Why Can't Mike Smith Coach Women at NAU to Same Level as Men?

Recruiting and coaching. NAU draws the best because of Mike Smith and the success they have had. The women’s program is good but they don’t get the recruits that BYU and NC State Stanford etc. But the kids that are great athletes and are very good academically will go to colleges that offer both

one story -- but my best friend went to NAU on a full ride, but said NAU on her law school applications really hurt her chances a top law school despite being top of her calls. she ended up at a lesser law school but does say she loved her time at NAU.

she has a steady government job now and seems to be fine, all that said.

*class not calls

As others have said, it is recruiting and limitations...women choose schools for different reasons.

In my experience, academic prestige, campus aesthetics, and college culture are more important to women's distance runners relative to men.

It is not that women don't care about scholarships, but scholarship plays a bigger role in men's recruiting. There is less money for men, in general, and guys definitely chase scholarship dollars more. While it seems the best women consider training environment and teammates out of High school, men to me, seem far more likely to consider such factors.

There is a reason mid majors always get more mens teams to XC nationals, than women's. Major universities have an inherent recruiting advantage over mid majors, and those advantages are significantly exacerbated when recruiting women relative to men.

Get Metric wrote:

He inherited a National championship men’s team. He’s riding that wave out well. He has to do more to get the women’s team better.

Anyways guys tend to choose college more so according to their interests. Women choose college for the academics. NAU is an outdoor enthusiast and distance runners Mecca. These guys go there for that. Chicks instead are more concerned with what kind of education they provide. Since NAU is ranked low in that category the best lady recruits go elsewhere. Despite that Smith has done a very good job with the ladies. I do think he has become the best coach in the nation hands down.

I don’t think this argument really holds up when you look at the rankings

The best women’s teams are BYU, NC State, UNM, Stanford and CU per the latest coaches poll. Overall, those are about equal academically to the schools on the men’s side (NAU, ND, Stanford, OSU, BYU)

In fact, Stanford and ND (the two best academic schools in the top 5) have stronger men’s teams than women’s teams, which goes against your point.

Now for the original question , I’d say it’s nearly 100% due to team culture. You have top recruits like Nico Young, Katelyn Tuohy and Jenna Hutchins choosing NAU,NC STATE and BYU over literally any school including Stanford and the ivies .. speaks to the importance of coaching and team culture for top athletes.

Laurie Henes and Dilijeet Taylor have created an super attractive team for top recruits, so it’s natural that they continue to dominate, just like what Smith did at NAU for the men. I’d say he can bring the NAU women’s team to NC/BYU level with a couple more years of success and recruiting, but these things take time.

He inherited a cross country dynasty.

They were multiple time NCAA champs when we became head coach and he was the assistant coach I believe the year they won NCAA’s before Hein retired.

I’m sure he’s a solid coach, but it’s not like he started from rock bottom. Distance running is a sport where the rich tend to get richer.

shea it aint so wrote:

girls also aren’t nearly as into the nerd side of running as boys are.

I imagine all the pro runners in Flag impresses the hell out of HS boys while the girls have no clue who those people even are.

Wow you don't think that girls running high school XC aren't inspired and in awe of Molly Seidel winning bronze? Don't know who Rachel Schneider or Sara Hall is? Girls can be just as nerdy about elites--they just tend to be more drawn to other women than men.

Women have a plan. the majority of the better female runners will go to a school with great academic reputations, over running reputations.

I think Geordie Beamish got a degree in civil engineering and Quax is doing one as well. Maybe its a kiwi thing

I've noticed I tend to agree with you on many points. Here I agree with some of what you say but not all.

I would agree that women often choose schools for different reasons but I think you are wrong on the scholarships playing a lesser role. It's more that relative scarcity exists on the men's side.

As you know, there is simply more scholarship money available for women so the major universities have more to hand out on a relative basis on the womens side. And on a relative basis there are not more top womens recruits than there are mens so the majors gobble up more of the top womens recruits than on the mens side. Therefore, in my opinion, scholarship money plays a big part on both the womens and the mens side.

