5 of the 7 women on the New Mexico XC team are from the UK!!!

Ok, he traces it back to a 1:52 half miler, which he coached at Butler... But somehow, he didn't "discover" the UK. There are plenty of good runners in other countries such as Australia, Canada, Kenya... Why is he so focused on the UK?

I guess that this (the Butler half miler) runner has put him in touch (over the years) with key UK coaches, which he regularly keeps in contact with.

I guess that (in addition) New Mexico offers a couple of things that are attractive to UK runners (Altitude and warm/dry weather)

I'm guessing here...

I can only assume that UK athletes have had a positive experience at UNM, and so the word spreads. Other U.S. schools with a significant British contingent would be FSU, Butler, OSU to name a few.

It is also very easy for U.S. coaches to see what they are getting by reviewing the UK athletics data base, "powerof10". Every UK registered athlete's record is viewable there as far back as they have been competing. UK athletes can't stretch the truth about their performances or progression without getting found out.

Once a U.S. coach has drawn up a short list of athletes who fits the bill, on the database, they can easily establish contact via their athletic club or seek them out through social media. Some athletes include an e-mail address on their "powerof10" profile. Simples.

As a point of interest if you were to total up the scores of the top 5 British born women at the NCAA XC they would have scored 92. Pretty good huh?

Pretty simple actually. Most of those runners are from Bristol Uni. Runners get offered scholarships year after year and the word spread like that.

5/7 on race day from UK, but they have 10 Brits on the roster. Plus the Estonian and the two transfers.

he knows that he can't get the top American recruits and once he established the pipeline to the UK, he's been getting very high quality recruits despite being at a lesser profile school. It should be said that the coaches at UNM are very good, that the conditions there for running are terrific, training at a mile high on the track and the Bosque, running from 6000-10000 feet high up on the mountain, and a beautiful setting with fewer distractions. I'd advise more high profile recruits to go there. You can even train with elite Kenyans in the area on occasion. They'll be out at the track hitting easy 58s sometimes and you see them on the Rio and in the mountains.

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

he knows that he can't get the top American recruits and once he established the pipeline to the UK, he's been getting very high quality recruits despite being at a lesser profile school. It should be said that the coaches at UNM are very good, that the conditions there for running are terrific, training at a mile high on the track and the Bosque, running from 6000-10000 feet high up on the mountain, and a beautiful setting with fewer distractions. I'd advise more high profile recruits to go there. You can even train with elite Kenyans in the area on occasion. They'll be out at the track hitting easy 58s sometimes and you see them on the Rio and in the mountains.

But why can't Franklin get top recruits to come to UNM at this point? As you mentioned, altitude, great training weather throughout the year, nice indoor facility, success with both the men and women, etc. Why wouldn't those factors be appealing to the top U.S. recruits? Or does he take the easy route and just give scholarships away to foreign kids that are already a little more developed? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard many of them are still getting coached by their coaches back in the UK. I think Franklin is a good coach and a great recruiter, but I'm not sure if he can develop talent like other "very good" or great college coaches. Please enlighten me if I'm off base. I certainly appreciate the fact that he helped bring USATFs to ABQ as well as NCAAs.

Made in England wrote:

As a point of interest if you were to total up the scores of the top 5 British born women at the NCAA XC they would have scored 92. Pretty good huh?

If this was a team with 5 Kenyans people would be losing it. Remember the Texas Tech team a couple years ago? People hated them on these boards.