I think you overestimate "Average" and "D1 incoming athlete". In addition, how many overtrained high school graduates actually improve that much by college graduation or avoid injury, fatigue, illness, drop out etc... to have a consistent, productive experience over 4 years? I shudder to think that "most" coaches don't care about a student's class success. They are paying for the coaches groceries in more ways than performance in the field. In addition, if you are actually of Ivy League cloth, there may be exceptions at some institutions who consistently get the top recruits, but again, I'd be interested in how many actually compete top 7 out of the gate. If the percentage is over 25% at all universities, then I stand corrected and you are right. However, for most incoming freshman at most universities, it's a daily race to keep up with the back of the pack. Therefore, the amount of appropriate recovery for their level of readiness/development is usually short changed while trying to impress a coach or teammates. Contrary to your statement, a good coach does pay attention to this and does care about their success in class as they aren't going to be around long if they don't make appropriate adjustments to allow for proper athletic development and study time. It's possible they may want to compete for a career someday beyond their running experience. Sounds like you possibly didn't have the best experience, win or lose. There are well documented programs and coaches that could give a crap about the student success when it comes to bolstering the coaches win/loss record so yes, there is a major difference of philosophy about the roll the coach plays in bringing students to campus.