As a coach you always hope and dream that your athletes develop to become All-Americans. I knew he was talented enough, but early on he didn't show that. But the kid is just an amazing talent.

It's difficult because Americans do things far differently. The athletes have rights. They qualify via criteria. It's not the way that some of these other nations do things, where they just take people and say, 'You're going to do this.' It's a challenge for us to keep up with that.

I'm encouraging him to go pro. The money is going to be there for him because I expect him to break the national record.

The stars aligned well for me and Mike. He wanted to go somewhere that had the patience for him to develop and by us being on probation, I had the patience because I wasn't under a lot of pressure to win a conference championship. ... Now he has helped elevate us to national prominence.

It was a hard sale getting them here. I was instructed to get the program back in compliance and not field a men's team. But I knew what my goals and ambitions were for the program.

This was a testament to the hard work of these guys and where we want to take this track program.