College programs that punch above their weight

toledo

WVU

NC State has certainly not always been a great program. They had some good years a LONG time ago and then they came on again in the last 10 years. They were top-10 in 1993, but then from 1994-2014 they only placed top-10 twice (2001 - 2nd, 2003 - 6th). That's only two top-10 finishes in twenty years.

The most consistent women's program of the last 15 years has been New Mexico. Top-10 every year from 2010-2022 (13 in a row), with two national titles, two 2nd places, and two 3rd places during that span. Colorado has ten top-10s and 1 championship, NC State 8 top-10s and 3 championships, and Oregon 8 top-10s and 2 championships.

If anybody "punches above their weight" it has to be BYU. How hard must it be to recruit college athletes to come to a university where alcohol, caffeine, and premarital sex are against the rules. A place with an Honor Code, clothing restrictions, rules addressing hair length for men and piercings for women, etc. While it would be easy to get practicing Mormons to go there, this represents only about 2% of the US population. Not a very large sample to pick from. There are non-Mormons there (like Jenna Hutchins) but these are rare. The number of Mormons in the US is approximately equal to the number of people living in Indiana. Imagine how bad the sports teams at Notre Dame would be if they could only recruit athletes from the state of Indiana.

I totally agree that BYU definitely deserves to be on this list. They’ve had far more success at the national level than programs like Portland. However, I would argue that Portland still shines. Consider this: Portland is a program that struggles to provide even basic gear like shorts and T-shirts for their freshmen, doesn’t have its own track (they train at a local high school), operates on a very limited budget, and is based in a city (arguably not the most attractive destination for many recruits across the country). Though they do have amazing trails nearby. On top of that, they face the unique challenges of being a Catholic university.

Despite these hurdles, Portland is a small private school at sea level that consistently punches above its weight, competing against programs with double or triple their resources. Imagine how those 2012–2019 UP teams might have performed with an altitude advantage! In my eyes, they’ve been one of the most impressive programs of the last decade.

Their alumni roster speaks volumes, featuring athletes like Woody Kincaid, Scott Fauble, and Emmanuel Levisse (French runner), among many others, who are many. While I’m not saying Portland is the only program worthy of such recognition, they just surprised me in 2014 with their 3rd-place finish, demonstrating that podium potential and earning my respect years after with more years on the podium. For Division I, they’re my favorite dark horse team for XC. Yeah I realize I'm biased. I love a lot of teams and you may disagree with my take, but Idk, I love seeing a small school punch up. Same with BYU and NAU and many others.

Lipscomb.

but also consider that all mormons attend byu with free tuition, so sports teams probably have a lot of scholarship money for non-mormons. and culturally, a lot of mormons are excepted to attend a mormon school

plus students will only get in trouble for breaking their rules if they're caught, lol

The correct Iona head coach is a crack head and keeps a knife with him at all times to stab someone in the back

Definitely Princeton. Ivy league so super high academic standards and no athletic scholarships are given. New Jersey is not ideal climate for year round training, cold and rainy in winter very humid in September and May.

Regional power that routinely ranks higher than larger universities that do offer athletic scholarships. I mean at tikes they have been a rank in top 10 in XC and finished top 20 at NCAAs in track and field recently.

Total yearly cost for Mormons is $22K. That is similar to state schools across the nation. Nearly every athletic scholarshipn is used on a Mormon because nearly every athlete is a Mormon.

Indiana does not have the high-school running culture situated at altitude found in Utah.

“Which college programs are good but shouldn't be. For example, the school is not prestigious”

Read what the post said.

Wouldn't punch above your weight mean teams that do the most with the weakest recruits. Or do I have to make a different thread for that because it is more interesting to me. WOW NAU punches above their weight but newsflash you are obviously gonna be amazing if you are comprised of national champions and international elites.

Wrong thread.

I did. It said pubches above its weight and used an “or” not an “and” statement in its intro.
Princeton may be prestigious but doesn’t offer scholarships, doesn’t have ideal training weather or location and frankly the fact its academic standars are so high means no Kenyans or other semi professional runners from Africa aren’t admitted like they are at many of the traditional track and XC powerhouse schools.
Yet despite these disadvantages Princston does well year after year. Far better than any other Ivy including Cornell and Brown which have lower admission standards and larger student bodies.

There are two ways you can look at this: which programs get surprisingly good talent - and thus, results - given lack of funding/school profile/history/location (and so on) vs which programs get second-tier talent (perhaps due to these factors) and make the absolute most of it

Notre Dame, UVA, NC State men, and Georgetown men are, at best, as good as they "should be" and often squander a fair proportion of the talent they bring in

Stony Brook had a rebuilding year, but they usually punch above their weight. Navy punches above their weight. Lipscomb, Loyola Chi, South Dakota State, Utah State, Wyoming, Gonzaga, Portland. Sometimes Colorado State, Air Force, Santa Clara, and UNC Charlotte, though not so much this year

At least 2 of the above programs could be described as "meat grinders" but others would argue that's what it takes to get a group of 4:15/9:10 high schoolers able to compete with the blue bloods

Cmon man! Mac school winning nattys!

EMU Hurons. Although some of that was D2

Stanislaus State in CA. One of the best D2 team in the country.

BYU is all weight. what the heck are people saying, that punches above its weight. that's a richly endowed private who funds its teams well, has endless rosters, and a dirt cheap tuition for non-mormons that is then halved for the mormons.

i think their success will be reduced by upcoming roster limits. to me their game is sign a bunch of kids then see who reboots well after their missions 2 years later. if they have to be efficient about it to meet the limits then they have to guess on the talent like a normal school as opposed to stockpile then see.

and to me stockpile then see is the epitome of throwing around weight.

also, while the behavioral restrictions would be awkward outside the bubble, for a mormon they are culturally normal. that and presumably any outside recruits don't assume they signed up for party central. i'd assume the place would self select for outdoorsy or kids with a religious or calm being.