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Anyone have any current information on the program?

There are some older threads here but nothing current. It looks like they don't offer athletic scholarships, but they seem to play a pretty high level of baseball. Seems like a disconnect, but...oops finish editing, not sure how they are as good as they are without the scholly's.
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One of son's friends plays there-transferred last year from a CA D1. He really likes it. It's a very tough school academically obviously. It was my understanding from attending a camp (son) there several years ago they offer $500 to each athlete as an athletic scholarship. I think this is required to be a D2 member. I seem to remember the student body voted on this several years ago. Last I looked the average GPA for incoming freshmen was 3.9. Did I say it's a tough academic school?? You can see on their website how well they have done in baseball the last few years.
Beautiful campus, located in La Jolla. My son attended a camp there a little more than a year ago. The coaching staff was great and Head Coach Dan O'Brien is a straight shooter. As CaBB noted, all of the UCSD athletes are given an annual $500 scholarship, which Coach O'Brien jokingly said can be used for a cheap notebook computer, or an ipod. Smile The average incoming freshman does have close to a 4.0 GPA, however, they're willing to work with athletes (at least 3.5+).

As for baseball, they're one of the top D2 programs in the nation. As JB stated, they reached the D2 CWS the last two years, and lost the championship game this past season. I attended a couple games with my son this past season. They work hard, they're s c r a p p y, fundamentally sound, and they have fun...which is a reflection of their coaching staff. As I said earlier, the campus is very nice, however, I'm not a huge fan of the baseball facilities, it definitely needs some work. Coach O'Brien informed my son that they were looking to move up to D1 (possibly Big West?) in the next couple of years...But, that won't happen until they upgrade the facilities, and obviously our state has money issues, so that may take awhile? Not a bad place to send your son/daughter to get an education, IMO.
Last edited by bsbl247
Haven't been here for a while as my son has started college as strictly an academic student. However, I do have some insight on UCSB and UCSD.

Academically, these 2 schools are getting harder and harder to get into. For the 2010's, a 4.1 GPA (UC GPA) and a 1950 SAT was good enough for UCSB, but not UCSD. I know a kid that had a 4.0 and 1800, and didn't get into either. Expect next year to be harder. You won't be able to take most science or engineering majors, as there will be conflicts with the labs. If they say they can help baseball players with admissions, I'd be surprised. Maybe if you are so good that every college is looking at you, but otherwise I'd doubt it.

These two schools are in great locations. The baseball program has players begging to come there. There is little incentive to offer scholarship money. They have large amounts of walkons, and it is extremely cut-throat every season. They both utilize the California and Arizona JC's, so you never know who will turn up at your position each season.

I have no issues with any of the coaches, they were upfront and as honest as they could be. However, there are some big budget issues in California's college system, and I don't think Cal will be the only school to drop sports to make ends meet. If I had to guess at the next most likely schools to drop baseball, UCSD would be first, Davis, and UCSB would be right behind.
UCSD does have a very strong DII program, but they don’t run it like one, but more like a DI program. Their expectation is the school will go DI in the next couple of years (based on when NCAA will let them). They are putting money into the baseball program to get them ready for that transition as we speak. The playing surface is in top condition and is looking to put more money in other facilities.

I have heard from several sources close to Cal that the closing of the baseball program has more to do with Title IX than the budget. If UCSD baseball were to go down due to a budget, there will be many more schools in front of that line such as all the Cal State schools which don’t have football, before UCSD.

UCSD recruits the same players as those being looked at by DI schools; they start the recruiting cycle early and are out at the showcases, tournaments, scout games, JUCO and high school games.

Being a DII school and only offering $500 to all players who make the spring roster, they have recruits who obviously want to play DI baseball and at times have recruits who verbaled to UCSD which had NLI’s in their hand and end up signing with a DI program. They also have players who were recruited walk-ons, who late in the summer call up and say they were promised a true walk-on tryout at a DI program, wanted to take their chances to play DI and were not coming to campus.

When recruiting, one if the first thing they do is check the GPA of the potential recruit. The baseball program does have their recruits pre-approved for admissions, they have the capability to get a selected amount of recruits who normally would not get into the school based on the tough average GPA/SAT requirements, but those requirements are still very high for in-coming freshman. Transfers from 4 year schools have it a little easier but also have a high requirement and of course have to be making progression toward a selected degree, and JC transfers have a little lower GPA requirement.

Getting the recruit into the school is one thing, but the player does need to keep academically qualified, the baseball program does have a program which is designed to keep on top of the players to keep them academically qualified, but the course work can be very difficult depending on what major the player is doing. There are a few engineering majors that are on the team or have been on the team, but meticulous planning is needed to work through the major.

