Two weeks after their season ended, Allen County head cross country coach Vince DeGrado and assistant coach Ryan Pulsifer sat in their office and discussed plans for recruits who were coming on a visit to campus.
As soon as one year ends, there’s not a lot of time until planning and preparation for the next one begins, especially with the uncertainty of junior college athletics.
“It causes me a lot of anxiety but I just convince myself that every year we’re going to suck in cross country because no one is coming back,” DeGrado said. “That’s the only thing that’s kept me humble enough to not get satisfied.”
A bad taste still lingers in DeGrado’s mouth from two weeks ago. While most programs would celebrate a fifth-place finish by their men’s and women’s teams at a national meet, DeGrado is still very much stuck in a what-could-have-been state of mind.
“I know at the beginning of the year, the goal is to get to the podium,” DeGrado said. “Top Three. But overall, it’s sad to say that you’re disappointed with the men’s top five finish but that’s where this program has gone on the men’s side. I’m proud of them but I do think we really let one get away from us.”
If you look around the office that mentality shows.
Photos of previous league and region championship teams along with teams who made that top three finish in the past fill a wall while photos of former All-American runners line the top of the wall and round two corners like a border. Trophies and plaques from various regular season meet championships cover nearly every surface except for the desks of the two coaches.
This year had the opportunity to be special, especially for the men who returned a lot from last year’s team but a slow start kept the squad from joining the previous high-level squads since DeGrado took over the program back in 2011.
“We’re a smaller college,” DeGrado said. “We have a lot more hurdles to get over. We’re not one of those schools who dumps a lot of money or is able to go after internationals. We do things the right way. And that’s the hard part to get over. You do everything the right way and you don’t get rewarded for it. And I don’t expect to get rewarded for it but you’re like how many more years can we keep doing this. We’ve won three straight region titles, we’ve earned the right to be top three but in the end that doesn’t really matter.”
The competition in the junior college cross country world is stiff, especially for a school like Allen County. Other programs benefit from being able to recruit internationally and find older, more developed runners that still have all of their eligibility. Whether those older runners are from the states or overseas, DeGrado has trouble making peace with schools that he feels go against the spirit of the sport by targeting that type of talent.
“The international thing doesn’t bother me,” DeGrado said. “The fact that these programs have to go out and get 23, 24, 25 or 26-year old men and women to run against 18, 19 and 20-year-olds. That’s what bothers me the most. It isn’t a level playing field. There’s the old saying, “If you can’t beat them, join them”, but I won’t do that, I’ll never do that. If a 25-year-old walked into my office and wanted to run with us then I’m not sure what I’d do, but I won’t seek it out. I won’t recruit that.”
For DeGrado, it’s pretty simple. By allowing everyone the opportunity to compete at the junior college level, kids coming out of high school have their opportunities to succeed and win taken away by those six or seven years older.
In the national meet two weeks ago, the individual national champion was Eric Fitzpatrick — a 25-year-old freshman running for Southern Idaho CC.
“I wish we had administration on the NJCAA level with a backbone,” DeGrado said. “I wish they would do what’s right for the kids. Do right by everyone. Junior college is supposed to be a stepping stone or a second chance to make a first impression, not a national title machine. I’d like to see a Division II for schools like us who are kind of in the middle. The way we scholarship and run things here, we do a Division II style but we go up against schools that have a Division I budget. I’d also like to see an eligibility limit. Kids would have four years after getting out of high school. Twenty-two-years old feels like a good max. It gives them an opportunity if some life things happen to recover and get back on track.”
Until those changes occur, DeGrado will keep fighting for the soul of junior college cross country. He’s come close before and he believes that someday he’ll have a team that’ll win a title and shows the country that you can still succeed doing things the right way.
“As long as the school and the community keep supporting the program we’ll load up and go again,” DeGrado said. “I’m stubborn enough to keep making a run at it. A lot of the coaches tell me that when they go out and recruit, we’re known as a program. They’ve heard about our running program and when kids are looking at a two-year school we’re on their list.”
DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY: ACC cross country head coach Vince DeGrado is ready to fight for change in junior college cross country
