What D1 programs should be great but aren't?

Yeahno wrote:

Datesjat wrote:

LOL. He was told the only way to get a roster spot was to run at least 4:12/9:10. I guess wishes and nuts overcame their 2018 recruits.

This is an epidemic with D1 coaches. The point is that the published numbers don’t mean a thing with regard to roster spots. They do however act as a way for coaches to lower expectations for scholarship money. What I don’t understand are coaches who tell kids that they have to run the time or not be considered when that is rarely if ever true. They should just tell kids something like “I’m looking for five guys and I will take the best five I can get.”

Recruiting is way more complicated than everyone realizes... lots of moving parts.

Some coaches just set times because they don't want to waste the time speaking to anyone slow... they pick some arbitrarily fast time and just use it as a barrier to entry. It is, of course, a bit one sided.

On the other hand the real problem a coach has is to try to decide who to spend the recruiting time on.... there is a limited amount of time available, only so many spots available on the team, and a recruit can pull a 180 on the coach at any time... the whole process works both ways but most kids and parents don't look at it that way. They think of things only from their perspective.... which is totally fine but by doing that they can't understand why things are done the way they are done.

Like I said, the process is complicated and not easy for either recruit or the coach.

And the guy who ended up recruiting this class is a different coach than the one that told this guy's son to "pound sand." In fact, an almost entirely different staff with a different head coach of the whole program. That can DRASTICALLY change philosophies & recruiting priorities. I think the last guy (sand pounding guy) had scholarship to recruit with...this new guy...well, doesn't.

7th page and no mention of Auburn?

They had some good years with Rosen but not a lot of action since he retired. With the (actual) infighting and lawsuits I'm surprised Spry is still retained. Could again be a great sprint school and had Fox moved back down south cross could get out of the SEC cellar with LSU.

I would love to talk with coaches about how to keep kids interested in their program. Some do a good job. Most are awful. How hard is it to respond by email to a meet or PR update? A one line response like: “that’s great, good job, keep up the good work” keeps a kid interested and let’s them know there is a chance the coach would give them a look when the time comes. No response is discouraging and rude. I made sure my son answered every coach email with a “thanks, I’ll put you on my list,” or a “no thanks your school does not fit my needs because .............” It’s just common courtesy.

Say whatt wrote:

Datesjat wrote:

Junior track. Emailed back a forth for over a year. Was finally told to pound sand in May of Junior year.

Hilarious if true. The current roster shows 18 boys, 5 new freshmen. Their PR-JR times:

2:04/4:24/9:04-2:16/4:32/9:50

1:50/4:13/9:38-1:51/4:13/9:38

2:01/4:15/9:17-2:01/4:20/9:38

1:54/4:16/9:29-1:57/4:16/9:29

2:01/4:19/9:06-2:02/4:21/9:17

So what coach told a junior 4:12/9:16 that they are not interested?

One of those freshmen is my son so I’d venture that the comment “pounding sand” was about money offered, which was none. Ucla wasn’t turning away runners but they were certainly not buying any Distance runners. Not everyone picks the college based on money alone. My son wanted to go to UCLA.

Sounds like that is it. It is hard for families to be told by schools that they are offering nothing when they know that they would be one of the top guys. Seems that schools want to withhold the little money that they have allocated for distance in case a real stud shows up.

Yes, Jett is the exception because of his 800 time and what he did at CA state last year. Also, being in state makes it less likely he needed a scholarship. But it doesn’t excuse coaches telling kids they are not interested when slower kids eventually make the team. It’s bad business to turn kids away before their class is filled out.

Man, I love that indoor facility. Raced there every year for conference meet indoors in the 90s (or was it southern Connecticut?). Trackngonunder the bleachers?

Predictor wrote:

Sounds like that is it. It is hard for families to be told by schools that they are offering nothing when they know that they would be one of the top guys. Seems that schools want to withhold the little money that they have allocated for distance in case a real stud shows up.

There was no conversation about an offer. It never got that far. He was told to make the times or go away. So we went away thinking the statement was true only to find out that kids who ran slower are on the team. No hard feelings but it seems strange that a line would be drawn when that’s not the reality.

Honestly Portland has under performed in recent years relative to the amount of talent their name brings in.

There are a lot of factors besides just times.

Other things: improvement over the years and perceived ability to continue growing, mileage kid is doing (too little so it would be hard to adjust to college miles without injury or so much that they may have maxed out in HS), grades, test scores, other runners they were already actively recruiting, reputation-other runners on the team already who know (competed against) the athlete and might have opinion (coaches do ask around), knowledge of the athlete from other coaches, work ethic, communication with coach- overbearing parents handling communication with athlete rather than athlete taking openership of the process.

Not saying that this was the case with your son but pointing out that there are a ton of factors that go into recruiting other than just times. They also may have already had a set of runners that they really wanted but those runners chose to attend other schools leaving them with 2nd choice group that actually committed. Sounds like they didn’t have a lot of money to offer distance this past year which doesn’t make them as attractive to top runners. Also, a lot of the top distance guys don’t want to be doing all of their mileage in a city setting where you need to drive to get to a decent trail. Coaching changed last year which also played a large part in recruiting and the focus of the program. My son spoke with them the year before (when the coach was Forest Braden) and had a totally different experience than your son did.

Did they provide help with admission?