Oregon has officially announced that Virginia Tech cross country and distance coach Ben Thomas will take over those duties for the Ducks. So far it looks like he'll be the sole distance coach but I imagine they'll add another coach to the staff to offset some of the coaching and recruiting workload.

Seems like a good coach.

Anyone an expert on T&F recruiting? I know it involves just a few full rides and lots of split scholarships. Do the 5 star sprinters get those at Oregon or are the full rides split between the distance and sprinters?

Not many outside of the program know how the 18 women's and 12.6 men's scholarships are parceled out. I think the allocation shifts from year to year depending on need and what other aid they can find for the athlete. I know when Vin Lananna coached Stanford he was a master at finding academic scholarships for his runners. I assume he did the same at Oregon and the practice continues.

As expected, Oregon has hired another distance coach, this time long-time University of San Francisco HC Helen Lehman-Winters. She's highly thought of in the running world after having done wonders at a USF program that doesn't exactly have the kind of budget or resources as larger schools.