Sam McDonnell is on the transfer portal for Alabama and listed as “does not wish to be contacted by other schools.”
100% going to UCLA
That’s huge news. Any time you can bring in the 5th (from last place) finisher at the NCAA championship, you have dramatically changed the trajectory of your program.
This is categorically false. If UCLA signs a runner from the portal - or adds to the roster- there are several legal ways to announce the addition.
It's not about whether its legal or not. Brosnan and the 2 kids have chosen not to make an announcement right now because the kids are still at another school. That's their decision to make, not yours or mine.
There is ZERO reason to not announce. If you are in the portal every NCAA coach has access to you. If you are not announcing, it shows either an incredible amount of poor taste from the athlete or they are simply lying and still seeing what is out there for them while they remain in the portal. If a kid wants to keep quiet- albeit TWO- they clearly don't care about building a team. It would show off to the world UCLA is adding bodies and transfers at that and would want to open the recruit flood gates that seem to have been closed
It's important to note that Van Hoy had not only a team of collegians, some of whom might have been willing to go with him (I don't know if any did), but also a series of recruits he may have been working on for years and they too might have gone to Cal Poly when he got that job, whereas Brosnan was coming into the job only in August, almost too late to recruit any of the top seniors and with no recruiting history of targets to take to UCLA. If he doesn't have enough pull at UCLA to get significant scholarship money (and potential NIL deals) for top national recruits next year, then it will be very difficult for him to compete nationally in xc and track.
His women’s roster is loaded with potential and imo is a quicker path to NCAAs than men. You don’t have to develop as much for the 6k either
Female. And I agree. His women's team has more potential. Plus he's already gotten one high quality high school senior girl. So 3 new females plus his existing team will make them pretty good in fall 2023.
You know who I’m thinking of. But why? Is UCLA offering something else? Not sure this makes sense.
Cal poly has done a lot of recruiting. I assume they are all hoping that the coach can level them up. But I would not say any top recruits have chosen Cal Poly. Mostly middle of the pack girls from what I have seen. UCLA on the other hand has better athletics all around and should be able to attract top recruits over cal poly for name alone.
Cal poly has done a lot of recruiting. I assume they are all hoping that the coach can level them up. But I would not say any top recruits have chosen Cal Poly. Mostly middle of the pack girls from what I have seen. UCLA on the other hand has better athletics all around and should be able to attract top recruits over cal poly for name alone.
Is a 4:03 miler and 8:45 3200m recruit not "top" in your book....
Cal poly has done a lot of recruiting. I assume they are all hoping that the coach can level them up. But I would not say any top recruits have chosen Cal Poly. Mostly middle of the pack girls from what I have seen. UCLA on the other hand has better athletics all around and should be able to attract top recruits over cal poly for name alone.
Sam McDonnell is on the transfer portal for Alabama and listed as “does not wish to be contacted by other schools.”
100% going to UCLA
That’s huge news. Any time you can bring in the 5th (from last place) finisher at the NCAA championship, you have dramatically changed the trajectory of your program.
It's true that Sam McDonnell didn't run well. But Kaho Cichon was UCLA's 4th best at PAC12 and McDonnell is much better than Cichon.
That’s huge news. Any time you can bring in the 5th (from last place) finisher at the NCAA championship, you have dramatically changed the trajectory of your program.
It's true that Sam McDonnell didn't run well. But Kaho Cichon was UCLA's 4th best at PAC12 and McDonnell is much better than Cichon.
McDonnell ran 4:37 for the 1600m, as a HS senior, earlier this year under Brosnan. Regardless of her XC performance this season she is quite talented.
Just looking taking a look at the big D1 schools in California I feel like all I've heard about are Cal Poly commits. I feel like with his background Brosnan would be definitely attracted a lot of attention from recruits but it's been pretty quiet.
Is he going for a smaller roster or focusing more on transfers or something?
Sean Brosnan is mainly trying to get runners from the transfer portal. He just got 2 really good runners to commit to run for UCLA next fall, but they can't be named because they are still running for their current schools.
Brosnan believes that he can get a few more runners to transfer in addition to those two.
He still does normal recruiting of high school runners but they are basically a Plan B if he can't get all the transfers he wants.
He doesn't need a ton of runners to transfer, just a few really good ones. He is high profile enough that I think he can pull that off.
His goal for fall 2023 is to have a team that is competitive at the national level. That might sound crazy, but 5 years ago no one thought he could do what he did at Newbury Park either.
Well folks (and naysayers), now you know who the 2 transfers are.
And Brosnan isn't finished with transfers yet. Nothing concrete right now but I wouldn't be surprised of he gets at least one more very good female runner to transfer to UCLA before next cross country season.
Nah. Brosnan would be crowing to the world if true so that it would increase interest from other kids. And he isn't getting high level transfers because they can get more money elsewhere and UCLA is very expensive.
You might want to eat those words. Two big transfers and a very solid freshman. more to come I’m sure. Im hearing a few names on the men’s side as well. UCLA just got interesting.
Sean Brosnan is mainly trying to get runners from the transfer portal. He just got 2 really good runners to commit to run for UCLA next fall, but they can't be named because they are still running for their current schools.
Brosnan believes that he can get a few more runners to transfer in addition to those two.
He still does normal recruiting of high school runners but they are basically a Plan B if he can't get all the transfers he wants.
He doesn't need a ton of runners to transfer, just a few really good ones. He is high profile enough that I think he can pull that off.
His goal for fall 2023 is to have a team that is competitive at the national level. That might sound crazy, but 5 years ago no one thought he could do what he did at Newbury Park either.
Well folks (and naysayers), now you know who the 2 transfers are.
And Brosnan isn't finished with transfers yet. Nothing concrete right now but I wouldn't be surprised of he gets at least one more very good female runner to transfer to UCLA before next cross country season.
Well, at least that one is already in the portal... and I'll be rooting against it happening.