I agree. This is just heartbreaking. I don't understand how they can treat the kids this way. They are going to lose alumni and community support for this program. And for those who keep calling it a business, this is behavior is a huge turn off to donors, so it is bad for business. Winning isn't everything....
Colorado is a top tier program. To beat the best you have to have quality runners. Doesn't matter who runs Colorado the school is expecting a competitive team and he has to set the standard out of the gate
Colorado is a top tier program... because of Wetmore and the culture set by the athletes who ran for him. CU the school has no business setting any kind of expectations or standards for the XC team, given how mediocre all their other sports usually are.
Besides the ski team, the XC team is the most successful athletic program at the school by a mile. The football team has been terrible for decades. The school has sunk millions upon millions into coaching salaries to achieve diddly, yet they had to drop their tennis team because they couldn't afford it. The basketball team fluctuates between bad, mediocre, and pretty good, but is never a real contender. If the women's soccer team has accomplished anything of note in recent years, it's news to me. The XC team's "bad" year last season would be considered a success by every other program. If CU football finishes the year ranked 25th, they'll build Deion Sanders a statue.
A coach doesn't coach to become your friend. They come to produce a product for the school. That is their objective. It is not to be your friend or buddy. If you are not an asset to the team, then you are a liability. You can train on your own but you do not deserve to wear a Buffs XC uniform if you're not producing.
My favorite part of this thread is all the people who never made it off their high school JV team, and would get lapped 6 times by the CU "cut" guys on a track 5K, are telling Wetmore that he couldn't spot talent and recruited the wrong guys. That's really funny. Mark it down... these 9 guys are going to be great at different programs.
A coach doesn't coach to become your friend. They come to produce a product for the school. That is their objective. It is not to be your friend or buddy. If you are not an asset to the team, then you are a liability. You can train on your own but you do not deserve to wear a Buffs XC uniform if you're not producing.
Is this Sean's burner? This is the exact attitude that led to half of Tennessee being in the portal until he left.
So Georgia cuts 4 guys that can barely break 15:00 and letsrun loses their mind (5+ pages), but Colorado cuts 9 guys , one of which has broken 14:00, and LetsRun is acting like it’s no big deal. Got it.
He cut a 14:00 guy?
If he's on a scholarship it still gets honored right?
Don't know about today but back in the day late 70"s early 80's if a coach wanted your scholarship he took it. The reality was the coaches to give or take as they felt warranted.
A coach doesn't coach to become your friend. They come to produce a product for the school. That is their objective. It is not to be your friend or buddy. If you are not an asset to the team, then you are a liability. You can train on your own but you do not deserve to wear a Buffs XC uniform if you're not producing.
I believe this sentiment is why many coaches underperform or fail in college. Coaches absolutely do not produce a product for the school or admins. Their main job is to give their student athletes a great experience. Quite a few of the athletes in front of them pay a lot of money to be there. If your desire is to produce a product for admins, you will not reach your potential as a coach. If coaches choose to give athletes their greatest experience and the best 4 years of their athletic career, they will be more successful.
Colorado is a top tier program. To beat the best you have to have quality runners. Doesn't matter who runs Colorado the school is expecting a competitive team and he has to set the standard out of the gate
Colorado is a top tier program... because of Wetmore and the culture set by the athletes who ran for him. CU the school has no business setting any kind of expectations or standards for the XC team, given how mediocre all their other sports usually are.
Besides the ski team, the XC team is the most successful athletic program at the school by a mile. The football team has been terrible for decades. The school has sunk millions upon millions into coaching salaries to achieve diddly, yet they had to drop their tennis team because they couldn't afford it. The basketball team fluctuates between bad, mediocre, and pretty good, but is never a real contender. If the women's soccer team has accomplished anything of note in recent years, it's news to me. The XC team's "bad" year last season would be considered a success by every other program. If CU football finishes the year ranked 25th, they'll build Deion Sanders a statue.
*WAS a top tier program
both womens and men’s sides are extremely weak and by some accounts toxic.
It’s the nature of the sport. They were 25th last year. That isn’t up to their standard.
Yep, THIS. As implied by another poster on this thread, the days of "student-athletes" have never been further relegated to the past. It's very much a new and different era. Sub-14 kid was part of a team that finished 25th. That's inclusive of the problem with respect to the legacy of a program like CU. They should have understood that an incoming coach was going to look at this situation like Prime did, you know the AD stated such expectations during the interview process. You don't go onto a leaky boat and trust the existing crew to plug all the holes. No, it's not a great situation for the kids who got cut but that's more on Wetmore's recruiting philosophy than anything else. He let a lot of dead weight into the program because he couldn't adapt fast enough to today's championship environment.