The program does offer a lot of intangibles; they are one of the top seven public schools in the country US News - Top Public Universities. They have a strong coaching staff including last year’s National Coach of the year, and have been ranked #1 at various times of the year in 2009 and 2010. The head coach has ties with, has studied, and talked with one of the most winning high school football coaches in the country (De La Salle) and discussed what it takes to build and maintain a winning program through the players buying into the “program”. The school is in a very desirable area of Northern San Diego (La Jolla) and of course has great weather conditions year round.

Being a quarter system school; they have just had true walk-on tryouts on Friday, gave a few more players who were recruited, but were only promised a true walk-on tryout opportunity and those who enrolled into the school without baseball help, the true opportunity to make the fall roster. In previous years, they have found the true diamond in the roughs, several which turned out to be all American players.

They are an instructing coaching staff, put a lot of energy into developing players, both physically and mentally, and love to teach the game! Having a high academic requirement for the school, they feel they can teach the finer points of the game. They take on more players in the fall than they can have in the spring to see who develops and can buy into the program, as well as make the grades.

Their expectations of their players are very high; they run the 6am weight lifting sessions, max individual workouts, max team work outs, “Baseball 101” sessions, team building programs, sports psychology sessions, etc.

They work hard and play hard; they have a lot of fun in the dugouts during the games, some of which had been restricted by the umpires.

The program had in 2010, the highest fielding % in the country (all Divisions) and one of the top ten lowest Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings and Earned Run Averages in the country (all Divisions)! NCAA Stats
Last edited by Homerun04

I'm researching UCSD and dig up this old thread. Apparently they didn't move to D1, and didn't drop the baseball program either.

 

My questions:

1. How good is the academics? Some places rank UCSD really high (as high as #9 in public universities and top #15 in the "world's best universities") while some other places drop it to #57.

2. The baseball program seems to be pretty good in D2. Is D2 really the "tweener" between D1 and D3?

3. Looking at the rosters, almost every one is from California, and most from within a 100 mile circle around the school. Does that show a strong local bias, or it's just a reflection of the student population?

Originally Posted by Bogeyorpar:

I'm researching UCSD and dig up this old thread. Apparently they didn't move to D1, and didn't drop the baseball program either.

 

My questions:

1. How good is the academics? Some places rank UCSD really high (as high as #9 in public universities and top #15 in the "world's best universities") while some other places drop it to #57.

2. The baseball program seems to be pretty good in D2. Is D2 really the "tweener" between D1 and D3?

3. Looking at the rosters, almost every one is from California, and most from within a 100 mile circle around the school. Does that show a strong local bias, or it's just a reflection of the student population?

Bogeyorpar, just surface info from me... two of my kids have gone to school in San Diego, but not UCSD.  Youngest son now plays in the same conference as UCSD.  Great school, very good program, great city, great weather.  The most definitive information I can give you is to answer #3.  The roster is predominantly California for a few reasons. The biggest is that if you are not from California, you pay an extra $25K in tuition.  The other is that it is a very desirable school and there is a large surplus of good players with good grades in California that would love to play there. And, of course it is much easier for them to recruit effectively and accurately in their own back yard.

 

Someone else would be better qualified to address specific academic questions. 

 

There are a number of threads you can search that discus/debate the strength of the different levels and the short version is that there is some overlap.  The CCAA is certainly one of the deeper D2 conferences, featuring several California State schools along with UCSD.  

Last edited by cabbagedad

Redid their facilities last year. A real upgrade; the field has lights, and decent batting cages and mounds. The athletes are also true students - many in hard sciences and engineering.

 

Before the coaching change a few years ago, many players were JUCOs, but it seems that more are now four year students. Have had several players drafted over the past several years and always seem to be ranked.

 

I don't know their recruiting radius, but do know, for example, they had an Israeli player last few years.

 

Large university, great area of town, part of the campus overlooks the pacific. I've seen the softball team come cheer on the boys many times. Nothing can beat San Diego weather. If a kid has pro aspirations, because of its location (two very good D1 programs, half a dozen JUCOs, plus Pt. Loma Nazerene (D2?) and Cal State San Marcos (d3?), plus San Diego Christian College) all within a half hour drive, the scouts will find him.

Originally Posted by Bogeyorpar:

3. Looking at the rosters, almost every one is from California, and most from within a 100 mile circle around the school. Does that show a strong local bias, or it's just a reflection of the student population?

