Preface to the Post: When I first read the following email I thought, “I would love to share this on the blog, yet I don’t want coaches to think I’m encouraging students to transfer from their current program and coach.” In the coming months I’m going to write several posts on this topic for the simple reason that the process is a waste of time for college coaches, HS coaches, families and HS athletes. I honestly think some amount of everyone’s time is wasted in this process and my thesis will be that candor is needed early and often in the process, yet everyone in the process is afraid of being honest with each other at the risk of offending the other party. Fine, yet an athlete can only go to one school and that means that most coaches will hear the word “No” more than “Yes.” That’s just the way it works.
I received the following email from Jim McMahon, head cross country coach at Midland Luthern College in Fremont, Nebraska (Jim’s a family friend as my father was once the men’s basketball coach at Midland).
The reason I am contacting you is you might be in contact with a variety of runners who might be looking for a place to continue their education. Midland got a new president in March, and he has instituted a policy to encourage transfers from two or four year institutions. Any student who transfers to Midland for the 2010/2011 school year will receive free room and board for a year, in addition to all other institutional aid they might receive. I am looking for runners who have the ability to run sub 30:00 in cross country 8K for males, sub 22:00 in cross country 5K for females. If they transfer in eligible we can give between $12,000 and $16,000 in academic and athletic scholarships, depending on their academic and athletic talents. The board and room is valued at $5,800 next year and the tuition is approximately $23,000. This means the remainder of the costs is approximately $7,000 – $11,000. If they qualify for federal aid some or all of this may be taken care of, and loans are always available.
In order to qualify for the room and board they must be admitted to and visit Midland before June 15, 2010.
My thoughts are simple that a) I’d like to help Jim and this forum is, in my humble opinion, an appropriate place to share it and b) that someone reading this knows of a student who is at a bigger school and can’t walk-on to the school’s varsity team, yet could make Jim’s team. Those were my two primary thoughts, though as a former JUCO coach I should have also thought of c) 2-year students have a great chance to afford an education and get the chance to compete at Midland.
