UC Irvine

Blue10,

My son is a freshman at UCI. He's just getting his feet wet, but I will say publicly that he's enjoying his time thus far. He loves his teammates, has great respect for his coaches, and is working hard to help contribute in whatever way he can for this upcoming season.

Feel free to shoot me a PM with any additional questions or concerns.

There are quite a few discussions on www.collegebaseballrivals.com. About UCI. You may have to dig through the last 3 pages but there is a wealth of info there.

The budget question is a really good on concerning CA state schools. Other than Cal baseball there hasn't been anything in the news about baseball programs @ UC's/CSU's being cut. But you have to wonder if more of the athletic programs will be threatened with more budget cuts coming.

I think anyone in the UC/CSU system has to be at least aware of what is going on in the state system from a financial standpoint. From my perspective, CSUF and UCI are the power teams of the Big West and both programs have significant fan support, they are in wealthy areas, so there are revenue’s coming into those two programs that some of the others may not have. I don’t have any facts about this, but just an impression. Certainly if you are serious these are questions to ask during a visit. Rivals has all kinds of discussions on this, and other stuff, but frankly most of it is B$.

UCI is a very good school, it has a Nationally baseball program, it is cutthroat in terms of only the best play, but any Nationally ranked program is going to be like that…change that….actually all programs are like that, just that the talent level there will be pretty high.

Of course your best source of information will be bsbl.

I frequent the Rivals message board, No...I don't post on that site. However, there appears to be a few somewhat knowledgeable members there, especially regarding Big West, Pac 12, and SEC schools.

As BOF stated, you need to be aware of the circumstances surrounding the UC/CSU system. With that said, IMHO I don't think UCI is in danger of losing their baseball progam for a second time. I can tell you that UC Irvine received over 70,000 applications for enrollment at the November 30, 2011 deadline...obviously it's still a school people would like to attend.

Our high school uses UC Irvine's conditioning program. Specifically their Crossfit for Baseball. It is intense!

That was a big concern of mine when my 2011 was visiting. especially after the decision at Cal first came down. Head Coach from another UC told us "Baseball Program here funds itself, no need to worry". When choosing a school You really need to find a perfect fit...Don't worry so much just keep looking for it! Be Tenacious!

quote:

Head Coach from another UC told us "Baseball Program here funds itself, no need to worry".

Dad,
I am not at all doubting this was told to you, but I wonder if any UC baseball program fully funds itself.
If it did, it seems like it would all have to come from private donations and private sources.
Some of the numbers at Cal to fully fund its program well beyond the 10 years where they ended were pretty unbelievable. If I remember right, the school initially was looking at something like $85,000,000 needed so baseball could be operated in perpetuity. This was based on a 5% return and about $4,000,000 annual total operating costs for baseball, including salaries, retirements, benefits, field/grounds maintenance, scholarships, travel...you name it. Even the wonderful fund raising came to just less than $10,000,000.
I would think only UCLA could have private funding which might come close to fully funding baseball???
I think Stanford might be the closest in CA. to fully funded. The coaching position is fully endowed, they do well at the gate and probably do quite well from private donations.

Just spent the weekend at Anteater Ballpark at UCI. One of the more beautiful facilities I have been too. Absolutely gorgeous!

Great atmosphere, great baseball...great school!

(And a pretty nice 'dad' in bsbl247 too! ).

Infield DAD;

Did you view the Texas-Stanford game on Sunday?

Bob