Sean Carlson Cuts HALF of the Colorado Roster

Ok Sean sit down

Lol most underrated comment here

Apologies - wasn't intending to single you or anyone out. When reading through the thread there appeared to be a lot of speculation about the newly announced roster/scholarship direction.

Here is another example:

Kid from somewhere wrote:
As a colorado HS coach, Carlson can burn in hell. Absolutely disgraceful that he would immediately cut a ton of homegrown talent. CU's AD is a POS who does not care about the state first prime and now this hire. CU board of Regents needs to step and tell them enough is enough.
look at the rules wrote:
Did you see the new NCAA rule that limits the roster to 17?
He doesn't have a choice. Every school will be doing this.

The statement that Carlson "doesn't have a choice" is not true. First, we don't know if Carlson did/did not initiate roster changes. Regardless, there was a CHOICE someone / some people made to make those changes as the new roster limits are not implemented until next year.

In reading this thread (and others) there is a lot of confusion and the same question/answer conversations keep happening multiple times (Could a Moderator streamline the topic into one thread?)

As a coach of lots of MS/HS kids in CO over the years it is disheartening to see the direction of CUs program with this hire.

Maybe this is the best they felt they could do. And perhaps it wasn't George (Head AD) who headed this search; they have an Associate AD with a track background (Hurdles, I think).

I'm definitely not him. While I've met Sean and am familiar with some of his coaching, I think this was a mistake of a hire from the outside looking in (whether going all in on distance or attempting for a balanced program).

As I stated elsewhere, perhaps this is the best CU FELT they could do (I wholeheartedly disagree with that notion, but its possible this is what the hiring committee thinks).

I do feel we need to be careful when we intentionally (or unintentionally) callously call out an anonymous poster for being someone else with whom we may have a real or perceived issue.

I'm no Carlson apologist; and I hold CU responsible for this apparent mess of a hire. But at the end of the day I wasn't "in the room" to know what their rationale was.

I'm not trying to defend Carlson here, but what he's doing is what is going to become the norm given the roster limits. Couple that with the expectations to win your conference and be a national contender, and it's going to be much more cutthroat to make, and stay, on teams. There will be very little opportunity for developing walk-ons.

Now - he didn't have to do it right now since these are not going into effect until 25-26 but he's clearly freeing up roster space, and I presume some scholarship money, so he can have as many of his incoming Tenn recruits follow him. (If you've seen in the portal then you'll know a number of his 24 commits are in there).

This was a fantastic, objective take. I really don't see how anyone can downvote her post.

At the end of the day, D1 sports puts a coach in a tough position where they have to come in and at least have enough talent to know that within two years the roster can win a conference title or be top ten in the nation. I'm not saying on the podium, but given how much resources they allocate to distance, top ten and ability to win conference within two years is expected.

If the talent you currently have does not have a ceiling that can accomplish that, you need to free up some roster spots.

I am a former power 5 male scholarship athlete, and I have actually witnessed firsthand one of the coaches come in, and start with their preferred roster. Looking at the Colorado one, it doesn't look like Carlson has a ton of talent to compete with right now. He needs a solid top five to begin with, and then he can compliment the blue chip recruits with some hard working walk ons.

Have all of you forgotten the many Footlocker recruits that Wetmore had?

"Could of?" Did you even graduate from high school?

I know there were a lot of rumors swirling around the Tennessee program being in trouble. Has it ever been stated explicitly what was going on there? A ton of guys were in the portal leaving Tenn.

Have ran? Seriously?

Can't say I understand this strategy at all. Cutting guys this close is a bridge burner. These are not guys who are going to want to keep at it for another year and try out again, they will permanently write off the program and ideally leave for another (which will be difficult because of how near the season this was done...another reason why this will burn bridges). This is also really bad for the morale of those remaining. Seems like an all or nothing strategy to me. If coach can't plug up spots with turnover/recruiting and reengage the troops then this boat will have holes in it for years to come.

Can't cut scholarship athletes.

Colorado’s an ok academic school. Excluding Mines, RMAC and D2 in general aren’t good

Derouin graduated hs in 2020. A lot of people who graduated hs at the same time graduated college last spring

You are definitely a coach then

Promises NIL and scholarship money then pulls it when they get on campus, screwing family financially. Airs out kids’ personal drama and issues to other team members. Screams at kids on the team and curses at them for running poorly. Dude’s a psychopath

Minor addendum that Welch ran an 8:50 steeple and took 4th at the (last ever) Pac-12 champs this spring

Kind of confusing process from Carlson because, without naming names, some of the "survivors" are not as fast as some of the kids who got cut. Seems like he maybe took into account relative youth and high school pedigree in addition to actual results at CU

The crazy thing to consider is the dynamic this must create. "How fast do I have to run this year to be safe next year? It's either me or my teammate/roommate/friend. How can I get an edge?" Not *entirely* on Sean but it seems like now more than ever rosters will comprise individuals rather than a cohesive team. Bummer, to say the least

I also wonder what the ripple effects will be in terms of training risk and lifestyle choices

Either way, this is likely just the beginning at CU and nationwide. It will be interesting to see if something like quasi-official "farm teams" develop where kids race unattached in the hopes of earning a scholarship later in their collegiate careers. If I were a recruit, I wouldn't buy into that kind of premise, but I digress

Here's hoping we haven't seen the last of these guys and they're able to get to a better situation sooner than later

I guess grammar isn’t the biggest strength of the LetsRun posters, huh?

Great chefs trim the fat. He also has to justify the budget. Keeping non-performers on the budget shows that you're not a great manager of said budget and not should even being the coach. Hence he is doing the right thing. Anyone who has ever working in a leadership position knows this.

What changed so much? Did the SEC culture get to him? He wasn’t like that at ND at all