Scholarships here wrote:
Nobody wants to exclude smart foreign students from attending US colleges. Foreign athletes are typically much lower academically than the rest of the student body so these students are not enriching the student body.
TRUTH
Wasn't one of the Kenyans at Alabama ineligible recently for grades?
Alabama is CHEATING wrote:
Pretty cheap considering the age cheating which goes on in Kenya, and the whole thing is a just a major dick move by the Alabama coach.
You're not very bright, that much is evident. It's been going on for decades. Please do try to stay up.
Yeah, pretty much wrote:
rightwegetit wrote:
So even though Providence and Nova are loaded with Aussies, Kiwis and various other imports, it's okay to give them a pass since they don't actually go all the way with their imports?
Yeah. There's a difference between recruiting from Oceania and recruiting from Kenya. For one thing, the process of recruiting from a first world country even if it is foreign is very similar to recruiting Americans.
But the main reason is there is a hell of a lot more talent in Kenya than in Oceania. So if you just take athletes from Oceania you will still need to develop them which takes skill as a coach. ON THE OTHER HAND. Alabama has imported 5 Kenyans, who might all be All Americans, and as I've said way too many times on this thread, we don't know their real ages..That doesn't take coaching ability, it's just a cheap strategy to perform well
Try using a search engine once, there's one called Google. I ran at Alabama 2 years ago, really. They came from different colleges, they weren't imported from Kenya. They are as eligible as I was. They live here, are of age, etc... As was mentioned, Henry Rono and Washington State, apparently a few decades ago and UTEP was loaded. People will b*tch to b*tch without knowledge of the facts.
Most top athletic programs take no tax payer money and are funded by TV rights and donations. Alabama's Athletic Department ran a profit last year. The only taxpayers funding this are the ones willingly giving money to athletics. Next straw man, please.
So you complain about Bama, but not Alaska Anchorage? Over half their team is from Kenya, which is why they have one of, if not the top XC program in DII.
BuggerOff32 wrote:
So you complain about Bama, but not Alaska Anchorage? Over half their team is from Kenya, which is why they have one of, if not the top XC program in DII.
Seriously. UAA is the worst. They recruit Kenyans and don't recruit at all in their own state. They don't even try! I know they won't get guys like Dunbar/Thomet, but they should at least attempt to recruit in state. I know a guy from Anchorage who was a multi region champ in high school from Anchorage and they didn't talk to him once. He developed into a sub-14 5k guy in college.
Scholarships here wrote:
Nobody wants to exclude smart foreign students from attending US colleges. Foreign athletes are typically much lower academically than the rest of the student body so these students are not enriching the student body.
Do you have something to back that up?
El Keniano wrote:
I'm happy that these young Kenyans will at least get an education, but not overly optimistic for their future athletic prospects. The NCAA burns out some of the best Kenyan talent and other than one or two exceptions, nobody few make it through intact.
If you've got a degree from an American university why would you bother competing in an already overcrowded distance running market?
I don't think that American universities are getting the best Kenyan talent otherwise Alabama would be a shoe in for top of the podium this year. Also, they'd be winning NCAAs every year by quite a large margin (helps being materially older than your competition).
No, the Kenyan's coming to the US are putting education over running and that just won't due back home.
Scholarships here wrote:
Most athletes are typically much lower academically than the rest of the student body so these students are not enriching the student body.
Fixed that for you :)
Slow Region wrote:
BuggerOff32 wrote:
So you complain about Bama, but not Alaska Anchorage? Over half their team is from Kenya, which is why they have one of, if not the top XC program in DII.
Seriously. UAA is the worst. They recruit Kenyans and don't recruit at all in their own state. They don't even try! I know they won't get guys like Dunbar/Thomet, but they should at least attempt to recruit in state. I know a guy from Anchorage who was a multi region champ in high school from Anchorage and they didn't talk to him once. He developed into a sub-14 5k guy in college.
Good. Idk why anyone would want to go to college in Alaska anyway
I don’t ha a problem with it ethically, and I’m glad for these athletes to have a chance of to get a quality education. But then the sport becomes all about which school is able to recruit the fastest Kenyans. Which doesn’t seem like much of a sport.
Alabama isn't cheating, they are just exploiting the system. There is no rule that your entire roster can't be foreign. It's pathetic and lazy, but it's not cheating. Not that anyone in Alabama really cares about cross country anyhow. Nobody is watching their meets anyhow, so why bother having athletes with a regional interest. The same goes for New Mexico, USF, etc. What's even more pathetic is a school like Oregon, with an active running community, plenty of regional interest and an established tradition feeling that they have to rely on foreigners to fill their rosters (guess that explains why some of their top American born runners jumped ship when the USF coach came in). Again, pathetic, but not cheating (other than they probably have to get creative on the academic side with some of their athletes, but they have been doing that with their football team for generations).
Lucas Tanner wrote:
I don’t ha a problem with it ethically, and I’m glad for these athletes to have a chance of to get a quality education. But then the sport becomes all about which school is able to recruit the fastest Kenyans. Which doesn’t seem like much of a sport.
Did you just call Alabama a quality education? Your standards are not very high my friend. Might as well just go to UNM.
We all know University of Alabama is a more highly regarded university than University of New Mexico.
There are far more student athletes from other countries....
http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/international-student-athlete-participation
though Providence and Nova are loaded...
Neither school recruits E.Africans. That is not to say they have never had E.A.'s on their roster.
They just don't recruit them.
Some schools clearly wouldn't want to win with E.A. talent. Other's don't care. I think you can
make a general conclusion that the weaker a school is academically. The more likely they are to
have E.A. talent, if they feature middle distance in their track program.
joedirt wrote:
Lucas Tanner wrote:
I don’t ha a problem with it ethically, and I’m glad for these athletes to have a chance of to get a quality education. But then the sport becomes all about which school is able to recruit the fastest Kenyans. Which doesn’t seem like much of a sport.
Did you just call Alabama a quality education? Your standards are not very high my friend. Might as well just go to UNM.
Unless you went to Alabama, which you didn't, then you're talking out both ends.
Alabama does offer a high quality education, but you're not bright enough to know that. I graduated from there 6 years ago and am in the medical field. Their undergrad program is solid and respected. Again, you're projecting an opinion with no experience to back it up. Do some research.
Take it easy Alabama12 nobody is saying you can't get quality education there.
It's just that you have to know that highly recruited distance runners from the US aren't going to go there. If you don't get that you don't follow the distance scene much.
I wasn't sure I understood the UA Coach's comment: that he recruits from E Africa because he want's to be home at night for his kids? What is he implying here? That a week or so trip to Kenya is easier than travelling all over the US to visit recruits? Or is it that they're more of a turnkey solution in that they come ready to compete at the NCAA level and he doesn't have to develop them?
I'd entertain certain discussions on revisiting NCAA rules. However, I've never bought the faulty reasoning that recruiting Kenyans is lazy.