Author Topic: Stony Brook Track and Field (Read 156 times)

sbufan · « **on:** February 16, 2012, 07:19:22 pm »

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.

ecasadoSBU · « **Reply #1 on:** February 17, 2012, 12:31:18 am »

honestly i dont really care about the sport. but i respect your opinion. if they already offering it, fund it properly

jaghatai · « **Reply #2 on:** February 17, 2012, 08:02:54 pm »

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.

Seawolf97 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 17, 2012, 09:15:42 pm »

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.

sbufan · « **Reply #4 on:** February 17, 2012, 09:52:37 pm »

Quote from: jaghatai on February 17, 2012, 08:02:54 pm

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.

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.

ecasadoSBU · « **Reply #5 on:** February 17, 2012, 10:34:12 pm »

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....

sbufan · « **Reply #6 on:** February 17, 2012, 10:44:53 pm »

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.

jaghatai · « **Reply #7 on:** February 18, 2012, 12:18:07 pm »

Quote

I think we need to appreciate what we have in Andy Ronan.

You are 100% correct on that.

Redwyn · « **Reply #8 on:** February 18, 2012, 12:52:30 pm »

Quote from: sbufan on February 17, 2012, 10:44:53 pm

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.

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.

sbufan · « **Reply #9 on:** February 18, 2012, 07:11:11 pm »

Quote from: Redwyn on February 18, 2012, 12:52:30 pm

Quote from: sbufan on February 17, 2012, 10:44:53 pm
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.

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.

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.

sbufan · « **Reply #10 on:** February 19, 2012, 09:26:02 am »

Looking over this thread, there are some things I've posted that I don't really agree with. First off I don't mean to criticize the athletic department, I just want them to be aware of what they have/could have/could lose depending on how the treat track and field cross country budget. Secondly, 100k would not give them a national program; they would probably need to spend an extra 300k-400k if they wanted to attempt to have a national class track and field program, which I have no doubt they could if they spent the money for it. Personally, I would have Ronan step down as head track and field coach for role as associate head coach but resume as head cross country and keep his salary and everything in place. Because track and field isn't a revenue generating sport, we could bring in a somewhat big name coach if we were willing to pay 100k. Then bring in two more assistants at 30-40K and make both the mens and womens programs full scholarship (the women's might already be in order to balance out football, but I doubt the men's is). All this is unlikely, but 100k to bring in two more assistants would be a good start.

sbufan · « **Reply #11 on:** February 19, 2012, 09:30:06 am »

Big congratulations to Lucy Van Dalen and Erik Speakman for winning events this weekend. I have a feeling Speakman is going to be a national title contender when it's all said and done. Any word on why Holly isn't running?

sbufan · « **Reply #12 on:** March 10, 2012, 08:46:39 pm »

Lucy Van Dalen just won Stony Brook's first ever national championship. I don't know what they're paying Ronan, but he needs a raise.

Seawolf97 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 11, 2012, 07:41:26 pm »

She became one of the Best of The Best! Congratulations to her and our team and coach.

ecasadoSBU · « **Reply #14 on:** March 12, 2012, 04:56:16 am »

Impressive. Our first Individual National Championship. Congratulations to Lucy! She deserves it.

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Author Topic: Stony Brook Track and Field (Read 156 times)

sbufan

Stony Brook Track and Field

ecasadoSBU

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

jaghatai

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

Seawolf97

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

sbufan

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

ecasadoSBU

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

sbufan

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

jaghatai

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

Redwyn

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sbufan

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

sbufan

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

sbufan

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

sbufan

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

Seawolf97

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field

ecasadoSBU

Re: Stony Brook Track and Field