Florida Polytechnic University launched eight collegiate sports this fall — men’s and women’s soccer, basketball and cross country, along with baseball and softball — giving the 10-year-old university its first varsity-level athletic programs.
University leadership sees athletics as another way to build campus life and attract students who may not have considered a STEM-focused university.
“We knew we needed to grow,” said Derek Lower, Florida Poly’s director of recreation and athletics. “We wanted to look at, OK, where can we grow? How can we grow?”
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The university brought students together for a meet-and-greet and conducted focus groups to see if there was enough interest in athletics to merit forming a program.
“It was a pretty resounding yes,” said Lower, who arrived at Florida Poly as a student life coordinator nine years ago and helped build the university’s recreation program.
In October, Lower was named director of athletics and recreation. The university then had months to hire coaches, recruit athletes, and build a program that could compete this fall.
From six sports to eight
Florida Poly initially planned to start with six sports, the minimum needed to join the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics or NAIA.
Administrators did not simply choose sports based on popularity. They considered which sports could help Florida Poly reach students who fit its academic mission.
Cross country was an early choice because of its popularity in Polk County and Florida.
Baseball and softball offered larger rosters and spectator opportunities, while men’s and women’s soccer were among the sports offered by schools Florida Poly was considering as potential conference opponents.
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At an event for more than 100 high school guidance counselors from across Florida, Lower said counselors told university officials they knew students who wanted to study STEM and play basketball but struggled to find schools that offered both.
“That day, we actually flipped the switch and said, ‘We’re doing men’s and women’s basketball, too,’” Lower said.
He explained that the decision to add eight sports reflects Florida Poly’s goal to give students another reason to consider the school.
“All athletes can do all degrees here,” he said. The university is not trying to turn itself into a traditional athletics powerhouse. Instead, athletics is intended to complement what Florida Poly already does. “It’s for the students,” he said.
Attracting coaches with community ties
As they built the program, the university leaned into the strength of the area’s existing athletics community, hiring coaches from across Florida, including those with NAIA experience and coaches with strong local connections.
“We didn’t have to look too, too far,” Lower said.
Men’s and women’s cross country coach Stephanie Bylander came to Florida Poly after about 11 years at Florida Southern College. Softball coach Mike Settle came from Lake Wales, where he had won multiple state championships.
For Lower, the local hires provide an advantage: “[They have] strong ties to the community, which makes recruiting easier,” he said.
The university also recruited coaches from as far away as Michigan and Ohio.
In terms of athletes, the coaches are not simply looking for those who can compete. They are looking for students who can handle Florida Poly’s academic demands. “Big thing about being a student-athlete is you gotta be good at that student part too,” Lower said.
Athletics and academics
Florida Poly’s administrators know adding practices, games, and travel to a demanding STEM curriculum could create a challenge for students. The university has tried to address that by involving existing academic support programs in the athletics program from the beginning.
“It’s a new program for everybody,” Lower said.
Academic advisers, the student success team, writing center, and teaching and learning center have worked with coaches to understand what an athlete’s schedule will look like.
“We have a strong student success team,” Lower said. “Our academic advisors are phenomenal.” Those services are designed to give athletes support without creating a separate academic system for them.
A well-rounded college experience
As it builds the athletic program, Florida Poly is also expanding its academic offerings and campus housing.
Lower said the university is not trying to bring in hundreds of athletes simply to increase enrollment. Instead, he sees athletics as one part of a broader effort to make Florida Poly a more complete college experience.
Polk County already has established college athletic programs at schools including Florida Southern, Southeastern University, and Polk State College.
“We are trying to create a campus experience to engage our community, engage our current students, our staff, our faculty,” he said.
Lower wants students who never play a sport to attend games, support their classmates, and develop more of a connection to the university.
“Our biggest goal is students in the stands and, really, community in the stands,” Lower said.
The university’s first games have also given students and community members a new way to see the school.
“Most people see Florida Poly and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s the funky white building on I-4. I hear they’re an engineering school. They’re really good at academics,’ ” he said.
Athletics, he said, gives the university another identity.
Looking to the future
Lower said the long-term goal is not simply to keep adding teams. “It’s really looking at the growth of Florida Poly athletics and maybe less than the amount and how large we get, but how ingrained we are into the community, how ingrained we are at Florida Poly,” he said.
That means measuring the program by more than wins and losses. “Every game at Florida Poly ends in a win,” Lower said.
For a university that spent a decade establishing itself academically, Florida Poly wants athletics to be a part of campus life that attracts students who want a STEM education and the opportunity to compete.
“I just want students to be able to experience what most of us have been able to experience at other universities,” he said.
