Got a girl being recruited by the pokes. She is an ag kid, smart, hard working, and our HS already has a bit of a connection to the program through a number of students who have matriculated there, strictly for school.
I hear lots about their mens cross program, but very little about the women. Looking for people with experience with the program. Positives? Negatives?
No random bashing please. If a comment is negative, back it up. Do the same for positive comments.
I ran at OSU and naturally have an allegiace to the program. I attended the Jamboree meet earlier this month and I remarked to one of my ex-teamates that: "as good as the men's team is, I think the women's team has improved the most the last couple of years."
That's good to know.
I saw they had a good result at the Jamboree. I was a bit concerned because other than the one European girl, they didn't really do much at Big 12s (outdoor) last year.
I think Smith just took over the women's team at the start of cross country a year ago, whatever that is worth, probably that he will be recruiting more women for the team.
I have heard Smith spent time in Europe recruiting this summer, I am guessing he is going to spend most money on international and will give little to girls in the states. Although he has 18 scholarship's, but he has many girls on his roster from other country's 10 (most likely all on full's), 4 from OK (so free), and the other 10 maybe getting half's. With 18 scholarship's the should be good, they have no track team!
OKgirl wrote:
I have heard Smith spent time in Europe recruiting this summer, I am guessing he is going to spend most money on international and will give little to girls in the states. Although he has 18 scholarship's, but he has many girls on his roster from other country's 10 (most likely all on full's), 4 from OK (so free), and the other 10 maybe getting half's. With 18 scholarship's the should be good, they have no track team!
My girl was offered a full. Talked with Smith for 40 min.
As a big time D1 coach, I can tell you she could do a lot worse.
As a big time High School coach, I concur.
As a big time perv I call for pics.
My daughter was recruited by coach Smith last year. Came very close to going. Coach Smith is a great guy and obviously knowledgable. He has only been working with the women for a couple of years. I would bet a 100 bucks that they become a routine top 10 team once the team consists of runners he recruited.
Good luck and tell her to enjoy the process!
Almost a Cowgirl wrote:
My daughter was recruited by coach Smith last year. Came very close to going. Coach Smith is a great guy and obviously knowledgable. He has only been working with the women for a couple of years. I would bet a 100 bucks that they become a routine top 10 team once the team consists of runners he recruited.
Good luck and tell her to enjoy the process!
Ok thanks
Almost a Cowgirl wrote:
My daughter was recruited by coach Smith last year. Came very close to going.
Why did she decide to not go there?
If you want to go to a good CROSS COUNTRY school then Oklahoma State is a good choice. They are going to put a lot of resources into female cross country runners and will most likely be a pretty consistent top 10 team. Will they have the success in cross country the men are having, probably not. At least not on a consistent basis. With more women's scholarships, more programs have enough resources to keep it competative and a constantly changing top 10.
If you are looking for a good TRACK & FIELD school then you need to look elsewhere. With all the success their men have in cross country, they don't do much (compared to their XC results) on the track. They'll have a few good performances here and there, but for whatever reason (unless you are on the inside it's all speculation as to why they don't have the same track results as xc results).
You have to understand that these are two seperate sports. If your daughter is a 5k/xc runner, then she may turn out to be very successful at OSU. If she is a "miler" then I would encourage you to look elsewhere.
First off, Coach Smith has had some pretty good success with womens middle distance. I don't remember their names but I think it was Mehala (?)... but one of them almost won the outdoor 800 and the other one ran a crazy fast 1500 since Smith started coaching her. Remeber, distance is a sport that takes some time and he hasn't had the women very long.
Now that I have written these posts, I am not sure why my daughter didn't go there... Oh yea, actually, she just hit it off with the girls on the team she ended up with. It wasn't anything negative about OSU. In the end, it was the way the girls treated her on the recruiting trip that made the biggest difference. She also really liked the coach and assistants at the school she chose. We were very fortunate to have her recruited by some great people at some outstanding institutions.
Its pretty early. I bet Coach Smith didn't give her any deadlines on his offer. She should visit OSU at least once, go to a XC meet they are competing in... its a big decision.
GOOD LUCK