While men’s soccer coach George Tarantini is known to use his connections internationally to recruit players from South America, volleyball coach Charita Stubbs uses her experience out west to grab players from the West Coast. Each coach draws on their own experiences when finding players for his or her program.This chart breaks down where each player in N.C. State’s fall sports programs have come from.
California dreamingThe volleyball team has five players from California, and six total from the West Coast. Coach Charita Stubbs uses the connections she developed while playing and coaching volleyball in Arizona to find the best players on the West Coast to fit her program.The third-year coach has only one senior on this year’s team, and is filling her roster up with her own young players — many of whom come from the volleyball hotbeds found on the West Coast.
Homegrown talentThe women’s soccer team has 11 players from the Raleigh area, as coach Laura Kerrigan recruits close to home. The proximity factor gives Kerrigan more opportunities to see her future players up close and personal.”Let’s make sure that we’re getting them in our backyard,” Kerrigan said. “It’s great that they can come and watch us play more. We get a recruiting advantage over other schools because they can come and watch us more. They can come to our practices and see what what our coaches do and can learn about what our program is about.”Kerrigan has spent most of her career in the North Carolina area, and uses her knowledge of the state when scouting potential players.
Northeast nicheWhile the majority of the men’s cross country team have come from western North Carolina, many of the women’s team members come from the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the country. The team has nine members hailing from the Northeast as coach Rollie Geiger has found himself a nice hotspot.
International flairMen’s soccer coach George Tarantini has consistently found players from his native Argentina since Tarantini took over the program in 1986. And despite having only one player on the current roster from Argentina, Tarantini has looked at other places across the globe for talent.The Pack’s roster includes four international players, hailing from Argentina, Cameroon, Venezuela and England.
A shift from the Sunshine StateTom O’Brien has said early and often that he plans to recruit the best players in the state of North Carolina before looking elsewhere across the country. The numbers show he’s a man of his words–51 of the 101 players listed on the team’s roster are North Carolina natives.Former coach Chuck Amato’s ties to the Florida area still show on the team’s roster. Of the team’s 101 roster members, 15 of them are from the Sunshine State, second only to North Carolina. Of those 15, only two were recruited by Tom O’Brien.
