Academically, SF State is full of local flavor. Athletically, it’s as homegrown as Orange County oranges.

Of 222 student athletes on 11 team rosters, SF State’s athletic department lists seven Gators from San Francisco, with only three coming directly from a San Francisco high school.

SF State’s director of athletics, Dr. Michael Simpson, said the dearth is partly because high school graduates prefer leaving home for a college experience, while coaches here said recruiting—whether in public or private schools—has its own set of challenges, both athletically and academically.

But some of San Francisco’s high school coaches said they feel neglected by SF State’s recruiters.

“The San Francisco State athletic department could do a much better job recruiting athletes in its own backyard,” Mission High School’s athletic director Scott Kennedy said. “A way better job, in my opinion.”

Kennedy coaches soccer, and this year saw SF State men’s soccer coach Joe Hunter recruit Mission High midfielder Roberto Escobar—the first San Francisco high school graduate on the Gator men’s soccer roster since 2003.

Hunter said he’s increasingly recruiting in San Francisco, but admitted it’s difficult.

“In the public schools the quality of soccer, from my point of view, is not very high,” he said. “There’s a sprinkling of players ... it’s not like we’re leaving the stones unturned.”

He added that the recruitment process is becoming a lot more selective.

“If it’s a San Francisco kid, you’re going to be lucky if you find two,” he said. “If you get two, you’ll be thrilled to death.”

But Hunter said the “sprinkling” of San Francisco public high school students good enough to play college sports often fall short educationally.

“When you’re looking at kids from [public schools], the academic side comes into play and the requirements to get in [to SF State], while not grandiose, have to be met,” he said.

SF State basketball coach Bill Treseler agreed.

“Frankly, there are a lot of kids we would like to recruit who are not admissible here at SF State, or would not be eligible by NCAA standards,” Treseler said. “Part of our job is to identify good prospects earlier and work with the schools in helping students prepare themselves academically so we can recruit them.”

To be NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) eligible, an athlete must graduate high school having completed 14 core courses with a minimum grade-point average of 2.0.

Hunter believes it’s the job of both the student and the schools to ensure educational and NCAA requirements are met before moving to college sports. For example, one freshman redshirting this year is lacking a Spanish requirement and currently NCAA ineligible.

“Here’s a kid who didn’t get all the counseling he needed, but that’s going to work out in the end,” Hunter said. “He’ll get his college feet anchored and then be a good player for us in a couple of year’s time.”

There are other students like men’s soccer’s Escobar at Mission High—and at other public high schools throughout the city—who do meet SF State’s educational requirements and want to play college sports, Kennedy said.

“It’s getting that way,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that a couple of years back, because quite frankly, they were scared shitless [to go to college]. But I definitely think the climate has changed, and now there are more kids wanting to [play college sports], and more that actually can.”

But Kennedy, in his eighth year as Mission High’s athletic director, said it takes time to build a system that ensures students are academically and NCAA eligible.

“There are a whole lot of hurdles to cross, never mind at Mission where we have kids with many, many problems outside of just academics and athletics,” he said.

These problems include truancy, drug use and gang violence.

Originally, Escobar hadn’t thought of playing college soccer but said he was thankful when the opportunity came up.

“I didn’t even know [SF State] had a team,” he said. “It was kind of weird because I didn’t really think about college at all. In my head I was just thinking about going to work, and maybe taking some classes at City [College of San Francisco].”

Most students talented enough to play college sports are at private, parochial schools such as St. Ignatius College Preparatory and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, and do not see themselves as a “good fit” academically at SF State, said SF State athletic director Simpson.

Sacred Heart’s college counselor says that SF State admits around 25 of its students a year.

But Sacred Heart soccer coach Jeff Wilson, a former SF State player and assistant coach, said while nearly all his students go to a four year college, a “great number want to go [to SF State] because it’s their local school.” He added that he has little contact with his alma mater’s recruiters.

“As far as sports goes, if there was even some interest shown from [SF State] ... I would love that,” he said. “If there’s no interest shown in my players, I have a hard time showing it back. I haven’t really heard of any [SF State] coaches contacting our students.”

Wilson’s colleague, wrestling coach Dimitri Andruha, said many of his students attend SF State, but never for athletics.

“No one thinks about SF State and athletics in the same sentence,” he said.

That’s why Gator coaches like Treseler and Hunter want to raise the profile of SF State athletics.

“I really think we need to continue making a push to get the San Francisco kids to give us a hard look,” Treseler said. “I have a dream this program can be a success with local flavor as I think it promotes community interest and pride.”

Michelle Patton, head coach of the women’s volleyball program that debuts next fall, said she’s definitely recruiting in and around San Francisco, and that finding volleyball players that meet NCAA requirements “usually isn’t a problem.”

“I think if we can get the kids to stay closer to home, that will benefit us more,” she said. “There’s a lot of talent [in San Francisco]. My job now is to get the word out that the program’s starting back up, and to get back into the local community so people can see that we really are an option, as both a four year university and for athletics.”

Patton added she’ll also do a lot of recruiting in Southern California.

Simpson, who was SF State’s baseball coach during the late 1980s, also used to head south for players.

“I had a difficult time getting local kids, but I could go down to Southern California and get just about whomever I wanted,” Simpson said. “I don’t know if that’s the only thing going on here, but I do know that enters into it. The kids up here in San Francisco probably want to go somewhere else.”

But according to SF State’s Office of University and Budget planning, a quarter of all students admitted to the university (5,764) last year listed San Francisco as home. Just over half that (3,014) came from Southern California, although these students make up a third of all Gator athletes.

Hunter said that while he recruits heavily in Southern California, he believes finding locals like Escobar will help attract more San Francisco athletes to SF State.

“It’s not that we’re turning a blind eye to the kids,” he said. “We want kids from the city, we want to open that pipeline, and that’s why Roberto [Escobar] is so important for us now. For inner-city kids, a lot of it is word-of-mouth, a ‘he did it so I can do it’ mentality.”

Hunter is showing interest in at least one Mission High student this year, and Escobar said he thinks more former high school teammates will consider SF State in the future.

“I haven’t talked to anyone, but it’s possible,” he said. “There are a few players that I think, with their grades, could make it. It depends on what their plans are.”