If a walk-on turns into the best runner on the team, is he likely to attain is partial scholarship?

Yes, absolutely.

asking for a friend that's not me wrote:

Assume that said team has about 3-4 scholarships for distance runners and said walk-on has nearly a full academic scholarship but still has to pay for books and housing. Will the coach be willing to give his star runner a book scholarship and housing stipend or treat him like he’s already on 80% scholarship?

I guess it depends on the coach / program. I went from dead last walk on as a freshman to the top distance runner on the track consistently from 2 years 3000m to 5000m. Never got offered any scholarship $. But then again, I also never asked.

No it is not absolute. Most coaches are not dumb enough to offer money where unnecessary. Some kids will get it if they ask but others will just get the coach annoyed because they had an agreement for the kid to be a walk-on.

real dealer wrote:

No it is not absolute. Most coaches are not dumb enough to offer money where unnecessary. Some kids will get it if they ask but others will just get the coach annoyed because they had an agreement for the kid to be a walk-on.

Forgot to mention that my coach has a history of giving scholarships to walk-ons if they get better in college. He mentioned this to me when we met for the first time.

Every coach tells every recruit that story.

In a perfect world, the coach would reward you and take care of the 20% remaining that you are paying for. But, that money needs to come from somewhere and I can promise you as a head coach who coached at multiple universities it is not easy to take money away from non performing athletes and reward the over performing athletes as much as the coach would want to do so. So, that money would need to be available once another athlete graduates but the coach is hoping to use all that money for his new recruits. To answer your question, you will need to ask for it and it would not hurt to justified a need versus saying you deserve it. ie: I am paying the remainder of my housing and books out of my own pocket as my parents are not helping me and i am really struggling etc.

Good luck

It depends on the coach. I ended up not receiving a scholarship when I first decided to attend a school my senior year. The coach told me if I ran 4:16 he could offer me something. I didn’t run 4:16 until May of my senior year. I was already committed to attending the school that fall but he still threw 1k at me even though it was late in the game. I ended getting another 1k my 3rd year and another 1k after my fourth year of college. I was getting most of my school paid for by financial aid but the extra money helped with rent, books, food.

If you (or your 'friend') become the best runner on the team, and are not offered a scholarship immediately, why would consider running for that team/coach in even one more race? That's the answer to your question.

I guess I didn't tell you the end of the story. After two years of being the "best" distance runner on the track team, and after two years of not asking for a scholarship, I had a financial hardship and asked Coach Groves if I could do a fifth year under a scholarship. And he said yes. But I ultimately decided it was not the smart thing for me to do, so instead I want ahead and graduated and got a job.

Because you like competing and honoring your word.

coach of Big Time wrote:

Every coach tells every recruit that story.

Except it has actually happened with previous athletes on my team a couple of years ago. I was not able to prove myself worthy of a scholarship in the spring with no track season (redshirted indoor).

It depends. The more eligibility he has remaining, the more likely he is to get scholarship in this situation. How many points can he score? If the answer is lower than the sprinters and field athletes, he is less likely to get scholarship even if he is a rather good distance runner. Etc.

Money is harder to come by once you are on the team but most programs do reward exceptional athletes. Depending on the program, being best on the team in XC may not matter. Most coaches want track points.

Since there was no track season talk to your coach and head coach (if XC coach is not head track coach). Ask what you would need to do in the upcoming year to earn money. I would not expect money immediately, now that school has begun, but many (not all) coaches will discuss what you need to do in the upcoming year. Times may play a role, but it is likely your performance in indoor will make or break your leverage.

Budd Hertz wrote:

asking for a friend that's not me wrote:

Assume that said team has about 3-4 scholarships for distance runners and said walk-on has nearly a full academic scholarship but still has to pay for books and housing. Will the coach be willing to give his star runner a book scholarship and housing stipend or treat him like he’s already on 80% scholarship?

I guess it depends on the coach / program.

This is pretty much the complete answer. I've known people who were walk ons who ended up on money without needing to even ask for it. I've known others who seemed very worthy, but were told no when they asked.

It isn't just if the coach believes in rewarding performance fairly. Sometimes the program is just at the scholarship limit and there is just no more money that can be given out within the rules.

I know some form Coaches who said if a Walk on Earns the Starting Spot and have eligibility left they get at least a partial and if they Win Conference and/or AA at NCAA (At the time top 6 would AA, now top 8 AA) they get a full scholarship.

Note at the top Schools like Penn State, Iowa, Oklahoma State etc. Many of the Walk ons could have gotten a Scholarship elsewhere, but each School only get a maximum of 9.9 Scholarships, which can be split up many ways.

12.6 not 9.9. And no track athletes get a full. It might feel like a full but academic and need based come first and no coach is dumb enough to cover tuition, room, food, books, travel, and spending money. Most athletes call their scholarship if it covers all actual expenses even though it may only count as 50%.

Kids can say anything. Don't belive them. How many points will you score in track and is your program fully funded? If fully funded, each point is worth about 10%.

This is generally the situation I wen't through in college. But my coach was upfront with me from the beginning. He didn't like offering big scholarships because he felt they were risky ROI. So he always started small and then increased every year if you asked/were deserving. Normally he would find a few thousand dollars in his scholarship budget when a kid quit the team or graduated or whatever. I wen't to a small D1 college in New England

I walked on as a freshman running 17:30ish in high school XC but ended up running 4:14/9:19 in the 1500/3k for HS senior outdoor season.

Freshman year I ran low 16s maybe like 15:50 and like 9:00 in the 3k. But ran at all 3 conference championships and was top 7 in XC so he gave me like $3k.

Sophomore year 14:59 and 31:50ish and school records in the 5k/10k , scored in our conference meet, so he gave me another few thousand.

Junior year 8:33/14:47/31:30 got a little more money. Scored in multiple events at conferences.

Redshirted XC and outdoor senior year for some health reasons but he had a kid de commit late in the year and offered to pay for my first year of gradschool.

I knew kids that went through similar progressions in college and got nothing. Depends on the coach/ program.

He was also really nice about meeting and talking about our financial situations so honestly I would just talk to your coach.

asking for a friend that's not me wrote:

Assume that said team has about 3-4 scholarships for distance runners and said walk-on has nearly a full academic scholarship but still has to pay for books and housing. Will the coach be willing to give his star runner a book scholarship and housing stipend or treat him like he’s already on 80% scholarship?

lot of ifs. if they have the money freed up, if you ask before you start improving what you have to do performance wise to get it. usually the answer is scoring points at conference... which means you have to produce times that will show its worth taking you to conference.

i thought i was the man coming out of a juco program with one of the top times in country in JUCO. The coach at UW said my times wouldn't even score in PAC 10 so he only offered walk on. A coach in the Big Sky offered be 1/2 scholarship and set time standards to increase amount.