Update: Multiple Iowa State athletes suspended for season for "breaking team rules," Head coach Jeremy Sudbury confirms none from top 7

there were definitely rumors about certain guys in the early 2000s

It's still the coach- maybe they're young and dumb and feel that the only way to guarantee a roster spot (Top 7) on a team of 25 year old's is to dope in an ill-advised attempt to defend their own hopes. The shame of it all?- if the coaches recruited just Iowa Student-Athletes and developed them- they'd still have a job and people would care or not care just the same.

you keep pointing fingers at foreigners when all the people who have been allegedly accused so far have been americans

Right?! I feel like im taking crazy pills.

Who would you like them to recruit that they did not go after? They went after the big kids in state and lost out. I don't think they did an especially good job going after those kids but ISU rarely wins in-state kids in any sport. They just don't. It does not help that they have a performance lab coach in state that is cutting deals to send his athletes to Chris Bucknam or his kid at KSU for money and knee capping the in-state schools.

Masondo is 25 and is a JUCO guy that got an extra year from the NCAA due to the verdict. Kiplimo is a JUCO and would have been the same but also got a medical year and is 24. The other three kids from Africa are all under 22 with Ruto being the youngest at 20. SC is 22, Watts is 21, and Kipego is 21 as well.

I have no idea what they do or if they are clean but you seem to have a hard-on for anything Suds does. I don't know him well but he has done right by me. They have made a much better effort to recruit regionally and that has shown with additions from Arkansas, Nebraska, Illinois, and Missouri.

This raises a larger issue of the level of competitiveness in the NCAA and what is needed to be relevant. It’s a new pro it’s not ametur. Something similar happed with cycling a few years back.
Guy basically said I had to do it to be even because I knew my competitors were.
how many more are there?

although this was wrong it highlights how ridiculous d1 has become and the lengths people are willing to go to be at all relevant.
BUT it would be illogical to assume the coach would have known and

1) not instructed more athletes to participate OR that a successful and established coach would risk their entire career over this.

This was definitely the athletes.

You're focusing on the country of origin- it's simply the win-at-all-costs that is really going to hurt the NCAA in the next 5-10 years. What comes first? The domestic kid taking EPO to survive- or the 28 year-old freshmen? I can't blame the coaches who grew up in this mess- but it's the climate- you kinda have to ignore it- Iowa State is a great school- you'll always lose talent to other school- that's the way it's always been- to say- "Well they lost Chip Rudiger to Kansas State- so they had to bring in xxx from xxxx is just not accurate. John Wooden was great- but he cheated with boosters- that's what most people remember. Very few people make enough money in track and field to compromise their individual principles or the principles of sport.

You keep excusing the cheating kid/s saying they had to “take EPO to survive” when the reality is they just weren’t good enough and they have weak principles. Thats not the fault of anyone but the cheating kids who can’t hack D1 running.

this is actually an exceptional post

I'm sorry Sir- you're not listening- it all comes back to institutional control in the eyes of an athletic director. Even the AD's who care a lot- only care so much. I do blame the guilty student-athletes - but it's a long process to get to this point. My hope is that the staff at ISU moves forward in a new direction that is reflective of what has worked in healthy college athletics for the last 100+ years.

I fundamentally reject your attempts to lay blame on anyone other than the cheating athletes and argue that they had no choice because of recruiting better athletes outside of Iowa.

I promise you all of these Iowa State Kenyan recruits are cheating. A random kid from New Jersey gets to be the scapegoat for an entire system that incentivizes and does nothing to stop cheaters.

OK- that's your stance. I have mine too. I'm likely more educated on the manner- but we can have a dialogue. This isn't about Iowa State succeeding or failing- its about the future of the sport and profession. What forces a student-athlete to do this? What environment suggests that a SA needs to dope? We've lost our way- but we have had a historically large group of young coaches (who don't last) dictate the trends since Covid. The trends are bad.

obviously...

So you think you are “more educated” and continue to insist that the SA NEEDS to dope. That they are FORCED to cheat.

They don’t NEED to dope. Some SA dope because they can’t hack it.

I was interviewed for a coaching job there this summer and they hired a female with ZERO coaching experience. Karma comes back around and I’m glad I wasn’t associated with this crap. Next time hire someone with experience!

If some members of an NCAA XC team were doping, one cannot generalise to the entire team or country. However, if some members of some XC teams are using PEDs, and many who run cross country also run track, one may conclude that the corresponding situation is present in NCAA track teams featuring those runners. Unless they are only doping for XC, which seems unlikely. Though many records may not have been broken, the amount of people now able to do what once was considered rare makes one wonder (like the number of sub-4 minute miles in one indoor meet). Of course other factors may be at play, but still.

Usually it's not the top kids who are doping. Just like in pro sports it's not the top athletes doping. It's the next tier, either up and comers who aren't there yet or declining veterans trying to stave off father time, who get desperate and turn to drugs. I would be very surprised if anyone in ISU's top 5 was suspended. Pleasantly surprised because I don't root for them, but surprised nonetheless.

I've been tested by the ncaa. A couple other guys on our team were regularly tested and we were top guys. But out of our roughly 40 man team only 3 would be tested each year. And it was pretty much only the same few.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I understood it was the coach was notified of testing and had to submit 3 athletes to the ncaa testers. Coach selects the 3 based on who on the team he is certain are clean