NAIA 2023

I have heard that Andrew Yeary got far enough in the battle pass to unlock the 400m dash and will now pursue the goal of breaking 50seconds

A few people have already made my point for me before I could respond but if you want more here you go.

In your words the athletes are from countries with less opportunities and resources, meaning likely need nearly a full ride scholarship. It doesn't help that these athletes might not have the same academic scholarships or FAFSA assistance as domestic students. If Sowder was this genius recruiter and coach, wouldn't he ideally want to do the same? Even with a bigger budget he could have even more depth if he could spend less money per athlete on scholarships. That extra money could even go to things like travel or more equipment (Super shoes/spikes, recovery boots, boost treadmills, etc.).

At the end of the day, Sowder hasn't brought in much in terms of elite high schoolers despite his huge budget. Maybe this means he's not all that good at recruiting, but rather that he has the budget to pay for a ton of foreign guys.

If you don't understand how bringing in a ton of guys who are already running qualifying times (or in some cases All-American level times), who other teams don't even have the ability to recruit in that same quantity, is the easy route out you're plain stupid.

Cumberlands has athletes of pretty much every race. Like other people have said you guys mostly have European foreigners so I don't get your point. I've talked about how you guys abuse racewalk while all of your racewalkers are white guys. Every NAIA team has athletes of multiple races, and I don't seem to have a problem with any of those other teams. Again James, maybe it's not racism. Maybe I actually just have a problem with how your team finds the easy way out in every way they can.

Also, you guys took forever to get all of your foreigners eligible and in the US, which probably cost you cross country nationals. You guys still don't have some of the recruits you had listed on your roster. I'd imagine gave scholarships to them too. When you recruit guys from the US and develop them that type of thing rarely happens. If you guys could actually recruit and develop that typically doesn't happen.

Live by the sword, die by the sword...

Heard he's a threat in outdoor

To be the 6th best 800 guy at Dort

When you have unlimited scholarships and everyone at the school pays basically nothing you can gamble on signing 35 foreign kids with a 1.7 GPAs and get 5 that make it unfortunately.

Great strategy especially with the rounds in track. If 7 of your 20 dudes with 14 flat 5k PRs survive the season you get an easy title

You clearly didn’t read he does the 400 now

Sowder coached at Spalding for 6 years before going to Cumberlands. Spalding was a D3 school so he couldn't just give foreign athletes full rides whenever he felt like it. Spalding was atrocious his entire time there so it seems like he might not be that great.

This is meant not just for you but everyone else on this thread. I’ve been coaching at NAIA and D3 level for almost 30 years so I come with some experience and wisdom. I have been following this thread for awhile and generally don’t post on social media platforms because you aren’t going to change people’s minds. It appears you have a personal vendetta against the Cumberlands coach if you were one of my athletes I’d try to redirect your thoughts. First I’d be clear in that excluding anyone is a form of discrimination. Disliking someone based solely on their nationality or ethnicity is discriminatory, which shares similarities with racism. Comments about well I’m okay with a couple on a team vs a team with more is discriminatory. Referring to international students as "foreigners" can be seen as inappropriate or even offensive as well. My sociologist back ground and years of life experiences are probably showing and once again if you were one of my athletes or a younger coach these are things I’d mention to you on how your coming across and would ask you to be better. I'm assuming most on here aren’t coaches and are athletes because of the lack of knowledge how the NAIA works in scholarships. We have a limit just like NCAA and yes not all schools are equal in ability to fund things. This is same at all levels so that point isn’t worth discussing. As far as developing athletes its not any easier based on ones race, ethnicity or nationality. It’s the same and that’s simply time will tell from year to year. My hope is you’ll read this and reflect on your thoughts and move on as others have suggested and adults do.

The University of the Cumberlands has obviously made a huge investment in their track and field program this past year. As has been mentioned before, Cumberlands is also EXTREMELY cheap compared to many other NAIA schools. With that being said, is Sowder really so bad for taking advantage of his circumstances investing so heavily in building his program? I understand that people have mixed feelings about the level of talent that he has brought in with international students and racewalkers, but is this really such a bad thing?? It could be way worse, he could be be accused of rape ( ). or doping ( ) like some other coaches in the NAIA. But he has done nothing even close to to that.

wane.com

Huntington U. fires coaches after lawsuit alleges rape, doping

Huntington University released a statement Sunday morning addressing the lawsuit accusing running coaches of sexual assault and doping.

