Best College Programs in Illinois

There is a great scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. They are being chased by a posse and trying to figure out "who are those guys". Butch asks Sundance, "Who's the best Sheriff?" Sundance asked, "what do you mean, best? Toughest or easiest to bribe?"

Same with college baseball. Best in what way? Who will win the most? Best facilities? Best combo of acedemics and team? Best chance for your kid to play?

I don't think ranking colleges helps kids make a decision. So much depends on the kid's abilty, acedemics, goals, etc. Each family has to try to find the right fit for their kid. There are a lot of good choices in Illinois.

bballdad1954 - Thanks for asking for clarification. I do realize that many factors enter a student's decision in attending college. This ranking is totally for the baseball program. This does not consider a player's opportunity to play. such as Baseball America or Collegiate Baseball. If you were writing for a baseball publication, such as Baseball America or Collegiate Baseball, how would you rank them per classification (D1, Juco, etc)and why.

Didn't collegiate baseball rank UIC #1, said the proud alumni

My Take:

Best Conference and schedule
ISU,Illinois,NW,NIU,SIU and UIC
Best Coaching
NIU,SIU,UIC
Best chance to play
NW,SIU and NIU

Best advice if you are good enough:

Play in warm weather....there are many choices better than any in Illinos

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I think the criteria was...

What is the best college baseball program in Illinois due east of Mattoon?

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quote:

Originally posted by soxnole:
My Take:

Best Conference and schedule
ISU,Illinois,NW,NIU,SIU and UIC
Best Coaching
NIU,SIU,UIC
Best chance to play
NW,SIU and NIU

Best advice if you are good enough:

Play in warm weather....there are many choices better than any in Illinos

Soxnole, I think that many of the Illinois players are good enough and could have played at schools outside of Illinois but they chose the Illinois school because they wanted/needed the scholarship to reduce their college costs. If a player goes outside of Illinois their scholarship would only cover the additional out of state tuition that they would be required to pay. This provides no or little monetary benefit to the player and his family.

Is there a final D1 ranking of all Illinois schools?
Anyone win their conference or go to WS regionals lately?
How many kids from each school got drafted this year?
And most importantly, how are the schools ranked academically?

quote:

Originally posted by scoro:
Is there a final D1 ranking of all Illinois schools?
Warren Nolan RPI

Anyone win their conference or go to WS regionals lately?
UIC

How many kids from each school got drafted this year?
If you go to each schools website there will be articles about drafted players. I know Illinois had players drafted, and I think Bradley also.

quote:

Originally posted by soxnole:
My Take:

Best Conference and schedule
ISU,Illinois,NW,NIU,SIU and UIC
Best Coaching
NIU,SIU,UIC
Best chance to play
NW,SIU and NIU

Best advice if you are good enough:

Play in warm weather....there are many choices better than any in Illinos

Little chance for a collegiate baseball player at any level to get drafted. Little chance for that drafter player to play and stick in the bigs.

My best advise is to utilize baseball to get you to the best academic school possible. There are some real nice ones right here in Illinois.

scoro...you are correct!

I should have said "if you are good enough and can afford it."

Tuzi...A lot of college guys get drafted every June!....Illinois included.

I follow several of them including Hunter Jones who has been up and down with the Red Sox.

So as I read the RPI rankings, EIU is the top ranked baseball team in Illinois in 2009?
Their website says they had a player taken 48th overall, one in the 8th round and 1 in the 13th round.
They won their conference this year, went to the regionals last year.
Academically they are ranked 11th in the midwest.
Sounds like a pretty good program.

Scoro,
To categorize anyone as having, "a pretty good program", there needs to be some history of achievement. EIU certainly had a good year, and the program seems on the rise, however...

They lost 3 top players to the draft, can those be replaced? We'll see.

They lost their top asst. coach/recruiting coordinator.

If they have near this level of success in several of the next 10 years, then yup, I'd qualify them as having a "pretty good program". Right now, they're off to a nice start.

quote:

Originally posted by CPLZ:
Scoro,
To categorize anyone as having, "a pretty good program", there needs to be some history of achievement. EIU certainly had a good year, and the program seems on the rise, however...

They lost 3 top players to the draft, can those be replaced? We'll see.

They lost their top asst. coach/recruiting coordinator.

If they have near this level of success in several of the next 10 years, then yup, I'd qualify them as having a "pretty good program". Right now, they're off to a nice start.

