Sun Belt and Southland Conferences

I am very familiar with Western Kentucky and Arkansas State.

Sun Belt is a good conference. The conference has been ranked as high as 7th in recent years.

Arkansas State has a nice field and a good Coach.
Campus and town leave much to be desired, IMO.

WKU is a gorgeous campus, nice town and a very good baseball program. Young Coaching staff and great facilities.
It's also probably the closest to you of the schools listed.

Both ASU and WKU have moderate tuition, even for out-of-state. Academically, I would say WKU is ranked higher.

Curious as to your Son's interest in those conferences? Likes the warmer weather?

Son played four years in the Sunbelt with Lousiana-Lafayette. There is quite a bit of parity in the conference and the level of play is good. The rosters are not as deep as SEC, Big 12 or ACC teams, but they routinely compete well against those teams in regionals and mid-week games. I think the conference is similar to CUSA in overall quality.

Pitching and defense usually wins, although FIU has made a splash with an offensive team run by Turtle Thomas, (former LSU coach).

They usually have a decent amount of draft picks with several MLB guys playing now. Four of sons teammates are on 40 man rosters, one an everyday starter.

David Freese, the STL 3B went to South Alabama.

the Southland is generally a step down in quality from the Sunbelt, but not a bad mid-major conference.

Thanks for the information!

gitnby....combination of things. Yes, after 10+ years of playing in the cold, he would like to play in warmer weather. Also, would like to play in a good baseball conference. At the same time, very difficult trying to project a 2014 kid that is 6'1 but only weighs 145 lbs. So, trying to be realistic at where he might be able to play. Working hard 6 days a week....3 days a week he does 1 hour of speed/agility/power followed by 1 hour of lifting. 3 days a week he hits and throws. Getting a lot stronger....would like to see him add weight but that has been a struggle.

My son was recruited pretty heavily by Louisiana - Lafayette. He ended up somewhere else but I can tell you Coach Robichaux and Coach Trahan are both top notch guys.

The main benefit of living in Lafayette would be the food! Also, the baseball players are treated like kings around town.

I am fairly familiar with Corpus Christi A & M as my son was recruited by them in the summer and fall of 2008 and our travel teams played down there multiple times. They are in the process of upgrading their own stadium, adding lights and such and I think they describe the upgrades on their site. They have in the past played some of the bigger games at Whataburger Field, the home of the Corpus Christi Hooks minor league team. The school itself is located on a kind of island/peninsula right off the water--very beautiful. Nice weather most of the year and probably not quite as hot as most of TX with the Gulf breezes. The field was nothing special in 2008-2009 , but like I've said I believe they have upgraded substantially. One thing, although a middling D1, the school does not have a football team if that is important. The coach seems to be a high energy guy who changes his lineup a lot during the season using a lot of different players.

Another school in the Southland conference that son was recruited by was Sam Houston State in Huntsville TX located in the Piney Woods section of TX, much more to the north/east above Houston. Beautiful facilities, both field, weightroom and batting cage area. New coach last year as Mark Johnson retired but a usually solid winning record. Pretty part of TX with some dense Pine forests. Large captive fan base--located near one of if not the largest prison facility in TX School has specialty in criminology and law enforcement courses.

quote:

Originally posted by Renegades5:
Thanks for the information!

gitnby....combination of things. Yes, after 10+ years of playing in the cold, he would like to play in warmer weather. Also, would like to play in a good baseball conference. At the same time, very difficult trying to project a 2014 kid that is 6'1 but only weighs 145 lbs. So, trying to be realistic at where he might be able to play. Working hard 6 days a week....3 days a week he does 1 hour of speed/agility/power followed by 1 hour of lifting. 3 days a week he hits and throws. Getting a lot stronger....would like to see him add weight but that has been a struggle.

My Son(2009)was around 6' 1" and weighed 154 on Thanksgiving Day of his Junior year.
With lifting and protein shakes, etc, he was about 170 the next Spring and played Fall ball at 175-180.
He reported to his college at 190 and was 195 his Sophomore year. As a Junior, he is now 200-205 and grew to 6'2".

Good Luck as you and your Son move forward in the process!

My son is a freshman RHP at A&M-Corpus and loves it. If you want any particulars, PM me.

My son signed with Northwestern State for his Junior year. He was impressed with the coaches. Oral Roberts will join the Southland next season, this will definitely step up the competition in the conference.

OK Heat....congrats to your son! What position does he play? Where did he play his JUCO ball?

RHP. Playing Juco in Kansas. Had several visits around the country,(UIC in Chicago, and Appalachian state) but opted for the warm climate in Louisiana.

Good baseball, but know that you aren't receiving the best of degrees from any school in these conferences. A degree is what you make it though.

Heat..I hear you. But, as you say, you can do well anywhere if you want to put in the effort. Been in executive recruiting a long time.....seen people at the big name schools (Harvard, etc) underachieve. Seen people from schools I've never heard of do very, very well.

The name of the school with respect to the degree that it grants used to be an extremely important factor to consider. Having worked in corporate america and graduating from a top ten law school back in the 80's, I can tell you that after the first job it does not matter to much where you attend school. Okay, there are reasons where the name of the school does count. Corporate america does not discriminate when it downsizes. Whether you go to Harvard, Yale or any other big name school, when they cut you they don't make that decision based on where you attend school. The one difference may be the lesser degreed school attendee may have a lower loan amount to pay off when they are cut. Of course you can always play the graduate school game and get your next degree from a name school. Point is don't get to caught up in the name of the school because at somepoint in the future given the way tuitions keep outpacing inflation your children may in the future have no other option but to go to an online school because the bricks and mortar schools may have priced most of middle americans out of an education. (smile) I am not discounting that aspiring to go to a big name school is not important, it is just not the only consideration. I say this as with a lot of pain as one of my sons is attending one of those top 20 highly regarded and over priced schools. Got to go as I need some time to figure how to pay that next tuition payment due in January.

A degree is what you make of it, wherever you go. Water seeks its own level. Players will generally pick the best baseball program that wants them, then work hard on an off the field, if they are smart. It's a two-way street.....and a cr@p shoot.