Any inside info on Macalester baseball program? Conference,facilities, record last few years, coaching staff, any other info would be appreciated.
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trob1948,
My son plays for a D3 college in Minnesota that is not in the same conference as Macalester, but plays some of the sames teams in cross-conference play.
There is some good baseball played in both conferences, though perhaps only the top couple of teams in each conference could compete with the best D3's in the nation. (The winner of my son's conference UMAC ended the season as the 14th ranked D3 in the country and had a few players drafted, the winner of Macalester's conference MIAC was ranked 24th D3 nationally and has had players drafted in the past - but a team or two at the bottom of both conferences would usually be relatively weak.)
You can check out Macalester's record from last year (6-14, 12-24) here:
http://www.macalester.edu/athletics/standings0405.html
And here:
http://www.miac-online.org/baseballsched05.html
Macalester lost 4-0 and won 6-5 against St. Thomas, the 24th ranked D3, but actually had worse results against some teams that I know are weaker than St. Thomas, so having seen some of the teams in the conference play but not having watched Macalester, I would guess that last year they had some good players but not a lot of depth, especially at pitcher.
We've heard good things about head coach Matt Parrington.
http://www.macalester.edu/athletics/baseball/coaching_staff.html
He was an assistant (pitching coach) previously at Minnesota State University-Mankato (played there also), which is generally considered the best D2 in this region and can be competitive against D1/Big Ten University of Minnesota - so he has coached at a very strong program.
Macalester is very competitive academically. It was my niece's top choice of schools and she was a good student, but was not admitted. It's a beautiful campus and I believe they have a nice baseball field on campus as part of an athletic complex (football, soc cer, baseball, softball). You can take a visual tour at:
http://www.macalester.edu/admissions/visualtour/index.html
I hope some of this helps!
My son plays for a D3 college in Minnesota that is not in the same conference as Macalester, but plays some of the sames teams in cross-conference play.
There is some good baseball played in both conferences, though perhaps only the top couple of teams in each conference could compete with the best D3's in the nation. (The winner of my son's conference UMAC ended the season as the 14th ranked D3 in the country and had a few players drafted, the winner of Macalester's conference MIAC was ranked 24th D3 nationally and has had players drafted in the past - but a team or two at the bottom of both conferences would usually be relatively weak.)
You can check out Macalester's record from last year (6-14, 12-24) here:
http://www.macalester.edu/athletics/standings0405.html
And here:
http://www.miac-online.org/baseballsched05.html
Macalester lost 4-0 and won 6-5 against St. Thomas, the 24th ranked D3, but actually had worse results against some teams that I know are weaker than St. Thomas, so having seen some of the teams in the conference play but not having watched Macalester, I would guess that last year they had some good players but not a lot of depth, especially at pitcher.
We've heard good things about head coach Matt Parrington.
http://www.macalester.edu/athletics/baseball/coaching_staff.html
He was an assistant (pitching coach) previously at Minnesota State University-Mankato (played there also), which is generally considered the best D2 in this region and can be competitive against D1/Big Ten University of Minnesota - so he has coached at a very strong program.
Macalester is very competitive academically. It was my niece's top choice of schools and she was a good student, but was not admitted. It's a beautiful campus and I believe they have a nice baseball field on campus as part of an athletic complex (football, soc cer, baseball, softball). You can take a visual tour at:
http://www.macalester.edu/admissions/visualtour/index.html
I hope some of this helps!
Although we never made a campus visit, Macalester was top 3 on my son's D3 list, primarily because of the phone "vibe" from Coach Parrington. (I suspect you already know that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is a Macalester grad.)
I just spent the weekend recruiting with their assistant coach at the Headfirst Honor Roll showcase in Jupiter, Fl. Great guy, and very knowledgeable about baseball. Academics are top notch. It's ranked very high in liberal arts colleges. You cannot go wrong with this school.
You also may want to look at WPI if your son is interested in science and/or technology areas.
You also may want to look at WPI if your son is interested in science and/or technology areas.
