Rate the college programs in the Midwest

I think all those camps are run for the money with the added bonus of giving prospective players an up close look.

If you can, get on their radar before attending the camp. Just don't go to one that is for 12-18 year olds, go to the ones for 16-18 year olds.

I also believe the college camps at universities are run solely for the purpose of creating income. It certainly doesn't cost anything for them to put them on, so why would the charge hundreds of dollars a camper to go there if they were just looking for potential recruits?

One thing that I did notice at a couple. At the Michigan State camp, most of the campers, not all, but most, were decent ballplayers. At the Notre Dame camp, there were players there that you had to wonder if they had made their varsity team.

My son was interested in a school and had contact with the head coach via mail and email a couple of times. The head coach told him to introduce himself to the volunteer assistant from the school who would be an instructor at a showcase/camp my son was attending. After the camp, the volunteer told my son that he should attend the schools camp so the whole coaching staff could evaluate him. He did, and nothing became of it. We found out later that this school had already recieved a verbal commitment from the only scholarship pitcher they intended on signing that fall. So forgive me if I seem a bit jaded about why these college coaches run these high fee camps.

CPLZ, that experience is a good a good example of the "business" side recruiting.

I do beleive it is about money, but I do think that if you are what they are looking for, it can be a good way to get in front of them. The thing is, they will never say "don't spend the money, we aren't looking for any more RHP's this year." because they do want your money.

One good experience we had a few years ago was at Notre Dame. Coach Manieri came right out and told the kids and parents that the reason for attending that camp (summer HS players) should not be to impress the coaches and try to get recruited. At least he was upfront about it. That said I know a kid who was told by a current ND assistant that he should come to their camp because he was on their "Radar Screen." I know there isn't any chance this kid will get recruited by them. Of course this story came from the Dad so I didn't hear it first hand.

My son had a great time at Illinois' summer camp. Lots of baseball and rigor in the schedule of activities. Reviews are mixed from the kids that have attended BIG TEN and other conferance's winter camps.

My son played SS and CF and got a load of hits on the team that won the tournament at IL's summer camp. The IL coaches didn't even talk to him there. But he only finished his FR year too.

If your son is good enough to get noticed by the coaching staff, the camp has just become "legit."

We are looking at Eastern Kentucky for this summer. It is supposed to have a great Forensics department. How feasible is it for a kid to be able to play baseball, and study a rigorous subject such as a science, with labs?

Tuzi...

Talk to the Coach....see what he says. How much time do they want from your son each week?

Talk to someone in the Forensics Dept. and see what they say.

You know your son and how good he is at time management...I've got a feeling that that skill is of huge importance to those who are in a tough major and playing a sport at the same time.

Sometimes the negative of being on athletic scholarship can take away from school....depends on the coach and the school.

I think Joe Girardi got a degree in something like Chemical Engineering at Northwestern while palying ball, so obviously it can be done.

College camps are a great potential site to be seen. Many players are going to be seen while playing for HS or summer travel team. The major difference between camps and showcases is that a camp will be more geared toward improving your skills and a showcase will be geared more toward performing and being evaluated.
Tournaments are a favorite for scouts as you can see a number of teams at one site and it's very time efficient. Good tournaments are great equalizer, the top players emerge!

College camps have become very popular and there are quite a few of them, anywhere from the D1 thru JUCO. Some are by invitation and others are open to anyone. If one is offered in your area, it's an opportunity for additional exposure to college coaches and professional scouts.

Deleted by Moderator as it had nothing to do with the question or topic! For the info deleted, contact Ibach in a pm.

Ibach....

I could be wrong but....

I think the NCAA requires College Camps to be open and cannot be by invitation only.

Could be wrong.......

Ibach....

Did you write all that or should you be citing a source?

Fastball, I could be wrong on that, I will check and qualify that statement. Thanks.
I am thinking you are correct and the implication should be for a Showcase camp and not a college camp as it pertains to invitation only.

Missouri Valley - Evansville, MSU, Wichita St, Creighton, S IL, Bradley, N IA, IL State, IN State. Big Ten - You know the ones. Mid American - Kent St, Miami OH, OH, Bowling Green, Akron, Buffalo, Ball St, W MI, C MI, E MI, Toledo, N IL. No disrespect to other MW D1's including our own EIU, WIU.

You can investigate the academics and athletics. A "legit" camp? Run like a deer, throw the ball thru the wall, blast the ball over the fence, hustle on and off the field; and it will get "legit."

