This falls under the ol saying: "You recruit your own problems."
This falls under the ol saying: "You recruit your own problems."
Not a coach but my recruit tried to piss on an EMS truck on main street once. We lived, but it was terrifying.
I was a D1 recruit my senior year of high school & I just remember being confused as to why my hosts always wanted to take me to parties & get drunk; like I didn't have that option every weekend in my own hometown. That or they'd take me to a mall thinking I'd be impressed when meanwhile I grew up 15 minutes away from 3 big shopping malls. I guess I was a jaded 17yr old?
As a former host, I will say that the girls teams are the worst in terms of talking shit to their coaches about the recruit. They will spill the tea & then some. We had a female recruit get wasted & then sleep w/ a male recruit. We had a recruit smoke! Others that ate junk food & didn't run a step the whole weekend. We got a recruit that we'd all assumed had an eating disorder, only for her to prove she didn't by eating huge meals at team dinner (we signed her & she ended up having full blown anorexia her 1st 2 years of college).
Riptwix wrote:
Not a coach but my recruit tried to piss on an EMS truck on main street once. We lived, but it was terrifying.
lol sounds like he had a great time
Not a college coach or runner. I played tennis in college. A Duck alum. One of my fraternity brothers at Oregon was on two NCAA cross country championship teams...one with Pre...and my frat brother was an AA in cross country. When Rudy Chapa and Alberto Salazar were on their visits to Oregon my frat brother brought them to our frat party that Saturday night. They both ended up Ducks but I doubt that our party had much of an influence. But we like to think it helped some ;).
Captain Grey Beard wrote:
I used to coach at a D3 school as an assistant (sprints, hurdles, relays). A guy on the team told me about a girl in his dorm who had been a State champ in high school. I looked up her times, and she could have placed at the conference meet for us.
So I wrote her a few e-mails to try to convince her to come out for the team. She was against it at first, but eventually I talked her into it. This was right before winter break. I convinced her to start coming to practice over break, which means she had to show up on campus two weeks early (essentially giving up half her winter break).
She shows up...and I could not believe it was her at first. Girl was at least 20 pounds overweight. From the first warm-up lap, it was obvious she did not have it. I went back and talked to the guy who told me about her. "Oh yeah, she was really skinny in high school, but not anymore." I probably should have checked that out before I asked her to come out for the team.
Poor girl. Her weight gain was slightly a product of the "Freshman 15" but mostly that she was a late bloomer to puberty and that's just the way her body was meant to be. She was the slowest member of the team, BY FAR, could not even make the triple jump pit from the 30-foot board, and I did not even bother trying to get her to run the hurdles (her best event in high school) because I was worried she'd trip over them.
Pix? She sounds hot.
You make great points. I've been on both sides of the table having coached at both College and HS levels. When I was a college coach, it was tough to get HS coaches to divulge what they did with their kids to get them fast enough for me to recruit. But, the ones who did share were amazing and I actually learned a lot from them. Now that I'm a HS coach, I have a really tough time getting college coaches to accept my help. Where that gets most frustrating is when they get my kids hurt with nonsensical training plans (loose usage of the word plan...). Not all college coaches are like that, but it seems like more are than aren't.
nathancat wrote:
I'm a HS coach and I always have kids running in college at all levels. I almost never get contacted by the college coaches. If i did I would probably do what i could to help the kid get into the school, regardless of the flaws. You never know how a kid will adjust when he goes away. I have seen kids I thought would be fine back home after 6 weeks. Conversely, I have had kids I thought would not survive thrive in college. You never know.
I also have a feeling college coaches are so used to the HS coaches praising the kids that they can't trust them. I don't think it is too much of a risk for them unless they are giving $, and those situations are limited to only the very top kids in the country. HS coaches tend to tolerate/overlook a lot of flaws in their tops athletes.
In court testimony and police interviews collated in a university report released Friday night, the alleged victim claimed at least a dozen men — including an underage recruit — raped her on Sept. 2, just hours after Minnesota defeated Oregon State in its season opener. Three cellphone videos, lasting a total of 100 seconds, documented the alleged incident.