A quick look at College Confidential shows that 23% of the students are from out of state.  As far as baseball is concerned, California has more outstanding baseball players than college spots available any given year, so recruiters don't have to look far.

 

(Keewartson was interested in a Texas school at one time.  The whole roster was from Texas.  It was sobering for a 9th grader to see that a Texas school wouldn't need a little 'ol Virginian to come play for them.)

Originally Posted by Bogeyorpar:

I'm researching UCSD and dig up this old thread. Apparently they didn't move to D1, and didn't drop the baseball program either.

 

My questions:

1. How good is the academics? Some places rank UCSD really high (as high as #9 in public universities and top #15 in the "world's best universities") while some other places drop it to #57.

2. The baseball program seems to be pretty good in D2. Is D2 really the "tweener" between D1 and D3?

3. Looking at the rosters, almost every one is from California, and most from within a 100 mile circle around the school. Does that show a strong local bias, or it's just a reflection of the student population?

My 2015 was recruited by UCSD last year and they discussed offers, so here is what I can lend from his experience.  Academics are great. Hard to find better and a great campus.  

The baseball program is very good, they have their pick of players.  My son threw in the AZ Fall Classic Academic game.  He said that almost all of the pitchers there from CA has UCSD as their first pick, even over D1's because of the academics and good baseball.  

CA regulations make it difficult to impossible for out of state students to get any or much money academic or otherwise.  On top of that, you pay (last year $23K) tariff on top of tuition if you are out of state.  This could not be offset.  With only 9 scholarships at D2, you have to slice it thin as it is, so this drives the costs up.  The coaches told my son that they do not recruit out of state because experience tells them it is a waste of time.  He was maybe the only or one of just a few they recruited out of state last year.  I think this was mostly because he is from the DFW area and the coaches have Texas connections here through Dallas Baptist.  I have nothing negative to say about the school, program or coaches.  My son would have loved to play there, but it wasn't the right fit in the end.  

Originally Posted by Bogeyorpar:

I'm researching UCSD and dig up this old thread. Apparently they didn't move to D1, and didn't drop the baseball program either.

 

My questions:

1. How good is the academics? Some places rank UCSD really high (as high as #9 in public universities and top #15 in the "world's best universities") while some other places drop it to #57.

2. The baseball program seems to be pretty good in D2. Is D2 really the "tweener" between D1 and D3?

3. Looking at the rosters, almost every one is from California, and most from within a 100 mile circle around the school. Does that show a strong local bias, or it's just a reflection of the student population?

RE #1 - I do it too, but it's best not to get too focused on rankings, or really any other single number.  If you look at the freshman profiles for the UC system here:  http://admission.universityofc...u/freshman/profiles/  -- you'll see that student test scores and GPA are very consistent from Cal and  UCLA to Santa Barbara, San Diego, Davis, Irvine, and even Santa Cruz, and the admit rates are pretty consistant except for Cal and UCLA.  Yet UCLA and Cal, especially, are consistently ranked much higher.  Because they're better schools?  Not necessarily.
Depending on what the kid wants out of school and what s/he intends to study, Santa Cruz, for example, may be a better school than Cal or UCLA for that student. 

 

If you want to know why you  have to look at the numbers that go into the ranking, cause in most cases that's all it is -- a hash of various numbers, some of which may make a lot of sense, but some of which have no meaning to any individual family. 

I suspect that a main reason UCSD doesn't rank higher is that its 4-year graduation rate is low compared to UCLA, UCSB, and Cal.  But I don't know that, and I wouldn't much care unless my kid was actively considering enrolling.  FWIW, UC  Riverside, which is considered by many to be a lower UC with a much higher admit rate, is ranked #1 by one poll (can't remember which) that focuses on community involvement, percentage of kids receiving aid,  and number of first time family members in college.

 

Anecdotally I can tell you that some kids do not like UCSD because it's considered to be the antithesis of a party school, unlike, for example Cal Poly and UCSB, and to a certain extent, UCLA and USC.  For others, probably including most parents, that's a good thing!

 

 

Originally Posted by JCG:
Anecdotally I can tell you that some kids do not like UCSD because it's considered to be the antithesis of a party school, unlike, for example Cal Poly and UCSB, and to a certain extent, UCLA and USC.  For others, probably including most parents, that's a good thing!

 

 

Wow, that's counter-intuitive. My image of UCSD, being in San Diego and a few minutes from the beach and ranked #2 "surfing school", would be a great party school. Just shows that you need insider knowledge to know the true culture of a school.

Huh, I did not know there was a surfing school school rating, but now that you mention it, of course there is.

