Quitting College Team

I definitely don't think you're alone here. So much stress. I spoke openly with my coach about it and he said running 'will be the most fun thing you ever did in your life, when you look back.' He's basically right, but like you I started knowing I wasn't going to make a career of it. 15 years later I know I made the right decision. You'll probably feel terrible for a day, a week but then it will be amazing to see your day planner open up. I think like most people are saying here, coaches are going to understand if someone loses that fire for whatever reason. Only caveat is if an injury is leaving you angry and disgusted, then wait a season to be sure. Otherwise, sounds like you're doing it right. Just reach out to the coach.

I quit my D1 college team after indoor of my sophomore year. I had one decent race and lots of stinkers that season, I wasn't running at the level I or my coach expected of me. We decided I'd take a couple weeks away from the team after the conference meet for me to reset.

After a week or two I decided running on the team wasn't a good fit for me so I called him on a Sunday night and told him I was deciding to leave the team, he said he was sorry it didn't work out and if I was ever interested in coming back to the team the door was open. I went in and cleaned out my locker that night and that was that. I wasn't on enough of a scholarship for that to really factor into the decision.

I continued running, just with the school's running club, and remained friendly with the coaches and team. I kind of regret not sticking it out, but I don't know if I would change my decision if I could go back

RandoGuy wrote:

Kick like a girl wrote:

Are you a 13:45 5k runner? Are you scoring big points at your conference meet. Otherwise, your coach won't have a big problem with you quitting.

I was an important part of our XC team in the previous fall and was all-conference. I likely would have gone on to score points. If I wasn’t recruited to the school, I wouldn’t be so worried as I am now. I am afraid they’ll try and strong arm me into staying in the team.

Like others have said, you gotta just man up and do it. If you believe in your decision, just be firm and succinct. But it does seem like you'd rather just click a box online and avoid dealing with it. It sucks, sure, but I'm not sure what you're worried about, unless you don't have enough confidence in your decision.

I doubt you're the first athlete that has quit a team your coach runs. As long you don't waffle, he'll understand. And if not, you say you're done and leave. But I do think you owe him a phone call after several years of coaching.

write a letter, say what you think is relevant, box up your stuff and drop it off... if coach has any questions, you'll be contacted...

RandoGuy wrote:

D1 college runner looking to quit my team. Can anyone tell me what this process looks like? I want to make this as easy as possible. To be sure, I do not want to have to argue my reasoning to my coaches, for I have thought this out plenty over the past year.

I entirely hate distance running, and ultimately, it is never going to help me attain my career goals; the time wasted on this sport that I could be using towards my studies makes it more of an obstacle to my desired future.

Is this a serious post?

Just quit. Nobody is forcing you to be on the team. If you are on scholarship, then obviously next semester, you will no longer be on scholarship. If you are not on scholarship....Oh well.

You said you wanted to devote more time towards your studies. Great for you.

Just quit. You are not going to hurt the coaches feelings. They most likely know you are not passionate about running. You are most likely doing everyone a favor.

Just quit.

NotABadThing wrote:

I didn't even bother showing up for practice that afternoon and didn't even tell the coach I was done. I just left. The coach was a major douche anyways who was fired midseason. If my coach was a decent person and if I legitimately lost my starting role, I would have stayed on the team.

As for the freshman who took my spot, he didn't even last a year on the team. The new coach saw that he sucked and kept him on the bench.

So.... you quit, although if you hadn't you probably would have been back to starting mid season.

The freshman got booted...

The coach got fired.

Sounds like all three of you were the loser in that scenario. A lose-lose-lose. But the worst one was you, you didn't even put up a fight, you just rolled over and quit.

Unto thine own self be true. If you don't like what you are doing and don't mind surrendering your scholarship, just go and quit. I'm sure there are others who are ready and willing to take your place. Some of your teammates might look down on you. D1 sports are not for the faint of heart or for those who are not fully committed. Go do whatever it is you feel is more important. I loved the training, the competition, etc. when I competed in college and wouldn't have done it any other way. I made friends that I have kept for life and indirectly met my wife through college track. For me, it was better than any fraternity or any other college organization.

I had a similar experience. I walked onto a D1 team, improved a lot my freshman year, and had a chance to have an impact on the team my sophomore year. Unfortunately had an injury that I had to run through and ruined what was a great preseason prep. Then before my junior year; the one coach who I felt I could talk to left because she was constantly disrespected by her fellow staff, a teammate who was a fellow walk-on was kicked off because he was injured that year and replaced by someone significantly slower ( kicking a 49 runner for a 54 runner) and it became clear what the coach thought about me and others who weren't his star athletes. I had a rough preseason since I started late due to healing from my injury and training hard to catch up resulted in pulling my hamstring which I never allowed to heal because I was afraid of getting kicked off like my teammate was. Ended up quitting that year because I just got drained and lost the drive. Basically, you need to focus on what's important for you and do what is right for you.

I'm sure your coach will want to make sure you doing it for the right reasons. Might mention things you will be missing out on etc. Doubt they will go to great lenghts try and convince you to stay. Once the will power is gone they may not want an unmotivated runner around anyways.

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

Just stop going to practices. This isn't too difficult.

The first good answer. There was one more on the second page. True 1 found it hard to believe you needed advice. Ignore all of this 'Just grow a spine and barge in there and tell it like it is!' stuff. Not necessary. Definitely ignore all the 'It was the greatest time of my life! All my best friends were on the team.' nonsense. I got this once when I posted that I wasn't on my high school track team. None of my friends were on it. No memories good or bad came from it.

