College coaches: Let's hear your recruiting horror stories

Not really horror, just stupidity. I had a girl come in for a visit and she sat silently while her parents asked all of the questions. When she left I deleted her from my recruiting database.

I coached a kid heavily recruited by a d2 school. D2 school wasn't great academically, starting to get better in the distances. Kid's number 1 choice is one of the top schools in the US and d1. D2 was really pressuring to sign early or scholarship money wouldn't be there. Kid wanted to wait to see if he was accepted to his number 1 choice.

D2 coach and I had a convo where he said, "why does he want to go there? We both know he can't run for them."

I wanted to laugh in his face and tell him to get a clue. Kid wasn't accepted to his top choice but got a full scholarship to an naia school.

As a high school coach, I laugh every time a college coach recruits one of my lazy athletes & doesn't bother to contact me. I would honestly tell them the truth of that athlete & save them a lot of time & effort.

On the other hand, when my runner is a diamond in the rough & could excel with a little more time in his/her running shoes, I'll be the first to tell them. Likewise, if the runner has a good moral compass...

Just a reminder to college coaches, talk to the high school coach! We can give you some insight above & beyond times.

Recruited a female state record holder. On our visit things went great she was gonna sign. Athletes come to me the next day saying that the recruit had drank an entire 6 pack of beer and some shots. She was unphased and proceed to ask our girls "who is gonna let me eat?" So we had to pass on that.

"we went out hit a few campus events" - nice language coach!

that's definitely not a well run campus visit and the problem is with you, coach

I can sort of guess what's on your coffee table.

I'm not a coach, just a former runner. I ran at a small school, with a bad program. I can only imagine what big schools go through since people might actually WANT to go there.

It just seemed to me in my short time in college we had some real characters come through. I'd imagine the stories would pile up after a few years on the job.

The horror stories work both ways. I have a friend who, when he was a HS runner some years back, went on an overnight recruiting visit to a certain private D1 school in Pennsylvania. The guys on the team wanted him be the designated driver to a drunken party. My friend didn't want anything to do with that, so he went home that night. The coach who was recruiting him never even contacted him to ask what happened.

quickndirty wrote:

I want to hear about delusional parents, lazy runners, out of control campus visits...

We had two girls show up on a recruiting trip. They lived within 50 miles of the school so they drove up alone. We went out hit a few campus events. One of the girls met a guy at a party, went home with him. She ended up getting pregnant and running off with him that summer. He dropped out of school, she never made it to campus.

Nice troll post.

"We went out hit a few campus events"...nice use of the English language. This is clearly written by a high schooler.

Had a girl literally cry during her signing. The D3 school she ultimately went to wanted to know what they needed to offer her to match what we offered...

Had a girl literally cry during her signing. The D3 school she ultimately went to wanted to know what they needed to offer her to match what we offered...

I am a high school coach, in an area that doesn't produce great distance runners, some are good but D1 not really. When talking to kids from the area it surprises me their lack of understanding. There is a boy, who finished in the top 5 of our conference, and in the top 50 of the state. He said his top choices will be Oregon, Villanova, Colorado, Stanford, and a school I can't remember. Last spring he ran 4:50 for the 1600?

Someone from way out of state came in and was just going to run for us (no scholarship), so he wasn't fast at all. While he was here on a 2-3 day visit, he went to parties and got drunk, stole from Walmart and bragged about it, then bragged to our head coach that he has been suspended from school before for something stupid.

I had a recruit say he was a very dedicated runner and a regular on letsrun message boards. I knew one of those had to be a lie.

We had some guy come in all the way from Canada. We were a small school in the south and this dude shows up for his recruiting visit and within an hour he was the most hated person any of had ever met.

From his attitude you would have thought he was choosing between Harvard, Yale, or Stanford for academics, or if he wanted to run it would be CO or OR. An absolute DB of the highest order, and he was from BFE CANADA! He did not sign, but his name remained a punchline for at least an entire XC season.

H.S. Coach #977154 wrote:

As a high school coach, I laugh every time a college coach recruits one of my lazy athletes & doesn't bother to contact me. I would honestly tell them the truth of that athlete & save them a lot of time & effort.

On the other hand, when my runner is a diamond in the rough & could excel with a little more time in his/her running shoes, I'll be the first to tell them. Likewise, if the runner has a good moral compass...

Just a reminder to college coaches, talk to the high school coach! We can give you some insight above & beyond times.

If you're his coach, why is he a diamond in the rough? You had 4 years

Can't match any of the stories above--glad to have some perspective and see how bad things can get.

I did have a recruit come for an overnight at our campus in NYC. His host took him out to see a movie. It was "Escape from New York," a Stallone vehicle IIRC. I kind of wished that the host hadn't picked a movie that was based on how hellish NYC/Manhattan was.

No, we didn't get the kid.

Not a coach, but former runner. We had a kid visit our D3 program for an overnight on a Sunday. I was his host and took him to meet some of the senior team members, who happened to be discussing the crazy party from Saturday night. In addition, one of the team members (of age) was enjoying a pint as he did his homework.

The kid was not offered any alcohol, no one underage was drinking, and no one was intoxicated. Kid went home and told his parents, who threw a fit. Coach threatened to kick us off the team, and I never got to host a recruit again.

Oh, and he enrolled in the fall.

singtomefreddie wrote:

H.S. Coach #977154 wrote:

As a high school coach, I laugh every time a college coach recruits one of my lazy athletes & doesn't bother to contact me. I would honestly tell them the truth of that athlete & save them a lot of time & effort.

On the other hand, when my runner is a diamond in the rough & could excel with a little more time in his/her running shoes, I'll be the first to tell them. Likewise, if the runner has a good moral compass...

Just a reminder to college coaches, talk to the high school coach! We can give you some insight above & beyond times.

If you're his coach, why is he a diamond in the rough? You had 4 years

Do you not read the board? He obviously undertrained him so he could be good in college.

In reality though maybe he came out for XC or track his junior year? Maybe he hit puberty late... Think about it.

Recruited a kid from the southern part of MD. D3 school. no scholarships. About 13 years ago. Went to the kid's house. Met the parents. mom was hot, but odd. After a few hours of describing the tea, program, school and asking and answering questions, I got up to leave. The mom was upset I was leaving and insisted I stay, thinking it would help her son's chances. I go to the car and she sticks her head in my window and said she will come to my hotel room tonight, and hopefully we can work something out...

I declined. The kid went somewhere else.