 

Having surfed, body-surfed, or boogie boarded at many beaches up and down the coast, I'd rank the beach at La Jolla, as beautiful as it is, near the bottom.  UCLA, Irvine, Pepperdine,  and UCSB are all near better breaks.  For an old fart like me, Pepperdine would be best. There's a great break for long-boarders near the Malibu pier.  Or UCSD just for walking on the beach.  For a young buck, UCSC.  Mavericks is only the most famous break there.

 

 

I'll chime in on this one b/c it's in my 'hood. UCSD: Minimal party school reputation despite proximity to beach b/c over 50% of students are majoring in STEM. The graduate student population exceeds undergraduate populations at many other colleges. Also, it may be near the waves but it's in the burbs. Two large malls w/in walking distance but no nightlife to speak of. Have to have a car to get around. Great new field, as was mentioned, surrounded by the hospital and clinic. Not particularly full of school spirit. Fantastic theater. Abundance of STEM-oriented internships. Intro to Cell enrolls around 500 students. Gotta be tough to get through it in 4 years. Only 60% graduate in 4 years..which of course raises the total cost of attendance.

We toured the campus while school was enrolled and I did NOT like the vibe of the school and its student population.  The school is laid out with pretty active streets in between and it seemed like there was no flow to its design.  1 pod of buildings are quite separated from the others.  Also, sitting in the middle of the quad in spring, in the middle of the day, during spring 98% of the students walking around were like non-descript zombies.  Just didnt feel like an undergraduate campus.

RJM posted:

Re: party school

A friend of mine went to UCSD. He said if you believe there aren't any ugly women in southern CA walk the UCSD campus. He said it's all the ugly girls who stayed home, studied and got accepted there.

I got a laugh out of this. Son went to a midwest Liberal arts college, Ohio Wesleyan, OWU for short. The joke of the men on Campus was that OWU did not only stand for Ohio Wesleyan University, it also represented the women of Ohio Wesleyan. I will leave it to the Imagination what they meant. Don't worry it is G rated. Anybody care to take a guess. 

Sorry if this takes the topic off the rails. 

Bogeyorpar posted:
Originally Posted by JCG:
Anecdotally I can tell you that some kids do not like UCSD because it's considered to be the antithesis of a party school, unlike, for example Cal Poly and UCSB, and to a certain extent, UCLA and USC.  For others, probably including most parents, that's a good thing!

 

 

Wow, that's counter-intuitive. My image of UCSD, being in San Diego and a few minutes from the beach and ranked #2 "surfing school", would be a great party school. Just shows that you need insider knowledge to know the true culture of a school.

UCSD sits in a neighborhood in the hills east of and above Black's Beach, one of the best beach breaks in the country when it's on. You can't see the beach from campus. You can't really walk to the beach (La Jolla Shores). But proximity to Black's might be the only reason it's rated a great surfing school. By contrast, UCSB actually sits on the water, but because of the Channel Islands, does not get swell for a good part of the year.

We visited both schools and son was on the board at both. He absolutely did not like the atmosphere on campus at UCSD. Very techie/nerdie. Architecture is huge, cement, imposing, and somewhat unattractive, and the place lacks a central campus feel. Recruiting Coach John Bloodworth was warm  and communicative but did not hesitate to point out they didn't have budget to recruit outside of CA and really, just SoCal. The new facilities were under construction when we were there last winter.

UCSB campus was very welcoming and attractive. Topography is flat so it's easy to get from player housing (off campus for the baseball team from day 1, to the baseball facilities, to campus, and back. Recruiting Coach Eddie Cornejo was also very forthcoming and we believed we had a pretty strong connection with him. But he was very candid about his recruiting limitations too, and flat told us they could hit the Inland Empire hard for kids from poor families that would require no baseball money to attend. Whereas if he offered us 33%, it would have cost the program about 15K per year for an out of state kid. They ended up taking most of their recruiting budget and spending it on a 6'8" lefty out of Chicago.

There were several rumors last summer that Coach Checketts was being sought after to fill several D1 openings at better funded programs. I heard he was on the shortlist at AZ. Further, he has a relationship with Oregon and could be in line to follow Horton who was rumored to be in line for an AD position. So these things must be considered too.

BishopLeftiesDad posted:
RJM posted:

Re: party school

A friend of mine went to UCSD. He said if you believe there aren't any ugly women in southern CA walk the UCSD campus. He said it's all the ugly girls who stayed home, studied and got accepted there.

I got a laugh out of this. Son went to a midwest Liberal arts college, Ohio Wesleyan, OWU for short. The joke of the men on Campus was that OWU did not only stand for Ohio Wesleyan University, it also represented the women of Ohio Wesleyan. I will leave it to the Imagination what they meant. Don't worry it is G rated. Anybody care to take a guess. 

