Tennisblacklist.com is a site whose purpose is to identify those Division I men's tennis teams that fail to achieve a reasonable balance between foreign and American players.

The information provided below is based on the website of the individual schools, and is updated annually on January 15th of each year.


Recent Examples:
The 2005 N.C.A.A. Division I mens singles championship match was won by
24 year old Benedikt Dorsch from Germany (Baylor) who defeated San Diego's
Pierrik Ysern from France.

In 2004 it was 24 year old Benjamin Becker from Germany (Baylor)
defeating 26 year old Michael Kogan from Israel (Tulane) for the singles title.
Baylor, the 2004 championship team, has a current roster of one american and nine foreign players.
U.C.L.A. managed to win the team championship in 2005 with seven
American and six foreign players while the runner up Baylor could only find
one American to include in it's lineup.


Baylor University Mens' 2004-2005 Roster
NameGradeOrigin
Benjamin Becker Sr Orscholz, Germany
Benedikt Dorsch Sr Weiden, Germany
Michal Kokta So Prague, Czech Republic
Barry McLaren RS So Edinburgh, Scotland
Lars Poerschke Fr Buseck, Germany
Vladimir Portnov So Moscow, Russia
Jon Reckewey So Lincoln, NE
Greg Shearer Sr Christchurch, New Zealand
Will Ward Fr Auchland, New Zealand
Matija Zgaga So Maribor, Slovenia


The NCAA apparently finds nothing wrong with this situation. Maybe they need to look up the definition of what the initial N stands for in NCAA. The word is national which Webster defines as "a citizen of a specific nation" or as it relates to sports "a tournament or contest involving participants from all parts of a nation." (Not world)


Top 14 Division I Teams
With the worst ratio of foreign to American players on their current team.
University of Alabama, Birmingham 100%
University of Arkansas, Little Rock 100%
Charleston Southern University 100%
Hampton University 100%
Manhattan College 100%
Morehead State University100%
University of New Orleans100%
Oklahoma state university100%
South Carolina State University100%
Tennessee Technological University100%
University of Tennessee, Martin100%
Texas A&M University, Corpus christi100%
Wichita State University100%
Winthrop University100%

All Division I schools
Listed alphabetically with 50% or more of their players from foreign countries.
1. Alabama A&M University66%
2.University of Alabama, Birmingham100%
3.Alabama State Univeristy50%
4.University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa50%
5.Alcorn State Univeristy86%
6.American University55%
7.University of Arkansas, Little Rock100%
8.Auburn University78%
9.Austin Peay State University63%
10.Baylor University90%
11.Belmont University86%
12.Bethune-Cookman College86%
13.Bradley University50%
14.University at Buffalo, State University of New York50%
15.California State University, Fresno63%
16.California State University, Sacramento60%
17.University of California, Berkeley60%
18.University of California, Irvine50%
19.University of California, Santa Barbara56%
20.Campbell University88%
21.University of Central Florida56%
22.Charleston Southern University100%
23.Chicago State University80%
24.The Citadel63%
25.Coastal Carolina University50%
26. University of Colorado, Boulder67%
27.University of Denver67%
28.DePaul University56%
29. Drake University57%
30.Duquesne University50%
31.East Carolina University80%
32.East Tennessee State University78%
33.Eastern Kentucky University86%
34.Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck63%
35.Florida A&M University50%
36.Florida Atlantic University78%
37.Gardner-Webb University50%
38.University of Georgia60%
39.Georgia Southern University88%
40.Georgia State University90%
41.Hampton University100%
42.High Point University88%
43.Hofstra University57%
44.Howard University50%
45.University of Idaho63%
46.Idaho State University75%
47.Illinois State University78%
48.Indiana State University71%
49.Jacksonville State University70%
50.Jacksonville University63%


