Quinnipiac Men's Track Cut

ray wrote:

First of all it's Quinnipiac for god's sake. Do they even have a track program? Certainly not one that anyone takes seriously. (Including the school obviously) Jack is a former 4:00 minute miler that was one of the founding members of GBTC so he should take his track seriously. The obvious goals of this program since he took over was to develop a competitive Basketball and Hockey program and to stay somewhat competitive in baseball. Elevate the school to DI. Everything else at that school is just gravy.

Over priced, overrated in every regard.

What are you referring to with you last comment? What is overpriced? If you knew as much as you think you do, you'd understand that track program (mid-d and distance only) is modeled after Providence (minus the funding). Smart move if you don't have enough $$$ for a full track & field team team, but still want to have a decent XC program.

I don't see how Men's outdoor track can be overpriced when the only costs they have are travel expenses to meets (majority within 3 hours).

obviously they do (well, did) have an outdoor track program because it got cut. Secondly, their cross country team has won conference titles 4 of the last 5 years. Since they only compete in distance events in track, they are not competitive in track from a team standpoint, but have had conference champions in the distance events in track. Their program is far from great, but it's fair to say that they are solid and have had some success. As someone stated before, just because you might not have heard of Quinnipiac doesn't mean their program doesn't matter. Men's track is one of the most unstable hs and collegiete sports in America right now, and every program that gets cut affects the standing of the sport. If you support track and field as a sport in the United States, news like this should piss you off.

agreed, we should be upset and in in support of sustaining this program

keeping outdoor over indoor is a good idea...maybe at the very least this could be considered/proposed to the administration

Let me clarify and set the record straight.

1) The school is over priced not the sport.

2) It is not a great school for XC or Track.... Men or Women. They did have a pretty good female 5k runner a few years ago. They have had several men come through the program that have been good. Conference is week, the comp is week. They may model themselves after Providence and the old Villanova women, but those teams... they're not. Sorry.

3) Yes, it's a shame that any school drops cross, track or indoor, because for the most part the expense isn't that great. And yes, the sport is suffering.

4) It never comes as a shock when a school that doesn't take a sport seriously drops it.

5) I would think things would be different because of Jack's background. BC/GBTC, etc.

6) With the economy looking worse every day, not all those moves are Title IX.

Ray, put a sock in it. Like Quinnipiac's runners would be recruited by Providence and Villanova. What is wrong with you? Do you think only top ten NCAA teams deserve to exist?

Because some schools bring in national champions from Ireland or New Zealand or wherever, does that mean only they take the sport "seriously".

ray wrote:

Conference is week, the comp is week.

I suspect if you had attended QU, you would know how to spell "weak."

Orientalist wrote:

On top of this, while the Men's XC and Track teams at Quinnipiac are average at best, they still have won their conference in cross country 4 out of the last 5 years.

What conference is that?

ray? wrote:

Men's track is one of the most unstable hs and collegiete sports in America right now, and every program that gets cut affects the standing of the sport. If you support track and field as a sport in the United States, news like this should piss you off.

Piss you off? You're only setting yourself up for pointless disappointment and frustration by doing that. To the contrary, this sport could probably stand to be a more efficient development machine by running lean from cutting fat like Quinnipiac and Delaware. How many all-Americans, or even national qualifiers, has Quinnipiac had in the past two decades? How many Quinnipiac grads in the OT in the past two decades?

Cheerleading wasn't a varsity sport prior to the move to cut track and volleyball.

nameless wrote:

Maybe (and I'm only guessing here) by dropping men's outdoor track and keeping either volleyball or cheerleading the number component came out right.

run lean, run fast wrote:

How many all-Americans, or even national qualifiers, has Quinnipiac had in the past two decades? How many Quinnipiac grads in the OT in the past two decades?

QU has only been D1 for 10 years.

Ray, a girl named Katie Gwyther was All American in 2005. She finished 12th at Nationals.

I am not here to defend Qunnipiac, but this New Hampshire kid was a tough runner.

ray wrote:

Secondly, their Women's Cross country program is OK, it's not "pretty good."

How many trips to nationals in the last 20 years? How many All-Americans? That's what makes a program "pretty good."

Considering that they've only been division 1 for a few years, how many All Americans do you think they should have if they are to be considered pretty good?

Sorry QU that really sucks. NEC will miss you outdoors.

in addition to Gwyther, they have had a number of regional qualifiers in track, and a slew of runners qualify for the New England and IC4A meets. While NE's and IC4A's are only regional, they do indicate quinnipiac is at least regionally competitive.

Regardless, the T&F community should be supportive. I don't agree with the "cutting the fat" proposition. We need to encourage the sport generally in order to have a larger body of runners to develop talent from. Limiting it will only discourage athletes from the sport. Where would we be without hard working guys that developed later only with the compilation of years of training?

OK Enlighten me. How many full time coaches does the current program have? Do they have an outdoor facility? An indoor facility? Yes, I mentioned they had a pretty good women runner a few years ago. 16:15 or so if I remember correctly. But hey, it's the NEC. Who are they beating? Sacred Heart, Wagner, Central connecticut?

What's the budget like? How many scholarships? I didn't in any way say they didn't deserve a program nor did I say they need to be like Providence or Villanova. I just said that the structure and objectives of the athletic department tell me they didn't take the sport seriously from the beginning. I can also speak from experience and assure you they didn't take the sport seriously from the beginning.

My shock is that Jack MacDonald wants to cut track. Nobody seems to want to address the actual issue.

By the way, a Couple of the current distance guys are pretty good and I'd like to see what Richie Klauber can do with another 3 years under his belt.

I don't think the point is really how good or bad the program is. If every school that had a mediocre to weak cross country and track program dropped the sport there would be at best a few dozen programs in the country.

A friend of my son's runs there. He was a decent but far from spectacular high school runner and a really good kid. For some reason he really wanted to run at Quinnipiac and worked hard to get himself to a level where they'd want him. From what I've heard he likes it there and it's good fit for him academically. Now he'll have to choose between staying and not getting to do something that figured very highly in his reasons for going there or going somewhere else.

It's not a tragedy. It's a sad thing and sad things are part of life. But it is a sad thing that happens all too often now.

So, some privileged white kids have slightly less opportunity, which is still basically infinite compared to the vast majority of people on this planet? Not a goddamned thing sad about it at all.

They always have someone like klauber who shows promise, they just don't know how to develop good runners year to year. They had a sophomore 14:22 like 5 years back and I think he didn't ever come close to that again and eventually quit running. Alot of guys quit that team. There's something missing with that coaching staff. Its not the athletes.

i don't even know what that means. worng message board, bud.