By Gabriel Luis (@gabelun):
The San Jose State’s men’s soccer team has not had a winning season since 2000, when they finished the season undefeated in conference play and only lost once throughout the year.
With that being said, pitching it’s program to potential recruits can be more difficult than it seems for a Division I school of this caliber.
It has been almost two decades since the Spartans have made any serious impact on the national collegiate soccer world and the team has not done anything impressive other than reaching the conference tournament a few years ago.
Just last year, the team had a record of 4-13-2 and only won three games in conference play compared to the 9-11-1 record the Spartans finished with this season.
After signing 16 players, head coach Simon Tobin made it very clear throughout the season that the team consisted of young players or players who didn’t have much D-I experience.
Even then, the Spartans managed to reach the Western Athletic Conference finals this year.
SJSU’s schedule was no breeze as they competed with the likes of CSU Northridge and Stanford, as well as conference-play matchups with University of Nevada Las Vegas and Seattle University.
There are a lot more successful teams in the country than San Jose State as they’re currently ranked 70th in the country, but the possibilities of signing bright recruits are still endless.
In order for the program to appeal to potential recruits, the school will have to focus on the benefits of attending the university and take advantage of the recent form they’ve had.
One of San Jose State’s selling points is the fact that they were championship contenders, as they defeated top-seeded Air Force in the WAC Tournament semifinals.
Another selling point for the team is that the coaching staff appears to be improving the team at a good pace after doubling the team’s wins in one year.
Although the Spartan Soccer Complex is much smaller than CEFCU football stadium, the 2,500 seating capacity is much greater than Stanford’s Cagan Stadium which only seats 1552.
Aside from the benefits of the school itself, the biggest advantage of playing for San Jose State will likely come from being located near Avaya Stadium, home to the San Jose Earthquakes.
Located in the Silicon Valley, San Jose is also a prime location for careers after college.
All in all, the future for Spartan’s soccer looks bright as Tobin has done a solid job turning the team around.
The team will hope the 2018 crop of players can make the same sort of impact that the 2017 class did.