Hard to get recruited

I am retired from college coaching. I never coached at a P5 school or D1. I recruited 100’s of HS athletes who could have walked on at several P5 schools as I offered them scholarships typically covering 50% to 75% of everything. A very small % of those athletes signed with me as they walked on at the P5 of their choice. I called it the “t’shirt” syndrome. They and their parents wanted to wear that P5 t’shirt around the last few months of the athletes HS career saying “Jimmy’s going to _______ to run” Once the majority of those kids hit campus reality sinks in. They are redshirted, the coach pays virtually no attention to them and they might get to run a home meet wearing a generic singlet. Half way into year 2 they realize why should I bust my tail everyday if I am never going to compete? I can take a p/t job and work 20 hours instead of going to practice and make 275.00 a week. I can also join a fraternity etc. and enjoy my time in. College. I am not going to run professional ... happens all the time

I'm a bit confused. If you are not getting any scholarship what did you have to sign?

The issue is that there’s a lot of athletes staying an extra year because of covid.

Even 1-2 extra athletes on a roster means 1-2 less recruits they can pull in. That means instead of trying to get one stud,2-3 4:15 types, and a 4:20 guy, they’re recruiting their stud and 1-2 4:15 guys

In a normal year your kid would have a much better shot but just the ways things happened roster spots are harder to come by. A lot of schools do not have the privilege to expand their roster.

Biggest thing you can do now is just put the work in. There’s so much time till May, he will have time to improve and drop time. Keep in touch with the coach and let him know how you’re progressing. DONT expect a scholarship. You would be very surprised how few recruits get any money.

redstaterunner wrote:

Here he comes wrote:

Not quite like that. We know he can't get a spot at ND but thought it would be easier at Ohio State or Penn State or Florida or NC State than it has been. They wanted to be at schools that have basketball and football and other sports.

Go look at Ohio State's men xc roster. The entire team is from Ohio. They have plenty of local talent to recruit from.

Have you thought about Army or Navy? Top tier academics, east coast, both schools have football and other sports at d1 level, and EVERY student gets a full ride scholarship so less pressure on track teams in terms of scholarship they have to give.

Since it's clear that OP is a glory hound, attending West Point and the Naval Academy is a much greater achievement than attending Ohio State, Penn State, Florida, or NC State. West Point has had a very good football program in recent years with 10 win seasons, bowl victories, and appearances in the Top 25. The Army-Navy game is one of the best rivalries in college football. That being said, I do not think you should try to pressure your son to attend West Point or the Naval Academy. A commission should not be taken lightly, and isn't something one should feel pressured into pursuing.

I'm a big football guy so I see why having a football program would be a factor in where your son choses to attend. There are several very successful football programs at the Group of 5 and FCS level that have great game day atmospheres. "Power 5" isn't everything when it comes to having an enjoyable fan experience.

Time to Think wrote:

[quote]redstaterunner wrote:

[quote]Here he comes wrote:.

I'm a big football guy so I see why having a football program would be a factor in where your son choses to attend. There are several very successful football programs at the Group of 5 and FCS level that have great game day atmospheres. "Power 5" isn't everything when it comes to having an enjoyable fan experience.

This is true… game day football atmosphere and Fcs North Dakota State (people may not really recognize the sweatshirt thought) is light years ahead of P5 Cal for instance… basketball at Gonzaga is unreal and more exiting than most p5 and they will play many p5 games that you could attend. Yes I know he may not make the Gonzaga team either, again better than many p5 schools but the point is there are fun schools to go to with existing sports that aren’t power 5!

We are too late in the process for the academies.

This!

You can't walk on to a school if you have taken an official visit. You'd have to pay back the money used for the official visit.

Are you sure about this one?

So a kid comes on an official and they decide not offer him for whatever reason... maybe he has just torn his ACL or whatever... but the kid gets into the university on his own and decides to walk on (and they let him)... you think the NCAA is going to tell the kid he has to pay for the official visit in order to walk on?

Maybe you are right but it doesn't sound right to me.

15_50 wrote:

Jose Garza wrote:

You can't walk on to a school if you have taken an official visit. You'd have to pay back the money used for the official visit.

Are you sure about this one?

So a kid comes on an official and they decide not offer him for whatever reason... maybe he has just torn his ACL or whatever... but the kid gets into the university on his own and decides to walk on (and they let him)... you think the NCAA is going to tell the kid he has to pay for the official visit in order to walk on?

Maybe you are right but it doesn't sound right to me.

