Bama Track/XC coach: "It’s hard to get American kids on the phone and be a good dad"

I think he was talking about developing foreigners instead of Americans. I think football players from the other 49 states are Americans.

LoneStarXC wrote:

Here’s a genius idea: talk to American recruits before 6pm.

They have school and practice all day. By 6pm they are just getting home.

Alabama BS wrote:

Every scholarship given to a Kenyan is a scholarship taken away from an American. You know, like someone that grew up here. Someone who possibly could have improved and been an Olympian for us.

Shameful that a state-supported school gives scholarships to people who never knew Alabama existed.

1) Any American with Olympic potential is going to have his choice of scholarship offers. Kenyans are not taking scholarships away from potential Olympians.

2) Do you have a problem with state schools recruiting out of state students? Doesn't matter if they're from Kenya or Kansas, they're equally out of state for Alabama.

3) This thread is full of subtle racism. You don't want Kenyans to get scholarships so Whitey can win the NCAAs.

Men who use the "good dad excuse" usually aren't good dads.

I found the Letsrun Alabama hype article to be shameful in ignoring the elephant in the room. Walk ons should be at least decent at Alabama. I can see keeping him around as a track coach, but there's no reason Waters should be coaching xc.

Where are all these Kenyans coming from?

Many male olympians are on very small scholarships. Think about guys like Clayton Murphy coming out of high school getting no interest from major programs. Hastey was going to Oregon on a small stipend.

Not a Bama grad wrote:

CrimsonLied wrote:

I think he's telling the truth since calling people on the phone is really the only way to communicate with people these days. Sometimes if my sister is on the one phone we have in the hallway, I can't make a call, or receive any calls from my friends for hours. Any calling the house just gets a busy signal.

This.

So he’s busy being a dad, yet he’s set aside 2 hours a day for international recruiting. And it just happens to be the 4:30-6:30am CST slot, when American kids are either asleep, running, or in class, but it’s lunch hour in Kenya. And the rest of the day he’s too busy to crack open his email or text app.

What a crock.

+1

Apparently, mobile phones, text messaging and e-mail hasn't made its way to the piney woods of Alabama.I

USA2018 wrote:

Where are all these Kenyans coming from?

Kenya.

Scholar Expert wrote:

Many male olympians are on very small scholarships. Think about guys like Clayton Murphy coming out of high school getting no interest from major programs. Hastey was going to Oregon on a small stipend.

You picked a guy who was a nobody in high school & was a one in a thousand diamond in the rough. And Brody didn't have to go to Oregon...everyone knows they don't give big money to male distance runners. Brody CHOSE that...he could have gone to most other programs for a full if that was important to him.

No one with Olympic caliber talent - male or female - is stupid enough to go to Alabama. Even for a full. Waters could spend all night every night recruiting American kids & not get one of them. And every year, there are only 3 - 5 male distance runners who deserve fulls to a P5 conference school - especially the SEC. Why? Because fulls are for athletes that will score points IMMEDIATELY at the conference track & field championship & possibly NCAA's. How many American men do you know that could score as a freshman at the conference meet in the SEC, Pac-12, Big 10, Big 12 or ACC?

Alabama BS wrote:

Every scholarship given to a Kenyan is a scholarship taken away from an American. You know, like someone that grew up here. Someone who possibly could have improved and been an Olympian for us.

Shameful that a state-supported school gives scholarships to people who never knew Alabama existed.

Out of curiosity, how much tax money do you think is going to the Alabama athletic department? They made a large profit last year as a self supporting program with donations, ticket sales and TV rights.

And can we assume you're opposed equally to all foreign athletes, even close ones from Canada or Mexico or the Caribbean?

The line of American distance recruits who want to attend Alabama is out the door and around the corner. They have to turn them away. The demand is tremendous.

You realize he is working 14 hours a day in order too spend 3-4 hours with his children?

Recruiting horse wrote:

You realize he is working 14 hours a day in order too spend 3-4 hours with his children?

Yep. Welcome to being successful. I didn’t get there on 8-hour days either.

Logic like yours is the reason America no longer competes on the world stage in distance running.

Those are the very guys that people are talking about. Somebody running 4:13 in HS like Murphy gets little interest but if you freed up all of the scholarships going to foreigners, 4:13 guys would get some money. 4:08 guys may turn into 3:38 guys in college but currently get only small scholarships but they would get nice scholarships if they freed up another 100 scholarships to go around. Symonds was a D3 guy, Murphy went mid major, Sowinski was a walk-on. More elite guys than you think were not elite coming out of HS.

He can recruit whomever he wants. If you want a full ride to Bama then run faster than the Kenyans he’s recruiting. Then get up at 4am and give him a call telling him how awesome you are.

Why in the hell should our universities help develop foreign athletes? And give them free room and board too? There are tons of athletes in the United States that get absolutely nothing! Let Kenya develop their own athletes. Every time a foreign athlete gets a scholarship it means one American athlete didn’t!!

Alabama BS wrote:

Why in the hell should our universities help develop foreign athletes? And give them free room and board too? There are tons of athletes in the United States that get absolutely nothing! Let Kenya develop their own athletes. Every time a foreign athlete gets a scholarship it means one American athlete didn’t!!

Why in the hell should our Universities fund athletics? What do sports have to do with LEARNING?????????