How common is it for coaches to not take a walk-on who has the proven stats to show that they would've scored at the school's respective P5 conference championships this past season as a true freshman?
I think it is more common for a runner to think something is well-proven, while the coach is not quite as convinced. Perhaps you can provide more detail?
Not that common but perfectly acceptable. That is the coaches choice. Walk on athletes are great in they are free but also if they do not fit the head coach vision of the program he/she does not need to accept them. They just become a liability.
It's an ACC school, not me but my brother, he would've finished in 7th in the decathlon as a true freshman with his score from his first and only attempt at the event, his pole vault is the biggest weakness but still he's been training solo since hs, it just feels like the coach is passing up on free points at the conference meet idk.
I know someone who ran under 9:10 going to a P5 school (admittedly close to the top of their conference) and the coach didn't even reply to his email about walking on.
I have experience working as an administrator in D1 mid-major and D2 athletic departments and I actually think this is an issue in many sports. Lots of coaches seem to have a really arrogant attitude towards walk-ons that could potentially contribute to the team. It's like they don't want to admit that they may have possibly missed somebody in the recruiting process.
I know of a guy who wanted to walk-on at a good mid-major baseball program. Talented kid, not sure why he didn't have better offers out of HS. Coach wouldn't give him the time of day. He played on the club team for two years and dominated that level. They made a coaching change on the NCAA team, and the new coach let him tryout. He not only made the squad, but ended up getting drafted and playing professionally.
To be fair, many sports have a roster limit imposed on them for budget and Title IX reasons. And you do get a fair amount of delusional kids who walk into the office thinking being the 8th best player on their high school team means they should be a D1 basketball player. But I do think in general a lot of coaches should have a more open mind.
Obvioulsy not very common because there are few high school seniors who would score at a P5 meet. But it is quite common for schools to not respond to athletes who would be contributing members. Coaches are not the smartest people nor the most energetic. They didn't major in physics.
Teams have limited roster spots, especially men's teams - due to title 9. If the coach already has athletes who can score the points you score it may make sense to give a spot to someone else - even if they'd have to be developed to score points. EG you can score 6 points in the 10,000 but coach already has 3 5/10 guys who are a lock for all conference. The team doesn't have any scorers in the 800 (or pv, whatever) - a guy who might score 2 points in the 800 is more valuable than you. Ya, you might score in xc, but the 800 guy might in a few years too and at the end of the year - its the track conference standing that matters more to a lot of schools.
Then some coaches are just dumb. There are plenty of coaches that run programs into the ground through shocking series of bungles.
What to do if you can't walk on? 2 choices - pick a different school or join the nirca club.
It is very frustrating for athletes to get no response from coaches when they see worse recruits and worse people on the team. It really is hit or miss.
Coach has an ego problem, stubborn and he's stuck in his ways. Seen it a few times myself. The thing is, he won't change his mind because he doesn't want to be proven wrong (with this athlete beating others on the team and contributing).
Some schools, even at P5 level, are not going to do multis/PV. Don't have a pit, and don't have a coach and won't buy poles. So would not make sense to even have a walk on.
Or a contact of the coach in question gave the guy a bad reference. They don't want to bring a problem on the team.
Or a multitude of of any other factors. It is the coaches prerogative to maintain a roster. A lot harder to cut than it is to be restrictive in the first place.
If the marks are strong enough someone would pick him up. Reach out to other DI programs P5 or otherwise.
It is very frustrating for athletes to get no response from coaches when they see worse recruits and worse people on the team. It really is hit or miss.
For most high ranking div 2 schools even, the head coach isn't really spending much time with recruiting walk on athletes. You really need to be talking to the volunteer position/event coaches to see if they have the time interest in coaching you. If the school in question doesn't even have a decathlon/PV or applicable coach, then they'd be wasting the kids time.
Despite the contempt people have for coaches, most want to do right by the kids and that means not pursuing kids they don't think would be a good fit of wouldn't benefit from going to the school (from an athletics perspective).
As stated earlier, some schools do not value the combined events. To see consistent improvements that event area needs a lot of coaching. Without a dedicated multi coach it falls on the whole staff and they may not see the value for a few points at conference, especially if that school isn't aiming for conference level success. Many ACC schools primarily target nationals.
The coach might simply have all the athletes they can handle. I work at a Mid-major DI and turned down athletes this season that could contribute 1-3 points most years. My event group is already big. I'm not doing a walkon any favors by offering them a spot knowing they won't get the needed amount of coaching. It's just going to cause stress and frustration down the line.
The conference could be improving rapidly in a particular area. Unless you're aware of the competitions recruiting class you really can't say how things will play out next season. Also, strange things happen at championships. Maybe a projected top 8 guy got hurt. Guys made mistakes lowering their overall point totals. Could have been windy/wet/whatever. It's more complicated than looking at results and PRs
It is very frustrating for athletes to get no response from coaches when they see worse recruits and worse people on the team. It really is hit or miss.
For most high ranking div 2 schools even, the head coach isn't really spending much time with recruiting walk on athletes. You really need to be talking to the volunteer position/event coaches to see if they have the time interest in coaching you. If the school in question doesn't even have a decathlon/PV or applicable coach, then they'd be wasting the kids time.
Despite the contempt people have for coaches, most want to do right by the kids and that means not pursuing kids they don't think would be a good fit of wouldn't benefit from going to the school (from an athletics perspective).
Also, the same kids that are complaining because the coach isn't recruiting them to be walk-ons would be complaining because they aren't getting enough coaching/attention.
It is very frustrating for athletes to get no response from coaches when they see worse recruits and worse people on the team. It really is hit or miss.
One of our kids (high school) was dedicated to run for 4 years, but very not fast. He wanted to continue running in college with the collegiate team. I felt for him, but even though he was looking at a small school, I didn't see it happening (but I didn't tell him that). He reached out and didn't get a response. I was like, "Ah man, I'm sorry." He said he just wanted a response to know for sure. One of our other coaches suggested that one of send a note to the collegiate coach. I was not thrilled and didn't think we should. The non-response was the answer, imo. But the other coach sent a note saying that the kid would understand not being able to run with the team, but that the kid just really needed a short reply. Then, somehow the coach responded to kid saying, "Sure! You can run with us!" Wait - what!?!! None of it made sense.
If you're a male, it happens a good bit. With Title IX, there are roster limits for men, so if their roster is at the limit, they can't take any more athletes on.
You obviously aren't involved directly in the process. I coach a good high school team. Things changed over the past few years. Coaches got paid for a year during Covid to not work and they got used to it. I had a guy run sub 9 this spring as a senior. He ran 9:20 as a junior. He contacted dozens of coaches over the past year and 95% didn't respond. He contacted some terrible programs who didn't respond. The funny thing is that he ended up getting a spot on a team that qualified for nationals yet didn't get responses from most schools in the region who finished 10-20th place.
It's an ACC school, not me but my brother, he would've finished in 7th in the decathlon as a true freshman with his score from his first and only attempt at the event, his pole vault is the biggest weakness but still he's been training solo since hs, it just feels like the coach is passing up on free points at the conference meet idk.
Kind of hard to compare a High School decathlon to a college decathlon and say he would have scored. Throwing implements are lighter, hurdles are lower. The coach probably decided he couldn't actually be a scorer in the conference.