Want to see how the U.S. is losing to the world? Look at college sports rosters
Maybe it is an oversight, or his staff doesn’t care, but the current President of the United States, who has made “foreigners” a priority in his term, and has issued an executive order to “save” college athletics, did not take a closer look at the number of international players throughout NCAA sports.
America’s colleges and universities are under attack for a lot of reasons, among them that so many go out of their way to court kids who aren’t Americans. Kids who take the spot of a potential American student to attend some of America’s most prestigious colleges, and then go back home.
This includes America’s most prominent college athletic departments that not only develop our top future Olympians, but the rest of the world’s, too.
The University of Texas lists 21 rowers who are international students on their women’s rowing roster. TCU’s women’s beach volleyball team lists 10 players from foreign countries. Texas Tech’s men’s track and field roster has 14 competitors from overseas.
What was once a cute outlier is the norm, and is a point of frustration for any kid who wants to be prioritized to play sports in college in the United States, especially if the university is a public, land-grant institution.
This growing disparity is an even bigger indictment on America’s youth sports scene that charges a fortune, while “developing” players who are considered inferior to those from South Korea, South Africa, Russia and every other spot on earth.
The NCAA’s international tennis issue
On Thursday in Athens, Georgia, the 2026 NCAA men’s tennis championships continued with the quarterfinal round. TCU defeated Ohio State, 4-3, to advance to the semifinals for a fourth straight year.
Of the eight teams in the field — TCU, Ohio State, Wake Forest, Arizona, Baylor, Texas, Virginia and Mississippi State — 55 percent of the players are foreign-born. Seven of TCU’s 10 players are international. Both Arizona and Mississippi State have rosters that have seven of nine players from overseas.
TCU is a national power under coach Dave Roditi, due in part because he is one of the best recruiters in the country of foreign players.
This method isn’t new, but it has expanded this century. If you want to win NCAA tennis, find the foreign kids. They come to the U.S. to play at a top college, most likely graduate, and then pursue a pro career that lasts without much fanfare.
These Olympic programs are now increasingly vulnerable in the deregulated NCAA.
As college athletic departments desperately look for money to pay mostly football and men’s basketball players, dumping a golf, tennis, track or swimming and diving program is an easy way to help with the budget. The sports generate little revenue, and after 72 hours worth of negative headlines, the outrage fades.
When the University of Arkansas announced it would drop its men’s and women’s tennis programs, one of the primary points of concern is that seven of the nine players listed on the men’s roster are international; on the women’s team, it’s seven of 11.
As TCU’s match against Ohio State was underway, Arkansas announced that it would reinstate its men’s and women’s tennis programs.
According to reports, a few boosters donated the necessary money to keep the program around, but this ultimately may be a stay-of-execution. InsideHigherEd.com reported more than 400 college athletic programs across every level of college sports have been dropped since May 2024.
TCU athletic director Mike Buddie recently told the Star-Telegram the university has no plans to cut any non-revenue sports.
NCAA sports is Ellis Island
Save for sports such as baseball, football, soccer and volleyball, college sports has become the Statue of Liberty. Needing talent to win, coaches create recruiting pipelines in overlooked areas of the world, or places where they have connections.
Schools/academies from Australia to Europe exist to develop a young person into a player who will be recruited by NCAA programs.
The state of Texas features seven colleges that play in “Power Four” sports — Texas, Texas A&M, Houston, Baylor, TCU, SMU and Texas Tech. All of them have at least one roster, or two, that is a melting pot.
Seven of Houston’s 14 men’s golfers are foreign. Houston’s women’s swimming and diving team features 15 international students. SMU’s women’s athletic department boasts of 52 foreign players.
Sixteen track and field men’s student athletes at Texas A&M are international. TCU lists 89 international student athletes. Eighty percent of Baylor’s women’s tennis roster is foreign. And Texas Tech’s men’s and women’s track and field teams have a combined 33 international student athletes.
This is all perfectly legal, by NCAA rules (if those exist anymore).
While it’s all fair, this development is a massive point of frustration for kids, and their parents, who hope to play sports at America’s most prestigious college athletic programs.
