Before taking the field, coaches have to recruit

Recruitment may be one of the key elements in college sports. Players will only be around for a few years, so recruitment of resourceful, talented players is crucial for a sports program to succeed. Coaches at UM-St. Louis are always looking for players who can help bring a championship home.

The recruitment process is a year-round process, but there are rules coaches must adhere to. Coaches can contact players following the end of the player's sophomore year of high school via e-mails and letters.

Players cannot be contacted by phone until they complete their junior year of high school. When coaches recruit players to play for their team, they evaluate the players' interests, academic standings and may even invite the players to visit the college campus.

Once a player has signed with a university, coaches from other universities cannot to try to recruit them. That does not mean that the player will never decide to transfer and play for a different coach at another university.

If a player wants to talk with a coach from a different university, prior approval must come from the university. Coaches try to create a good relationship with players during the initial recruiting process. Just because the player decided to take another offer, does not mean that she will never change her mind.

This methodology assisted head coach Beth Goetz in recruiting MF/F Tara Reitz, who last season led the Riverwomen with 12 assists. Reitz transferred to UM-St. Louis from Indiana State, where she played her freshman year. Goetz coached Reitz when she played in the Olympic Development Program when she was younger.

A fundamental part of recruiting is filling any positions that are vacated due to graduation or players deciding not to return. Players have four years of eligibility to play in the NCAA and the spaces held on the team by graduating seniors will need to be replaced at the end of each season.

The women's soccer team had six players in the senior class: D/MF Amie Jones, F Emily Worley, D Laura Frederickson, MF Meghan Tragesser, MF Mandy Meendering and MF/D Deidre Bauer.

The women's soccer team will lose at least five other players on the field for next season. According to Goetz, D Cassidy Bloom, MF/F Molly Buyat, F/MF Christine Keim, D Shea Kelly and MF/D Lindsey Millikan will not return for next season. Players may decide not to return to a team for many reasons ranging from transferring to another school, ending their soccer career or personal reasons.

Goetz said there are at least 11 players who have committed to playing for the Riverwomen next season. "We're going to be really young, but we feel like our returning kids from last year were impact players. It's not like we feel like we're going to have to rebuild," Goetz said. "We're really excited with some of the kids that have committed to us."

A few of the players already committed to playing for UM- St. Louis are Rachael Lee, Heather Martinson, Lynn Cerny, Amy Boehm, Amy Fox, Danielle Dahm and Sarah Stone. Fox and Dahm are from Iowa and both played for the state championship club team. Martinson and Cerny are from the Chicago area and played for the same club team. Boehm is a goalkeeper from the St. Louis area and Stone is from Festus and was defensive player of the year last year.

"I could tell immediately that I fit right in with the girls," Lee said. "My other team, I didn't fit in much. Right when I got here I could tell."

This past soccer season, the men's team had the most seniors of any UM- St. Louis sport. There were 10 players in the senior class.

The men's soccer team will need to recruit replacements for D Justin Pasternak, F/MF Doug Drezek, D Ryan Hodge, MF Kraig Tenge, D Bobby Watts, F David Walters, MF Alen Jujic, MF Jeff Facchin, F Jeff Menke and F Matt Andersen.

The men's soccer team already has several new recruits signed to play next season. Three players are coming from Glenwood High School in Chatham Ill.: MF Blair Spencer, Ryan South and Paul Hummel. Joe Randdazzo is a defender from Hazelwood Central High School in St. Louis. Chris Clarkin is a midfielder from Trinity High School in Florissant, Mo.

Dan Muesenfechter is a midfielder from Fort Zumwalt High School in O'Fallon, Mo. His sister, Krisie Muesenfechter, plays for the women's soccer team and their father Dan Muesenfechter was a two-time All-American forward for UM-St. Louis in 1979 and 1980.

The men's baseball team will lose two seniors, Josh Morgan and Jeff Luksza, at the end of this season. Morgan was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 27th round last year in the MLB draft, but opted to finish his last year at UM-St. Louis.

According to baseball head coach Jim Brady, recruiting really starts after the MLB draft. "A lot of guys in Division I schools might get drafted, then it opens up a spot on the roster," said Brady. "Players normally wait until after the draft in June to make up their mind where they're going to school. They like to weigh their options before they ultimately make a decision."

The MLB draft will be held on June 7 and 8.

The men's tennis team will lose a total of three seniors during the offseason: Stephen Pobst, Rajan Saini and Mike Schaaf.

The only player in the senior class on the women's tennis team is Neringa Bandzeviciute.

The women's golf team added a new member to its roster in December, Leslie Fischer from Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Mo. During the 2005 Missouri High School Class 2 State Tournament, Fischer placed 22nd out of a field of 125 golfers.

The men's basketball team will lose a total of seven seniors. The senior class for the men's basketball team consisted of F Joey Paul, F Aaron Green, F, Derrell Minner, G Chris Mroz, G Sherome Cole, G Andrew Cagle and G Jonathan Griffin.

Griffin's presence will be missed on the court next season. This year, Griffin led the Rivermen in every stat category except for 3-pointers.

"I'm not sure that we're going to be able to go out there and find one guy who can replace Jonathan," said basketball head coach Chris Pilz. "With all our seniors, they provided us good minutes and they played hard. "When we look back in a few years, this senior group is going to be the one you can point to that got us over that hump. We hadn't had a winning season since 2000."

The Rivermen will have already added three players to next season's roster. Ty Adams is a 6'9 240 pound forward from Steelville, Mo. "Throughout his four year career, he is going to give us a presence that we have not had since I've been here in the GLVC," Pilz said.

Cody Klietheres is a 6'8 200 pound forward from Eldon, Mo. "Very intelligent basketball player. You can never get too many guys with a good basketball IQ," Pilz said.

Octavius Hawkins is a 6'3 180 pound guard transferring from Hillsborough Community College in Miami Fla. "We feel like he's going to be an impact player in our league. He's got a chance to be an all conference player," said Pilz. "We feel like he's going to be able to provide some strength for us on the defensive end. I think our students here, our fans, are going to really enjoy watching Octavius play."

The women's basketball team will have to replace Nikki Jerome and Crystal Lambert, two guards who made up the senior class for the team. The Riverwomen will also have to replace the three players who will not be returning next season: F/C Leslie Allrich, G Tasha Hack and G Jessica Wendeln.

"You can't recruit who you don't see or who you don't know about," said women's basketball Head Coach Lee Buchanan. "There are a lot of player's everywhere, so the first thing we do is like throwing out a net. You start with a huge list of about 200 hundred people and then you start to slowly narrow it down, looking at skill level and what your needs are. In our [UM- St. Louis] situation, we're still kind of in the building process. We're still trying to sign a bit of everything."

The Riverwomen will still have G Courtney Watts, who started 27 out of 28 games during the season, but the team will need more depth in the point guard position.

Kristi White is a 5'9 point guard from Male High School in Louisville, Ky., and has already signed to play for the Riverwomen next season. Another player from Louisville has also signed with the Riverwomen. Kelly Mitchell is a 5'11 forward from Assumption High School.

"Now we're looking for post players and what we call in our business 'best available,'" Buchanan said. "In other words, players who can a do a little bit of everything, some people call them combo guards or combo players."

The recruitment process is never complete. Coaches may find the players that they need for that year, but teams can continue to improve. Coaches are still looking for that missing piece to the puzzle. UM- St. Louis could be one player away from a championship.