Just a dude.
Perhaps I'm missing something? Would you not have a commute/time commitment if it were a "team" vs. "club." Are you hoping not to be actually be in involved in the team but feel you would be if it were a club? Are you hoping to be paid as a coach which would make it worth your while or replace some of your other work?
A club at this university would get $500 from the student services, would be run by students, and would have an adult or faculty mentor.
A sports team would have a paid coaching position and scholarships. It would receive some state funding.
I am hoping to start and coach a cross country team. I am hoping it would replace my current job. (It wouldn't pay as much as I make now. But it would be a job I would be excited to get out of bed to go to most days. My current job for me is pretty much just good for a paycheck.)
I even have dreams of somehow wrangling enough money from somewhere to build a track someday and have a track team too. ;-)
-Kelly
Getting back in shape... Just need it to be a skinnier shape...
Feeling the growl again
A club at this university would get $500 from the student services, would be run by students, and would have an adult or faculty mentor. A sports team would have a paid coaching position and scholarships. It would receive some state funding. I am hoping to start and coach a cross country team. I am hoping it would replace my current job. (It wouldn't pay as much as I make now. But it would be a job I would be excited to get out of bed to go to most days. My current job for me is pretty much just good for a paycheck.) I even have dreams of somehow wrangling enough money from somewhere to build a track someday and have a track team too. ;-) -Kelly
Know what you love and figure out a way to get paid for it. Isn't that a man rule or something I read somewhere?
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
So, we had the meeting this morning. I am cautiously optimistic. They have talked before about starting a team. They are open to the idea. It fits what they want. The need to see how budgeting works and that kind of stuff. It wasn't a NO. More of a "Let us take some info, explore it internally, and talk later..." kind of an answer. Which is probably about as good as I could have expected... -Kelly
So, we had the meeting this morning.
I am cautiously optimistic. They have talked before about starting a team. They are open to the idea. It fits what they want. The need to see how budgeting works and that kind of stuff.
It wasn't a NO. More of a "Let us take some info, explore it internally, and talk later..." kind of an answer. Which is probably about as good as I could have expected...
Any kind of timing comitment of what the next steps might be or when the "we'll talk later" will happen?
End of September or early October.
After a few more days away from that meeting, I am less hopeful. I think there is about an 80% chance that they will start a cross country team. I think there is about a 5% chance they will want much if any of my help to do so.
When they get the team in place, they will put together a committee to hire a coach. I will be able to apply just like anyone else, but have almost no inside track or advantage.
They have very little understanding in how running actually works. They won't be able to discern the difference between training philosophies or understanding of stimulous and adaption. They will rely almost entirely on experience and education...
I bet they will end up hiring someone who is currently a grad assistant at some other program. Perhaps they hire a current high school coach if a good one applies. The chances that I actually get the job I would estimate at about 1%.
/shrug
Maybe I am wrong, but I would guess that is at least the AD's position. There are others involved, so maybe it isn't as bleak as I see it...
Good luck, Kelly. It sucks when decision-making is in the hands of people who don't know jack or care jack about running.
I still remember our AD stopping by our team's two 15 pasenger vans as we left for the conference meet, favored to do very well for the first time in many years. One van each, Men's and Women's teams. He told us how he was behind us and rooting for us and good luck. This after we had to drive our own 15 passenger vans and leave for a 10-hour drive just the day before the meet...and stay at a motel so cheap that they were doing drug deals out of the room next to us....while the last-in-conference football team took 3 coach busses and left 3 days before every game and stayed in nice hotels, and most of them had scholarships.
University ADs are almost exclusively former ball sport players. I have little faith in them.
Its a start. There is a great amount of pride you can take away from starting this team. Even if you are not selected as the coach, you did get the ball rolling. That is extremely impressive.
That said, all hope is not lost. Is there anything you can do to show your interest in becoming the coach? Maybe find local runners? Or companies / organizations to donate to the team? Scout areas to run and train? Assemble a comprehensive training schedule? Anything to stay on their radar and make you the best candidate.