I have so many great recruiting stories.....but one of my favorites. Very religious family comes down with daughter for visit. Seems like a nice family. A group of my distance girls were supposed to take the recruit around campus then uptown to comedy club. Late at night one of my athletes called me and said that they had "lost" the recruit. The recruit had said she knew some people from hometown that lived in dorms and wanted to go say hi to them. Never came back. My team found her the next morning after having screwed some guy. Girl comes to my office with parents. I know what she did. She does not know I know. I ask her in front of parents if she liked her visit. She indicated she loved it. I asked her in front of parents if she attended my school if I could trust her. She said absolutely and parents vouched for her. I told her that there would be many temptations, but could she handle it? She said she would be loyal to me and program. I was laughing inside. Told the family I would get back to them. Thought about it for a couple of days and decided I would call the mother. Told the mother what happened and I could not take the runner on my team (she would have been a scholarship athlete - 5:00 miler). She went to a conference school. Every time I saw her for the next four years she would lower her face and not look at me. I got to smile every time I saw her.
Do you get off on playing mind games with teenage girls and prying into their personal lives?
You sound like a real winner.
creep alert. wrote:
Do you get off on playing mind games with teenage girls and prying into their personal lives?
You sound like a real winner.
That's obviously a made up story, but what kind of ahole makes up a story that makes them look like such an ahole?
Unless u were the one she got lost with you do not know what she did. Wow you are creepy. And to not offer her a scholarship because you think she did something unvirgin like. U sound like a cult leader and the MOM should have sued you for Title IX violations.
Well, they did ask for a horror story. Mission accomplished I'd say.
When I was an athlete we had a recruit come for a visit. One of the first people he met was one of our Junior transfers who had an affinity for fat chicks. Said fat chicks gave him gonorrhea and during the visit our recruit got to meet him in a sorry state (eyes were bloodshot, one looked like it was swollen). Our recruit sat around and got to listen to him scream in pain as he took a piss. I thought for sure this guy wasn't coming. Later that night we linked up at another upperclassmen's house, where our fellow teammates assured us they'd get him back to our dorm safe. He showed up at 3 am in the morning drunk as piss and rambling on and on. He proceeded to shit talk us for the next hour or two and I prayed he wouldn't come. He gained the nickname "scrots" for "scrotum".
He signed weeks later.... and would later go on to be one of our top 5.
WyoKid wrote:
Second thing, for current college coaches, these are my pet peeves with your recruiting.
1. Criticizing the HS training to the recruit--we will hear about it. Even worse, criticizing training while talking to coach (yes, this happened to me; couldn't believe it)
2. Attempting to change recruits running style, cadence, racing strategy, etc. You are not their coach yet.
3. I HATE HATE HATE coaches who put a time out there for a recruit to hit for a scholarship or more scholarship money. As if the kid doesn't want to run as fast as possible, you put unnecessary added pressure on the athlete. If the kid doesn't get there, then leave it be. No need to throw in extra stress.
All very reasonable besides #3. What are we supposed to tell them when they ask? And not all kids want to run as fast as possible. And if they can't handle the pressure...then college competition might not be for them. Now if we tell them that our offer is rescinded if they don't hit a certain time I understand...but then hopefully that kid isn't dumb enough to go there...
P5 Recruiter wrote:
WyoKid wrote:I HATE HATE HATE coaches who put a time out there for a recruit to hit for a scholarship or more scholarship money. As if the kid doesn't want to run as fast as possible, you put unnecessary added pressure on the athlete.
What are we supposed to tell them when they ask? And not all kids want to run as fast as possible. And if they can't handle the pressure...then college competition might not be for them. Now if we tell them that our offer is rescinded if they don't hit a certain time I understand...but then hopefully that kid isn't dumb enough to go there...
I am hopeful that what you said is misleading because if not, you and people like you are the type that give all a bad name and terrible at what you do.
If they ask, give them a guide of what has earned $ at your school in the past. 4:14 on 80 mpw, intense speed work, and 4 races each meet, is NOT the same or as promising as 4:15 on 30 mpw, all aerobic work, and few races. But you would just throw an arbitrary number out there without context?
Not all kids want to run fast?
The best for last. If they are not smart enough to realize how bad you are and go somewhere else, that is their problem?
There are far too many college coaches that are too busy networking rather than learning the craft of coaching and simply how to treat people. These masses of under-qualified give the good ones a bad name.
Ran as a walk-on at a very competitive D1 school. Having mediocre times in high school and relatively new to the sport, I worked hard and ran 24:30's for 8k.
I always was outgoing but had a penchant for partying hard. I was handed a recruit in the summer time when our cross country camps were being held. He was a Canadian and decent runner (3:50 1500). I was taking summer classes at the time and had a test the next day, so I handed the one of the girls on the girls team the recruit per diem to take the kid out while I studied. He was staying at my place so I told her to just make sure he was back in time for a group run the next morning with all the campers.
