Well, part of it's just the development of getting the work in their bodies so that when it comes time to compete, that they're ready to handle what's expected of them. And when you're talking about 18- and 19-year-olds, it 's a big difference than 21-, 22-year-olds. They're learning and they 're physically still probably not where we'd like to see them be.
I was talking with Coach (Bo) Ryan the other day and he was talking about his squad. We were just kind of talking and he said he needs some young guys to play like juniors and seniors. Well, we need some of our young distance runners to run like juniors and seniors. That's what we're hoping to see in the future here.
Jerry, you've had some pretty experienced squads and now it's a young group, as you mentioned. Is that kind of fun for you, almost refreshing and a challenge at the same time '
Yeah, it's a little nerve-wracking, but like I said, they're a talented group and they're learning a lot as we go, but there's all this expectations and I don't want to say pressure put on them ' we put the most pressure on ourselves.
But these expectations that have been going on for a few years now ' that we 're expecting to see them compete like that and they're making mistakes every time we're out trying to do our job.
And that's something we're not used to. Just because if we did do it, the base was always covered by an upperclassman or a Chris Solinsky, a Simon Bairu, Matt Tegenkamp ' those kind of guys were always covering the bases that if there were mistakes, it wasn't so visible. And we really have to be near perfect this year to do the things we'd like to do.
Jerry, you talked about expectations a little bit there. But, I mean going for nine straight, that's sort of thing never gets old, does it'
Well, no, it never gets old, but, like I said, that's the expectation. I think those guys are carrying around this anger right now because they've heard that before and I try to tell them it's really not about that. We want to be the best team we can be and as long as we show up on the day and do what we're capable of, I think we'll leave the racecourse happy with ourselves.
But it's hard not to. They're not dumb. They've been around. They look at the books and the media guide and the tradition and they want to win as much as the other teams did. So, it'll be a fun challenge. It'll be a fun challenge this weekend.
Jerry, you mentioned the physical differences between an 18- and 19-year-old freshman and upperclassman. Is there anything you can do in training to accelerate that process' Or if you do, are you running the risk of burning the guy out early'
There really isn't probably much we can do to accelerate that. It's time and the number of practices, the number of quality sessions you can put in between your first year, your second year, third year and those all add up over time. And that 's usually why when they're leaving as seniors, they're at their best. And I wish there was something. If there is a way, I don't know how to do it.
Jerry, how reasonable is it to expect Stuart to just pick up where he left off since he hasn't run yet this year '
Yeah, Stuart rolled his ankle back in August and I don't know that he 'll be exactly where he was last year. I think he finished 12th at the NCAAs last year and I'm not sure he'll be there, but he'll be one of our upfront runners. He'll be somewhere up in the mix. It might not be that high, but I don't think that's going to make the difference in our team ' a few points here, a few points there. I think the real difference-makers are going to be with the young guys in the back.
You seem to run your athletes less than any other coach like in the Big Ten or NCAA. You want to just explain your philosophy in doing that'
Well, I don't know if I run them less than a lot of other programs, but we kind of pick and choose our battles and which ones are the most important. And you don 't want to dip in the well too many times, certainly for when you really need the water and you don't have it.
So those guys are just, the veterans, they don't need the work. They don 't need the experience as much and the young guys do. So I've given the young guys a lot of opportunity this year to run in some big competitions and big meets, which will prepare them for the championship part here and hopefully, those experiences will pay off.
