just find a good match academically and athletically.
what are your PRs? What are your grades and SATs, roughly?
what are you looking to major in?
a good fit for you might be an excellent D3 powerhouse type school. you'll fit in better and actually get coached instead of being one of these rebels just barely able to walk onto the team
(to all D1 elitists out there) there are really no drawbacks in going D3 either, there are some very serious D3 runners who would easily be impact guys on the D1 teams, and the D3 guys on these teams take the sport just as seriously as the D1
doesn't sound like your going to change the guys mind. Not sure what the big deal is with walking on - training with team and continuing to run unattached - but that's a moot issue now. I'd keep training - and running unattached OR find another school to go to - but only if you can accepted by the coach. Hate to say it but your in an one down situation. Your performance should guide your decision - just maximize what will impact that. In other words - get better then you become a more 'marketable commodity'. Fact o life
If you are going to be added to the roster then that means somebody is going to be dropped from the roster. Just because you can beat a few of the back end guys doesn't mean the coach will drop somebody else to add you. You have to have scoring value to the team for something like this to happen. In other words, if you can get yourself in the top 7 then you have scoring value, or even better the top 5. I'm sorry, I Know it sucks but thats how it is. Good luck.
I wonder how many coaches out there these days let a large number of walk-ons train with the team. I know some of the old timers like Ron Warhurst used to let them hang around. They didn't get any attention but it sounded like good policy if they weren't too much trouble.
My college coach only kept 15 guys and they were all recruited by him in high school. Every year we had two or three small school state champs whe were getting zero athletic aid.
He was getting pressure from some of the locals to have tryouts for walk-ons who wanted to compete so he had a try-out in August-a 6400 meter time trial on the track. Most of the varsity and incoming freshman also ran this as a workout. One kid ended up beating two of the top incoming freshman, running about 4:55 pace. One of the freshman was a 9:06 3200 guy who eventually became an NCAA champ, the other was a 4:13 miler who ended up running 3:39 for 1500.
I felt bad for this walk-on kid. My coach didn't have any intention of adding anybody to the roster. It was all for show.
Do an in your face.Form a W team. Recruit all top guys who suffered the same rejection as you did.Train with a goal of entering a XC race as a club and beat the fricking A team.
Charlie S wrote:
Do an in your face.Form a W team. Recruit all top guys who suffered the same rejection as you did.Train with a goal of entering a XC race as a club and beat the fricking A team.
Re: Charlie S.
that's going to be very difficult. id rather he talk to a coach at a competitor school and see if he can walk on....but definitely transfer schools. It's clear that he's not going to get a great experience trying to be a rebel and running for this school
Re: TO THE OP (original poster)
i knew some kids trying to walk on CU-Boulder- like 9:30 HS 2milers (much faster than i was back in HS). rumor is that at Boulder Head coach Mark Wetmore wont let anyone walk on i heard unless they can run like 26:30 8K at the 1st time trial at the beginning of XC. pretty hard plus Remember it's at altitude too. Well, perhaps not surprisingly, most of these kids who tried to walk on in the fall at CU Boulder, frosh or soph year, are not with the team and because they arent with the team, most of them pretty much quit competitive running are concentrating on their studies and occasionally get back into running doing local road races but are running much slower than they did in high school.
im not dissing these guys for basically giving up, my point of all this is just that it's a shame because if running's important, important to you that is, you should transfer to a school where you'll be part of a team and be coached. because if you're attending a big-time D1 university and training by yourself because you're not good enough to be on the varsity team, it's very likely that your studies are going to dominate and you wont be able to treat the sport as and important part of your college experience (or as important as you desire - and assuming you want to run in college, it sounds as though running must be important to you.
Good luck.
God, I didnt know there were any schools that actually had enough guys to field a "C" team.
Can't walk on wrote:
Has anyone else ever been in this situation? I ran unattached and beat 5 of the 7 guys from my school in the race. The coach won't let me walk on. The guys in the race were the C team guys.
Does your school have a club team? Several D1 schools have very competitive club teams where the top guys are just as good as the second half of the varsity team and compete in very competitive meets.
jenglan3 wrote:
Can't walk on wrote:Has anyone else ever been in this situation? I ran unattached and beat 5 of the 7 guys from my school in the race. The coach won't let me walk on. The guys in the race were the C team guys.
Does your school have a club team? Several D1 schools have very competitive club teams where the top guys are just as good as the second half of the varsity team and compete in very competitive meets.
this is a good point. the University of Illinois club team, for example, has a number of athletes who can beat the back-enders on the varsity team. I believe they have about 6 guys who just ran 20:00 or better for 6k, which as a season opener for the CLUB team is very, very impressive
Get Real Real wrote:
If true the coach is a douche. Track and field can't afford coaches turning away any athletes.
It's actually the opposite. Track and field can't afford ot bring in any extra athletes. Often times budgets are so low for the sport that adding even one additional athlete would be too much. Even if the athlete only races in home meets, the school still must cover getting them apparel and a uniform bare minimum. Often the expenses are even more. Not to mention they are financially liable for injuries that may happen. Kid get a clue, you are at best in their top 15. That is worthless, keep on jogging...