You can definitely have an official visit and be a “walk-on” meaning you receive no scholarship money… lots of kids who don’t get money take official visits. You don’t have to pay the school back.

Lots of schools have non scholarship kids take official visits. It would be very tough to get walk on kids if you could not even have them visit the school.

Here he comes wrote:

We are too late in the process for the academies.

When I replied I mistakenly thought your son was a junior. As a senior he’s honestly too late in the process for any Power 5 school. It’s almost January 2022. Schools want their athletes to apply early. Heck, some of the runners in your son’s class will be early enrolling soon. Even more so, regular application deadlines for schools that have a set decision date (no rolling admissions) is nearing soon. As someone clawing to get onto a team you can’t be waiting around last minute. Additionally, last minute applications are usually weaker, which won’t help your son’s case to get on the team. Plus considering he isn’t in line for a significant athletic scholarship (or anything at all) he’s likely passed up several university scholarship deadlines.

If your son wants a “cool college game day experience” coupled with running then he ought to look outside of the Power 5. As someone else mentioned NDSU has a great game day atmosphere for football. Same is true of the other FCS perennial powers. The Sun Belt has some good football teams (one of which is App State). Boone is a pretty cool town, the football stadium is neat, the scenery is pretty, and the fishing is pretty good. App State has rattled off several 10 win seasons and bowl victories in FBS. UNC football plays at App State next season which should make for an electric atmosphere. Not sure of the specifics on their program or anything but it’s worth a look.

Note: If your son is able to speak to the coach remember it’s pronounced APPA-LATCH-UN not APPA-LAY-SHUN.

It isn't too late. He some walk-on offers with power 5 schools.

Isn’t that like taking an unpaid internship or a volunteer gig? Work hard enough and we might come up with some money? By junior year you might get book money to go with three pairs of shoes and a few pieces of training apparel annually.

I get your point but it is more than that. My son gets 6 pairs of trainers, 3 pairs of spikes, and 3 pairs of flats every year. He gets more clothing than he will ever wear. He gets free food at a food station. It is probably several thousand dollars worth of stuff every year.

Colin6_9_ wrote:

I just signed with Duke as a senior in high school a few months ago, and i think i may have some advice. I was the slowest guy they signed this year, ran 4:14, but I am hugely underdeveloped as a runner, have had volunteer coaches the whole time, only started running 50 mpw junior year etc, and a lot of coaches are that up. I was talking to Nova, Michigan, Princeton, Lananna at UVA, and Georgetown, all top programs so i would say that it worked out well for me. If your sons are undeveloped, give the coaches a rest, and in a month or so reach back out and send a detailed email stressing that fact. Best of luck.

Why did you decide to run 50 mpw? If you talked to runners from other HSs and did some research online and decided you should be running more, it's easy to increase your mileage with weekday morning runs. Mpw is almost entirely under the control of the runner.

If I was a coach, I would take claims of low mileage with a grain of salt. I would also be concerned whether a low mileage runner has it in them to jump up to a much higher level of training.

Unless it is a power 5 school that solely focuses on distance, the roster spots have become extremely limited over the past 3 years. Between budget cuts, more women entering college vs men (creating title ix issues) and kids staying extra years bc of covid, spots for men's track and cross have been cut aggressively. Additionally with the movement on the transfer portal coaches are less likely to offer limited spots to high school boys because college men are coming onto the portal late.

Here he comes wrote:

I get your point but it is more than that. My son gets 6 pairs of trainers, 3 pairs of spikes, and 3 pairs of flats every year. He gets more clothing than he will ever wear. He gets free food at a food station. It is probably several thousand dollars worth of stuff every year.

It's hard to believe how dense you and your son are being. You can buy this Tesla for 150,000 dollars but we'll let you keep the pen you use to sign the check!

You want a football and basketball experience? You have meets on the same days as those games! Chances are your son will be left at home from the meets, so instead of traveling to pre-nats he can go play beer pong at a tailgate for the football game.

You screwed up. You would have saved a ton of money going to a mid-major on a big athletic scholarship. He would have run faster and had a better experience. But clearly wearing the t-shirt to brag is more important to you.

I'm smelling a troll. OP starts with reasonably believable claims and gets more ridiculous as the thread progresses.

Because I trusted my coach and what he had me doing. I was running 55-60 during the winter and then started running 35-40 from march through may, and the training changed drastically from winter to in season so i trusted him. I now know that i should be doing more and accordingly will probably run low 4:0x and 8:4x this spring. From the coaches perspective just ask to see the training log if you don’t believe the runner it’s not that hard to do. I would have gladly done that if it would help get me a spot on a team!