I would hope any scholarship-level high school distance runner can see the major red flags at this distance program and have the presence of mind to steer clear. The distance program has been bottom-tier for the past 2 decades spanning back to Li’s tenure as coach. The retention rate at the program is utterly unbelievable and appears to be getting worsened by roster size limitations likely due to the recent financial issues in the athletics dept that have been in the news lately. It’s hard to find athletes that have stayed on the team for all 4 years whether that’s from transferring, quitting or being cut. That alone should raise major caution flags for any high schoolers considering the program. I can’t think of a single other program that has a 4-year retention rate below 20%. Based on that shocking statistic alone any observer can infer this program reeks of serious systemic issues.
From the recent “budgetary” news, rumors have swirled that track may be on the chopping block if the athletic department’s eroding financial situation starts to crumble. Something I noticed is that the new big $$ athletic facility park built on a huge parcel of land on campus in 2020 inexplicably did not include a track. The current facility is 3 miles from campus in the middle of a very run down neighborhood and is an afterthought at best, very overdue for an upgrade. They built a new indoor training field complex, soccer fields, swimming pool and outdoor training fields, they absolutely had room for a track in both the land and the budget but chose not to build it. Purely speculative on my part, but one could certainly connect the dots that maybe they thought it’s not worth investing in a facility for a program that may be gone soon. Looking at the writing on the wall here it doesn’t look promising.
The future looks dim at best for the distance program when they are already performing so poorly and it’s killing any chance they have to bring in any impactful recruits, it’s a downwards spiral. There will always be the local Tucson kid who dreams of running at UA or the walk-on type who is ecstatic just to make a D1 team and can grab a walk-on spot at a low-hanging fruit like the UA team. But I certainly hope prospective scholarship-level athletes can see the issues here.
One of the most disappointing things to see in our sport is young talent & ambition thwarted by an incompetent coach or program. A prospective athlete with a keen eye should be able to see the complete absence of development in any of the touted athletes the program has brought in and start to consider why they have such a horrendously low rate of success in developing talent. I hope that if athletes and parents of the athletes are considering this program they take a look elsewhere to programs where they can grow and reach their potential.
