Track & Field Report: Pat Henry puts a bow on Aggies in the Olympics

Key notes from Pat Henry interview

• I think our athletes did a great job at the Olympic Games. They were prepared. We had an opportunity to do a little bit better, but it's the Olympic Games. It's a very pressure-packed situation. I thought our numbers did well, and there are two or three that will likely do it again.
   
• Most parents know how it is, watching their own child compete, whether they're on a four-year-old soccer team or something else. You watch their emotions and how they're involved. You're with them every day, so you're attached. That's what makes this experience fun and so special. I'm attached, not just on the track but in teaching them to be better students and citizens. That's what makes everything so fun.
   
• Last night, I was surprised there were that many people at the airport to welcome back Athing Mu, but this community supports people and has always been great. When we've had success on the track and have come home, we've always had the support, even though it's not always during the school year. The people are very supportive, and last night was a great example of that.
   
• I get a lot of calls from media and reporters about Athing Mu. When you sit and talk to her face-to-face as a reporter, she does a great job, but she's very shy and humble. She is a great young lady.
   
• It had been a while since Mu saw her mom because it was a different year. Nobody could leave and nobody could come into campus. It was a challenging year for athletes, parents and everybody. The cream rises to the top, and Mu is one of those who did not let a lot of things affect her. She is very teachable and learns from every experience.
   
• She is really good. Like I told somebody last night, she'll be an Aggie that people follow for a long time because she is so young. She'll be fun for this university and for other people to watch. She's a unique athlete. For her, she steps up as one of the truly fine American female athletes.
   
• If Bryce Deadmon had another race, he'd probably run a little faster. At every Olympics, they talk about the college athletes being tired and having run all of these races over the year. Mu's races were the fastest she ran all year. Bryce ran the two fastest 400s that he did all year long. Our environment is a great training ground, and we're exceptional in the United States for collegiate athletes. We put them in a great position to succeed on this stage.
   
• The thing that is coming for Athing is competition. I had conversations with her after the U.S. Championships, and she said she thought that 800m would be a better race. She thought somebody would be pushing her down the last straight away. It wasn't that way at the Olympic Games either. If somebody can challenge her, she's only going to run faster and faster. Competition is what brings the best out of you. Watch the intermediate hurdles where we had one of the best races of all time. Everyone in that race ran their best race ever. The person out front really has to be an exceptional person. Mu needs a race coming down the last straightaway that will challenge her. Eventually, somebody will. There are two young ones in the world that will be running against each other for a long time.
   
• Like anybody in all sports, if you're not recruiting the best, you're not going to be the best. Of course, there will be some developed talent, and Bryce Deadmon is a great example of that. He ran 47.4 or 47.3 out of high school. Now he is running 44.0. For me, as a coach, development and watching someone continue to improve is so special. He had a tough first two years because he was hurt.
   
• Fred Kerley never ran the 100m during his first two years at Texas A&M because I was cautious with him. He has aged and is stronger. He's more mature. He has a lump on his thigh that is the size of a golf ball that has never gone away. I never wanted to hurt him, but he decided to run the 100m this year.
   
• Annie Kunz needed a couple of years of development, and now she's the U.S. champion. Nobody would've ever thought she could've done that, but she kept working. If she didn't hit that hurdle at the Olympics, she could've done much better, and that hurt her. For Annie Kunz to be sixth in the world is so special.
   
• Our issues seem to be different than a gymnast. We have some athletes from time to time that I want to see a sports psychologist or a psychologist, but sometimes, those are issues that aren't sport. There are other issues within a young person's life that are maybe just being addressed at this time. Sport brings some of these things to a head because you have to be at your very height to be able to compete, and maybe you have something in your mind that affects that.
   
• We're recruiting hard right now, just like normal. Recruiting is good right now. At Texas A&m, we're about to attract some of the best in the world. We're in a downtime for coaches outside of recruiting because we can't really work with people right now. I think Athing is going to go to Europe to compete at a meet on Aug. 21. There is a series that they can go to in Europe, but it's all dependent on themselves and their agents.