The University of West Florida's sports teams have proven that even Division II schools can recruit top players.
Division I schools like Florida State University have scouts, and, in some sports, over 10 coaches recruiting for specific positions. At UWF, there are usually only one or two coaches to search the United States and the rest of the world for the best and brightest athletes.
Convincing student athletes to attend a relatively small school, especially American student athletes, can be a hard sell, said tennis coach Derrick Racine.
"American kids tend to want to go to big name schools like Florida or FSU," Racine said. "For the most part, it is harder to draw American kids than international kids at the same level."
With a small recruiting budget, coaches have had to develop their own brand of successful recruiting at an international and home level.
Racine, the head of both the men's and women's tennis team, has built his team around international student athletes. He says that since he has a relatively small recruiting budget, he relies on his current players to suggest other students that they knew from home.
It was a system that had already been in place when Racine took over 11 years ago, and looking at the tennis track record, it is a system that has proven valuable. "It has been our most successful and popular method," Racine said.
Pilar Cortes, now a second year graduate student, came to UWF to play for Racine after a friend convinced her that this was the place to be. Cortes was looking for a good scholarship and a place where she could get a quality education.
"The big misconception is that all students want to go to a big Division I school," Cortes said. "My friend convinced me that it is better to go to a top Division II school instead of a regular Division I school. Plus, there is a great marine biology program here."
Racine said that letting current players recruit other players from their homes has several advantages.
Sometimes it takes a big push for students to agree to travel thousands of miles to go to school, and there is a lot of comfort knowing that there are already people at UWF they know and trust. It is also a comfort to parents.
"I am kind of a parent away from home," Racine said, explaining that it is a big help for families to have a personal reference on his coaching style and personality.
Education is a big part of the pull for international students. In most other countries, there aren't many opportunities to get an education while participating in sports. American universities give international students that dual opportunity.
While the tennis program has a style that works for them, men's soccer coach Bill Ellis has a more traditional recruiting style.
"About once every two years I take a trip abroad," Ellis said.
Similar to other coaches and recruiters, Ellis watches videos, hunts down the year's best players and relies, to some extent, on student interest.
"A lot of internationals contact us via internet or e-mail," Ellis said.
One such student, Christian Cabral, contacted Ellis via the recruiting Web site that UWF has set up. Ellis watched his video and realized that he had seen him play on his last trip to Trinidad. Ellis and Cabral eventually worked out a mutual agreement.
Like most schools, the UWF coaches go out and recruit the kind of players that they want in their program. Coaches have their own styles and their own criteria.
As UWF teams rise to the top, more and more students will be contacting coaches on their own, hoping to bring their talent to the Argonaut campus.
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