Looks like the number of foreign athletes taking scholarship money away from home grown kids has surged in recent years. 2/3rds are in Division I schools.
I wouldn't dream of accusing lazy coaches who don't recruit well of using "hired guns" from other countries to win championships. I'm sure they are only accepting foreign athletes for the altruistic good of helping to diversify the student body..... :-)
Influx of foreigners presents new challenges for NCAA
www.usatoday.com/.../2008-10-01-foreign-influx_N.htm
Why is it that a higher percentage of those foreign swimmers are of a higher caliber than the US swimmers enabling them to get the swimming scholarships?
There are about 300 million people in the U.S., but nearly 6 billion in the world. Yeah, only a small fraction of that total resides in countries with strong swimming teams, but the bottom line is you've got a much bigger talent pool to draw from when you look outside the U.S. I believe your premise that a higher percentage of foreign swimmers are of higher caliber than U.S. swimmers is flat out wrong.
Why is it that a higher percentage of those foreign swimmers are of a higher caliber than the US swimmers enabling them to get the swimming scholarships?
There are about 300 million people in the U.S., but nearly 6 billion in the world. Yeah, only a small fraction of that total resides in countries with strong swimming teams, but the bottom line is you've got a much bigger talent pool to draw from when you look outside the U.S. I believe your premise that a higher percentage of foreign swimmers are of higher caliber than U.S. swimmers is flat out wrong.