Maybe the snake oil salesman can provide you with some better advice, from there/their/they're sources.

bballdad1954-
Our experience here was very good with Michigan State and their staff. They are young and energetic, with a plan for the future. Although the coaches are new, two former players from our high school who were already there before the coaches came on board spoke very highly of the new coaches, as did their parents. The campus is beautiful, the education is top notch. I will add one small factor, if you have to practice indoors in the winter Michigan State has a great facility (as do most of the other Big Tens)to use that is the size of an entire football field w/ end zones. Some of the schools in the area have much, much smaller indoor facilities. Yes, the weather ain't the greatest but a school counselor told us before the entire recruiting process started that kids tend to do better within a 500 mile radius of home. That is not a guarantee, but you know, I can get in a car and go watch my boy a lot more often than I can get in a plane and fly off to South Carolina or Florida! You've got some pretty big names from the area going to U of I, those families might be thinking the same thing too - I don't really know that for sure. We did not and do not do camps - probably another thread to start...

I posted MY opinion, I don't want to get into an argument or debate. PM me if you like. Lots of people on this forum have a lot of great stuff to share but are choosing to stay away. Go into the General Forum for more opinions on schools! They help alot too.

Ibach, you don't HAVE to have an opinion on EVERY thread. Also, it would be nice if you read what the question is an try to answer it and not write an essay about whatever it is you want to say.
Fastball, cplz, tuzi and nc42 thanks for the input. anyone else?

quote:

I could be wrong on that, I will check and qualify that statement

Finally we have gotten to problem all along. Instead of state first and qualify second it appears our boy is turning over a new leaf.

bballdad,

For what it's worth, I have to put in a good word for the University of Minnesota.

My older son (04 RHP) is the baseball player in our family and attended their summer camp when he was 15, really enjoyed it and got good instruction from current Gophers players and coaches, and a brief video evaluation from the pitching coach. Then in fall of his senior year he played in the U of M's HS fall league at Siebert Field, on campus. He was not recruited by the U of M and we did not expect him to be (did not have DI pitching velocity), but we did observe several players in that fall league appearing to begin "getting recruited" by the coaches. I don't know if any of those newly discovered players received offers. (Hmm-m-m, I take that back. I do recognize at least 3 or 4 names on the current Gophers roster as having played in that Fall league with my son - there could well be more.)

My 04 son ended up at a D3 where he is very happy, but he thought very highly of the Gophers baseball staff and players, and we know many others who speak very highly of their coaching staff. You can check out their gophersports.com website and see that the U does support their sports programs and they have had a pretty successful Big Ten baseball team. Mostly Minnesota players, but Gary Perinar from IL is pitching for the Gophers.

My 06 son (not a baseball player) is a freshman at the U of Minn this year and just loves the school. A large but welcoming campus, lots of cultural and sports entertainment, very good instruction in the classroom, and a degree from the U is well respected in the Midwest.

College camps are open. The invitation only showcases will be visited by many college coaches & scouts. The guys running the showcases invite the coaches. Julie great post! That's great your kids are happy and ended up at colleges that are conducive to them academically and athletically.
This sends a strong message that each kid can find a good fit, takes a little time and research but the end result will hopefully be similar to your situation.

IBACH


Why are you always apologizing for your posts which in most cases are misleading ?

Think first then type !!!!!

TR

Take care of your business from last summer instead of sniping on the Illinois forum.

SHEEEEESH!

Point of information:

D1 Schools cannott have camps by invite only.

I will be more careful in the wording, college coaches frequently send out invitations to camps. The camps are not invite only. Sox, the snipping gets a bit tiring, but I can handle it. My motivation here was to provide some helpful info for the kids & parents.

My son attended Notre Dame's H.S. camp this summer. Very well run by Dave Schrage and his staff. All the coaches were accessible and great with the kids.
I've heard Clemson (not midwest of course) is an excellent camp too.

Blazer, I agree with a lot of what you posted here. However, this thread is hijacked and so, I'm trying my best to get it back on track. I hope I haven't offended you. For all of us, a little story:

When the fisherman throws that bait out, it takes the fish to help set the hook. If we don't bite, then the hook will never be set!

Ibach your are only as helpful as you are accurate.

Blazer, Thanks for the information. I disagree with some of it. Some of what you say is being contradicted by some other "scouts" not associate scouts by the way. Great web site, I could learn a lot from you. As for the "methinks wizard comment....I live at 3800 N. Lake Shore Drive.
I workout at the East Bank Club, 500 N. Kingsbury St., and work in the loop.
What's important here is that the kids and parents can see the different opinions and alternative sources of information. Blazer, you make some good points, however, as stated, not all scouts agree with what you say. I respect your input but question why you and some others feel the need to insult me. I wasn't promoting anything, just trying to underscore some important information that could be useful to the younger kids that visit here.

Iback...

I don't think anyone has insulted you.

FBD, Mind your own business. I've tried to insult Ibach without much success it seems. LOL.