He was co-head coach the first year NAU won a title. Granted NAU had about 2 decades of being top 10 at NCAAs, it wasn't until Mike and Jarred Cornfield took over recruiting that team depth grew a ton and became a real dynasty. As someone who ran under both coaches, Mikes coaching style has made a massive difference in the depth and outcome of NAU in cross, but more so on the track. Mike is a great coach, and Cornfield is an amazing recruiter. As to actual thread post, the women's team culture has grown massively under Mike, which is arguably more impressive to me than the men's team these days.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It's about recruiting and not coaching. Being able to recruit the best male distance runners doesn't guarantee he'll have the same success with women. Your average blue chip female athlete might have different criteria for choosing a school. For sure, choosing NAU is putting running ahead of academics.

I just received a letter from NAU regarding my daughter. They liked her tests scores and hinted about some type of scholarship. Even if they offered a full ride, I would still 100% want her to go to a U.C. here in California.

It's always refreshing to see the LetsRun dads continue to pump out meteoric levels of ego. I mean, why stop at UC or bust? Why not throw post her PR's and test scores while you're at it?

Women tend to care more about academics than men. Female runners tend to set high bars for themselves academically and NAU doesn’t offer much in that regard.

I don't believe you can include BYU in your analysis. It has first dibs on the best Mormon runners.

In regard to Nico Young, I think he considers college to be a stepping stone to being a pro runner and NAU has the best college distance running program. It's not unlikely that he goes pro within the next 1-2 years and doesn't graduate anyway.

Maybe he goes pro early but he needs to actually win an NCAA title and/or set records in order to punch that ticket.

Rupp, Hocker, Mondo, Mu, and McLaughlin didn't just go pro early because they had great potential. No, they actually won and reset standards before they turned pro.

....Each of those mentioned btw, DID win and DID break records as Freshman & Sophomores. Nico is not on that trajectory so far.

We'll see, said the wise man

Bobby Digital wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It's about recruiting and not coaching. Being able to recruit the best male distance runners doesn't guarantee he'll have the same success with women. Your average blue chip female athlete might have different criteria for choosing a school. For sure, choosing NAU is putting running ahead of academics.

I just received a letter from NAU regarding my daughter. They liked her tests scores and hinted about some type of scholarship. Even if they offered a full ride, I would still 100% want her to go to a U.C. here in California.

It's always refreshing to see the LetsRun dads continue to pump out meteoric levels of ego. I mean, why stop at UC or bust? Why not throw post her PR's and test scores while you're at it?

It's not U.C. or bust and she's not a runner. I would be cool with her going to SDSU, or some of the other state schools and it's up to her. If she's not interested in a U C., then maybe an out of state school like NAU, with some type of scholarship included, would be a reasonable option. Again, it's up to her.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It's about recruiting and not coaching. Being able to recruit the best male distance runners doesn't guarantee he'll have the same success with women. Your average blue chip female athlete might have different criteria for choosing a school. For sure, choosing NAU is putting running ahead of academics.

I just received a letter from NAU regarding my daughter. They liked her tests scores and hinted about some type of scholarship. Even if they offered a full ride, I would still 100% want her to go to a U.C. here in California.

If she could get a 100% scholarship (combined academics and athletic) that covered her tuition, books, room & board that would be a decent deal. After graduating she could enroll in a masters level program back in Cali to "cover up" that NAU degree.

Get Metric wrote:Most talented ladies want an option to have a legit career instead.

Which must mean most talented men don't want a legit career?

dont think so wrote:The best women’s teams are BYU, NC State, UNM, Stanford and CU per the latest coaches poll. Overall, those are about equal academically to the schools on the men’s side (NAU, ND, Stanford, OSU, BYU)

NAU is miles below the other four schools you mentioned academically.