Normally, it would be ridiculous to compare a P4 school to any other mid/low major… but Illinois softball has been adrift for quite some time. Great facilities and a fantastic school, but the program is in dire need of a reset. They could use a local to build a fence (a la Brett Bielema), instead of someone who takes recruiting trips to Hawaii and carries their dog around everywhere…

I feel bad for NIU softball, which gets screwed by football moving to the Mountain West. Softball doesn’t move with it, and is instead in the Horizon League now, since the school abandoned the MAC… that’s a substantial step down.

EIU has won some OVC titles of late. UIC has struggled in the MVC, but maybe new coach gets it going in the right direction…

Illinois is by all counts a strong softball state. Its college programs underperform.