Worst Redshirt Decision Ever??

The season isn't over so it's actually a brilliant decision. They can still choose not to redshirt him.

I sure hope the Stanford coaches don't miss this thread when they look through the message boards for advice from anonymous posters that probably have absolutely no D1 NCAA XC coaching experience whatsoever.

Let's chill, they'll probably do what they did with grant last year; let's remember this was his first xc race ever, I'd love to see him run unattached at Wisconsin if that's possible, and see how he does there. If he's good enough idk why they wouldn't use him, and I'm sure they will, it's not like anyone here predicted he'd be this good anyway.

Millenial kids -

We won't try to accomplish anything if there is a remote chance that you won't be wildly successful. We will try to remove all expectations and any/all accountability.

- Super Smart D1 Distance Coaches

The danger of redshirting freshman year is that if he were to get hurt down the road, no recourse. If he is running well, why not hold on to that 5th year until you really need it?

yoyomama wrote:

On the Thomas Ratcliffe thread there was some discussion as to why it would be a bad decision to redshirt him at Stanford,

My choice for the worst decision was Jerry's choice to redshirt Matt Withrow as a freshman which probably cost him a NCAA championship bonus. WIthrow went on to run 13:35 and make the senior national cross country team in the spring. Apparently young Matthew was outclassed by the older runners in the early practices and the rest is history.

The lesson is if a runner is in All-American form you should run him. It is just that simple,

Right. And I'm sure Schumacher was assuming Withrow would be made of glass and not improve after freshman year. Him racing freshman NCAA XC could have meant being injured by the time senior XC came around and no outdoor 13:35, no one knows.

Unless you're talking about a Ritzenhein type freshman its never a bad idea to redshirt a freshman/transfer in. Gives them time to adjust to the program and shows a coach is focused on the long term development of an athlete not short term results.

Like someone already said, I'm sure some of the best NCAA coaches in the nation are thankful for your insightful advice on coaching.

CoolHat wrote:

Like someone already said, I'm sure some of the best NCAA coaches in the nation are thankful for your insightful advice on coaching.

Be real, there are some absolute dumb*sses in high-up collegiate coaching positions. Some people are just good at falling upwards, forever upwards.