I can't wait to see how it somehow gets ruined or thrown off track.

>But I
>think he's got a chance to be a special miler/2-miler in
>track, like in the 4:15/9:20 range if he actually commits to
>the distance events.

I don't think it'd be overstepping your role to inform him this in conjunction with the possibility that he might be D1 scholarship good. If he's a blood-in-the-water kid in races, and he's interested in getting to college/alleviating family financial burden, he probably needs to hear this from *someone.* I know firsthand from working with a lot of kids with D1 potential in California that the degree to which the schools will relax strict academic standards for an athlete they want is *astonishing.* Astonishing enough that, if he has collegiate aspirations, hearing he could potentially do D1 might be enough for him to see the big picture and motivate him to pound through the hardness, the whiteness, the boredom, etc.

Worst-case scenario, he hears that he has D1 potential and decides, "Nah, still not my thing." In which case, cool, you've done your part and subsequently respected his wishes. Best-case scenario, it opens his eyes to some real future possibilities that maybe he simply didn't understand upon first consideration. "Big picture" stuff *is* notoriously difficult for high school kids to picture (IIRC, there's a study that says people under 18 literally can't grasp the concept of time in terms of longevity, their brains simply aren't wired yet to do so).

>I've learned over the last year that one of the worst mistakes
>a coach can make is wanting it more than the kids. So, I'm not
>going to push too hard. And I'm also really uncomfortable
>making arguments based on future promises like "if you run the
>mile, DI schools will start throwing money at you." Distance
>running is hard and boring succeeding at that level will take
>way more than just saying "yes, I'd like to do this."

You downplayed your coaching ability below, but this tells me you're a hell of a coach, because you're absolutely right re: the coach wanting it more than the kid. Referencing once again my D1 kids, I have kids who are all about their sport, and I have kids just riding it out for the money-- and the latter group is *fucking miserable.* I've had swimmers and water polo players all tell me, "... yeah, if it were up to me, I wouldn't play anymore." Because swimming is really hard and boring and generally fucking sucks.

Just this morning, I had a student who's a brilliant classical pianist-- he's played Carnegie Hall, other impressive venues, etc. His GPA isn't great, but his dad is pushing him to go to all of these top-tier schools with big music programs, because they'll overlook his below-average-for-the-school GPA to get him into the music schools... but he told me in private that he's not sure he wants to study music in college. He likes playing, but he just isn't into working on it *like that.* He just happens to be naturally brilliant. And he doesn't really know how to tell his dad, because that would knock down his tier of university considerably, and the dad is crazily invested in getting the kid's music noticed. Just a shitty, shitty situation.

I think you can find a way to level with him and give him an honest appraisal of his potential without pushing the issue. If he knows fully what good judges of talent know he's capable of, and he *still* chooses to want to do something else... then as you said, it'd be doing the kid wrong to hold a gun to his head and say "I KNOW BEST." Even if you do know best.

I've made this mistake before btw. I got a kid with an absolute shit GPA into a prestigious acting conservatory. Full ride scholarship. Worked my balls off. Delivered all paperwork, wrote all recs, talked endlessly to people at the school. Got him in. 1.4 GPA in HS, then in a prestigious conservatory. I was so goddamn proud. Then, the kid dropped out five months in. Didn't want to be a professional actor anymore. Just "wasn't feeling it." I took it INSANELY PERSONALLY (privately, of course), but then I realized, as you alluded to, I'd cast myself in the role of "student savior" when ultimately his choices are his own to make. Personal investment can never trump letting a kid make his own choices, even if the kid ultimately makes mistakes. I think as long as you've done your part in fully informing him where his maximum potential lies (and the above advice of having another outside influence who's traveled the same path as him to add credibility to your argument is strong, imo), that's what you can do. That's what a good coach does. The bad coach is the one who screams and stomps his feet when the kid isn't interested.

tl;dr: you're doing the right thing, support the decision he makes once you feel he's been sufficiently informed by you and others