Originally posted by gm View Post
I have coached podium athletes at all three NCAA levels (I, II & III), and in my experience there are great coaches at all three levels. As our friend Atticus mentioned, D2 & D3 don't generally get the blue chip recruits that the "big" schools get, so any elite performers that come out of those places are the product of excellent coaching. Look at someone like Al Carius at North Central College (D3). His distance program through the years has been awesome, and I would wager that those kids wouldn't have done any better at a "big" school. In fact, they might not have done as well.
Development in the collegiate system in the U.S. is dependent upon so many variables, you can't just say that an athlete would automatically do better at one of the elite schools.
I definitely agree that there are good coaches in all three divisions as well as in high school and so on.
BUT
1. On average, the coaches in division one are the best coaches because in most cases division II and III coaches will jump on the opportunity to coach in division one while the opposite basically never happen. So in most cases, a coach in elite program will be better than the one in a lower division.
2. The resources that NCAA-1 coaches have are greater than those of the lower divisions coaches. This is likely to allow them to build a better "coaching team" next to them, which is vital in the case of multi-event athletes. Putting it differently, I believe that if you put Rod Cowan as the new head coach of Georgia and transfer Williamson with him, he will achieve with her much more than in Saginaw. Are you arguing differently?
3. Even if we assume that the coaching team in Saginaw is similar in quality to than of Georgia/Arkansas there is the question of training partners. Williamson is leading her school in seven events - do you think that she gets the same quality of training partners as they get in the big schools? or aren't quality training partners important based on your experience?
Finally, can you educate me about successful athletes that move to a lower divisions to enjoy the better coaching? (this is not sarcastic, as I never heard about such a thing among multi-events athletes).
I have coached podium athletes at all three NCAA levels (I, II & III), and in my experience there are great coaches at all three levels. As our friend Atticus mentioned, D2 & D3 don't generally get the blue chip recruits that the "big" schools get, so any elite performers that come out of those places are the product of excellent coaching. Look at someone like Al Carius at North Central College (D3). His distance program through the years has been awesome, and I would wager that those kids wouldn't have done any better at a "big" school. In fact, they might not have done as well.
Development in the collegiate system in the U.S. is dependent upon so many variables, you can't just say that an athlete would automatically do better at one of the elite schools.
I definitely agree that there are good coaches in all three divisions as well as in high school and so on.
BUT
1. On average, the coaches in division one are the best coaches because in most cases division II and III coaches will jump on the opportunity to coach in division one while the opposite basically never happen. So in most cases, a coach in elite program will be better than the one in a lower division.
2. The resources that NCAA-1 coaches have are greater than those of the lower divisions coaches. This is likely to allow them to build a better "coaching team" next to them, which is vital in the case of multi-event athletes. Putting it differently, I believe that if you put Rod Cowan as the new head coach of Georgia and transfer Williamson with him, he will achieve with her much more than in Saginaw. Are you arguing differently?
3. Even if we assume that the coaching team in Saginaw is similar in quality to than of Georgia/Arkansas there is the question of training partners. Williamson is leading her school in seven events - do you think that she gets the same quality of training partners as they get in the big schools? or aren't quality training partners important based on your experience?
Finally, can you educate me about successful athletes that move to a lower divisions to enjoy the better coaching? (this is not sarcastic, as I never heard about such a thing among multi-events athletes).
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