With the 2012 Summer Olympics in London less than a week away, about 204 of the world’s nations ready for an athletic event of global proportions. And even though MSU won’t send a single athlete to compete against the world’s best competition, the national and international connection can be felt right here on campus.
On a domestic scale, MSU has many athletes across the spectrum of its 25 varsity sports who hail from every corner of the country. In the last academic year alone, MSU has had at least one athlete from 37 different states within its department including New York, Washington, Arizona and Hawaii, among others.
Although the major concentration of student-athletes comes from the Great Lakes State, some programs such as football and men’s basketball have found success by mining the surrounding areas for talent.
MSU head football coach Mark Dantonio has carried over many of his roots from his days at Cincinnati by recruiting heavily in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and the rest of the Midwest. Several key contributors including former wide receiver B.J. Cunningham and junior running back Le’Veon Bell have come to MSU from Ohio as lesser-known recruits and have had success in starting roles and key moments for the Spartans.
Elsewhere, men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo has had advantageous luck when recruiting players outside of Michigan. Despite routinely dominating in-state rival Michigan for the for top-level in-state recruits, Izzo also has reached elsewhere and found success with out-of-state players such as junior center Adreian Payne (Dayton, Ohio) and sophomore guard Branden Dawson (Gary, Indiana).
Outside of the realm of MSU’s revenue sports, others such as gymnastics, field hockey and softball have found talent away from the state of Michigan. Gymnastics head coach Kathie Klages and field hockey head coach Helen Knull each have built rosters with student-athletes from eight different states apiece, while softball coach Jacquie Joseph fields a team with athletes from at least 10 different states.
Still, MSU is greatly dominated by athletes from Michigan.
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