Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / BONUS: Marques Lowe at 2024 USTFCCCA LIVE interview!

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BONUS: Marques Lowe at 2024 USTFCCCA LIVE interview! · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Bonus time every year at the USTFCCCA convention down in
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  December, we do a live podcast event where we sit down with
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  coaches from around the country for 5:00-ish minutes and talk
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  about a certain topic. This year, December of 2024, we
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  sat down with coaches to talk about the NCAA.
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  What's going on with the NIL transfer portal?
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  Roster caps all. Those kind of good things, and
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  there's some interesting. Feedback and tidbits.
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  From everyone who chose to sat down with us.
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  So here we are, the audio version of that You can catch
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  the video version over on. YouTube.
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  Just search up the GAL Athletics podcast and look for our live
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  events content and you'll find the three that we've done
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  20/24/2023 2020 2 and we'll do it again in 2025.
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  You better hop in before he always leaves me before it's
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  done. Are you really?
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  Which one are you going to? I've been literally busy boss.
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  Every good relay has to have an anchor.
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  It just you can have three great legs and you put me on the
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  anchor and you just wasted those three people.
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  So I'm really proud, really happy to have the best anchor
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  leg I could have had. Every year we've done this,
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  we've always had kind of, we've had Blake Bolden start us off
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  every year and I'm proud of that and love him.
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  And we've always had a great last person.
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  And that's going to hold true today, this year, here in 2024.
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  Start by and you got to make sure the microphone's close to
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  you here. Start by introducing yourself
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  please. My name is Marquis Lowe,
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  director of track and field for Kankakee School District and a
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  Viper Strike Club from Illinois. So you.
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  Guys say the state, you know, everybody's listening.
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  They're like, where's Kankakee? I've never heard of that.
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  Thanks for joining us. Appreciate that.
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  And by the way, Gilt podcast alum.
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  So please go check out his story, his journey.
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  Really it's, it's so much fun. And we really, it was
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  interesting with you, you know, we getting these different
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  topics with each guest to talk about a director of track and
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  field on the high school side and how that reflects middle
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  school and high school. And really it's fascinating.
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  Actually, I, I'm really appreciate you you doing that.
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  So as a high school coach, help us understand what are you
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  thinking about all this NCAA change and how the that might
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  reflect into the high school kids?
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  You've got a lot of kids that go on to college on all levels.
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  What are you thinking, thoughts, feelings, actions on all this
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  change here? You know what change is always
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  good depending on which area we're we're working towards.
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  So for the new changes that are coming for the NCAA, may be good
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  for some of the Power 5 schools, but I think that at the lower
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  levels, they're going to struggle just a little bit only
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  because, you know, the roster limits are going to cut a lot of
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  things. And most of the programs are not
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  telling track and field coaches exactly what they have going on.
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  And some cultures do know what they have going on.
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  So it's going to be interesting to see what all happens at the
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  end. What about so you, you, you
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  routinely have multiple kids that are college eligible as far
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  as you know, the athleticism and academics and things like that.
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  What are you, how are you maybe preparing your athletes or
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  juniors, sophomores, freshmen and maybe seniors this year?
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  I guess how are you? Well, actually let's let's pause
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  that. Let's start with today's
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  seniors. You have kids that are being
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  recruited now, yes. What have you seen anything
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  change right now 2024? These kids that are graduating
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  in 2025, what have you seen change for them so?
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  Much this year, I think a lot of the changes are going to happen
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  next year. So a lot of my seniors are
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  signed and going where they need to go.
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  OK. I think this junior class coming
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  up is when the changes are going to come in.
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  Yeah, fair enough. So what are you doing If, if
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  anything, at this point, you know a fair answer would be
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  nothing because we don't know. But what are you maybe doing or
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  talking or preparing them differently and their parents
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  right for the the journey of being recruited as you as best
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  as you can see. My, my message to all of them is
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  just keep all your options open because you know, and it's been.
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  A theme of yours before you're not one of these.
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  I don't know this guy actually. I just maybe have not met this
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  person that says no when all my kids go do you want or it
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  doesn't matter? I don't really see that.
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  I'm sorry but you've certainly been the guy.
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  It's like hey man, you want to go D2D3 what's best for you?
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  Your ego is not wrapped into what school they signed.
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  Yeah, because I think it's important for them to understand
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  that you could be successful at any level.
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  I think, you know, when we get into our Division One in our
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  Power 5 schools, a lot of kids that those are the dream schools
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  that a lot of kids really have to have the Marks and then have
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  some great academic standards. But you know, at those Power 5
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  schools, you need both and you're not going to be able to
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  survive. So you it's, it's OK to look at
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  those division two, Division Three NAIA Juke codes.
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  And then when you do get those marks, if you want to transfer
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  out until the get into the transfer report, I think that's
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  important as well. Just knowing that there is a a
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  different route for, you know, different athletes and and
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  different calibers, because sometimes you have late bloomers
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  that really get into like they don't grow into two years and
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  then they were. Talking about 18 year old kids
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  by the. Way, you know, when they get to
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  college, they don't understand. It's more so like a job.
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  You, you know, you got to study hall, you got to go to practice
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  and nobody's going to make you do anything.
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  So the will, the want, it's, it's all about their will.
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  And so we're just preparing our athletes right now like, hey,
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  the standards are changing. So please make sure that you're
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  prepared for every level, no matter what.
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  Do you foresee or are you seeing today any drop in participation
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  rates amongst your middle school and high school athletes?
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  No, our middle school averages about 90 kids per year.
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  Since I've been there for seven years, our high school teeters
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  up and down a little bit, but we've had great success on the
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  men, well on the girls and the boys side track and field.