All Division I schools
Listed alphabetically with 50% or more of their players from foreign countries.
51.Lamar University75%
52.Liberty University88%
53.University of Louisiana, Lafayette75%
54.University of Louisville73%
55.Manhattan College100%
56.University of Memphis60%
57.University of Michigan50%
58.Middle Tennessee State University78%
59.University of Mississippi89%
60.Mississippi State University67%
61.University of Montana50%
62.Morehead State University100%
63.University of Nebraska, Lincoln89%
64.University of Nevada, Las Vegas60%
65.University of Nevada67%
66.New Mexico State University72%
67.University of New Orleans100%
68.Norfolk State University83%
69.University of North Carolina, Asheville71%
70.University of North Carolina, Charlotte70%
71.University of North Carolina, Greensboro63%
72.Northern Arizona University50%
73.Northern Illinois University67%
74.University of Oklahoma78%
75.Oklahoma State University100%
76.Old Dominion University70%
77.Oral Roberts University78%
78.University of Oregon67%
79.University of the Pacific58%
80.Pepperdine University75%
81.Prairie View A&M University67%
82.Radford University56%
83.Rice University67%
84.University of San Diego90%
85.San Diego State University67%
86.University of San Francisco67%
87.University of South Alabama67-89%
88.University of South Carolina, Columbia78%
89.South Carolina State University100%
90.University of South Florida90%
91.Southeastern Louisiana University86-100%
92.Southern Illinois University, Carbondale75-88%
93. Southern Methodist University75%
94.University of Southern Mississippi67%
95.Southern University, Baton Rogue57%
96.Southwest Missouri State University75%
97.St. Bonaventure University56%
98.St. John's University, New York63%
99.Stony Brook University50%
100.Tennessee Technological University100%


All Division I schools
Listed alphabetically with 50% or more of their players from foreign countries.
101.University of Tennessee, Chatanooga60%
102.University of Tennessee, Knoxville55%
103.University of Tennessee, Martin100%
104.Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi100%
105.Texas Christian University67%
106.Texas Southern University64-91%
107.Texas Tech University70%
108.University of Texas, Arlington78%
109.University of Texas, Pan American56%
110.University of Texas, San Antonio75%
111.Troy University78%
112.Tulane University50%
113.University of Tulsa67%
114.University of Utah56%
115.Virginia Commonwealth University88%
116.Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University73%
117.University of Washington75%
118.Wichita State University100%
119.Winthrop University100%



                If your school isn't on this list, congratulate your coach and athletic director who care more about the sport and its future than the win-at-any-cost coaches and ADs.
                The problem is not with the foreign athlete as an individual who brings diversity and many fine qualities to the college experience, but with the coaches who rely too heavily on foreign talent at the expense of our American junior players who are considered not good enough to compete at the Division I level. These coaches recruit on the internet and can choose a top 10 player from 192 countries rather than look at the top 1000 graduating seniors from this country.
                No one is arguing that you can't get a better player once you get past the top 100 players from America, but whatever happened to coaching and bringing along the players who could contribute when they were juniors or seniors? Instead, everyone seems to need an impact player immediately, which creates the imbalance that now prevails in many schools. It will require the NCAA to take action. Or for a quick fix, once a team exceeds 50% foreign players, require that a foreign head coach be hired.


What Can You Do?
                 Past college players, parents of junior players, people who love tennis, people who are tired of seeing tennis programs dropped by Division I schools (as we know, a number of Division I schools have dropped men's tennis in the past 10 years and this may have been a contributiong factor): Contact your State Legislators and share this information with them, particularly for the tax supported state schools. Write the coaches and athletic directors and ask if winning is the only criteria for a good program. Write to the NCAA and ask if North Carolina's winning basketball team had only 1 American out of 10 players would they still ignore the problem. It wouldn't take much to level the playing field if the NCAA established some reasonable guidelines.
                The goal is simple: restore a reasonable balance between foreign and American players on every Division I team, thereby reducing the ability of coaches to load their teams with foreign players in order to achieve a winning record. This is now being done at the expense of American junior players who may not be recruited if they are below the top 100 but are skilled players. If the quality level of Division I men's tennis went down 5%, say by limiting the number of foreign players on any team to 2 or 3, would the fans really see the difference? (doubtful) Tennis seems to be operating in a vacuum. Why not restore some interest?


To the coaches:


As your roster changes, please notify Tennis Blacklist at the following address:
Tennis
PO Box 963
Lawrence, KS 66044
Once confirmed that your player roster has changed as reflected on your website, our revision
will follow.