Just a dude.
So, I'm probably insane...
But I am looking into starting a Cross Country team at my local community college. Turns out that the entire state of Nevada has no men's cross country or track teams. (There are two women's teams, but no men's thanks to title 9) The community college is in Region 18 of the junior college athletic association. In the whole region, there are no cross country teams. That includes Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, and half of Montana... (At least according to the website.)
Anyway, seems like there could be a demand.
Our local college only has baseball and softball right now. It sounds like there is interest in adding more.
I've done some research, and am probably getting close to sitting down with the Athletic Director and pitching it to him. My sis-in-law works for the college and has given me some insider advice.
You guys have any advice? Am I an idiot?
Thanks!
-Kelly
Getting back in shape... Just need it to be a skinnier shape...
Feeling the growl again
1) Write up a business plan before you pitch it - budget, recruiting plan, tentative event schedule, etc.
2) So there are no teams for like a thousand miles....where will you compete?
3) You are not an idiot for wanting to help start a team. You are an idiot for hanging out with us.
Not trying to deflate your sails at all. I'm just curious what your plans are for competition if there is nobody around. Sounds like you'd never to travel a long ways and that may not be something a community college athletic budget can stomach.
"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
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1) Write up a business plan before you pitch it - budget, recruiting plan, tentative event schedule, etc. 2) So there are no teams for like a thousand miles....where will you compete? 3) You are not an idiot for wanting to help start a team. You are an idiot for hanging out with us. Not trying to deflate your sails at all. I'm just curious what your plans are for competition if there is nobody around. Sounds like you'd never to travel a long ways and that may not be something a community college athletic budget can stomach.
I am just outside of Reno. So we are like 20 miles from California.
California is too good for the National Junior College Association. They have their own State system.
I plan on running events in California: Stanford Invite, Sac State Invite, maybe Mt. Sac, Shasta, Fresno, etc. Quite a few to choose from there actually. Also, hopefully run a home meet that can get people from California to participate in.
But, since there are no teams outside of California closer than Arizona and Wyoming, I should be able to recruit in lots of states. And I should be a pretty strong contender in my own state with no competition for men... (There are two women's teams)
I've been told to do an exploratory meeting with the AD, have my ducks in a row, but not go so far as to have a full blown business plan yet.
/shrug.
Sounds good then, I'm not familiar with drive times out there. I was in DII and we regularly did 500 mile drives for meets. There were only 2 other teams within 200 miles.
You certainly will have a lock on local-ish talent that doesn't want to go far for school...
Kelly, is this TMCC you're talking about or another one in or closer to Carson City? WNCC? Does that even still exist? I have no insight or advice to offer, just curious. Does UNR have a cross country team? I know they used to a million years ago. Can you tell I've been out of the area for a while? Heh. Your posts always make me a little homesick in a good way.
A list of my PRs in a misguided attempt to impress people that do not care.
This is WNC in Carson City. (www.wnc.edu)
UNR only has a women's team. The men's team got axed in the 90's due to title 9. (Same thing with UNLV)
TMCC has no sports teams at all that I know of.
I have nothing to add other than this is friggin cool Kelly!
"He conquers who endures" - Persius "Every workout should have a purpose. Every purpose should link back to achieving a training objective." - Spaniel
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Meeting with the Athletic Director Thursday morning...
Wish me luck...
Absolutely!
Meeting with the Athletic Director Thursday morning... Wish me luck... -Kelly
Good luck Kelly! You obviously have put some good thought into this and I'm sure you'll present it well to the AD.
Region 18 covers quite the territory. I'm surprised that there really aren't many athletic teams in general. I found it odd that there were listings for the marathon and half marathon teams on the NCAAJ website. At least there seems to be a decent draw from Region 1 that would help in terms of finding teams to compete with. My initial reaction when I saw this a couple of days ago was the concern over travel and travel expenses for the athletes to compete. But, I guess if Michigan Tech can support a team and travel to find competition, then why not WNC?
Ostrich runner
My D2 conference was all fairly close. I think we went 4-5 hours away maybe once per season, and that might even be artificially long because Coach didn't use interstates. Each team had usually just a few guys who really took it seriously in the off season - I really did it because I wanted to be in shape, spend some time with friends, and ogle the women's team. I usually wouldn't run more than once a week out of season (although I always stayed in good general fitness). Mid 26's would win several of our 8k meets. After my junior year, several people graduated and we weren't going to have enough guys for the team. I talked a few gym rats who'd never run competitively into joining the team, and we ended up having a pretty decent group. Sixteen years later, I think walking on the team as a junior was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Good luck
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Hey Kelly
That's gotta be an ambitious plan in your neck of the woods.
Here's an idea. How bout starting cross country as a club sport. Focus on all the positives, get people engaged and running then evolve to a varsity team if the momentum is there. If not, the club could still be viable.
My college supports several sports at the club level: rugby, cycling, wrestling, crew. It's a very inclusive format and students get to take a lot more responsibility.
Hey Kelly That's gotta be an ambitious plan in your neck of the woods. Here's an idea. How bout starting cross country as a club sport. Focus on all the positives, get people engaged and running then evolve to a varsity team if the momentum is there. If not, the club could still be viable. My college supports several sports at the club level: rugby, cycling, wrestling, crew. It's a very inclusive format and students get to take a lot more responsibility.
Cross country as a club sport would be much easier. BUT, I couldn't do it.
I have almost an hour commute to work. So I leave my house around 7am and return around 6pm. Some days I struggle to get my own run in. Trying to organize 20 or so other runners around that would be really hard. In the winter months, every run would be in the dark.
It is something I have looked at... /shrug
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...
Cross country as a club sport would be much easier. BUT, I couldn't do it. I have almost an hour commute to work. So I leave my house around 7am and return around 6pm. Some days I struggle to get my own run in. Trying to organize 20 or so other runners around that would be really hard. In the winter months, every run would be in the dark. It is something I have looked at... /shrug -Kelly
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?