University of North Carolina Men's Cross Country

The program has been on the decline ever since Pete Watson left. UNC only had one qualifier for the NCAA regional on the distance side in 2017.

UNC is also well, well behind UNC-Charlotte. The UNC-Charlotte program is the best in the state for developing runners. For example, a high school 9:45 3200 guy is now a 23:30 8k guy. With all of the Footlocker and sub 9:00 guys at NC State and UNC they don't have anyone close to these times.

The morale of the story, if you want to be a great runner go to Charlotte. If you like pretty uniforms with name recognition go to UNC or NC State.

Except for the fact that Pete's teams never made NC's and were either injured to the point of being broken or about to fail out of school due to missing morning classes per his recommendation. Since then, the team did finish 17th and 12th at nationals while having everyone over 3.0 gpa (oh my!) but since when do facts matter?

What was the year of those finishes? Not to mention those were Pete's recruits. Also, what about when his entire women's team transferred? Take a look at those facts.

So, what you're saying is he did better with Pete's recruits that Pete. Cool. I don't know much about the women's program so I have no idea what you're talking about but it does look like they won ACC's .

As soon as Pete's recruits either transferred or graduated, team went from a top 3 program in the ACC to maybe the worst. Pretty amazing that you're defending the coach at UNC as a good one. Also, when you have fifth year's that were talented athletes in High school run 100mpw for 5 years, chances are they will be pretty decent. Yeah, the won ACC's, again, with Pete's recruits. Now that they have all left and graduated, how is their women's program? I heard a rumor that they were holding on campus tryouts for title IX reasons. But, you're right. He's a good coach.....*sarcasm

Coaching matters.

That is why NC state and now Furman will dominate this regional.

Yes, UNC Chapel Hill decided a ways back to devote near-zero resources into XC coaching and recruiting. UNC is a great school, and could get gifted runners if they wanted, but they need to hire a coach that is well known to HS runners, has the "people skills" to recruit well, and has the financial backing of the school. Otherwise, UNC can continue racing squads that would probably not qualify for NXN.

Its a shame, because I once heard UNC could be a Stanford of the east coast - meaning a strong academic institution that also puts together great XC teams. Frankly, Duke has this same opportunity, but they are almost just as f'ed up as UNC.

Agreed - Duke (and UNC) need improvements in coaching and AD support to fund great runners. Until they get that, these schools will not be competitive at the NCAA level. Period. Sorry to disrespect their current teams, but my lord, they are both glorified HS teams at this point, especially for the men at Duke and UNC.

Definitely top 2 auto bids for the women's side. The men's side...Furman is a definite but it's a toss up right now between Virginia Tech and NCSU

Scholarships put in XC matter.

That is why NC state and now Furman will dominate this regional.

They have two distance coaches. Seems like they are willing to invest coaches. How much scholarship are they getting? There are schools getting it done with one coaches and less money I’m sure.

Didn't they just lose a distance/xc coach to some D3 school in New England? I thought I saw something about that over the summer in the coaching thread.

bad advice here wrote:

Yes, UNC Chapel Hill decided a ways back to devote near-zero resources into XC coaching and recruiting. UNC is a great school, and could get gifted runners if they wanted, but they need to hire a coach that is well known to HS runners, has the "people skills" to recruit well, and has the financial backing of the school. Otherwise, UNC can continue racing squads that would probably not qualify for NXN.

Its a shame, because I once heard UNC could be a Stanford of the east coast - meaning a strong academic institution that also puts together great XC teams. Frankly, Duke has this same opportunity, but they are almost just as f'ed up as UNC.

Stanford of the East? You're kidding, right?

UNC was just put on probabtion by their accrediting agency. The first research university to have ever been put on probation. In most academic circles, it was felt it should have been pulled. The top professors there have been fleeing the sinking ship in recent years.

As a proud UNC alum, it pains me to admit it, but the university has indeed been on the decline lately. For that matter, the entire UNC school system has been on the decline. In addition to the hinted-at academic scandal involving the AFAM dept., shifting state politics have been starving the system of funds the past few years, making them less competitive for quality professors.