How does the CU athletic director get a pass on this? If they knew they weren't going to renew Wetmore, they should have informed him months ago. By waiting so long, they probably limited their hiring choices. Then, they drag out the hiring process for a month.
Whoever came into this job was probably going to radically alter the roster because last year's team was not competitive.
It’s the nature of the sport. They were 25th last year. That isn’t up to their standard.
Yep, THIS. As implied by another poster on this thread, the days of "student-athletes" have never been further relegated to the past. It's very much a new and different era. Sub-14 kid was part of a team that finished 25th. That's inclusive of the problem with respect to the legacy of a program like CU. They should have understood that an incoming coach was going to look at this situation like Prime did, you know the AD stated such expectations during the interview process. You don't go onto a leaky boat and trust the existing crew to plug all the holes. No, it's not a great situation for the kids who got cut but that's more on Wetmore's recruiting philosophy than anything else. He let a lot of dead weight into the program because he couldn't adapt fast enough to today's championship environment.
This is not the right way to handle things. They should have at least given the kids some time to prove themselves. The route they chose is lazy and selfish. Not only is it off-putting to alumni, community and donors, but it is also repulsive to top recruits. If I am a top recruit I would absolutely avoid this program at all costs. Recruits should be looking at programs that are able to develop their athletes, have kids who improve each year, care about the team culture, etc. They shouldn't have to worry that if they get injured or sick that they may be cut, or that their coach may just flippantly cut teammates without a second thought. That's not an environment built for long term success.
Yep, THIS. As implied by another poster on this thread, the days of "student-athletes" have never been further relegated to the past. It's very much a new and different era. Sub-14 kid was part of a team that finished 25th. That's inclusive of the problem with respect to the legacy of a program like CU. They should have understood that an incoming coach was going to look at this situation like Prime did, you know the AD stated such expectations during the interview process. You don't go onto a leaky boat and trust the existing crew to plug all the holes. No, it's not a great situation for the kids who got cut but that's more on Wetmore's recruiting philosophy than anything else. He let a lot of dead weight into the program because he couldn't adapt fast enough to today's championship environment.
This is not the right way to handle things. They should have at least given the kids some time to prove themselves. The route they chose is lazy and selfish. Not only is it off-putting to alumni, community and donors, but it is also repulsive to top recruits. If I am a top recruit I would absolutely avoid this program at all costs. Recruits should be looking at programs that are able to develop their athletes, have kids who improve each year, care about the team culture, etc. They shouldn't have to worry that if they get injured or sick that they may be cut, or that their coach may just flippantly cut teammates without a second thought. That's not an environment built for long term success.
All the kids that redshirted last year so they could build mileage got told they didn't produce results. Wow big if true, red shirts didn't have huge races. Carlson is the next Sherlock Holmes.
This post was edited 15 seconds after it was posted.
Yep, THIS. As implied by another poster on this thread, the days of "student-athletes" have never been further relegated to the past. It's very much a new and different era. Sub-14 kid was part of a team that finished 25th. That's inclusive of the problem with respect to the legacy of a program like CU. They should have understood that an incoming coach was going to look at this situation like Prime did, you know the AD stated such expectations during the interview process. You don't go onto a leaky boat and trust the existing crew to plug all the holes. No, it's not a great situation for the kids who got cut but that's more on Wetmore's recruiting philosophy than anything else. He let a lot of dead weight into the program because he couldn't adapt fast enough to today's championship environment.
This is not the right way to handle things. They should have at least given the kids some time to prove themselves. The route they chose is lazy and selfish. Not only is it off-putting to alumni, community and donors, but it is also repulsive to top recruits. If I am a top recruit I would absolutely avoid this program at all costs. Recruits should be looking at programs that are able to develop their athletes, have kids who improve each year, care about the team culture, etc. They shouldn't have to worry that if they get injured or sick that they may be cut, or that their coach may just flippantly cut teammates without a second thought. That's not an environment built for long term success.
They ain't true freshmen, they had plenty of opportunity in Wetmore's lame duck year to prove themselves. Keeping them around is just more f*cking around. Glad you feel the coaches and program should have that luxury posting this from your sofa in Dork City. You were never on the same level as a top recruit, you wouldn't have the first clue what they think nor what leads to long term success in the modern age.