Juarez Violence Affecting UTEP Athletic Recruiting

by ABC-7 Reporter Darren Hunt

EL PASO, Texas — The widespread violence in Juarez is affecting a lot of things in El Paso, including the UTEP athletic program.

The basis of UTEP’s athletic teams are formed by recruiting student-athletes from across the state and country to study and play in El Paso.

And now many of them, especially their parents, are now expressing concern about what is going on across the border.

UTEP’s campus is located just a few football fields away from Juarez, where thousands have been murdered this year, and that is not easy to hide.

“I just recruited a girl from Sweden and she knew about it,” said women’s golf coach Jere Pelletier. Pelletier said it is getting more and more difficult to convince student-athletes to come here.

“How is Juarez affecting El Paso, is the number one question,” he said.

Pelletier said the concerns of potential UTEP student athletes and their parents are real. In fact, he had a talented recruit in town over the weekend that he thought he was going to sign, until her father saw a story about Juarez in the Sunday newspaper.

“It’s in the back of their minds every time and it’s something we have to battle with every recruit. Not just with golf, I think all the other sports are having the same issue,” Pelletier said.

UTEP athletic director Bob Stull admitted Juarez has become a factor in recruiting.

“To be honest with you, I usually try and meet with all the recruits’ parents and quite frankly, many times I bring it up rather than them.”

Stull said that honesty allows him to explain the complete situation.

“El Paso is still the third safest city in the country and I bring up that there has been over 2,000 murders in Juarez, but I think around 10 in El Paso, a city of over 700,000.”

Stull said they tell student-athletes who decide to come to UTEP not to go to Juarez. “El Paso is a great place to live and it’s a very safe place … But less than 500 yards across the river, it is not.”

UTEP’s assistant to the president Richard Adauto said it’s important not to “overexaggerate” what is happening in Juarez, though he admitted it is making it more difficult to recruit student-athletes.