University of Florida: Has Solinsky, more money/funding than they could dream of, year-round training climate, good trails and dirt roads near campus.
Always curious why they couldn't put things together? I live in Florida, and my twin sister just went enrolled and left to go there as an incoming freshman. UF Is one of the most prestigious public universities in the country, and they receive MASSIVE amounts of funding for research, especially when it comes to agriculture.
To get in there, you basically have to be the top of your class and get over a 1320-1350 on your SAT to be accepted. There was a kid in my graduation class this year who is going to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, scored around 1400 on the SAT, excellent GPA, very involved, and didn't get into UF.
A lot of kids who get into the ivys or other prestigious private colleges with 1500+ SAT scores end up at UF (their state school) because of money. My sister got a 1420 and was valedictorian of our class, didn't get into any of the big private unis she applied to(Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Northwestern), so she is at UF.
Based on all that, I have a feeling that everyone at UF, especially the academically-minded distance runners, care more about school or have so much smoke up their ass because they are at UF, that they fail to realize that running success actually takes REAL work.
Additionally, many of the kids on the roster get in academically and get a lot of money academically (Florida Pre-paid and 100% tuition covered under Bright Futures, or maybe mommy and daddy pay, loans, etc) and they just happen to be on the team.
Hence why they can't send a team to nationals or have 13:40/3:40/28:40 guys.