You're given unlimited resources at a D1 school to build a championship program, which event do you begin with?

You didn't say group. But okay. The answer remains whatever event group happens to be the strongest at that time. If there are a handful of high school guys running faster than any college guys in distance, that is the answer. If the jumpers are better than the college jumpers, that is the answer. This isn't a hard question to answer. This game isn't complicated enough to be fun. Amd I can go after 100 guys in my first day which makes the question silly because I would get everyone if I could offer each one $1M of NIL. Game over.

Why are you being so argumentative about this? Lol. Congrats on your awesome idea? On to the next post.

I gave you the correct answer. Disagreeing with a fact would make you argumentative. You pick the event group that is the best at the time.

I knew a team that did this when they took over at a P5 program, stripped it all the way down and rebuilt. Based off an average of the previous 5 years of ncaa results they targeted the events where All Americans were ranked poorly on the world rankings list. They then went out and spent money on internationals for: womens long and triple, hammer, javelin, multi’s (both genders), 400H.

then the took a look at their conference events and focused heavy in middle distance/ relays.

The whole NIL thing is tricky because technically the coaches aren't allowed to be brokering those deals. I get what you're saying, but you're telling me you're going to convince all these outside entities to give 1 million dollars to a track athlete? Multiple? I don't think your post is as simple as you think it is. I don't see these companies being convinced to do that. You may be stuck with minimal NIL deals but at least you'd be fully funded with unlimited resources through the school.

Well the time is now. So pick an event group.

Can I get a “pharmacist” to help?

Does that answer your question?

You hired a bunch of event specific coaches (as if that's not already what you do) and you didn't pick an event to start with.

If we are at altitude, I’d build around distance.

Warm climate, sprints.

For fun, I’d find a set of twins who also happen to be the top throwers in the nation.

Why do I need to pick just one? I have UNLIMITED resources. I can afford to make as many dumb decisions as I want.

If you want this question to be interesting, make it a scenario with a limited budget. Then you would have discussions about what event is the cheapest to reliably develop national-caliber talent, and maybe some insights into the nuances and limitations of running an NCAA DI program. But no, you just want infinite monkeys throwing feces at a bust of Shakespeare.

The first question is, who is/are my assistants? If it is a Dick Booth type coach, and I am John McDonnell, I go all in on Distance and Jumps, maybe 6 full on one, 5 on the other, then I pepper a sprint squad with the remaining 1.6, and let Pell Grants and other need based money do the rest. Or maybe my assistant is Petros Kyprianou, in which case, I would give him 7 fulls to build a multi's and jumps group that gan get me +30 pts at nationals, and I would need to find the other 30-35 pts.

The fact of the matter is that balanced teams rarely win nationals. It is easier on the women's side, but the most recent I can remember was Braman down at Florida State who won 2 in a row I think, and he got busted for cheating and had to surrender 1 of those titles.

The bottom line is, who are my assistants, and how many points do they bring to the table? If you want to spread it to 4 event areas, fine. Each one has to bring 15 points to the table. 90% of the time, the first team to 60 pts on the men's side wins, give or take a point. On the women's it used to be the same, but that number is starting to creep more toward first team to 65-70ish.

It doesn't matter if you throw 12.6 fulls out there, if you don't get anyone that makes an impact at nationals. The last super imbalanced team that won outdoors was Vin's distance dominated team that had 1 pole vaulter also score.

Just my 2 cents...

Alright, your limited budget is 18 women's scholarships and 12.6 men's.

Many have this and can't win the big one.

Focus first on horizontal jumps and disc/shot. Then some great 800m runners. I've then got 100m/200m + 4x1 runners out of the jumpers and at least half a 4x4 and DMR out of the 800m runners. Maybe a jumper could run the 4x4, as well. Probably not. One or two of the 800m runners could flex to 1500 at conference/nationals, possibly qualify in the mile indoors. Then supplement with a couple of 100/200 and 200/400 specialists or a 100m hurdler who can run the 4x1. Plus one or two 400m hurdlers who can also run the 4x4 and 600 indoors. The aforementioned disc/shot throwers can double at conference and pick one to qualify for nationals. Maybe add hammer/jav and pole vault later. Would add distance runners, maybe focus on steeple, last. XC is a tertiary consideration. That's my take.

Ok, but what kind of budget do I have outside of scholarships? Can I only recruit in-state? What about travel to meets with good competition? Do we have a weight room? Athletic trainer? Do I even have an office? How am I supposed to get blue chip recruits if I don't even have an office?

do you mean a under 48yo fat man?

With unlimited resources I’d hire someone to do everything for me that way I can go do whatever I want and not work.

I’d go with the best group of 200/400 runners I could find.

They could cover both relays and most running events up to 800m.

With unlimited resources, first order of business is to build an outdoor stadium & facilities to rival Hayward and an indoor track on par with BU or The Track at NB. First recruits will be for the 400 and mile. 400 runners can slide down to the 100/200 or step up to the 800. Milers will sort into 800/1500 folks and those more suited to XC/5k/10k.