You didn't read what I wrote. It doesn't matter what intention the student-athlete had going in, but the sole purpose of scholarships are to underwrite a student's education, period. If a student doesn't maintain a certain GPA, it doesn't matter how good of an athlete they are. They will be put on probation, made ineligible, or kicked out.
I don't run for other people; I don't run for my country.
Foreigner wrote:
The first thing I have to address is that everyone is saying it's the tax payer buying these teams. That is not true, not all international students come to America on full scholarships.
95% or more of the decent to great foriegn athletes are here on Full Scholarships. I saw 3 Kenyan runners this past weekend at PSU that ran, 2 over 4:30 in the mile and one over 15:40 in the 5K. They are not paying for school.
Good Coach! Trying to make himself sound like a great coach. At least he only dates American co-eds.
If you don't care that most colleges pay foreign athletes to run for them, then you (and every other american and journalist) need to stop bitching, "why can't any americans beat the africans". Well this is probably the main reason why.
Look at the big picture. You coaches on here that want to keep using the excuse that we need the foreigners for competion and to push the americans will continue to hurt american distance running. Use your skills as a coach to develop an athlete and a program. Stop taking the easy road.
"the sole purpose of scholarships are to underwrite a student's education, period."
Then why give any athletic scholarships out?
There are a lot more deserving kids, alot more kids that would acutally do something with the education then the jocks how get scholarships.
The purpose of athletic scholarships is to build a competitive team, period. Yes, techinically they underwrite a student's education. In reality they allow for good teams and the individual to develop at his/her sport.
Even academic scholarships serve a larger purpose than underwriting education. They are ment to draw students who otherwise would go to a better school and help boost the schools US News and Report rank.
Yes, the idea that an athletic scholarship is all about education is bs. If it's all about the education why is the GPA requirement 2.0? Make it 3.5 if it's all about smarts.
I'm glad Wetmore recruits US runners and he has the balls to say what he's thinking. Maybe more schools will look at what he's doing and follow that example rather than ARK, etc..
Iowa state boughth their teams in the 90s!
Iowa State bought their cross country winning teams from overseas.
Mark Whinemore bought his teams from the US. Yeah Whinemore's way is probably better but they both still bought their titles.
It's obvious from reading this board that it takes balls and confidence to recruit American kids exclusively. Kudos to you Mark Wetmore.
comes down to this wrote:
Use your skills as a coach to develop an athlete and a program.
No coach can put in what God left out.
It also takes the right school and a good salesman because 17-18 year olds love the BS.
"Again, how many top American runners are offered scholarship money to universities overseas? It's slim pickings, trust me."
This "point" is irrelevant and totally off-base. At overseas universities, athletics are not regularly affiliated in any way with universities. Runners in Europe (with minor exceptions in the UK) do not run for their university, but for their club. Rarely do they receive money to run for their club. It wouldn't make any sense for a European university to recruit American runners to run for their "team" BECAUSE NO SUCH TEAM EXISTS!
On a personal level, I am an American who has had the privilege of studying at two European universities and training with two European clubs. The fact that I was an American was a complete non-issue when it came to joining the club. Moreover, I currently receive a full scholarship, funded by a foreign government, to study here.
I'd say he's a little more than good...
How many NC XC titles has he won? How many conference titles? How does CU dominate the best region in the country?
Was CU favored to win men's XC this year? No. Give the coach some cred for the upset. No Ritz or Torres or Goucher on that team.
How is Wetmore buying championships? Is he like giving recruits cars and homes and taking them to strip clubs?
He is not the best recruiter - see Oregon.
Wetmore has great athletes. Their names may not be Ritz or Goucher but that doesn't make them poor athletes. They always get Footlocker finalists and many of them. They also rarely have to pay a full for great athletes. Please do not think it is a level playing field. Someone bringing in foreign athletes is not buying a championship any more than Wetmore. Just because they are Americans matters little.
We have gone in circles WAY too many times. If you don't get it yet then you never will. No one has brought up a valid point on why bringing in foreign athletes hurts American distance running. No reason to give money to someone that hasn't earned it.
I could care less whether Wetmore's logic is substantive or not. I simply admire him for being committed to cultivating American student-athletes.
Wetmore detester, answer me this. What foreign college recruites and pays for American college kids to come to their school to get an education and a chance to develop their sport at a higher level? None that I know of. The other countries leave their money for their citizens. What jackasses they are!
Every time this subject is brought up it just goes round and round.
When you have nothing but foreign distance runners the sport just becomes "something other people do." So with out any successful role models the sport continues to die in the US. I know seeing guys from my HS CC team go on to run in college was a HUGE motovating factor for all of us the team.
If you do not see the universities as having a duty to do anything but win conference championships then you will have no problems with an all foreign team. I think they (schools) have an obligation to try and better the sport.
Maybe US distance runners need Affirmative Action (for lack of a better term.) We are always told that under AA just giving someone the chance will allow them to go on and show what they really can do. If it works for minorities, why not under represented distance runners.?
Finally, if you think it's easy to cut the CC or track programs now, just have most of your athletes come from some where other than the US. It makes it 1000x easier to cut. See Blinn for a great example.
I respect Wetmore more for him saying that he would rather develop American kids. I hate it how there are some coaches out there that are thought to be so great when really they do jack sh*t. They buy their Kenyans and let them win the titles without having to coach at all (since the Kenyans can't speak English anyways). For example, everyone thinks Ron Mann is such a great coach but all of his success is based on the Kenyans he has had.
Although I don't agree with all of Wetmore's beliefs you can't argue about his success at NCAA'a. He gets his athletes ready to run at the right time both mentally and physically. I respect his beliefs about recruiting. It's his program and he is entitled to recruit the type of athletes he wants. I'll take a coach who wants to work and plan at developing athletes over a coach who buys his athletes anytime.