Cory Leslie on Leaving Pro Coaching for Ole Miss: SEC Roster Limits, Why He Won't Buy Hired Guns From the Portal, and What He Tells Recruits Who Don't Have Olympic Dreams

<p>He built a world-class pro group in Baltimore. Then he left it for a college roster of 30. </p><p><br></p><p>Five years after his first appearance on the show, Cory Leslie returns as Ole Miss&#39;s new associate head cross country and assistant track &amp; field coach, fresh off nearly five years building Under Armour&#39;s Mission Run Baltimore into a group that produced Olympians and World XC medalists from a city nobody expected it from.</p><p><br></p><p>He walks Dominic through how fast it all happened: a casual conversation with Connie Price-Smith at USATFs in New York, a formal interview an hour before his Uber to the airport for the Commonwealth Games, and an offer thirty minutes later. Then a scramble to Oxford weeks before the season opener.</p><p><br></p><p>The conversation gets into why he&#39;s moving <em>toward</em> college athletics while other coaches are heading for the exit—the impact he thinks he can have on thirty athletes instead of a handful, and his conviction that plenty of American talent will fall through the cracks under roster limits. He&#39;s blunt about what that means in recruiting: if you don&#39;t have Olympic dreams, the SEC probably isn&#39;t for you.</p><p><br></p><p>Also covered: what he&#39;s telling a team that&#39;s had three coaches in one summer; why he&#39;s sending them to Memphis on tired legs; the SEC as the best non-Diamond-League track in America; soft-surface trails a half mile from the locker room; what he&#39;s leaving behind in Baltimore; and—because it&#39;s late August—Ohio State loyalties, Julian Sayin&#39;s Heisman case, and a Buckeyes-Rebels title game prediction.</p><p><br></p><p>Tap into the Cory Leslie Special. </p><p><br></p><p>If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.</p><p><br></p><p>S H O W  N O T E S   </p><p><br></p><p>-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): <a href="https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs</a></p><p><br></p><p>-Our Website: <a href="https://therunningeffect.run/" target="_blank">https://therunningeffect.run</a></p><p><br></p><p>-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: </p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ</a></p><p><br></p><p>-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠<a href="https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0%E2%81%A0" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p><br></p><p>-Take our podcast survey: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz</a></p><p><br></p><p>Behind the scenes of The Running Effect: <a href="https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZ" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZ</a></p><p><br></p><p>LuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop</p><p><br></p><p>$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Instagram:</strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/cory_leslie/?hl=en" target="_blank"> @cory_leslie</a> </p><p><br></p><p><strong>X (Twitter):</strong><a href="https://x.com/cory_leslie?lang=en" target="_blank"> @cory_leslie</a></p>