I just have to ask, are you guys trying to impress the kids that visit here or each other?
***

The original post in this thread asked about academics as well as baseball, so I'm just adding an update about academics at the University of Minnesota:

Our 06 son had about 70 students in his HS graduating class (small Christian school) so we wondered how he would do at a much larger campus. First semester went great. This week was the beginning of second semester, and he's taking his first course with 200+ students in lecture hall. He said the instructor is such a good lecturer, and the topic so interesting, that the class time just flies by in that course. All of his teachers so far, even in freshman level classes, have been very good.

Ibach and other staffers holding court today at Reza's Restaurant 432 Ontario Chicago just down from the East Bank Club 12:00- 1:30PM All websters invited drop by and say Hi! Blazer please try and make it. An authentic scout will be on hand to debate you. No Tr you can not sit with me on the same side.

IBACH


Did I ask?---I would not for fear of insulting you

Tr Thanks I appreciate that. Now we are getting somwhere. Mutual respect would be a nice refreshing change of pace.

The main problem with Ibach is that he ruins threads. In this case, I asked a legitimate question. Now the thread is hijacked by back and forth nonsense after ibach felt compelled to write an essay that had very little to do with the topic. He is diminishing the value of this site. While I understand websters compulsion to take issue with him, the debates put the topics off course. I think it is better to ignore him, and maybe he'll just hang out downtown with his rich friends.

I have had a few players attend camps at Missouri and I have one player that plays there and I have heard wonderful things about the staff and facilities. They highly recommend it. The young man who plays at Missouri loves the competition of the Big 12 and can't talk about his experience there without smiling.

bballdad1954, well put. Topic is way off course. I'M GOING TO GO DELETE SOME OF THIS NONSENSE AND GET THIS TOPIC BACK ON TRACK. YOU DESERVE TO BE ABLE TO POST ON TOPICS WITHOUT THE CONSTANT HIJACKING.

ONE WOULD ASK WHY THIS IS HAPPENING AND WHY ALL OF A SUDDEN MY PMS EXPLODE!!! With complaints. I intend to checkout if some of this, as one poster suggested is a cut and past job from another website. If so, IT GOES BACK TO WHAT I'VE TRIED TO WARN SOME POSTERS ABOUT = AGENDA! (****IT!)

In an effort to get back on track!

Never really sure what the bounderies are for the Midwest!

However, the top programs in my estimation over the past several years include…

Nebraska
Notre Dame
Wichita State
I’m sure I missed quite a few

Many of the camps are very good, but not necessarily run for recruiting purposes. Still a player showing talent could very well be recruited by the school that held the camp.

Some college camps seem to have much more talent in attendance than others. The camp can not be strictly invitational and need to be “open” by NCAA rules.

The main reasons for attending a college camp should be to learn things. You should never leave a camp without learning a few things. The learning can range from the obvious baseball fundamentals to finding out more about the school, facilities, coaching staff, etc.

Colleges run camps for several reasons and making money is of course one of those reasons. However, camps also prove to be valuable promotional venues for the college and can help find talent for recruiting purposes. In addition, both the coaching staff and the player might have an opportunity to get to know one another.

Nearly all major Midwest colleges and for that matter all major universities have a good balance between academics and athletics. Some do place more emphasis on baseball than others.

To me the most important ingredient in a successful college program is the Coaching Staff! That would be my choice as the best reason to get serious about any college.

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
The main reasons for attending a college camp should be to learn things. You should never leave a camp without learning a few things. The learning can range from the obvious baseball fundamentals to finding out more about the school, facilities, coaching staff, etc.

PG,
I'll stipulate to the fact that you have 1000 times more experience than me on this matter, so my view is limited to a few camps. Based on that, I'd have to mildly disagree with the above statement.

I think they use the word camp to circumvent the word showcase and therefore fall within NCAA (No Clue About Anything) guidelines. If in fact the emphasis were on instruction then why would most camps spend 80% of the time breaking the players out into squads and playing games and 20% of the time with coaches gaining instruction? Most of the instruction I have seen is pretty rudimentary.

Also, in the camps I did attend, I didn't hear a single parent talk about how much there son was there to learn, but a lot of talk about which coaches were there to see their son and how their son performed.

JMHO

quote:

An authentic scout

Ibach,

The people that matter and need to know my qualifications are very aware of them.

The amount someone is paid doesn't always relate to his value or expertise.

You couldn't have been more condescending if you tried.

Sorry to hijack Julie and Coach.

Back to the topic at hand:

Top Midwest Programs:
Nebraska
Notre Dame
Minnesota
Creighton
Wichita State

Up and comers:
UIC
Kansas
Bradley

Where do you guys consider Ohio State and Michigan in your rankings ?

Tr,

OSU had a good run in the 90's but has been up and down since.

MI has had some really good in-state recruiting classes the past few years and might be very good in the near future.

MN has a distinct advantage in recruiting...the Dome. Although they have played fewer games there in recent years.

blazer



Did you get my voice mail?


Tom