(First in a series about UIW and NCAA Division I)
“Recruiting is just out-recruiting the other recruiters.”
So said University of the Incarnate Word tennis Coach John Newman during a discussion about finding athletes as the Cardinals transition to Division I beginning June l, 2013. “You have to stay on the player or he or she will go to another school.”
That, above all else, hasn't changed for UIW coaches.
For the past 14 years UIW has competed at the NCAA Division II level. Now, the Cardinals with their 21 different teams in 14 sports will take the step up. Incarnate Word nearly a year ago accepted an invitation to become a member of the Division I Southland Conference beginning July 1, 2013. To partner with that on June 1, 2013, UIW will formally submit paperwork to the NCAA for the move to Division I which will be a four-year transitional process.
In the meantime UIW coaches have been out seeking student-athletes as always. For the better part of the past year however they have been able to tell prospective Cardinals that Division I is real. It's no longer just talk, it's happening.
“What we have found,” UIW football Recruiting Coordinator Kyle Kennan said, “is that we can now say we are Division I and athletes are more receptive to what we have to say. Division I has opened a lot of new doors. While we are a relatively new program (football first played in 2009), players know about UIW football. They may not be entirely sure about us but the fact that we are Division I adds credibility.”
Women's basketball Coach Kate Henderson concurred.
“Everyone has a dream of playing at the highest level. Now that we are Division I, that IS the highest level. All players want to play at the highest level from a competitive standpoint.”
And now that UIW recruiters can include Division I in their materials, who are they seeing out there on the road? Who do they have to “out-recruit”?
“We have always wanted to recruit at a level above where we play,” Henderson said. “Before, the standard was the Southland. We are still seeing representatives from Southland schools but we are also now seeing recruiters from Conference USA schools and some from the Sunbelt Conference.”
Kennan basically agreed. “We go into schools looking for the stars; types who will play in the Southland Conference. And now we are seeing more of Louisiana-Lafayette, Utah State, Florida International to name a few, along with the obvious big programs in Texas.”
Those types of competing schools also indicate that Incarnate Word's geographical scope of recruiting is changing.
“We have started to recruit out-of-state,” Kennan said. “We are recruiting in California for the first time. There are some 75 junior colleges out there which play football. A lot of their players were qualifiers (for athletic aid) out of high school but chose to go this route for added visibility. They have players from all over the nation and a lot of them are a fit academically with UIW.”
Kennan added “we are having increased contact with players from all over the country through e-mails. That volume probably has tripled. It could be a full-time job just keeping up with the e-mails on a daily basis.”
Expanded geographical areas are a yes and no situation for Newman and Cardinals tennis.
“We will go beyond our previous borders,” Newman said, “and look for international players. But we will always have players coming out of our UIW juniors programs. We don't need great numbers of players in tennis but we will need them every year now and we can't make mistakes.
“We are pretty much in the same boat as before,” Newman continued. “Before we had to be selective to be at or near the top of the region in Division II with a chance to make the national tournaments. Now, we have to be selective just to be competitive in Division I.”
There are two rather large advantages for Cardinals recruiters. One is UIW itself. The other is the city of San Antonio.
“A positive side of our recruiting,” Henderson said, “is the academic atmosphere of UIW as the university continues to expand. UIW's five-year programs are a huge plus for us. This is where a student-athlete can come here for five years and leave with both bachelor's and master's degrees in certain fields.”
Plus, Incarnate Word sits in the heart of the nation's seventh largest city. “The city of San Antonio plays a big role in recruiting,” Henderson said. “This is a large market for internships where students meet corporate people and then secure jobs after graduation.”
“San Antonio is a definite draw,” Newman added, “because we are not stuck in the middle of nowhere. This market seems to bend over backwards for UIW graduates.”
With all that said, the truth is Incarnate Word recruiters are out there looking for athletes who are, as Kennan says, “bigger, stronger and faster”. And the fact remains that recruiting is, well, “just out-recruiting…”.
