Head Men's Basketball Coach Tom Green — who has guided the Knights to three National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament appearances — takes great satisfaction in his continuing effort to enhance his basketball program. In the past few years, Green, who must compete against basketball elites like Rutgers, Seton Hall and St. John’s for local talent, has added several countries to his recruiting area. Coaches like Green see international recruiting as a chance to be creative and a way to level the playing field against teams that can more easily lure top-flight national recruits to their campuses.

“For us it all started with Jesper,” Green says, referring to former FDU Knights basketball player Jesper Rasmussen, BA’99 (T-H), who hails from the city of Aarhus, Denmark.

It was in 1996 when Green’s assistant coach Ellonya “Tiny” Green discovered Rasmussen on the West Coast. He was looking for a shooting guard and Rasmussen, then playing for San Jose City College, impressed Green.

Once Rasmussen arrived at FDU, he soon discovered that he and the school were a perfect fit. On his weekend visit, he told Tom Green about his 6-foot-10-inch friend, Jonas Sinding, BS’99 (T-H), who was still playing in Denmark. Green was interested enough to set the wheels in motion and it wasn’t long before Sinding and Rasmussen were teammates.

“Coming to America was like a dream,” says Rasmussen. “I wasn’t sure how long I’d stay or what to expect. Having Jonas there was a big help. We roomed together. Whenever one of us felt lonely, it was nice to have the other there for support. It would’ve been pretty hard without him. A big reason for my success was his being at FDU.”

Sinding has said it took him almost a year to adjust to the American game. Judging from some of his performances, however, that is hard to believe. A defensive standout during his playing days for the Knights, he set a school record with 64 blocks and played a pivotal role in the Knights’ 1998 Northeast Conference (NEC) title game victory over Long Island University.

“There was a totally different mentality at FDU,” says Sinding. “Things were more up to you. You had to earn respect, and the game was more physical, more one on one.”

Rasmussen also was instrumental in bringing FDU Teaneck-Hackensack women’s basketball player Nina Vinther, BA’99 (T-H), to FDU. She, like Rasmussen, initially came to the United States to play junior college ball at San Jose City College. They have known each other for years and have what she describes as a brother-sister relationship, so when former women’s coach Sharon Beverly was recruiting, Rasmussen told her about Vinther.

“Jesper said he and Jonas were coming to FDU and that it seemed like it would be a good place for me. He figured I’d get some playing time and that the whole setup seemed pretty nice,” Vinther says.

Vinther, known as “The Danish Flash,” brought a winning attitude and an aggressive on-court style to FDU from her playing days as a member of the Danish National Team.

“I never imagined I’d wind up playing basketball in America. When I finished high school ball in Denmark, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I just figured I would try to play basketball,” Vinther says.

Knowing that international recruiting would continue to translate into success during the season, Green hired Rob Orellana, an international recruiting specialist. At St. Francis College (N.Y.), Orellana was instrumental in helping work a minor miracle for the FDU rival by seeking international student-athletes. The Terriers went from a record of 1-26 in 1993–1994 to a 1994–1995 mark of 15-12, their best mark in 20 years.

Green says, “If we’re just going to recruit in New Jersey, in the metro area or in the East, it’s impossible for me to get a 6-foot-10-inch player that can play a little bit. He’s going to be over-recruited, especially if he’s a good student. Looking across the ocean and bringing somebody over who has some size is something that you’ll probably see a lot more as years go on.”

Green added that international athletes are excellent students. They take their education quite seriously, valuing it both for the intrinsic reward of academic pursuit and for career-related reasons. Each of these players speaks English well, with only hints of an accent.

This past season, Orellana and Green used their network of basketball coaches around the world to recruit several international players to attend FDU and play basketball for the Knights, including freshman Lionel Bomyako from Paris, France; sophomore Morlaye Bangoura from Abidjian, Ivory Coast; senior Chris Ekwe from Cali, Cameroon; sophomore Joern Grundmann from Hamburg, Germany; sophomore Baldur Olafsson from Reykjavik, Iceland; and twins Tom and Wim Van de Keere from Blankenburg, Belgium.

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