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#Post#: 1425--------------------------------------------------
Stony Brook Track and Field
By: sbufan Date: February 16, 2012, 7:19 pm
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Looking around the America East in preparation for the track and
field championships, I noticed Stony Brook's track and field
program is severely underfunded. We have one of the best
distance coaches in the country with our head coach Andy Ronan,
but he's working with only two assistants. Albany, who wins the
track and field championship almost every year, by comparison
has 7 coaches. Realistically if you want to field a legitimate
team you need at least four coaches (one for distance, sprints,
throws, and jumps) and, obviously, the more the better. Track
and Field would be an easy sport for Stony Brook to be very good
at because there is a lot of talent New York and not many
scholarships in the sport, making the SUNY's logical
destinations for any athletes not fortunate enough to be offered
a full scholarship (very few) and concerned with college price
tags. Ronan's done wonders in cross country with a 7th place
finish at nationals to his credit. Lets give him him a couple
assistants and see what can do with a reasonable track and field
budget.
#Post#: 1426--------------------------------------------------
Re: Stony Brook Track and Field
By: ecasadoSBU Date: February 17, 2012, 12:31 am
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honestly i dont really care about the sport. but i respect your
opinion. if they already offering it, fund it properly
#Post#: 1434--------------------------------------------------
Re: Stony Brook Track and Field
By: jaghatai Date: February 17, 2012, 8:02 pm
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Something to consider is that Albany recruits for track & field
very hard. They spend a lot of time and money to make there
program what it is (which, to be blunt, is maybe a top 150 in
the country).
I think a great first step would be to actively pursue long
distance talent, and establish ourselves as a great spot for
those types of athletes.
On a side note, I would love nothing more than to see SBU track
turn into a legit squad.
#Post#: 1437--------------------------------------------------
Re: Stony Brook Track and Field
By: Seawolf97 Date: February 17, 2012, 9:15 pm
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I think with the new track and field complex we will see more
funding for our men and women runners. That was quite an
investment and shows we are at least serious about raising the
bar. Dont be surprised if we see bleachers, press box and
lights someday. It is a nice facility now but needs those final
touches to make it a legit competitive arena. I think funding
will come , look at the pool area being renovated now thats
another sport that needs more money . We will get there.
#Post#: 1439--------------------------------------------------
Re: Stony Brook Track and Field
By: sbufan Date: February 17, 2012, 9:52 pm
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[quote author=jaghatai link=topic=103.msg1434#msg1434
date=1329530574]
Something to consider is that Albany recruits for track & field
very hard. They spend a lot of time and money to make there
program what it is (which, to be blunt, is maybe a top 150 in
the country).
I think a great first step would be to actively pursue long
distance talent, and establish ourselves as a great spot for
those types of athletes.
On a side note, I would love nothing more than to see SBU track
turn into a legit squad.
[/quote]
Yeah, I just think Stony Brook needs more coaches to be
competitive in recruiting. I also agree that Albany's program
isn't very good. They don't have any national class runners and
probably would be hard pressed to score any points in a
conference like the Pac 10. I think we already have established
ourselves as a great spot for distance talent. Lucy Van Dalen is
world class. I think if we had a couple more coaches to help
recruit sprinters, throwers and jumpers, we could have a very
good program.
#Post#: 1440--------------------------------------------------
Re: Stony Brook Track and Field
By: ecasadoSBU Date: February 17, 2012, 10:34 pm
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I think SB is doing the right thing trying to be competitive in
the mainstream sports. If those mainstream sports are
successful, then there will be money for every Olympic sport
offered. Thats how it works. If football and Basketball,
lacrosse rises, everything else rises because of it.
I prefer Stony Brook to continue to fund Football, Basketball,
and Lacrosse and give it all it can because those are the sports
that will give us that can potentially provide us the most
revenue. Diverting funds to T&F is not the most economically
viable move to make in my opinion. People like football, people
like basketball, people like lacrosse (at least in LI). Build
those sports, get revenue, and then use the revenue to become
more competitive in all the Olympic sports
Try and grow them all together at the same time, and you will
most likely fail....We can only do so much with the current
budget. Put the money into sports where we can likely get the
most returns of... I hope I'm not sounding too rough....
