Rita Gary (Furman Coach) tweets about foreign athletes

probably shouldn't have agents either

I mean you do realize the NCAA does not test for performance drugs UNTIL the NCAA Championships, don’t you? And then and then it’s a very random few. Maybe 15 total over 4 days of competition at outdoors? And it streets drugs. No EPO, micro dosing, etc. Very flawed.

It would not surprise me if 90% of all D1 track athletes had never been tested

I’m not race baiting, I’m saying what I’ve observed. You’re right, for most people I’m sure it has nothing to do with race. For some, probably a very small minority, it probably does, no matter how vehemently they say it doesn’t.

The foreign sprinters you mention by the way aren’t getting half the attention that foreign distance runners do, so I’m not sure how that suits your argument at all.

East Africans are so often at the center of this conversation, even when they’re plausibly normal college age. It could be because of how much space they take up in the NCAA, it could be how often they fill entire rosters, it could be the doping in their countries, and like it or not, there are at least some people out there for which it’s a racial thing. So when people focus on these foreigners and pretend it’s about age while ignoring other foreign and domestic athletes who are just as old or older, it seems odd. I just think people should be more upfront with their concerns rather than hiding behind the popular criticism of age. If it’s about doping suspicions or shady agents, people should lead with that.

I would say when it comes to the general population of these schools, Americans should be given priority in admissions and whatnot, and they are. For several reasons, athletic teams are different in my mind. I don’t think Americans should necessarily be entitled to these spots. Especially considering most of the foreign talent that attracts complaints is fairly strong. It’s not like Americans are being replaced by foreigners just scraping by the average D1 standards. Most of these guys coming over have run really strong times.

I believe you that your concerns aren't about race. But why should we want American athletes (white or black) to have these opportunities if they're not as good as the Nigerian sprinter, Ethiopian distance runner, etc? I don't really get the caring-about-someone-more-because-they're-American thing. If anything, on average, getting an opportunity to go to an American college should make even more of a positive impact on the life of someone from a poorer country.

I wouldn't mind if these Kenyan runners had agents who acted like agents and only took 10%, but these so called agents (more like pimps) hold the keys to escaping these war torn 3rd world countries and use it to fill their own pockets. the athletes and families see almost nothing.

Stop with your BS accusations of racism. People complain about Kenyan runners because they have extremely high rates of doping and extremely high rates of age cheating. These are widely documented FACTS and Rita even provided 2 specific examples of African athletes that failed drug tests in the NCAA.

People aren't cheering for Ceili McCabe, they are cheering AGAINST Lemngole.

Read more than 1 sentence of what I said

As for Lemngole and McCabe, people cheering against Doris isn't based on anything she’s actually done (age, conduct, tests), just a reputation she has because of her country. Doesn’t seem terribly fair unless you believe every single one of them (or close to it) is doping

Which I’m sure many people do think, however they manage to justify that

Americans have nearly 2 TRILLION DOLLARS in student loan debt. If college scholarships only went to Americans, it would go a very long way to help our economy.

100 full scholarships going to international athletes, for approximately 30k per year for 4 years, is 12 million dollars. 12 million dollars of taxpayer money that is not being used to help the taxpayers.

We have the OLYMPICS for those who want to see the fastest athletes in the world. The NCAA should be for the top AMERICAN athletes.

Serious question, do events like The Ten, Bryan Clay, Stanford, Raleigh Relays, and the like pay for WADA drug testing? Is it known to the coaches and agents? WADA and USAD testing are the responsibility of the meet to pay for, correct?

And didn’t there used to be an age limit in the NCAA? I mean even the World University Games has an age limit of 23. So, a world event is basically saying if you are over 23 years of age you are too old to compete in college.

Because our universities are tax funded and/or subsidized institutions whose primary responsibility is to serve the taxpayers who fund them. This is why we have the concept of in state preference and tuition at state schools. It is not meant to be "fair".

They are not charities of free Olympic development centers for the global poor. We have enough poor kids here who can be educated before we can start worrying about funding the degrees and opportunities of foreigners (mostly grown men pushing 30 by the way) who leave after 4 years and contribute nothing.

She was a 22 year old FRESHMAN last year. That is not okay. It's also EXTREMELY LIKELY that she was accepting pro money.

That has nothing to do with what country she is from, though she also just happens to be from the MOST DOPED UP COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. And we are concerned about that, too.

What I was saying with that example is that the discussion is often centered on old foreign athletes beating true-aged Americans. I don’t think the 23 year old Canadian should be celebrated for beating a 22 year old Kenyan if the concern was truly for fresh out of high school Americans.

As for the doping, I think the NCAA should test their athletes more. I don’t think it’s fair to make judgements without a test or an incredible progression of times

Mostly grown men isn’t right. There are a ton of grown women, and some aren’t even from the global poor. I think this subject just needs a reality check. The money thing I really couldn’t care less about. NCAA amateurism is dead. However, there are just plain too many athletes who are over college age from everywhere in the world. I don’t think it’s worse for a specific kid’s development as you could argue “iron sharpens iron.” But there’s no question fewer American kids are going to get developed because of how many spots will inevitably go to old, foreign athletes and the NCAA killing walk-ons.

Factually, Lemngole actually will have to get tested out of competition unlike 99% of non-Kenyan NCAA runners. Realistically, she will probably go pro before her 24th birthday. I think there are better athletes to rage about like some of the Olympians just biding their time in the NCAA for Oregon NIL money in their mid-20s.

Note: Some of these athletes don’t even peak for NCAAs…they care more about their performance in the global champs. Just go pro then! I’ll respect Maia Ramsden who cared about being an NCAA great while in the NCAA.

Rita is saying what dozens of other NCAA coaches are thinking. She just has the guts to say the quiet part out loud.

Institute an age cap. Require schools to allocate a certain (high) percentage of scholarships to American kids (regardless of color). Limit # of times kids can transfer so they actually have to get an education.

International kids (keyword: kids) should have every right to be educated in the U.S., and diversification of teams is awesome, but if you're spending 100% of your $ bringing in kids from Europe and wherever else and not having a spot for your local State Champion, that's a problem.

Also if schools like Furman had to fund a full T&F program, we'd be down to only Power 4 schools by tomorrow.

Oh, and drug test like crazy. If you have 60k to pay recruiting services to bring 28 year old adults to run in the NCAA, you have the $ to drug test.

“Shared with you by runfurman”

Found the Furman burner.

Let’s be honest, would Rita have said what she said on Twitter if Schubert had won that 10k? Just because he was the Top American does not mean he would’ve won if there were no Africans. It was all tactics if anything.