Low and behold, I wake up at 5:30 a.m. the next morning to take the kid to the group run and he is nowhere to be found. I repeatedly call him and the girl, and the girl answers and said she dropped him off but he was blackout. Right about this time I get a call from my coach and the kids dad asking where the heck we are. I tell them we are stuck in traffic as I search for this little b*stard. After searching about 25 minutes; I find him in one of the closets and he is covered with the shelving and dry wall. I've no idea what he did or how it happened, but I smack him in the face to wake him up and tell him he better be ready in five minutes. He nods and says yes and I come back in and he's now laying in the bed.
I got him out of the bed and to the trails about 30 minutes late. His eyes were as red as the devil's you know what and he stunk of booze. Coach was not impressed and neither was the kids father. As we were running with a group of the female campers, the kid started throwing up and had to walk the rest of the way. I got my butt chewed for essentially staying in and studying for a test and this kid committed to a D1 school in the Midwest. To this day I look back on this story and laugh. I had so many great times and hilarious stories with my team and miss the comradery.
High School Coach wrote:
P5 Recruiter wrote:What are we supposed to tell them when they ask? And not all kids want to run as fast as possible. And if they can't handle the pressure...then college competition might not be for them. Now if we tell them that our offer is rescinded if they don't hit a certain time I understand...but then hopefully that kid isn't dumb enough to go there...
I am hopeful that what you said is misleading because if not, you and people like you are the type that give all a bad name and terrible at what you do.
If they ask, give them a guide of what has earned $ at your school in the past. 4:14 on 80 mpw, intense speed work, and 4 races each meet, is NOT the same or as promising as 4:15 on 30 mpw, all aerobic work, and few races. But you would just throw an arbitrary number out there without context?
Not all kids want to run fast?
The best for last. If they are not smart enough to realize how bad you are and go somewhere else, that is their problem?
There are far too many college coaches that are too busy networking rather than learning the craft of coaching and simply how to treat people. These masses of under-qualified give the good ones a bad name.
Obviously we are aware of the nuance of different marks & how they are achieved. That's why we'll probably have different answers for different kids & may actually give the rough answer you suggest depending on the kid. And sometimes we say "nothing you can do" which isn't the answer the kid or their parents are looking for, but if that's the case we'll be honest. But a coach who doesn't give a firm answer one way or the other is one that will be happy to keep moving the goals posts...
And yes, not all kids are willing to do what it takes to be fast in college...sometimes in high school. Many in fact. I don't have to tell you that if you're a high school coach. Things change in college & I'm sorry your little snowflake's priorities change outside of their parents control...it happens. It's an art form (and some would say a crap shoot) trying to determine which ones will be willing to do what it takes at the next level.
And if they go to one of the handful of programs that tell them up front they'll have their scholarship cut if they don't accomplish X, Y & Z, then yes, they only have themselves to blame when that coach makes good on that promise. More often, coaches won't say that up front, make better sounding promises & still pull that. I still think "those programs" are in the overall minority though.
Sounds like you went to convention last week? You know why college coaches put in too much time networking? Because if they prioritize learning their craft above networking, they'll never get a job. Sh!tty but true. The majority of us are actually pretty good people and pretty good coaches who are generally honest with these kids - and that honesty comes with usually being up front about what we need to see to get more $. If they can't handle that, then they shouldn't ask.
Oh, and so as not to completely hijack this thread, my only good recruiting stories from this side come from when we realize a kid is going to be a virus & find a way to diplomatically convince them to go to our competition. That's the mark of an artist in this craft...
Oh, and this one time in college I bailed on a recruit I was hosting to hook up with a girl upstairs at the party we were attending. We were interrupted at a very inopportune time by some of my teammates who informed us that some of my other teammates had covered my recruit in hershey's chocolate syrup while he was passed out on their couch. And I mean COVERED. Had to have ruined his clothes he was wearing (and the couch). That kid still thought we were the coolest, came to our school & then promptly quit. Guess we should have known that was going to happen if he was still willing to come after that.
And guess what, I could be in one of your living rooms next summer doing a home visit with your daughter!!!
i love numbers wrote:
Also an athlete --
Small D2 school coach was recruiting me. She had 2 really good runners and I told her my goal was to run with her top 2 that year, and she got really offended. Sent me an email accusing me of disrespecting them and what they'd worked for.
I went to their rival, became the #1 that season and beat both her guys.
This post made my day better. Thank you.