Sorry if this takes the topic off the rails. 

Over-Weight University?

Does anyone have the latest info on scholarship funding at UCSD? With its application to the Big West (which was denied) they were committing to funding at least 80% of the max (80% of 11.7) but I don't know what they are doing currently. They used to not offer anything beyond $500, but a few years ago they changed that (see: https://timesofsandiego.com/ed...hletic-scholarships/)

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

News: www.bigwest.org/story.asp?story_id=20127

"UC San Diego will begin an NCAA mandated four-year reclassification period to Division I on July 1, 2020.  Its teams will be included in all Big West round robin sports schedules beginning with the 2020-21 academic year.  UC San Diego will become an official member of the conference on July 1, 2024. "

No surprise that a Cal State school got admitted along with UCSD, as it keeps the conference at an equal number of UCs and Cal States.

My understanding is that to apply to D1 (and be accepted into D1 by the NCAA) the school must commit to funding at least 80% of the max, so for baseball UCSD will be funding at least 9.36 scholarships (80% of 11.7 = 9.36).

Interesting... Seems like a long transition but I guess UCSD has to say yessir to whatever Big West tells them at this point.

I wonder what the ripple effects down the road could be.  In particular, WAC, not a super strong conference already, will lose CSUB.  I bet that has other schools looking at jumping ship.

CCAA will be sad to see UCSD go but I'm guessing that's about it.

(edited to correct name of conference losing CSUB and also to correct anagram for CSU Bakersfield - not having a good day with anagrams!)

Last edited by JCG
JCG posted:

Interesting... Seems like a long transition but I guess UCSD has to say yessir to whatever Big West tells them at this point.

I wonder what the ripple effects down the road could be.  In particular, WCC, not a super strong conference already, will lose CUSB.  I bet that has other schools looking at jumping ship.

CCAA will be sad to see UCSD go but I'm guessing that's about it.

I always get confused on this, but actually the WCC is a pretty good conference filled with religiously affiliated schools -- USD, LMU, Saint Mary's, BYU, Gonzaga, USF, Santa Clara, Pepperdine, Pacific, Portland. The Big West is now 5 UCs, 5 Cal States, and Hawaii.

The WAC is the one getting whacked, losing CSUB. It is all over the map. In particular, I would imagine that Seattle U -- the only religiously affiliated school in the WAC -- would be interested in joining the WCC. It would cut down on its travel, and it would fit in well with Gonzaga, Portland, etc.

Here is a detailed look at the UCSD reclassification timeline:

http://www.ucsdtritons.com/pdf9/5462942.pdf

Yes, there was quite a celebration on the UCSD campus when the announcement was made about the Big West acceptance of UCSD and the move to D1.  The prior student and academic approval was specific to joining the Big West--if the school was to go D1, it had to be the Big West.  UCSD's first overture was turned down by the conference, so there was some angst if it would get done before the student/academic resolution expired and they would have to apply again. 

As the links shows, several of the sports are transitioning to D1 and Big West soon, but for baseball it won't be until the 2020-21 year. Fortunately for my 2017 HS grad, they will be D1 by his fourth year, and he will most likely Redshirt, so he will have two years to play D1.  They won't be able to compete for the conference championship or NCAA tourney, but they are joining a really tough conference and it would have taken them several years to get to that level anyway.  I can confirm that the student fees have already been increased and they are building the funding for more scholarships and should be set by the time they get to the D1 requirements.

The UCSD Tritons were the National runners up at D2 last year and this is a very strong baseball program with excellent coaches.  The move to D1 has been anticipated, so the roster already has some D1-level talent and now is only going to get better.  The Academics are incredibly demanding, and that is not going to change with the reclassification.  Student athletes know what they are going to be in for if they are admitted to the school, and the school's national rankings seem to get better and better each year. 

The baseball team has not posted the Spring roster yet with the incoming Freshman majors, but of the returning roster, about one-half are players majoring in STEM subjects like Engineering, Physics, Pharmacology Chemistry, etc.  My son is a Mechanical Engineering major and says academic support is strong from the coaches, sports tutors and fellow players.  The best thing about a baseball program and team like this is that there are enough of them in demanding majors that they can relate to each other and know what it takes to make it through tough majors.  That is not the case at many other schools' baseball programs where the academics takes a back seat.  The jury is out for my son as to whether he can survive doing both ME and baseball, but I cannot think of a better place to try.

Feel free to PM me about any other questions about the UCSD school and baseball program.

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