How many guys from other countries does it take to win a National Championship?
Good thing they all attended classes on campus the entire year..... :-)
Makes everyone feel proud to see the American Record holder on the 4th place podium.
They certainly don't put their money down expecting that it will be funnelled to individuals that don't stay in the US or willing to represent the US athletically either.
Are you sure they care? I would think their primary goal is for those athletes to represent the university well. Who cares if they compete for another country outside NCAA sanctioned competition? And why would they care if they stay in the U.S.? Right now at work I'm working side-by-side with foreign nationals from Japan, India, Russia, Spain, etc. They are contributing to the economy of their own country and also to the economy of the U.S. with their work. There are many international students who are educated in the U.S. and choose to stay and work here and that's great, but if they choose to return to their home I don't have a problem with that either.
How is this not a good scenario for the hypothetical American kid and for USA swimming? Seems a good way to optimize his potential. Not to say he couldn't be great elsewhere, but if it were my kid it would seem pretty sweet, even if it meant a partial, rather than a full ride.
You are assuming he will get a piece of a scholarship. More than likely, he will not be chosen at a school like this and be forced to explore a secondary or tertiary choice (i.e. assuming those teams as well don't dedicate as much as 1/3rd of their eligible scholarship money to kids from other countries).
Lazy / Low Risk recruiting. That's what it comes down to. Grab your prepackaged top level international talent and sign here.
On a slightly different note...
One thing that I find interesting about this discussion is that the role of college swimming in determining the composition of the US Olympic team is less than it has been in a long time.
Twenty years ago, if you looked at the US finalists at the most recent NCAA championships, you were pretty certain that you would find most of them in the finals of Olympic Trials, vying for spots on the team (especially the men).
That is no longer the case. In this age of the significant post-collegiate swimming career, it was not at all unusual to find events at the last Olympic Trials in which recent NCAA champions were dark horses to make the team, and would barely even make the finals.
It may not even be a stretch to say that the role of collegiate swimming in the training of US Olympians is about what the role of HS training programs used to be, twenty years ago.
Out of curiosity, how many foreign athletes will be playing in this weekend's Final Four? Isn't UConn's big guy a "foreigner"?
Sure, sure, more sour grapes. (Sorry Anna Lea, I couldn't resist...your team spanked my team pretty badly last year.)
They certainly don't put their money down expecting that it will be funnelled to individuals that don't stay in the US or willing to represent the US athletically either.
The money goes to university student-athletes, as expected. The anticipated return is good performances while competing for the university.
The rest doesn't matter in the least. Donors want teams to win, the others expect a good educational environment.
Besides once having been a scholarship swimmer, I work at a university; cultural and ethnic diversity is prized on college campuses and serves the students well.
GoBears,
The recipe works for those coaches who pursue this strategy. Why would they object?
They would object on principle if they are as US-focused as you contend.
Mostly they object, though, when they get beat by a team with more foreign swimmers than they have...
If there truly is an organization being formed by the ASCA, CSCAA & USA Swimming to work on this effort can they truly avoid a discussion about the impact of allowing the limited (and declining) resources and opportunities to swim at the college level to be spent on training other countries athletes?
I can't imagine these 3 organizations will make any significant progress. The one missing organization is the NCAA and they are not going to allow a restriction on foreign athletes. Maybe USA Swimming can fund scholarships designated for U.S. athletes and that will help. Perhaps, you might get some coaches to be a bit more patriotic in their recruiting, but at best it will be a voluntary thing.
The coaches should get a rule change on the online courses and off-site training. However, Chris is right that the rule change should be broad enough to apply to any NCAA athlete, not just foreigners. I still think Division II is the place for U.S. bubble swimmers. Division I is a hopeless place for anything other than elite swimmers with its general fixation on football and basketball budgets.
Tim
Yes, very simple...but colleges are simply not in the business of developing US Olympic talent. That's the USAS's/USOC's job.
That is simply a crock of crap.
Fact is the SAME talent swims in both arenas (USA Swimming and NCAA). Your border between the two worlds is nothing but adminstrative. The talent moves freely between both bodies and the personal goals and coaches are the same between each body. One is not exclusive of the other.
To assume that colleges have no roll or involvement in developing talent that goes to the Games or competes internationally is truely naive.
Come on now - I think American swimming (particularly Men's) is in pretty good shape to start worrying about a few fast foreigners doing well at the NCAA's. Look at the Olympics this year - the American men had by far the most depth.
I applaud Auburn for looking beyond our own shores to find high quality swimmers. It is up to the individual school (in my opinion) to determine if their scholarships should be going to non-American athletes. Perhaps it serves as a challenge to up and coming young American swimmers to go faster and be more appealing to NCAA coaches and teams out there.
So I would assume than that you are 100% in support of the business world outsourcing jobs as well? I mean really...why would anyone want to put a program in place, in this country, that would be good for its citizens...in sports or buisness...when you can go the easy route?
