My son is getting no interest from his preferred college

Reach out to coaches.... dont wait for them. It is late in the season and most maybe have given away their scholarship money.

This. take a gap year and identify as Argentinian and non binary. It's slightly unethical, but white males are discriminated against so much that you need to do what it takes. Machiavelli stated that the ends justify the means, and that applies here

Event and time please

This the correct answer. Even if you walk on and earn / force your way onto the team, if the coach isn't invested, you won't get the time, attention, and support you need to truly thrive.

I remember the head coach at my preferred school telling me very candidly that his recruiting class was exceptional, and he had no space, nor interest in me. I found other interest, got some money, and had a satisfying collegiate career.

I second this. Was told by a D1 coach (~10 years ago) that they focus more on bringing in the athletes that contact them/show interest in their program rather than reaching out to recruit unprompted. I think contacting the schools your son is interested in with a well written email goes a long way...

just DM Mike Smith, cut to the chase.

Not Mike Smith, but I don't see him recruiting mid distance talent either.

I think the problem has been pretty well identified already. The goal posts are likely moving because

1. The roster is already stacked with guys that will help for cross country as well as track

2. The small number of middle distance guys on the team are running pretty well

3. Why take a risk on an incoming freshman that might take a year or two to score at conference when you have a guy on the team already that can do that and can always grab someone else through the portal?

Schools very rarely reach out, you have to email and let them know who you are (your kid not you). If you get some replies and interest and offers you can always throw in a follow up email that you’ve gotten interest from xyz but would still really like to see what xyz has to offer to kind of leverage that

Your son could be like a Brian Berryhill: he wanted to go to University of Oregon but wasn't recruited by them, even though he was the Oregon state champion in the 400m and 800m. Instead he went to Colorado State and had a successful collegiate running career.

csurams.com

@fullname (@induction) - @title - Colorado State Athletics

Colorado State Athletics

Open link

I believe he coaches at Wyoming now.

Edit: Make them regret they didn't recruit you! haha

For the most part, colleges recruiting athletes like your son is a myth. The vast majority of athletes need to recruit themselves to the program they want to go. Gotta get in touch with the coach, schedule a visit, and be persistent. Great coaches have a good eye for potential, so if you can put yourself on their radar, they'll know what to look for.

First off, just have him reach out to other schools.

Regarding your question there's lots of potential things going on.

1. It's telling that you aren't naming the event and time along with other credentials or the school of interest. Without that information it's safe to assume that this rank is inflated or your sons overall ability in other events is nowhere near top 25.

2. Assuming a legit top 25 it's also important to acknowledge that only a small handful of HS athletes have marks that are directly competitive in the college ranks. If this is a top team they are going after the top 5-10 hs athletes and instant impact transfers.

3. Covid eligibility has overloaded rosters, simply isn't much room on some teams.

4. The transfer portal means it's smart and necessary to keep a little $$$ and roster room for instant impact transfers. Most teams have already filled the spots going to hs recruits at this point.

5. If you are overly involved in his recruiting as an intermediary thats a weird red flag that no top program will entertain

6. Most schools simply aren't that interested in a mid guy with poor cross credentials, if thats the case his potential value to the team isn't as good

7. Schools might be reaching out via the hs coach or your son's instagram, need to keep an eye on recruiting backchannels that could be missed

8. Anything else weird about how your son may be presenting as an athlete/person that could be a red flag? Is the hs known for overtraining kids?

The real reason is it’s flakey to talk “top 25 time.” List his event and best time. Then give best time for event above and below that distance.

TLDR:

OP's son is top 25 in the 1,000 meter race in the country (out of 150 kids that have raced the distance this year). Confused why no top programs are paying attention to his son.

either state the event and your son's time (you can give a non exact one so we can't look him up), or shut down this thread.

Let your son fight his own battles, may not pay off in the short term...but will pay dividends in the long run. The problem with this new generation is all the coddling by parents.

Sounds like the athletes are talking to the wrong programs. We’re a D1 mid-major with a top business program, along an acceptance rate 3x the national average into med school (we only recruit people who want to major in business or health sciences due to the academic strength of each program) and we would throw the kitchen sink at a 4:55 female, or 4:12 male.

What has he run? Many contacts in this world..

People have said this all in some form or the other but as a current college head coach I can say this:

There's no definitive answer since from D1 to NAIA there are schools that can offer full rides or basically nothing. Track is also insanely saturated and kids are reaching out earlier. I had kids who are barely juniors constantly updating me and actually coming to meets where my team competes to talk/show support/try to connect with my athletes.

Due to COVID I am graduating 0 senior men this year. They are all doing grad school or picking up majors/minors to keep competing. Meaning I'm only looking to 3 men MAX to my roster and I was done with that before the new year started.

Track is pretty straight forward in terms of casting a wide net. This late in the game most coaches are out of money or roster spots or both. Unless your kid would be their #1 and be a contributor to qualify at nationals they probably aren't going to make an exception.

At the end of the day you have to find a school that wants your kid and is going to invest. Track is unique. You don't need to go to Duke to get recognition or be good like basketball. Look at coaches and how they develop, they are great coaches in every division. I've had kids turn down D1 offers for D2/NAIA/D3 and have way more success than their peers that went D1 because they got more individualized attention and it was a better fit.