D1 T&F questions

Athletic Recruits
21

Hi there, my S25 is a sprinter who wants to run in college. He has a private coach who has told him to go through the recruiting process with his junior year times (he’d be a top D3 recruit just about anywhere) but not sign any binding agreements. He really wants to run for a big D1 program but just doesn’t have the times yet. Coach says if he’s fast enough, he’ll get looks even as late as May but it’s not anything to hang your hat on. So we’ll move forward and be happy with our D3 choices if that’s what ends up happening.

Also, for a kid who wants to stay in the south, I suggest you take a look at Trinity University and Centre College for solid D3 academics and track. Centre has a beautiful new track facility — indoor and outdoor.

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22

Most, but not all recruiting is completed before track season starts Sr year, so most recruiting is based on Jr year times. There are always some runners who are injured and hold out for late recruiting in their senior year. However, I would count on getting times Jr year.

Technically, anyone without a scholarship is a walk on. If you are recruited, not given a scholarship but offered a roster slot, you might be called a preferred recruit. For true walk ons (not recruited), most coaches use senior year times. Some coaches don’t take true walk ons at all due to roster slot limits, while coaches that do potentially accept walk ons might offer a spot or a tryout, depending on their policies and gow fast the student athlete is.

LSU has world class sprinters. I can’t imagine LSU uses any scholarship money for distance, so I suspect everyone 800 and up is technically a walk on.

At this point, it wouldn’t hurt to have your son reach out to the coaching staff and ask was it takes to be on their radar for a roster slot in the 800/1600. It might help him set goals for next year.

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23

Your son isn’t signing anything with D3s. I am a firm believer that you should enter a commitment in earnest, but if he happens to drop a ton of time during senior year, nothing prevents him from switching his commitment.

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24

If he applies to a D3 ED — yes he is signing a binding commitment. I don’t think they are going to let him out because he drops a bunch of time in track. But maybe I’m wrong?

25

Runcruit is often accurate, but can sometimes be way off. Performances can be misleading in terms of predicting potential coach interest, too. Sometimes people are hurt and can’t perform like they otherwise would. Many of the times listed on tfrrs are athletes running off events early in the season as part of training. What matters is the top times in the events the coach cares about.

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26

Sorry. Yes. An ED application is a binding commitment to the school, but technically that has nothing to do with the athletic part of it. Until admission results go out you are able to withdraw that application. Also, not every school has ED.

I am not suggesting you do this, just saying it is possible.

27

Not possible to sign a binding agreement as a junior. Also, nothing is really binding anymore. Used to be if you signed an NLI (as a senior) and then changed your mind you couldn’t participate for a year at D2 or D1 school but now with transfer portals and rules about coaches leaving, it is pretty easy to transfer with no penalty.

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28

Agreed. Check the tfrrs results for the conference championships. Runcruit is often a good starting point to see if you’re in the ballpark, but are not really that accurate. At the end of the day, only the coaches really knows what times they are looking for in each season’s recruits.

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29

Track doesn’t get going until early March here and by that time, it’s VERY late for a senior to be looking for a program. You need to use junior year times for recruiting purposes unless you have a huge improvement senior year and are willing to run around looking to see who has room on their roster in March/April/May. And yes — you can absolutely commit to a D3 school. If you apply ED (as many coaches will have you do) you cannot just walk away because your times improved in spring and you want to run D1. ED is a binding commitment.

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30

Normally I recommend looking at conference times (for the full season, not just the conference meet, which usually has tactical distance races). The tricky thing with looking at conference times with respect to LSU is that they are not even trying to compete in the distance events at the SEC conference meet. Its not clear how much room the coaching staff makes for distance runners. They might take almost anyone who can get accepted and is willing to run an 8K for cross country, or they might have a really tight roster limit. Only the coaching staff can answer that–and we are totally on the same page here.

