What's the overall best school to vault at?

[littlebigboy]

University of South Dakota has a great pole vault coach in Lucky Huber. He developed olympian Derek Miles and last yrs. D-II champion Sam Pribyl.

[BethelPV]

Pribyl is a good jumper too... I saw him jump at the Grand Haven Beach Vault, and even though he didn't have a great day, he looked real explosive...

[invert07]

Next year they're getting a 16'6" and 17' freshman. UWvaulter who are they getting next year thats vaulted 16'6" or 17'? as a freshman? all the guys who jump 16'6" or higher have already committed to a college

[VFG]

I'm pretty sure they are talking about the freshman they have right now.

[pistolpete]

I think it is important to pick a school that has a full-time pole vault coach, not just a volunteer, or someone that does other events. Those are the cases at Oregon.

[carryabigstick]

I think it is important to pick a school that has a full-time pole vault coach, not just a volunteer, or someone that does other events. Those are the cases at Oregon.

Oregon is a great place, but how can you make those general and sweeping recommendations against other schools. Did you have a bad experience or something? Some of the greatest and most long established programs and coaches have done other events and/or been volunteers. Volunteers possible because they just have a true love of the sport or because they work with a lot of other athletes/professionals. Some coach other events and can cross train their vaulters well in running techniques and jumping techs.

I guess I see both sides of it.

I think

[rainbowgirl28]

I think it is important to pick a school that has a full-time pole vault coach, not just a volunteer, or someone that does other events. Those are the cases at Oregon.

Jenni and Dan are doing a great job at Oregon. They have been up here for all our meets and their vaulters get a lot of attention. The athletes I have talked to seem really happy.

[rainbowgirl28]

I think it is important to pick a school that has a full-time pole vault coach, not just a volunteer, or someone that does other events. Those are the cases at Oregon.

There are almost zero schools with full-time pole vault only coaches. The NCAA has a lot of restrictions on how many paid coaches and how many volunteers you can have. They actually have a special allowance for an extra volunteer if they are pole vault only.

At the majority of schools you will have either a full-time coach who has other responsibilities, or a volunteer.

[pistolpete]

My thinking was that if you have a volunteer, they may not stick around. If the coach has other responsibilities, the athletes will have to do a certain amount of coaching each other. If the athletes there are happy and improving, you can't argue with that.

[hallvaulter]

Next year they're getting a 16'6" and 17' freshman. UWvaulter who are they getting next year thats vaulted 16'6" or 17'? as a freshman? all the guys who jump 16'6" or higher have already committed to a college

I believe that he was talking about Mike Beese (UNI FR) and Phil Hanson (UNI FR) they signed there last year. Both from Illinois I might add.

[UWvaulter]

That's right Mike Beese (UNI FR) and Phil Hanson (UNI FR) are the 16'6" and 17' freshman. They are studs. Not only are Mike and Phil from IL, but Jacob Pauli and me (Darren Niedermeyer) are also born and raised in the great state of IL. How did that happen?

[Cathy]

We are going to travel to some large college invitational meets. We will closely be watching the athlete/coach relationship. Any coach who does not respect the athlete will be crossed of the list. I have also heard there are many pole vault coaches that were not pole vaulters themselves. "Some" of them throw big poles at athletes that they should not. We will avoid this group.