TALLAHASSEE - After Ato Boldon called him the greatest collegiate sprinter in history, after all those phone calls offering to make him rich, after winning seven NCAA titles and helping Florida State win back-to-back national outdoor championships, Walter Dix was supposed to have left FSU in the dust by now.

The so-called track experts and Internet pundits said there was no way Dix could pass up six- and seven-figure offers to turn pro, certainly not after Dix won the 100, 200 and 400-meter relay at last year's NCAA Finals - the first man to accomplish that feat since John Carlos for San Jose State in 1969.

Even his own coach, Bob Braman, wondered how serious Dix was about returning to school and keeping a promise he made to his parents - both lifelong educators - to get his college degree before chasing money and international fame on the track.

"I don't know if you are going to see a guy like Walter in the future, who could have made all that money," Braman said. "If that were my son, I would have said, 'OK, here is the new plan. We're going to turn pro, but I believe you'll graduate.' That's not Walter.

"He's a different guy."