Unlike Rudy Ruettiger at Notre Dame or the “12th man” kickoff team at Texas A&M, walk-on athletes typically toil in anonymity, rarely getting playing time.
But for the LSU cross country team, walk-ons are the rule rather than the exception.
While most non-revenue sports have fewer scholarships than roster spots, cross country and track and field share a scholarship limit, further complicating the picture.
The two sports are only allotted 12.6 scholarships for men and 18 for women, often forcing schools to specialize in one or the other to be competitive.
Texas A&M track and field coach Pat Henry won 27 NCAA championships at LSU before leading Texas A&M to men’s and women’s outdoor track sweeps in 2009 and 2010. Henry said being good at track and field, where the majority of events are sprints, jumps or throws, often comes at the expense of distance runners.
“Most [programs] find a way of rationalizing,” Henry said. “It’s extremely difficult to spread 12 scholarships out over 20-plus [track and field] events. Anybody can divide 12 into 20 and know that’s not fair or that doesn’t seem quite right. I do think that, for most, it makes them specialize.”
The LSU track and field program, which rose to prominence under Henry, is no exception. LSU has stuck with what they do best, rather than dividing scholarships between the two sports.
“We’re pretty successful with what we do in track, so you kind of stick with your niche,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “As it relates to cross country, you try to build your program every year and try to entice the best runner you can for what you’re paying them, which is nothing.”
Scholarships give schools a chance to recruit elite foreign athletes. Southeastern Conference powerhouse Alabama has six Kenyan distance runners. On the other hand, nearly every LSU cross country runner is from Louisiana.
“We’re all Louisiana kids,” said track and field junior Cullen Doody. “It’s not like LSU’s tennis team or swimming team where half the kids are from Ireland or Germany or something.”
The results aren’t always pretty — both LSU teams finished 11th in the 2009 SEC Championship — but runners understand it’s the price LSU pays for track and field success.
“You have to pick what you want to be good at — track or cross country,” Doody said. “LSU’s a track-oriented school and it does get frustrating sometimes, but we know that going into it.”
Ultimately, Elliott said he doesn’t focus on the disadvantages.
“The obvious difficulty is that you don’t have the talent level you’d like to have if you’re trying to win this conference,” he said. “But, you make do with what you have. It’s not an excuse.”
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Contact Ryan Ginn at [email protected]