Sean Lyons did a tremendous job for EIU and will do a great job for Bradley Univ....

RPI Rankings are all we have to compare programs general success but they do not speak to the myriad of issues confronting the prospective student athlete.

The RPI should be looked at over several years to determine the school's average rating and place in the pecking order. In that regard, EIU although on the rise would fall precipitously by comparison. This years average RPI of 167 for 9 programs says it all when considering there are about 300 D1 programs year to year.

Then:

Academics...U of I, Northwestern and Bradley far outshine the rest. However, maybe the student athlete in question wants a specific career choice or doesn't want to spend all his time in the library!?

Coaching...again the student athlete must look at whether or not the existing staff will be around for awhile. This is a definete issue in Illinois at most programs. At the top 10 or 20 programs the staffs are pretty consistent if not constant.

Facilities... can be brutal in Illinois. There isn't a facility in the state that can compare to the top programs. Many smaller programs around the country have signifigantly better facilities.

Budget...A real sleeper for student athletes that are being actively recruited. My son that played at ISU (40K Budget) was subject to 4 in a room while on the road and a never ending menu of Burger King and Pizza. Travel was a mini-bus or cheap charters that had a habit of breaking down.... My son at Florida State (300K+ Budget) always stayed at a Marriott or the like...2 to a room, wireless access and a breakfast buffet followed by a top notch restaurant for lunch and dinner! When traveling it was a private charter,commercial flight or sleeper accomodations for bus trips over 3 hours.
I would think that again, U of I, NW and Bradley spend a whole lot more than the other state schools while spending a whole lot less than the ACC,SEC etc.

Weather....SIU has slightly better weather than the rest in Illinois but if affordable, weather is a serious difference maker. Time on the field instead of the field house makes for a better and happier ballplayer.


Intangibles...expenses...dorm/living conditions....academic fit/degrees available....ratio of women to men...relatives living nearby....cultural differences etc. etc. etc.

Thanks Soxnole. Do you know of any website that someone could relatively quickly find a school's RPI over the past five/ten years?

"Boyds World"

Goes all the way back to 1997.

For instance:

Eastern was # 194 that year while ISU was # 88.

You may have to google it but it's there.

There is also a link @ [D1baseball.com]...easily the overall best info anywhere....[WarrenNolan.com] would be 2nd best.

For final RPI #'s Boyds and Warren Nolan are nearly the same, but I find Warren Nolan easier to search. In order to look at previous years, simply go up to the address bar and replace the 2009 with any year you wish to search.

quote:

Originally posted by soxnole:
"Boyds World"

Goes all the way back to 1997.

For instance:

Eastern was # 194 that year while ISU was # 88.

You may have to google it but it's there.

There is also a link @ [D1baseball.com]...easily the overall best info anywhere....[WarrenNolan.com] would be 2nd best.

Since I started this whole mess, I thought that I would add up some numbers. I went to Boyds World and calculated each team's 13 year average since 1997. I will also show the 2009 RPI so you can see how they have done recently. Some schools fluctuated more than others. Many schools changed coaches so take it for what it is worth. Thanks to Soxnole for pointing me in the right direction.

UofI 13 yr avg 104 2009 65
SIU 13 yr avg 128 2009 183
ISU 13 yr avg 137 2009 172
NU 13 yr avg 158 2009 215
EIU 13 yr avg 166 2009 61
BU 13 yr avg 179 2009 260
UIC 13 yr avg 181 2009 134
NIU 13 yr avg 206 2009 252
WIU 13 yr avg 252 2009 279

See this link for explanation of RPI:

http://www.boydsworld.com/baseball/rpi.doc

quote:

If a player goes outside of Illinois their scholarship would only cover the additional out of state tuition that they would be required to pay. This provides no or little monetary benefit to the player and his family.

Not exactly sure what you are trying to say here RR, but it sounds like a pretty broad statement that I am certain does not apply to every student athlete attending college out of state.

As far as the Illinois schools go, I think that Sean Lyons teaming up with Elvis Dominguez at Bradley should dramatically improve both the quality of the recruits and the level of coaching at Bradley.

Eastern had a fantastic season last year, with many making a valid argument that they should have made their regional.

Illinois State's 2009 recruiting class received honorable mention this year.

Just some of my thoughts on the three Illinois schools that have my attention for the upcoming seasons.