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
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Interesting to me that Auburn limits their team to 25 swimmers. They should follow the example of Arizona and have 34. Let the in-state guys walk on and take a stab at proving themselves. College swimming is not professional swimming by the way. We should hope that colleges consider the diamonds in the rough. Nobody said the entire team had to be made up of all in-state guys, but you have to admit that 1 is pretty pathetic.
Rest assured that if the Auburn football team had only 5% of its players from Alabama, the Trustees would be breathing down the coach's back, whatever the record.
I bet it is not the coaches decision alone on how big the roster is. The athletic director sets a budget for the sport. Even if many of the athletes are walkons, there is a non-trivial cost to carrying an athlete on the team. Travel, equipment, insurance, etc. all add up. Eddie Reese seems to have the budget to carry 30+ on his roster. The Texas A&M coach told me he was targeted at 24-28 on the roster, including divers.
Maybe Hill Taylor went to Texas because of uncertainty with Marsh. Do you know he wasn't recruited? He would be 2nd or 3rd fastest on the roster in backstroke.
Interesting to me that Auburn limits their team to 25 swimmers. They should follow the example of Arizona and have 34. Let the in-state guys walk on and take a stab at proving themselves. College swimming is not professional swimming by the way. We should hope that colleges consider the diamonds in the rough. Nobody said the entire team had to be made up of all in-state guys, but you have to admit that 1 is pretty pathetic.
Rest assured that if the Auburn football team had only 5% of its players from Alabama, the Trustees would be breathing down the coach's back, whatever the record.
I bet it is not the coaches decision alone on how big the roster is. The athletic director sets a budget for the sport. Even if many of the athletes are walkons, there is a non-trivial cost to carrying an athlete on the team. Travel, equipment, insurance, etc. all add up. Eddie Reese seems to have the budget to carry 30+ on his roster. The Texas A&M coach told me he was targeted at 24-28 on the roster, including divers.
Maybe Hill Taylor went to Texas because of uncertainty with Marsh. Do you know he wasn't recruited? He would be 2nd or 3rd fastest on the roster in backstroke.