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31

If a male runner, I imagine roster spots are quite tight, but I agree with you this is something the coach can answer. There is no reason for an athlete not to ask what the opportunity would be should they get in on their own.

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32

The athletics aren’t tied to the academics until the coach makes it so. Of course our students don’t have to agree to ED, but that is what many coaches want.

33

This statement doesn’t really track at a lot of schools. Most of the schools offering ED are private schools. If a recruit wants coach support with admissions, it is done during the ED/REA round. So the academics are definitely tied in to the athletics. The OP is specifically looking at SEC schools, where things may be a bit different. Vanderbilt is the only private school in the SEC.

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34

Yes this is if he decides to explore D3.

35

My comment also applies to a LOT of D3 schools. For example, the coach at Johns Hopkins won’t consider you unless you score a 1500 on the SAT. NESCAC schools, MIT, UChicago, WashU, CMU, and many more will be similar.

We don’t really know what the OP is looking for academically.

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36

If running for a school is a priority, your son would be best off expanding the list. There are all kinds of schools out there at all levels that can be great academically and athletically. Rice, Harvey Mudd, Colorado Mines, Santa Clara, etc, etc.

Based on the academic profile I’m sort of assuming this is a kid who cares a lot about the academic side of things. That might even include preferring to run with teammates who feel the same way. I wouldn’t assume this is a given at all programs.

I’d think through the realistic possibilities and then plan for each.

He could run 1:53/4:10 next year and have quite a few options. That’s for sure possible but the probability is fairly low (just in general based on where he is, without knowing specifics).

More likely is something like 1:58/4:25. Still good but the strategy and reasonable expectations about where he might run would look completely different.

In between those extremes is where it gets interesting because he might be just shy of serious SEC interest, but in a spot where strong academic schools can help with admissions support. Or lower level (athletically) D1s might offer partial scholarships or admissions support.

Or maybe he finds as his aerobic development improves he’s more distance-oriented and the ability to contribute in XC opens up possibilities.

Being open to that range of possibilities would really help him feel like he has a set of options that include running.

And yes, he could end up with a breakthrough senior year which would open up other possibilities. But that’d happen after most application deadlines. So, he can’t base his application or recruiting strategy on that. (If it does happen, he can change plans at that point).

I’d just really caution to be realistic and take what comes. I’ve seen too many kids convince themselves that they need to run certain times to get recruited to certain schools that they end up frustrated for most of their HS careers (and often that’s it for their competitive running experience).

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37

I think that’s probably correct—and if they did it’d probably be a 1:46 guy from the transfer portal who can also run a leg of the 4x4.

(I’m sure Michaela Rose is well funded on the women’s side but that’s a pretty unique athlete).

38

I am curious on what’s the word on funding and scholarships in T&F given the recent SCOTUS decision.

SEC has proposed significant roster cuts/limits to men’s swimming. It’s all speculation for now and I hope it doesn’t come to pass, but we are certainly to see more programs cut.

If I had a male runner looking at recruiting, it more than ever make sure they love the school without there sport. And i’d give D3 a hard look. The squeeze is certain to make top programs even faster over the next 5 years.

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39

I’m honestly not sure. I’ve heard rumors of big cuts coming but so far it hasn’t really been the case (aside from trimming here and there, which is sort of normal).

Seems like scholarship and NIL money is flowing but a lot of funding is being directed to recruiting from the portal. The result is less funding for recruits fresh out of HS. The top athletes are still getting funding but there’s just less to spread around.

On the flip side, opportunities have never been better for proven college athletes. Upper class and grad transfers are using the portal to get good opportunities. But I do think that’s a zero sum game and fresh young recruits on the men’s side are paying the price.

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40

I think everyone is still trying to figure out what “paying athletes” looks like in practice and where the money will come from. Some coaches seem confident in their programs staying power but have alluded to budget squeezes (no training trip, less gear, etc).

These are important questions for recruits to be asking right now.

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