Interesting comments by all. First:
Is this true?? Impressive if so. I'm surprised there's not other swim programs (like the Michigan Men) who have NEVER been outside of the top 20/25 finishes (unless I misunderstood).
Beyond that, it's a very tricky situation. I think you hit it on the head 09, when you said that some of your best teammates have been foreign, but you wish there'd be more domestic swimmers.
It's kind of a tricky situation. I presume that most of us are adults, and have had some exposure to foreigners by now. The question is more of what would affect a 17-year old who is likely, though not always, from a pretty homogeneous population. I can see that as being, at the very least, intimidating.
That being said, I've heard that a lot of big recruits say that A&M has been their favorite trip. And as many have said, somebody needs to figure out where the disconnect is. Favorite trip. Likely more money than a Texas or Stanford can offer, a very few top 20-type recruits from being a top 5 team, and yet they still can't commit.
I'd like to see A&M try and wrestle the State meet away from Texas every other year or so. With that massive new $30 million dollar mega facility San Antonio is putting in, the Conroe Nat, etc. I see no reason to not start rotating it around to other cities. Seems to be too many great facilities in this state to have it in Austin every year.
Thought: Does recruiting American swimmers have a greater compounding effect? Even though the world is getting better, the US is still far and away the greatest concentration of elite swimming talent, and highschool students in the US hear more about where the Jonathan Edwards' and Gray Umbach's are going to go than about the Henrik Lindau's and Kyle Troskott's.
Of course, that might be balanced out by the fact that the probability of nabbing a Swedish recruit or Canadian recruit increases due to less recruiting competition. Comes down to a numbers game it seems, and we'll have to see how it plays out.
I think once those consistent top 12 finishes start becoming consistent top 8 finishes, there will be a huge snowball effect.
quote:
although we have the longest string of top 20/25 finishes of any team/sport in the country
Is this true?? Impressive if so. I'm surprised there's not other swim programs (like the Michigan Men) who have NEVER been outside of the top 20/25 finishes (unless I misunderstood).
Beyond that, it's a very tricky situation. I think you hit it on the head 09, when you said that some of your best teammates have been foreign, but you wish there'd be more domestic swimmers.
It's kind of a tricky situation. I presume that most of us are adults, and have had some exposure to foreigners by now. The question is more of what would affect a 17-year old who is likely, though not always, from a pretty homogeneous population. I can see that as being, at the very least, intimidating.
That being said, I've heard that a lot of big recruits say that A&M has been their favorite trip. And as many have said, somebody needs to figure out where the disconnect is. Favorite trip. Likely more money than a Texas or Stanford can offer, a very few top 20-type recruits from being a top 5 team, and yet they still can't commit.
I'd like to see A&M try and wrestle the State meet away from Texas every other year or so. With that massive new $30 million dollar mega facility San Antonio is putting in, the Conroe Nat, etc. I see no reason to not start rotating it around to other cities. Seems to be too many great facilities in this state to have it in Austin every year.
Thought: Does recruiting American swimmers have a greater compounding effect? Even though the world is getting better, the US is still far and away the greatest concentration of elite swimming talent, and highschool students in the US hear more about where the Jonathan Edwards' and Gray Umbach's are going to go than about the Henrik Lindau's and Kyle Troskott's.
Of course, that might be balanced out by the fact that the probability of nabbing a Swedish recruit or Canadian recruit increases due to less recruiting competition. Comes down to a numbers game it seems, and we'll have to see how it plays out.
I think once those consistent top 12 finishes start becoming consistent top 8 finishes, there will be a huge snowball effect.