I ran on a club for a season my frosh year of undergrad at a D1 school. I was offered a few walk-on spots/tryouts at smaller D1 schools, but went to my school for academic purposes. The club team was pretty big and had a few guys that ran well at their respective state meets. We had 3 runners beating the bottom half on the college team. The team at the school was very small(7 or 8 guys) due to financial struggles, so the coach generally only kept the guys he recruited and had crazy walk-on standards for a weak program. The walk-on times he gave me were so ridiculous that during my four years there, only one guy on his team broke them in my track event.
Guys often rarely improved in both XC and Track, which left the team with a high attrition rate. In the end, it was better off the coach didn't want me, he screwed over the career of a number of solid runners that did commit to his team.
I have to agree with this post. I've seen this situation several times. In addition to what has already been posted below, you also need to consider that coaches are often reluctant to remove an athlete he's committed to coaching for 4 years to make room for a faster walk on. He is much more likely to stand by his recruits and his commitments to them and their families. Also, there is the idea of "potential" to consider. In other words, does the coach see you as having as much future potential 4 years from now, as one of the guys that is already on the C team? If the C Team guy is coming into the season having averaged 30 mpw w/ a 49 sec 400m PR in high school, and you are coming in having run 80 mpw w/ a 56 sec 400m PR, but you two have relatively comparable times, guess who he's going to invest in for 4 years? Then there are the less obvious thing a coach looks for... form efficiency, work ethic, chemistry with the existing team, etc.Sorry dude, it's not as easy as just beating a few guys on the team in an early season race. There's a lot to consider, and if you are smart, you will realistically assess your odds of making the team, and make a decision to either stick it out or transfer to another team. Just don't expect the coach to change his tune overnight.
Reality Stats wrote:
Alright, so you beat 5 of the 7 guys on your college’s “C” team, which should make you the 17th fastest man overall.
Let me be clear that I am not being mean towards you, but giving you the reality of your situation. Right now, it seems like you can’t contribute anything to this college team (running wise). The college coach is probably looking for guys that can contribute to the team on a running standard (i.e. scoring points in meets, especially at conference or some other big meet).
Maybe if you’re a good motivator or a good team leader and the coach sees that, maybe you could get on the team not only as a runner, but as a guy who everyone likes and who is a good team supporter. Basically, if you have good leadership skills, maybe the coach could let you join, but I don’t know how this coach is or what this coach is looking for.
If you’re serious about running for a team, look at some other school where you’ll be a top runner for that team or a coach who’ll allow you to join as a walk on. If you don’t want to transfer, then continue to work hard and don’t give up. If you start getting better, then give it another shot with this coach, but if not, don’t give up running. If you really love to run, continue to do so; don’t let this coach or team make you give up something you love doing.
Most importantly, don't make this such a high priority as you're in college. Your education should come first before running.
Actually Track and Field can' afford to accept too many athletes. Unless the OP is a girl, it seems like a pretty cut and dry situation to me.
I was a walk on at a D1 school and made the travel squad as a freshman. Coach picked a recruited freshman for the conference meet. The kid had never beat me all season. I ran for a few more months with the team and quit. The coach was never going to give me a fair chance. He'd already made his mind up.
You guys are seriously advising him to transfer to a new school because he beat a few C-team guys who probably aren't really even distance runners? Come on.
Look guy, keep training and try to get faster. Find a club team or see if the coach will let you train with the varsity team or something. See if you can become a little more competitive and prove to the coach you mean business. Maybe he'll have room for you next year.
Does your school have a club team? Several D1 schools have very competitive club teams where the top guys are just as good as the second half of the varsity team and compete in very competitive meets.[/quote]
this is a good point. the University of Illinois club team, for example, has a number of athletes who can beat the back-enders on the varsity team. I believe they have about 6 guys who just ran 20:00 or better for 6k, which as a season opener for the CLUB team is very, very impressive[/quote]
These two points are really well written. 10/10
Reality Stats wrote:
Does your school have a club team? Several D1 schools have very competitive club teams where the top guys are just as good as the second half of the varsity team and compete in very competitive meets.
this is a good point. the University of Illinois club team, for example, has a number of athletes who can beat the back-enders on the varsity team. I believe they have about 6 guys who just ran 20:00 or better for 6k, which as a season opener for the CLUB team is very, very impressive[/quote]
These two points are really well written. 10/10[/quote]
not sure if you're just calling them quality troll posts with the 10/10... but they are actually good points.
On a scale of 1-10, 10 being good, quality posts, these were a 10. Not using the trolling scale. I really like these posts and believe they are good advice for this runner's situation.
Focus on academics. Assuming you're a great student and want the experience of running on a college team (which is an amazing experience) than don't jump through any hoops for a coach. There are plenty of great coaches and teams that are willing to give a hard worker a chance. But seriously, in four years you'll be looking for a job and be wondering why the hell you didn't put more effort into academics or thinking about what you want to do when you graduate.