Fort Myers will see purple

Go Bucs!

No, not those Buccaneers. The Florida Southwestern State College Buccaneers.

Never heard of them? That's OK. They're new, sort of.

Edison State College in Fort Myers is changing its name to Florida Southwestern State College, and it plans to bring back the college athletics program it abandoned in 1997. The team color: purple.

“We are bringing athletics back to the institution,” says Jeff Allbritten, the president of the college that serves about 24,000 students in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties.

The college plans to build a $20 million student-activity center on its Fort Myers campus that will include a 3,500-seat arena. “We'll be passing the [donation] basket,” Allbritten joked at a recent lunch gathering of real estate executives in Fort Myers, where he outlined the school's growth plans.

It's all part of an effort to recruit more students, particularly higher-paying out-of-state students who might be lured by the area's palm trees and sand. Already, the college started building dormitories in 2012 and now offers 10 bachelor's degrees.

Allbritten cited Florida Gulf Coast University's basketball team as an example of the impact of collegiate sports on admissions. The nearby state university in Fort Myers posted a 35% jump in applications after its basketball team reached the NCAA Sweet 16 last year.

Allbritten says he plans to bring some friendly competition to the area. “Get ready for the Bucs,” he says he warned FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw recently.