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Mick Byrne on Foreigners 7714 views

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Uploaded by Alex Lohr | October 18, 2012

The NCAA is comprised of student-athletes from all over the world. During his tenure at Iona, some of Mick Byrne's top athletes were foreigners. Now that he's at Wisconsin, there's a different sell. In terms of foreigners attending American universities, Mick explains why kids first came over and the implications. Whether it's Oklahoma State or Alabama, you're still competing against the uniform.

Speakers: Mick Byrne
Categories: Interview
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Comments22 comments

 IonaAlum 6 months ago

Mick, you wrote the book on recruiting foreigners who were well beyond 21 years of age - I know because I used to run for you! Every season you managed to pull in a guy who was 24 and a "sopre" . It's easier for you now because you have a name to sell (like you said). In essence, I would suggest keeping mum about European/Kenyan recruiting. And yes, it is a "business";it's the business of winning...

7 months ago

I completely agree with Coach Byrne. I believe foreign kids have made the NCAA system and competition better. But when foreign athletes are coming over and taking advantage and robbing U.S. kids of opportunities, it is unacceptable. The “loopholes” that exist are certainly being exploited by some. However, the greater problem exists with the coaches that only care about the wins and losses and not about the chance to improve someone’s life.

"joe-franklin-on-recruiting-and-foreigners"
Until the loopholes are closed, you will continue to have coaches and athletes take advantage. I applaud Coach Byrne for his approach to COLLEGIATE athletics. This is not a business. The NCAA is about opportunities for student-athletes to improve as people.

Anonymous Coward 7 months ago

I remember in the 70's, Henry Rono entered WSU as an incoming freshmen at 24. Suleiman Nyambui graduated UTEP at 29. Not sure if that was a good thing. But I also remember reading about a runner who competed against them both during his career at Oregon. He said even though it was very hard running against them, he learned so much from them. That runner was Alberto Salazar. NCAA championships are great, but he seen the bigger picture. Hopefully, some of these American runners feel the same way.
And with a prior post, I also agree. It seems nowadays that runners can't even mention that they want to win the Individual title without some sort of back lash. Yet people are always complaining when runners DON'T win an NCAA title. Galen didn't win one until his senior year and Chris Derrick will always be remembered as the guy that never won one.

Anonymous Coward 7 months ago

Well folks, he does say that he used to recruit foreign athletes, but has since decided to not recruit them as heavily due to the amount of abuse there was in the system.

Anonymous Coward 7 months ago

((((@MikeyB 4 hours ago
Maybe if we stopped making excuses for ourselves and started competing we wouldn't need our own race so we don't have to suffer the humiliation of getting whooped by the rest of the world on our own turf. ))))

That's all and good and I agree. However, every year, too much emphasis is always put on the TEAM championshop rather than the INDIVIDUAL championship. It's almost as if you say that you want to win the individual championship, that it makes you the bad guy/girl. Every year, top runners are always held back instead of competing with the front runners. 2008 was the last year where the top runners went head to head. Since than it's been Sam and Lawi and than the rest. I'm sure Pre was happy when his Oregon XC team won. However, I'm sure he also wanted to compete against the very best. And the very best always runs up front. Here's hoping for an exciting Championship XC race up front next month. Not holding my breath, though.

@MikeyB 7 months ago

Maybe if we stopped making excuses for ourselves and started competing we wouldn't need our own race so we don't have to suffer the humiliation of getting whooped by the rest of the world on our own turf.

@Born in the USA 7 months ago

they used to have where the top 25 finishers and the top 25 Americans were All American, now it's the top 40.

MikeyB 7 months ago

I wish Amercan College kids had their own championship. Something separate, something we can call our (U.S.) own. What is wrong with that?

MikeyB 7 months ago

I wish American College kids had their own championship. Something separate from all the foreignors.

Tom Gayle 7 months ago

I would argue that the 3 years a British Graduate spends in the UK higher education system the experience and level of competition they are exposed to is not greater than the standard of competition provided by US in High School, if not slightly inferior. The only real difference is age, British graduates have a higher physical and training age which is an advantage, but is that any different to an american who starts school at 21/22?

Former NCAA Brit 7 months ago

I'm never quite sure where the professional angle comes from with Brits as the system is far from professional in the UK. The clubs are run by volunteers at every level, you pay for membership and they make very little money that will cover running costs...most clubs require you to pay every time you go to the track to train. As for the age argument I think you will find most British athletes are 21 and 22 at the oldest when they start grad programs. There are obviously exceptions but exceptions to the norm happen in all walks of life.

Anonymous Coward 7 months ago

Mick Byrne recruited Tim Bayley to Iona who continued to compete at Iona until he was 26. Byrne is a hypocrite.

Born in the USA.... 7 months ago

The NCAA should change the ALL-AMERICAN status to something else.

The abuse 7 months ago

the abuse was still there 10-15 years ago just on a different level. They all ran at junior colleges. People may say who cares because it's just junior college but it was still unfair because the national junior college records in the 1500 in 3:39 and the steeple is 8:29 and the 5K is 13:25 all by foriegners all set in the 80s and 90s. Setting national records in a nation that they're not from. Then they started to move to NAIA and D1-4.

Heps 7 months ago

Brian Leung is a victim of the Ivy league rules that don't allow eligibility beyond 4 years. That's why Brian is at Wisconsin, Kyle Merber and Trevor Van Ackeren are at Texas, Alexi Pappas at Oregon etc...

Also I believe, Byrne's tune has changed because the system wasn't abused to the extent it is today by British athletes. Guys were not 25-26 years old competing in the NCAAs 10-15 years ago.

Anonymous Coward 7 months ago

I remember in the 70's when, a than, Henry Rono entered WSU as an incoming freshman at 24 years of age. I also remember UTEP's Suleiman Nyambui graduated when he was 29.

The only issue that I have, if you can call it that, is that the NCAA still refers to the top 40 as having ALL AMERICAN STATUS when there are clearly non-American runners that normally finish in the top 40.
That's like sending our American swimmers to AFRICA and getting, so called, ALL AFRICAN STATUS. Just doesn't sound right.

kenyan business! 7 months ago

"when we got into the kenyan business" hahaha kinda funny

rovertrunner 7 months ago

E.g. Mitch Goose from Iona. He's a grad student and in his third season at Iona.

Dumb Brit 7 months ago

The difference is that Leung has a season of track eligibility left. Not four brand new years of eligibility in both (three) seasons. He mentioned the "loopholes". A lot of these guys have been in professional circuits through clubs and what not and then come here when they are 22-23 years old and stay until they are 26-27. That seems drastic when these 'kids' have 6-8+ years of high caliber racing under their belts compared to the raw 18 year old kids coming in from high school.

Brit 7 months ago

How is Brian Leung transferring from Princeton more 'fair' than a Brit transferring to a US university after 3 years in the Uk? Besides I'm sure Byrne used to recruit British grad students at Iona ( e.g. Peter Riley) so he's changed his tune a bit!

Random Guy 7 months ago

I love how he has Mo Ahmed's London bib framed up

wetmore v. byrne 7 months ago

Haha watch the two interviews about foreigners back to back...amazing how their views differ