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  So and our numbers are actually fairly high for this time around
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  December. We are around 60 total athletes
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  that have been coming to conditioning and that's really,
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  really big for our high school. So I'm looking forward to when
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  some of the other sports get out because we got basketball going
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  on our our football team, they just went to the I think I want
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  to say the second third round. So we are getting those athletes
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  coming in right now and you know, our team is gonna be
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  fairly big this year. So not on our side.
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  I think we're gonna be bigger than we've been in the last
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  couple of years for. Sure, so let's put you in.
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  I'll put you on the spot here. We're close enough.
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  I feel like I can do that right. You can always just drive down
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  and yell at me next week if you really want to right.
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  You've got a kid who good athlete, but they're they're
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  just not, you know, let's say Division One caliber.
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  They could be, they might be right.
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  Maybe they have a young training age or whatever, but they grew
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  up in Kankakee. They grew up a huge fighting
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  Illini, right. It's just down the road.
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  And certainly with the coaches we've had in the past and the
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  coaching staff that we have now, they're, you know, that's a
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  that's a destination place to go and compete at.
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  You had many people. You're you're an alum of of the
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  fighting Illini. So it's my wife.
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  So I always got to plug a fighting Illini in Troy
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  University. That's a constant battle.
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  But the kids just not, you know, why aren't they calling me coach
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  or hey, I got a letter from them, but you know, they're not
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  calling me. What, how, how do you have that
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  conversation with a parent of maybe alternatives or I guess
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  alternatives or how do you, how would you counsel this mythical
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  athlete? We always make sure that they
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  have a plan in place no matter what.
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  First we look at the academics, then, because Illinois academics
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  is really. Really.
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  Right. Yeah.
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  It's surprising that you are an alumni.
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  I'm really kind of shocked. It's like it's really intense.
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  So just making sure that they're there and then look, say.
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  They have the. Academic scores and test scores.
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  I mean like now is the time. Coach I want to go to I've been
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  working, I've seen all these. My teammate last year signed
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  with Illinois and. Now you got to, now you got to
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  look at the coaching philosophies, you know, the
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  chemistry, the team chemistry. Do you fit in?
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  Will you be able to go in and have an immediate impact or
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  would it be better for you to take an alternate route?
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  And if that is, that's OK, Like maybe that's not the first path.
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  Maybe there's an alternative path for you to get to Illinois
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  and. So when you say that, are you
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  traditionally we would say it out loud like, oh, maybe junior
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  college or something like that, but you might, you know, not
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  call it non traditionally, but maybe today's tradition you you
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  might be talking about going somewhere and transferring.
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  Yeah, to Illinois. I.
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  Mean the transfer, Porter. You look at it at the basketball
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  level and the football level, way now, track and field level
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  it's been. Do high school coaches generally
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  more positive or negative towards the transfer portal?
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  It's generally negative on the college side, I think.
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  It's neutral on the high school side only because it's fairly
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  new with track and field athletes.
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  You see it so much in football and basketball, but like track
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  and field, it's just very, very neutral.
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  But I think now it's going to start to become a bit of a
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  problem because you see athletes are being recruited right from
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  the school and. So what was the football guy who
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  put his name in on Monday and already had?
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  It was like, he's a stud now and already had like a science
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  scholarship in the United by Monday night or Tuesday morning.
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  It was like, really, there's no early recruiting there?
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  That seems a little fishy. And it's crazy.
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  So we just want to prepare our kids for all of that stuff.
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  Yeah, you just we're we're we're coming into a new day and age
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  with a name like that's an image.
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  So it's going to be interesting in the next couple of years for
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  NCAA and track and field. All right.
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  You get the last prediction of the night.
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  So we're going to be able to listen to this.
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  We're going to publish this next December going into the
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  convention for next year. So what's a prediction that you
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  think is going to happen in track and field in 2025?
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  It could be Kankakee related. It could be like, oh, we're
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  going to have this many people in the roster, or we're going to
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  set the 4x4 school record, or it could be elite level you.
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  Any prediction? I just want to be able to call
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  you out and tell you you're right or wrong.
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  December of 2025. OK, So this 2025 next year, so I
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  will say due to an injury last year, Kankakee didn't finish,
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  was not able to defend their title.
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  I will say Kankakee will be in your top 10 on the women's side
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  this year for IHSA. And I will say that Illinois is
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  going to shot some people in the Big 10 and also in the nationals
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  this year. Never doubt Petros.
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  Ever. I am a believer.
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  Ever. I'm a believer.
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  Ever. Coach Petros and Coach Small got
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  some good things going right. Now agreed.
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  Thank you so much for being here.
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  Thanks for anchoring us tonight, man.
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  I get to go eat dinner now. Yes Sir.
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  Thank you so much man. Appreciate you guys, gals.
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  Thank you so much for being here live on YouTube, live on
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  Twitter. If you're listening to this at
• 10:47
  some point, you're probably listening to in 2025 because
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  we'll have this on the podcast audio version as well as
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  rebroadcasting in December of 2025.
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  I'm just so thankful, so humbled that our guest would be with us
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  to sit down in the hot seat and talk about this.
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  If you enjoyed this, please go to our YouTube channel and like
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  it that way. I know that people are paying
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  attention and I know to do more of these.
• 11:07
  And of course, follow me along on Twitter at Mike Cunningham.
• 11:11
  I might have. Here's a little tip if you're
• 11:13
  still listening, might have something else going on live on
• 11:15
  Twitter tonight. Check it out.
• 11:17
  See you guys. What's up,
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  brother?