#Post#: 1441--------------------------------------------------
Re: Stony Brook Track and Field
By: sbufan Date: February 17, 2012, 10:44 pm
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The thing is we're already very good at cross country. Our
women's cross country team finished 7th in the nation in 2010!
That's by far the most impressive athletic performance of any
stony brook program ever, and probably the most impressive of
any America East team in the last 20 or so years. We have a
GREAT coach in Ronan. If we gave him an extra 100k dollars
(something like 0.6% of the athletic budget) to hire assistants
and recruit athletes, we might have a national class track and
field program to go with our cross country program. I do agree
that football, basketball, and lacrosse should be our first
priority, but after that I think we need to appreciate what we
have in Andy Ronan.
#Post#: 1444--------------------------------------------------
Re: Stony Brook Track and Field
By: jaghatai Date: February 18, 2012, 12:18 pm
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[quote]I think we need to appreciate what we have in Andy
Ronan.[/quote]
You are 100% correct on that.
#Post#: 1446--------------------------------------------------
Re: Stony Brook Track and Field
By: Redwyn Date: February 18, 2012, 12:52 pm
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[quote author=sbufan link=topic=103.msg1441#msg1441
date=1329540293]
The thing is we're already very good at cross country. Our
women's cross country team finished 7th in the nation in 2010!
That's by far the most impressive athletic performance of any
stony brook program ever, and probably the most impressive of
any America East team in the last 20 or so years. We have a
GREAT coach in Ronan. If we gave him an extra 100k dollars
(something like 0.6% of the athletic budget) to hire assistants
and recruit athletes, we might have a national class track and
field program to go with our cross country program. I do agree
that football, basketball, and lacrosse should be our first
priority, but after that I think we need to appreciate what we
have in Andy Ronan.
[/quote]
Conversations with former T&F and CC athletes at SBU leads me to
believe that Ronan completely agrees with that assessment, and
puts all of his resources/energy into distance running. The
stats hold up in T&F events. Distance running events we do very,
very well in. Most other categories are either mediocre or not
entered into at all.
A coach with limited resources has to choose where to place his
emphasis. Ronan has a very strong pipeline from NZ and Ireland,
and needs to keep tapping into it. So long as the potential to
run a low expense, top level CC program exists - there's no
reason to change strategy.
#Post#: 1454--------------------------------------------------
Re: Stony Brook Track and Field
By: sbufan Date: February 18, 2012, 7:11 pm
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[quote author=Redwyn link=topic=103.msg1446#msg1446
date=1329591150]
[quote author=sbufan link=topic=103.msg1441#msg1441
date=1329540293]
The thing is we're already very good at cross country. Our
women's cross country team finished 7th in the nation in 2010!
That's by far the most impressive athletic performance of any
stony brook program ever, and probably the most impressive of
any America East team in the last 20 or so years. We have a
GREAT coach in Ronan. If we gave him an extra 100k dollars
(something like 0.6% of the athletic budget) to hire assistants
and recruit athletes, we might have a national class track and
field program to go with our cross country program. I do agree
that football, basketball, and lacrosse should be our first
priority, but after that I think we need to appreciate what we
have in Andy Ronan.
[/quote]
Conversations with former T&F and CC athletes at SBU leads me to
believe that Ronan completely agrees with that assessment, and
puts all of his resources/energy into distance running. The
stats hold up in T&F events. Distance running events we do very,
very well in. Most other categories are either mediocre or not
entered into at all.
A coach with limited resources has to choose where to place his
emphasis. Ronan has a very strong pipeline from NZ and Ireland,
and needs to keep tapping into it. So long as the potential to
run a low expense, top level CC program exists - there's no
reason to change strategy.
[/quote]
I just think it's gross for a coach to have had the kind of
success that Ronan has had, and still have as little
administrative support as Ronan appears to. Give him some more
money to bring in assistants to make phone calls. Stony Brook is
cheaper w/o a scholarship than most other schools are with half
or 1/4 scholarships that are typical in running. To have a great
program all Stony Brook would need is a coaching staff large
enough to put in the man hours bringing in talent, then let
Ronan do his thing.
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