Anyone have any insight on this?
7/10 players in the current senior class quit and 3/5 the year before. If you think the “Big 4” are the only teams that treat players poorly, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you …
Do you think players are quitting strictly because of the coach?
My thought is that by the time the kids reach their 3rd or 4th year of college polo, they know where they stand on the team. If they aren’t getting much playing time and are slaves to the sport year round, maybe they are just deciding that polo isn’t for them any longer and they want to enjoy their last year of college without the grind of polo?
Related, but is there a sport that demands more from their players?
I’m not sure it’s fair to attribute all of the attrition to poor treatment by the coach. There are many reasons kids leave the sport.
Definitely. I would propose that rowing extracts the most amount of time from collegiate athletes, with year round competition and training, double day trainings over winter and spring breaks, 2x daily practices all year long…at least at the top tier competitive programs. “The Grind” is certainly not for everybody.
curious to see playing time of players who left
if 10 upper class men are not receiving ample time or contributing to the team, I point the finger at development and player selection, forecasting roster size and ability is the programs responsibility and perhaps some should have never been on the team
Also, Brown has historically done a good job bringing in top talent from the California but that also comes with expectations from the athletes. If someone comes from a high performing high school with lots of accolades and then goes to Brown, the reality might be different then what the player is used too
This is for sure odd on timing right in the middle of the season and frankly right after their biggest win of the season over Princeton this weekend.
Players quit all the time at so many schools, that really can’t be the whole reason. Addison had been at Brown for a long time so it is also odd he got no leash to work with (the season basically has 3 weeks left). Makes me think there is something specific that took place here.
I dont want to be a bummer, but did anyone hear more reliable information about what happened at Brown? And are there obvious candidates for the future? Seems like a rocky period for that program.
JJ resigned and Felix Mercado, the Men’s Head Coach, has stepped in for the rest of the season. Mercado used to run both programs but they split the programs this past season. They’ll be fine, if Brown does a National search like they say they are, the applicant pool should be high quality.
A similar situation happened at UOP where Graham stepped down from the Women’s program but stayed with the men. The new coach only lasted a year. I wonder what the power dynamics are like where the old coach is still hanging around. Seems like it would make it hard for anyone to step in without feeling like someone is watching over them at all times.