I agree it's a waste of time and fully support the decision. It's easier than you think. Do nothing. That's the key. Don't call anyone. Don't say anything. Don't go anywhere. You won't be part of it any more if you take this route. This was extremely effective for avoiding HS track for me. Will everyone realize you're gone for good? Who cares? Maybe they'll keep expecting you to show up for the next 3 years. So what? Your quitting will have worked. Done!

RandoGuy wrote:

D1 college runner looking to quit my team. Can anyone tell me what this process looks like? I want to make this as easy as possible. To be sure, I do not want to have to argue my reasoning to my coaches, for I have thought this out plenty over the past year.

I entirely hate distance running, and ultimately, it is never going to help me attain my career goals; the time wasted on this sport that I could be using towards my studies makes it more of an obstacle to my desired future.

Be an adult about it. Tell your coach in person. Politely explain your reasons for wanting to quit. Don't bad mouth the team or the coach. Thank your coach for the opportunity and wish the team good luck. Especially if you are on scholarship, you owe your coach this. This is a good lesson for your future when you might want to resign from a job.

My .02 cents ... talk with your coach (or a former coach you trust), family and loved ones 1st and then decide. If you're in season now, finish the season. If not, it's a great time to really mull it over and there's no rush on a decision. Here's the deal though: no regret. You're obviously good enough to compete at this level and it's a very short window in this crazy journey called life. You don't want to look back and wonder, "what if?"

Re: concern about being strong-armed or pressured, athletes quit teams all the time, every year. So what if you were recruited? Things change. I remember walk-on athletes at my school who never even raced. They just used their walk-on qualifying times to get into the school, attended a few practices and then were gone. Coaches know this and deal with it every single year. Not at all a big deal.

RandoGuy wrote:

Kick like a girl wrote:

Are you a 13:45 5k runner? Are you scoring big points at your conference meet. Otherwise, your coach won't have a big problem with you quitting.

I was an important part of our XC team in the previous fall and was all-conference. I likely would have gone on to score points. If I wasn’t recruited to the school, I wouldn’t be so worried as I am now. I am afraid they’ll try and strong arm me into staying in the team.

Are you on a scholarship? Did they pull strings to get you admitted to the school?

If not, I don't see anything they can do. It's your life and your decision if you want to run College XC or not.

Your coach will be quietly relieved. No one likes spending time and effort trying to coach someone who isn't into it.

No guilt needed on your part, it's ok to move on. Be sure though. This could be your last chance to excel at organized sports. You might wind up regretting it later.

Also though, I don't see why distance running is supposed to help your career goals. For the great majority of people, those are separate.

quote]holterskolter2 wrote:

NotABadThing wrote:

I didn't even bother showing up for practice that afternoon and didn't even tell the coach I was done. I just left. The coach was a major douche anyways who was fired midseason. If my coach was a decent person and if I legitimately lost my starting role, I would have stayed on the team.

As for the freshman who took my spot, he didn't even last a year on the team. The new coach saw that he sucked and kept him on the bench.

So.... you quit, although if you hadn't you probably would have been back to starting mid season.

The freshman got booted...

The coach got fired.

Sounds like all three of you were the loser in that scenario. A lose-lose-lose. But the worst one was you, you didn't even put up a fight, you just rolled over and quit.[/quote]

Not even close. This was a three year battle to just crack the lineup. Freshman year I was redshirted, Sophomore year I played garbage minutes, Junior year I was supposed to start. That's three full years of NOT quitting when things weren't going my way.

I never was the coaches favorite guy and for whatever reason he treated all the walk-ons like total crap and segregated us from the team. Honestly, I should have bailed after my freshman year after observing what a lousy coach he was but I listened to the "don't give up" and "tough it out" spiel every year. Frankly, it was great to finally leave a program I grew to hate.

My only regret is not transferring sooner.

So.... you quit, although if you hadn't you probably would have been back to starting mid season.

The freshman got booted...

The coach got fired.

Sounds like all three of you were the loser in that scenario. A lose-lose-lose. But the worst one was you, you didn't even put up a fight, you just rolled over and quit.[/quote]

Not even close. This was a three year battle to just crack the lineup. Freshman year I was redshirted, Sophomore year I played garbage minutes, Junior year I was supposed to start. That's three full years of NOT quitting when things weren't going my way.

I never was the coaches favorite guy and for whatever reason he treated all the walk-ons like total crap and segregated us from the team. Honestly, I should have bailed after my freshman year after observing what a lousy coach he was but I listened to the "don't give up" and "tough it out" spiel every year. Frankly, it was great to finally leave a program I grew to hate.

My only regret is not transferring sooner.

I hope you are well and you made the right choice. I wonder how your life has changed in these 10 months!

Go meet with coach and thank him/her for the opportunity.

RandoGuy wrote:

D1 college runner looking to quit my team. Can anyone tell me what this process looks like? I want to make this as easy as possible. To be sure, I do not want to have to argue my reasoning to my coaches, for I have thought this out plenty over the past year.

I entirely hate distance running, and ultimately, it is never going to help me attain my career goals; the time wasted on this sport that I could be using towards my studies makes it more of an obstacle to my desired future.

I coach division 1. My advice is to simply be honest. Saying firmly that you are no longer happy is pretty hard to argue. Just know that some coaches get vindictive unfortunately and be prepared for them to take away your roster spot/scholarship money if you enter the transfer portal.

The other route is to contact your compliance department and go over your coach's head. They will be pissed to hear that second hand sometimes but that's just how things go sometimes.

Just remember that most coaches without an ego understand that if you're not happy, then there's no sense in forcing you to stay or torturing you by not releasing you. Most coaches just want to move on.

If you aren't happy running anymore just tell them that. Say you don't have the fire anymore. Coaches will understand.

Nota- what college?