By Anthony Chiang

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Charlie Partridge was just named Florida Atlantic’s head football coach, but he already has built a good relationship with the area’s high school coaches.

In previous stops as an assistant coach at Arkansas, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Eastern Illinois and Iowa State, Partridge spent a lot of his time recruiting Palm Beach County, Broward County and Miami-Dade County.

“He knows our kids,” said South Plantation coach Doug Gatewood, who attended Plantation High School with Partridge. “South Florida kids are different than a lot of other places in the country. You have to know how to talk to them, how to handle them, and how to relate to them. I think Charlie can do that very well.”

The man Partridge is replacing, Carl Pelini, was not known for recruiting South Florida. Just after Pelini was hired, he irked several high school coaches from Palm Beach County by revoking scholarship offers.

The Owls did not have a player from Palm Beach County in their 2013 recruiting class, according to 24-7 Sports.

“I didn’t know Carl Pelini,” Cardinal Newman coach Steve Walsh said. “I have one of the top kids in the county (receiver Travis Rudolph), and I never met him. That’s part of what the problem was. Maybe they didn’t have the right engaging-type of guy.”

George Smith, who coached Fort Lauderdale-St. Thomas Aquinas to six state championships in 34 years and is now the school’s athletic director, echoed Walsh’s sentiments.

“I didn’t see him come and go,” Smith said. “To my knowledge, he was never on our campus. I never saw him at any games. It almost seemed like he took Broward and Dade and cast them aside.

“I saw so many kids that weren’t super recruited that ended up going on and being great players.”

Meanwhile, Partridge, a Plantation native, has convinced numerous local high school football players to play for him.

As an assistant coach at Arkansas, he helped lure South Plantation running back Alex Collins to play for the Razorbacks last February. Collins was named the SEC Freshman of the Year last week. Since 2008, Partridge has convinced 15 high school football players from either Broward County or Palm Beach County to play for either Wisconsin or Arkansas.

“Charlie has been in this area for a long time,” said Royal Palm Beach coach Willie Bueno, who has known Partridge for 15 years. “He knows all of the coaches and I think he’s going to be really good. He understands how important South Florida recruiting is.”

Walsh remembers sitting down with Partridge last spring to talk about recruiting. Five days later, he received a hand-written letter from Partridge, thanking him for his time.

“That’s being on top of your business and how to be a good recruiter. That’s what a professional does,” Walsh said. “I think it’s a great hire. FAU’s reputation in the county has been tainted by their actions. This is a great move.”

Staff writer Tom D’Angelo contributed to this report.