My son is looking at running at a PA college and looking for input on the various XC programs. With the D1 blackout period it's been very difficult to get a feel for the coaches over phone/email/zoom calls. (FWIW - we invested in a PA prepaid savings plan years ago so while he can go out of state, it's much cheaper to stay within PA. )
He's run 1525 (Sr XC) / 422 (Jr indoor) / 925 (time trial summer after Jr year); understand that he wouldn't be their top runner and don't expect money, but he wants the chance to get better and compete.
Temple - program has been strong and seems on the upswing but didn't like the campus
PennSt - this was high on his list but the coach has largely ignored him. I've heard stories of burned out kids but don't know if that's true.
Pitt - their distance program seems to be floundering and they were horrible at ACCs last month. seems like a sprinter school and XC is ignored.
Duquesne - a smaller program that doesn't seem to have the resources as the bigger schools but the kids that go there do seem to improve.
We considered Edinboro and Shippensburg but the state school system in PA is a mess right now with schools consolidating and lots of cuts. And the bigger schools are all better academically anyway.
Appreciate any insights.
PA college distance programs
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Who cares about running? What is he planning to study?
Penn, Penn State, Lehigh, Bucknell, Lafayette, Carnegie Mellon, Villanova, Drexel, Pitt
Those are probably the PA schools worth going to if education and career are the reasons that he would go to school. -
elvid32, why be like that? It's a freaking running forum. Obviously people here care about running as does my son. He wants to run in college and wants to know about the coaches.
We have spent plenty of time visiting schools, talking to admissions, evaluating academics, sitting in on online classes, talking to professors, etc. What we haven't done is talk to coaches. And since we aren't allowed to talk to them, figured I'd ask here. -
The Pa. conference schools that are consolidating right now look to be Lock Haven and Mansfield. Edinboro and Shippemsburg should be fine. A Post Gazette article from last year made it seem like Pitt is trying to upgrade their distance running, they actually created a home course for themselves. Bucknell and Lehigh are worth looking into.
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Thanks HRE.
Yes, Shippensburg (and Slippery Rock and West Chester) all seem stable. Edinboro/CalU/Clarion are all merging . They have been very fuzzy on what the consolidation means and said they'll have a plan in place by summer so it's very uncertain and has us nervous about what that might mean.
Yes, Lehigh and Bucknell are both great schools.
No idea what Pitt's doing. In 2018 D2 NCAA Championships were at Schenley Park right next to their campus. So they've always had access to a course so not sure why they decided to make a new course at that old industrial site. Then this year they ran someplace entirely different out by the airport which isn't even that close. -
I highly recommend Ship or Bucknell. I had kids go to both
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What about Haverford College and Tom Donnelly?
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Ackley: Haverford/Donnelly is a great suggestion. Completely forgot about them. We'll look into the academic fit. Thank you!
realisticxc: I'll circle back on Bucknell, there was something he didn't like about it there, but my other son is thinking of going there; -
The PG article said that Pitt was making a cross country course along the Monongehela on open ground where there had once been steel mills. I don't know what became of it. When my youngest son was looking at schools to run for we talked briefly about Pitt because it would have given him a "big time" program experience, airplane trips, decent budget, etc. But it was very brief talk.
You could check St. Francis. I think they've slid since the Kevin Donner era but really haven't paid attention. I ran at Shippensburg and loved it. The area and campus are beautiful. The track facilities are excellent. There was not much in the line of soft ground to run on unless you drove to the mountains, which was a short drive, or went round and round the tiny golf course and soccer field. We had a long run that went from campus to a state forest there and back. Lots of very low traffic roads through the farms.
The school is somewhat image conscious I think and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's very found of citing their high ranking in US News and World Report's of schools that give the best returns on your education dollar. There were some profs who seemed cranky about being there and not at Princeton.
Edinboro was the top distance school in the conference when I was there and continued to be for a long time afterward. I don't know what's gone on there since Doug Watts retired. -
Talk to Mike Glavin at St. Joseph's University. Good school, great coach,
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Currently Lafayette College is the best at development. It pains me to say it as a Lehigh grad but I have to give them credit.
It's a small school and they don't get the best recruits because let's be honest, who has heard of Lafayette outside of PA? But they do the most with the least.
A few years ago I scoffed at their recruiting class and now I think they can beat both Lehigh and Bucknell this year. -
For opportunity:
Pitt at D1 (ACC will continue to pull the program and its becoming a popular school)
Ship at D2 (good coaching)
Messiah at D3 (if faith-based is acceptable - good all-round athletic program)
Plenty of options though. F&M has good facilities if price doesn't matter. -
Looks like the perfect fit for either Lehigh or Bucknell... will definitely be an all patriot league contender by junior and senior year. The question is does he want to party or does he want to pretend to party? If the later, choose Bucknell!
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parunnerdad wrote:
Ackley: Haverford/Donnelly is a great suggestion. Completely forgot about them. We'll look into the academic fit. Thank you!
realisticxc: I'll circle back on Bucknell, there was something he didn't like about it there, but my other son is thinking of going there;
Donnelly is well over 70 years old. Don't pick a school based on a coach that will likely retire in a year or two. Lafayette is a better option than Bucknell. -
A Shippensburg degree is much more valuable than a Lehigh or Bucknell degree. Not even close
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no way jose wrote:
A Shippensburg degree is much more valuable than a Lehigh or Bucknell degree. Not even close
You're not serious are you? -
PA has a lot of decent college running programs. So it really depends on what he wants to major in?
If he wants to be a teacher then a D2 state school like Ship makes sense.
If he wants to be an engineer then a school like Penn State.
If he wants to be a doctor then a school like U of Penn.
All produce quality runners. The major just needs to match the school. -
malmo wrote:
no way jose wrote:
A Shippensburg degree is much more valuable than a Lehigh or Bucknell degree. Not even close
You're not serious are you?
no i'm not :-) just poking fun -
St Joe and LaSalle are pretty good, honestly have no idea how
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parunnerdad wrote:
elvid32, why be like that? It's a freaking running forum. Obviously people here care about running as does my son. He wants to run in college and wants to know about the coaches.
We have spent plenty of time visiting schools, talking to admissions, evaluating academics, sitting in on online classes, talking to professors, etc. What we haven't done is talk to coaches. And since we aren't allowed to talk to them, figured I'd ask here.
Choose the list based on academics and career potential, and then contact the coaches on that list. If he want to study engineering, business, or a hard science, then choose from the list that I wrote. If he wants to get into education and teaching, then a lot of the PA state school system has good programs (Shippensburg, Millersville, Bloomsburg, Slippery Rock, etc. ... there are a lot). If he wants to study History or English or something like that, then talk him out of spending money paying tuition to any school. I don't know anything about your situation.
If he's completely undecided, then he can't go wrong going to a big school with a lot of options, so that would be Penn State.
Which schools are on the list that you've visited and have interest in?
