Why are recruiting standards times faster compared to TFRRS top performances for the same school?

The coach thinks he is about to recruit 3 or 4 NCAA champions and wants the recruits to think that if the recruiting standard is fast, his studs must be faster. It's the "group think" mind set that plague colleges and college sports. If Oregon and Stanford have crazy fast walk on standards then Stony Brook, Fairfield and Rider have to have fast walk on standards to be like them. Its also why places like Hartwick, Ithaca, Manhattan and Fordham have tuition similar to Yale even though they are vastly inferior.

I always laugh when I see this. A smart coach would go the NCC (d3) route, get a ton of dedicated kids and put them all on a ton of mileage

Title IX.

All of the people saying, "Just recruit a bunch of 9:30 guys to walk on," don't understand that at most schools, men's roster sizes are limited. They are capped because of Title IX. For most schools it's between 10 and 15 men on an XC team.

This doesn't apply to every school, but for the majority, your job is to keep your men's roster size low. The AD needs to be in compliance with TItle IX.

You can play the game of lots of bodies on the women's side. In fact, your AD might encourage it, so they can reach Title IX compliance easier.

Yes.

And it can be that way on the womens side too. Too many variables involved... Ultimately it comes down to $$$. Is the AD willing to spend money on distance or do they just want you to take up space and not cause waves?