And we run because we like itThrough the broad bright land
Its a start. There is a great amount of pride you can take away from starting this team. Even if you are not selected as the coach, you did get the ball rolling. That is extremely impressive. That said, all hope is not lost. Is there anything you can do to show your interest in becoming the coach? Maybe find local runners? Or companies / organizations to donate to the team? Scout areas to run and train? Assemble a comprehensive training schedule? Anything to stay on their radar and make you the best candidate.
I have thought about that... I think maybe I could drum up some community support, but I feel weird trying to do that before the decision is made to have a team. It might just be all in my head, but it feels premature to say "Hey, lets raise funds for a Cross Country team" until there is one. I just don't know how to pitch a local shoe store or something like that without something a bit more concrete.
I have given them a proposed budget. I've given them a proposed schedule for a cross country this fall, and what I would do for track meets in the spring. I've given them breakdowns for what it would cost for them to travel different distances. I even gave them a short list of possible fund raisers. I could have gone into perhaps more detail about having everyone travel to closer meets, but having only the top 7 go to an overnight trip, or something like that.
I think specific coaching things would go over their head. I mean, I could probably talk about some general philosophies. Maybe like priorities in recruiting. (Character vs. talent. Potential growth vs. previous accomplishments. etc.) I could maybe talk about mileage goals or somthing like that. I mean, the AD didn't even know if cross country was a spring or fall sport. He didn't know how many made up a team, or how many scholarships there were. The only stats he knew were that cross country teams scored the highest academically, and that it would not increase his insurance.
I did mention to him that regional and state meets were coming up at the end of October/early November, and that those type meets are rather important to recruiting. I would love to go to other meets, and start building relationships with high school coaches, but I am worried I would be jumping the gun...
And maybe that is where I am wrong. Maybe I do go around to the community and say that I want to start a XC team, please donate. Maybe if I walked back in with a bucket of cash and discounts I could get the job. Not sure how to present all of that though. Any advice?
I too would be cautious about raising money for something that is not there. What if it falls through? I wouldn't do it. Gauge interest or comments of potential support from local groups/businesses, yes, but nothing changing hands.
It sounds like you were pretty thorough in your proposal. Again, best of luck with this. And don't be afraid to give them some high level plans in terms of recruitment strategy/training/goals for the program -- even if it goes over their head it will tell them you have a plan and know more than they do (which a coach should!!).
Maybe attend courses on becoming a coach? Anything to get that running resume improved.
There are two USATF Coaching certification classes reasonably close to me (Fresno and Las Vegas) that I have on my calendar. They are in late November and early December. (http://www.usatf.org/Resources-for---/Coaches/Coaching-Education/Calendar-of-Schools.aspx)
Looks like I can become an "Accredited Interscholastic Coach" with something like $350 and some online courses... (http://nfhslearn.com/home/coaching_requirement)
Any other things out there?
Kelly,
What ever happened to this JC College Cross Country Team idea for Nevada? The Thread started several years ago, but I noticed it while looking down the forum thread listing.
Amazingly enough since the topic started (and concluded) three JC's had started XC teams in Region 18 since you came up with the idea, and in that time one of them (Gillette) recently decided to disband their program, after they placed 4th in the National Junior College XC Championships (Div. 1). the College of Southern Idaho also just brought their program back after being defunct for nearly 15, or so, years.
To me, It seems like the main reason for a junior college has to contemplate whether, or not, to add cross country is to attract numbers to it's student population to increase revenue through FTE (full time enrollments) to in an effort to earn more funding from the board of regents. Of course, this only works if the entire budget is way less than what they can earn though having the extra students, and this only works if they can stay within the boundaries of Title IX with their entire athletic offering.
I'm curious if this Nevada JC ever decided to jump on board.
Um, they kinda thought about it for a bit. Talked about it for a bit. And then dropped the whole athletic department. So now they have a big fancy baseball park with no team, and I dunno what all. Now they just have a soccer club and a rodeo club...
But... This fall they have a new president, who has been involved in JC athletics before. I have no idea if they are even close to interested in opening anything back up... /shrug
Dropped the entire athletic department. Wow, isn't that a strange twist. I guess the problem wasn't the potential cross country program. If there is to be a change (for athletics) in the future of that school, perhaps it will need to come from the top down. Who knows, maybe a new college president could be for the best. Only time will tell.
Thanks for the information. That certainly solved my curiosity.