Joe Amplo didn't have the luxury of being choosy when he started recruiting players for Marquette University's brand-new men's lacrosse program in 2011.
"They had to have a pulse," he said, "and know how to hold a lacrosse stick."
He was exaggerating, but not by much. The top high school players on the East Coast weren't going to consider a start-from-scratch program in the Midwest — and especially one that wouldn't even play games in its first season. Amplo would have better luck selling sand in the desert.
So he looked for players with chips on their shoulders, kids from blue-collar backgrounds who'd been told they weren't good enough but would outwork more talented players.