Link:www.wane.com/news/local-news/huntingto...

nbcsports.com

Former elite sprinters charged in doping case

https://www.nbcsports.com/author/associated-press

An indictment charged two retired sprinters with working to provide athletes with drugs before the Tokyo Olympics.

Link:www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/oneil-...

I find it funny that there is so much outrage against Sowder and his athletes when they have committed nothing unethical especially when compared to the allegations against Huntington and Life. While I don’t know Sowder personally and can’t speak on how he trains is athletes , from what I have observed at meets is that he is very passionate about what he does and knows how to bring a program together and light up a fire in his athletes and inspire them to be their best. That alone makes him a decent coach in my book.

The scholarship limit in NAIA doesn’t really limit anything.

I believe you’re technically allowed 5 full scholarships for cross country and that doesn’t affect track.

You can go over the 5 scholarships but the team then has to designate some runners as developmental or jv which essentially only means they can’t compete in their conference meets or the national meet. However you can move athletes on and off this developmental team whenever you want to.

There are also a lot of easy exceptions to get out of having these scholarships cost against that 5 scholarship limit including having high GPAs and test scores. Keep in mind a lot of these athletes would already have academic scholarships anyway. As long as the team is doing well academically or at least entered college with a high GPA then you have almost no scholarship limits.

There also has been large amounts of outrage against the Johnson coaches and O’Neil Wright. This doesn’t mean you can’t criticize another coach just because there are rapists in the world.

The point is either way over your head or you’re just trying to not make a legitimate argument and call everyone else racist instead.

You really can’t understand why an athlete or coach would dislike that another team is able to win nationals by just outspending another team?

Nobody is saying that it’s easier to develop athletes based on race or nationality. Everyone is saying it’s easier to bring in a ton of older athletes who already run some of the fastest times in the NAIA.

Nobody’s mentioned British Columbia on here yet but I’m very happy they’re only competing outdoor in NAIA at this point. They also have far too much as far as resources to compete against NAIA schools and in the past ran everyone over.

Someone explain to me how it’s easier to bring in a bunch of 24 year olds already running low 14’s than it is to get a bunch of 16:00 18 year olds like most NAIA schools and have to develop them. The only possible solution is that you’re racist against the mostly white Cumberlands international students (I can’t say foreigners because I’m woke and apparently that’s offensive).

This is essentially the logic of everyone defending Cumberlands on here (probably just Sowder posting under different usernames).

As dumb as the logic of everyone posting about this is, I do think that the frustration is misdirected. It’s the NAIA that allows for a team to win a championship with a bunch of older than college age guys and points from an event that doesn’t exist at any other level of college track & field. It’s an undignified way to run a program but they’re playing by the rules and unless the rules change, there’s always going to be teams like OKC and Cumberlands. The frustration should be with the broken system in the NAIA rather than with the teams who benefit from it.

The word they're looking for is xenophobic. Not a shocker none of them know it because they go to one of the worst schools in America.

It’s not over my head it’s disgusting how people on here are discriminating against internationals. The other aspects such funding isn’t a concern to me as long as within rules. Spenders win in athletics nothing new. Yes it would be interesting if it was equal across the board but it’s not and will never be. Have a nice day

Chuck, shouldn’t you be grading homework?

99% of the people on here wouldn’t know that word, yet they do go to a school that wins. 99% of you can’t say that.

Nah. I don’t like 22-25 year old freshmen who are already 14:00 types competing against 18 year olds. It has nothing to do with their country of origin. It’s lazy coaching to buy already accomplished athletes and not develop 18 year old talent.

Criticize? I would say that would be putting it lightly. This thread has turned into nothing but hate and bashing against Cumberlands. There have been numerous personal attacks against Sowder, including bringing into question his religious faith and his relationship with his family. Beyond that, there have been personal attacks against one Cumberlands athlete bullying him for his weight, and personal attacks against another Cumberlands athlete for his older age calling him "a disgrace" among other things. Not to mention the personal attacks against the Cumberlands race walk athletes aimed at them for no reason other than being racewalkers. This goes way beyond just being "criticized".

As a recent NAIA alum, I have enjoyed following this thread since xc season due to the lack of coverage it receives anywhere else. However it has become shameful seeing this devolve into nothing but constant slander against one school, its coach and its athletes. One thing that has never been mentioned, do you guys think that the Cumberlands athletes don't work hard? Do you all really think that Sowder "bought" all these athletes and they just sit around all day and do nothing? Regardless of their age and talents, these athletes clearly worked just as hard as any athletes from any other school. I don't think this warrants the constant bashing and bullying that they have been receiving on this thread. Let's do better guys.