With renewed hope for sports teams as a result of the approved fee referendum, SF State athletics coaches are recruiting new top players to increase their teams’ stability and success and to ensure a stronger program in the future.

The school’s fall sports teams have mostly completed their recruiting, while a few recruited athletes are still deciding for which school they will sign a letter of intent, which signifies an athlete’s commitment to play for a designated university.

The spring sports teams are still in the process of recruiting, since their season isn’t officially over until the spring semester ends.

When recruiting athletes for SF State sports teams, many coaches said they look for predetermined characteristics, qualities and skills to create a good core group that will increase the quality and longevity of the team.

Men’s soccer head coach Joe Hunter said he looks for some general qualities like speed, technical skills - how smooth or comfortable a player is with the ball - and personality.

“I look for someone that is reactionary, who thinks two or three steps ahead in the game,” Hunter said. “I ask them questions like ‘Do you have a problem with picking up equipment?’ to find out if they don’t mind doing the small things or if it’s all about them.”

The men’s soccer team lost eight players to graduation this year and is expecting four more to be leaving the team next year. With that in mind, Hunter is now trying to bring in fresh new players who will stay with the team for a while, compared to last year’s recruiting of mainly junior college transfers who would be ready to play right away.

Hunter is expecting three top-tier players and another 10 players, who haven’t signed their letter of intent yet, to come to SF State.

“You have to self-evaluate your team as a whole,” Hunter said. “Who’s meeting requirements, who’s productive and how do we upgrade to more success?

“It’s an evolving process, never definite.”

Women’s soccer head coach Jack Hyde said he's focused on recruiting junior college transfers because they bring more experience and increase the age of the team. He said this would contribute to improving the standard of the team, which was compromised because of budget cuts in the last few years.

“I really want to get the team back to where we were before budget cuts, when we went to playoffs,” Hyde said. “I wasn’t able to offer any financial incentives to attract the better players in 2003-2004, so I lost them to schools in southern California and San Jose.”

When recruiting, Hyde said he looks for the players’ athleticism, skill, tactical interactions with groups and coaches, and what type of mental approach they have; a go-getter, or one of 20 people simply running around. He’s expecting 13 players for sure with the possibility of more.

“I really want impact players,” Hyde said. “Someone who makes a difference and stands out.

“(I want) a good athlete with good skills under pressure and a good mental endurance, who wants to be successful.”

Men’s wrestling head coach Lars Jensen has recruited three top players and is waiting for four others to sign letters of intent, he said. Jensen said freshmen athletes are good to recruit because he can develop them into great athletes, but it takes time.

Jensen said he prefers sophomores and juniors to junior college transfers because they are ready for matches, even though junior college transfers have more experience.

“(The) number one quality is that they are a hard worker,” Jensen said. “This isn’t something that you can learn.

“I look at their transcripts to see if they have good grades, which means they worked hard in school, and I’ll talk to their parents and coaches to get a feel for how they act.”

While Jensen’s wrestling team was 17th in the nation at the end of the regular season and had two of the top six wrestlers in the nation (although Donald Lockett will be graduating this month), he still has big goals for his team.

“I want to break into the top 10, top three-quarters in conference and bring five or six guys to nationals next year,” Jensen said.

Women’s track and field coach Charles Schneekloth said he has letters of intent from four incoming runners.

With fresh new players coming in and a renewed future for athletics at SF State, next year looks promising with big goals and expectations from coaches and the athletes.