Men's Track Recruiting Guidelines

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>I've checked out the guidelines here: Men's</a> Track Recruiting Guidelines</p>

<p>I'm confused by some things and would like people's opinions:</p>

<ol>
<li>Tier I vs Tier II. I take this to mean that Tier I are some of the better Track Schools (maybe the top 100 +/-? here's last year's top 25: NCAA</a> Division I Men's Outdoor Track & Field Rankings - NCAA.com) and Tier II are still DI, but not as good. Meaning, there are LOT of DI schools not nationally ranked, but still recruiting. They may recruit a boy who runs a 4:25 1600m, for example, vs the 4:15 Tier I guideline.</li>
</ol>

<p>(From what I've seen, the Ivy's are at or near Tier I. I've heard that Yale's looking for 4:21 or better for 1600m, for example. Princeton's a legit Tier I. Their roster is loaded. So is Columbia.) </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Does anybody have any insight on D3 NESCAC or UAA schools? Seems like if you break 4:30 as a Jr in the 1600m, you're a solid recruit.</p></li>
<li><p>Walk on vs. Recruit. I know that getting a significant athletic scholarship for men's track is rare. I've also read where some of the top DI men's programs will give you help with admissions, no scholarship and expect you to walk on (see Jay Johnson's blog when he was a recruiting coordinator with CU, for example). If you do well, you may get $ later during your athletic career. From what I've researched, some walk ons get help. Some don't. Depends on the school. Any thoughts on DI vs D3 NESCAC / UAA on this?</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>The NCSA recruiting guidelines are very general, pulliamjs. It varies so much depending on the strength of a particular recruiting class and each program’s needs in any given year. </p>

<p>I think with a sub-4:20 1600m you can at least initiate a conversation with just about any coach and be taken seriously. In the NESCAC championships it took a 4:04 (1500) to score any team points, which translated to ~4:22 1600m, so yeah, some NESCAC coaches would probably be interested in talking to a junior that’s sub 4:30.</p>

<p>In Ivy and NESCAC, since there is no redshirting, coaches pretty much want you to be be competitive in the conference right from the start - they don’t really have the time to develop athletes.</p>

<p>Walk-on v recruit - you’re right, in a D1 scholarship program, with 12.6 scholarships to cover the roster, big scholarships in track are rare. If you’re not a nationally known multi-event phenom, they usually like to see you earn your way to scholarship money once you’re there.</p>

<p>But I know a young man at an ACC D1 school that even after scoring some conference points his soph season, coach told him that he wanted to use the scholarship $ on new recruits ‘for the good of the team’. So you just never know</p>