I think my coach is too hard on athletes

I assume you don’t have an organized afternoon practice?

Honestly showing up to practice seems like the minimum you would need to do on even a high school team - let alone a college team . You are a division one athlete and 630am does not seem that unreasonable- the coach sets practices and the athletes come - “other commitments “ is probably the reason he schedules them that early so avoid conflicts .

if you are getting any scholarship money or free food or free travel etc - they are paying you to run - so you just do it and change your team culture which sounds like it could use a renovation.

This should be very near the top of your priority list ( the not top- but high ) and if not then join a club and open up the roster spot for everyone who wants one now - they are hard to get .

Stark:

Thank you very much for stating the obvious very eloquently. Hope this helps anyone and everyone who has questions, opportunities or problems with discipline.

Sincerely, Red

You could be an adult talk to the coach about having higher volition of running in the afternoon.

In college I would likely be cut or put on the C team running at 6:30. I would be there and ready to run but likely sinking like a rock the whole way.

We meet for an organized afternoon practice on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s to lift with our strength coach with my coach present.
Idk I just feel like when I look at what my high school teammates are doing at their colleges we’re doing way more and have way more oversight. It feels like micromanaging when my coach wants to make sure we’re doing every little thing every single day.

That's pretty typical of a Division 1 program, honestly (at least in my experience in the early 2000's). Everyone needs to be there for practice everyday, no questions asked. If someone had an academic reason for missing, the coach would hold a separate practice for that individual (which was not a good time).

You should have done your comparisons back when you were getting recruited. You’ve got to make assessments on the school & their system beforehand. Each coach has the ability to set the terms of their training system. Morning practices are not unusual at that level of the sport, and there certainly are reasons why a coach might want to run them. The reality is, much of the “real world” requires commitments that involve early mornings. It’s something you might do well to get used to.

When it comes to missing practices for commitments not communicated to your coach beforehand… it’s pretty much standard practice everywhere that you need to communicate commitments to your coach prior to practice. If your D1, you are expected to maintain the highest level of standards. You got what you bargained for.

Now, you’ve committed to being part of the team. If you can’t operate within that system, perhaps you should either learn to adjust, or find a different place that works well for you. But I am not seeing any fault on your coach based on what you’re describing.

This seems pretty reasonable from your coach.

Maybe ask him why practices are so early if you're very concerned, but if he's been at the school he's probably concluded that it's the best time based on his experience. I can guess at a few reasons:

- Hot weather in Spring and Summer - best to go early in the day.

- Classes in the afternoon and evening means morning is best for the group.

- Coach's own schedule

Just ask him if you're really curious, but honestly it doesn't seem outrageous at all to me. Some teams just have early practice.

Also why would he not be upset at kids skipping practice without telling him? If you're on the team, you have a responsibility to show up every single day, and in extenuating circumstances, communicate that. Nothing unreasonable at all there.

If you think your coach is hard on you, you should've seen how hard penn state football coaches used to be back in the day.

Tim O'Rourke whom is the meet announcer at everything Mt. Sac, Arcadia, or other major events in So Cal was once a super state winning coach in CA. I'll never forget at what he said at a workshop when he was presenting at Mt. Sac about starting and maintaining a program vs. a team. "A cross country and track team without an attendance policy is not a varsity sport, it's a club. If the coach is there, then the athletes are expected to be there." Were you allowed to miss practices in high school? I'm sensing you are from a much less structured background and don't have the biggest goals. Maybe it's time for you to start a club?

This right here is exactly why I left coaching. This generation of athlete thinks the BARE MINIMUM is too much to ask. Being expected to Show up to practice and communicate beforehand if you have conflicts arise is too much to ask? Good luck joining the work force. If you don’t communicate why you don’t show up to work, you will get fired.

Gen Z is so screwed

I went to a not so good D1 school and you were expected to be there unless you had a class conflict. In which case you maybe making it up with coach later.

Practice attendance is the baseline expectation for HIGH SCHOOL athletes. You’re at a D1 college. It’s harder. Grow up or give up.

Weight Lifting? Are you a distance runner? IF so you should concentrate on running. And what happened to morning shakeout runs? Craig Virgin often ran only 3 miles in the morning and then he would have a great afternoon workout.

Good answer and no one says you have to run all out every practice. Show up for every practice and do what you know you need to be doing. Communicate with the coach he has a vested interest in you!