Furman is going downhill

Honesty I agree with the amount of money they have they should definitely be a lot better. And i can definitely see other teams in the conference beating them in the future. Most of those programs are moving up while Furman is trending downward.

Seems like a nice program, but the top east coast runners want to go ACC right now. Conference meet was off the charts exciting.

The Garys have always been really good used car salesmen. 100% fully funded XC only program should be getting more guys to the NCAA regional meet in track and should have a team going to XC nationals every year. Their mens team may not even be top 7 at the regional meet.

A few people here are calling them a former "powerhouse." Not sure they were ever a powerhouse. I know they had the one boy who finished 5th at XC nationals a few years back, but other than womens steeplechasers, they haven't had men or women competing at the front. AND, they've had 1 women's team finish in the top 10 at XC nationals, but I'm not sure their men or women have placed inside the top 15 other than that.

It got some well deserved recognition when the Garys first started there because they went to middle of the pack SoCon to making national meets, but the novelty is wearing off. Despite all the new facilities and money, they are trending down. Rich kids in the southeast are now heading to schools like Wake and UNC and perennial schools like OK State, Ark, Ole Miss, and now Tennessee.

Were they ever good anyways?

guess it depends on your definition of good, consistent natty qualifiers the past few years is good in my book.

Couple of things since people love to spread non-truths about Furman's program. It is not fully funded. They have 9 scholarships on each side, which is what a lot of schools are currently spending on distance athletes. Especially when you consider they are not allowed to use athletic scholarships and academic scholarships together. Also, are they well funded for a mid-major? Yes, but only because they keep the team so small. 20-25 total male and 20-25 total female athletes. 1/2 the size of most track and field teams. This allows the money to go further. Most of the large donations you hear about with their program goes directly towards endowing those scholarships, it is not money they can just spend however the see fit.

Have they been good? 20 XC titles in 10 years. Women's team has been top 10 twice in the past 6 years, with the women's team qualifying the NCAA 4 times during that span. On the Men's side they have had two top 15 finishes with the men's team qualifying 6 times in an 8 year span. Both teams have had an individual qualify anytime the team has not made it.

Are they a powerhouse? No

Do they run a very successful mid major program using what resource they have well? Yes

Is Furman a good school?

From everything I have read they have always been a little less mileage than their competitors in the region but relied on better talent by handing out large scholarships. The issue now in the region is you have programs training harder and are placing a larger focus on distancing running. UNC, UVA, and Wake all shifted to a distance focus in the last few years. Then you have programs like Charlotte training a lot harder than the Gary system.

Are these true? There is no way a lot of schools were using 9 male scholarships on when I was in school. Same with no way most schools had over 40 men. We probably had about 14 mid D and distance, 14 sprinters and jumpers, and 10 throwers and decathletes for a fully funded, power 5 school.

Yeah, you're missing a lot of information here. You're forgetting about Allie Buchalski placing 2nd in the 5k at nationals one year, as well as cracking the top 10 in cross. Savannah Carnahan and Gabbi Jennings both placed top 20 in 2019 Ncaa xc. Their women's team also placed 9th that year overall. I'd say that counts as at least being considered good distance team.

I agree, the program hasn't quite been able to match what it has done in the past in recent seasons, or level up to try and compete with the likes of NC State; however, the women's team specifically is very young, and the men's team has lost a few to graduation and injury this past year. Considering the lack of resources compared to power 5 schools, they have done very well. Most recruits nowadays are into schools that can offer athlete only dining halls, three gear drops a year, priority class registration, smoothie/nutrition bars, etc. Furman simply can't offer that. It's a small school with barely 3,000 students. They don't have a grad school either, so no transfers coming in. They take on many recruits that are considered underdogs coming out of high school, and have made significant jumps with them. Only recently have they begun to recruit some high school stars. Development takes time. Megan Marvin has improved significantly on the track since high school, qualifying for outdoor nationals in the 1500, and Dylan Schubert has made a huge jump on the men's side this fall.

I'm sure the Gary's know what they're doing. The program may be going through a down period right now, but the sport ebbs and flows. Don't count them out from becoming a top 10 team again within the next few years.

Will Brayden Seymour succeed at Furman? Probably one of their best recruits of all time but can he help turn them around?

Furman doesn't have graduate programs ?!? Just Google it and you will find :

Chemistry, M.S.
Community Engaged Medicine, M.S.
Education, Curriculum & Instruction, M.A.
Education, Early Childhood Education, M.A.
Education, Literacy, M.A.
Education, School Leadership, M.A.
Education, Special Education - Learning Disabilities, M.A.
Education, Special Education - Emotional & Behavioral Disorders, M.A.
Education, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, M.A.
Education, Educational Leadership, Ed.S.
Education, School Leadership, Ed.S.

What lack of resources are we talking about here? They had a 4 million dollar gift just to the track/xc program in 2017 and a recent 1 million dollar gift that led to the building of a new field house. They've added football and have additional revenue coming in from athletics now. They have a state of the art weight room and physiology testing center. They are sponsored by Nike. The AD is super supportive of XC and the Garys. They have an 8 lane mondo track and really nice XC course that has held previous NCAA meets. What the eff more do you need?? It's literally distance running... they get all the latest super shoes, training room extras, etc. that power 5 programs do.

The Furman FCS football team does not make a profit for their athletic program.

These article beg to differ... seems like the track program has a $20 million dollar nest egg they are sitting on and are able to fund the program on interest alone. Please don't try to sell this poor woe is me story about Furman not having resources or being fully funded.

furman.edu

$5 million gift from Chris ’78 and Andrea Borch will create track and cross-country scholarships

jwiggins

Cameron Ponder ’22 hopes to become a professional runner. He is double majoring in economics and politics & international affairs, too. The 21-year-old has been able to pursue his dreams […]

Link:www.furman.edu/news/2021/11/17/5-milli...

Every dollar of that goes to keep the 9 men and women’s scholarship. It take a large endowment to cover scholarships that are $75k a year. Does not add to the program, just keep it whole so that is can’t be cut.

I mean...You didn't really disagree. The money that they have is a lot for a small team. Furman has no sprint or field program, so it is all used to funding distance. I'm not sure where you got the information that they can't stack athletic and academic, because they can. Also, look at furman's funding compared to other schools in the conference. To act like they are not a very well-funded team is wrong. Lot's of money going into a purely distance team (with some mid D) means the bar is set high and they aren't matching their performances from prior years.

They stopped being able to stack money back in 2015. FACT!

You saying it doesn't make it true. Please provide a link.