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Illinois Schools

Posted by Parent on January 22, 2025, 12:35 pm

Daughter has some interest and wants to stay in Illinois for school. U of I is out academically, but does anyone have insight into Eastern, Western, or Illinois State programs? I'm just wondering about coaching, facilities, etc.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by Illinois on January 23, 2025, 1:30 pm, in reply to "Illinois Schools"

How about non directional schools? How about il Wesleyan or Mckenndree or augustana

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by @Illinois on January 23, 2025, 2:21 pm, in reply to "Re: Illinois Schools"

I'm guessing here, but some of those are pretty academically selective. Also, some kids may want a larger school environment. I am basing my comments on Champaign being out of the mix.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by DePaul on January 23, 2025, 6:45 am, in reply to "Illinois Schools"

DePaul is good for medical field and the softball team just got a new coaching staff and some good recruits coming in

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by Stay away on January 30, 2025, 9:18 pm, in reply to "Re: Illinois Schools"

Coaching staff is a joke! No pitching! And sure Mommy.. your muffins recruiting class is the best lol

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by @Parent on January 22, 2025, 3:25 pm, in reply to "Illinois Schools"

What about Northern Illinois? It's probably a better softball and academic environment than either Western or Eastern.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by Larry Tree on January 29, 2025, 2:23 pm, in reply to "Re: Illinois Schools"

NIU's softball program is going downhill. Bad team field, bad recruiting 2025 class. They lost to a community college in the fall, and they most certainly played their starters.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by Parent 2 on January 25, 2025, 1:50 pm, in reply to "Re: Illinois Schools"

Not sure NIU is better than Western for Softball, but location is the closer to Chicago Area and for some majors like accounting it has a great reputation. The Coach at Western is great but it is a hard sell given the location, facilities and academics. NIU continues to lag behind in softball. EIU, SIU, ISU and Bradley are better softball programs. NIU should have an advantage recruiting given it has access to the indoor football practice field for winter and their field is not bad. EIU, SIU, Bradley and ISU do not have great indoor facilities from what I remember. SIU is probably the best stadium of those. The head coach left EIU last year and they lost some players to the portal. SIU lost players to portal too but historically has been good at softball. UIC should be one of the easiest sells for a coach. It has nice indoor facilities, a nice home field, great view of downtown skyline and is a great school. Medical related majors/business schools are strong. Softball they have struggled but I could see them rebuilding. One of the downsides is the adjacent neighborhoods, but the campus is a bit of an Oasis. If your daughter wants city living it is not a bad place. DePaul is rebuilding, great 2026 class, does not have great indoor facilities but the stadium is nice(turf) and academically is very good especially for accounting/business/medical related majors. Get to their camps and campuses. They all have pluses and minuses.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by @ parent on January 29, 2025, 8:55 am, in reply to "Re: Illinois Schools"

NIU'S softball field is horrible! They do not even have locker rooms for the players! I will say the indoor facility is nice.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by Really? on January 25, 2025, 4:32 pm, in reply to "Re: Illinois Schools"

NIU is (currently) in a mid major conference. The other Illinois schools you have referenced are not. NIU plays a more competitive schedule as a whole, with the exception of SIU. SIU has been an excellent softball school.

Also, when NIU has played those schools, they have either beaten those teams, or lost because the non-starters played that game. So be careful when you say that NIU might not be up to par compared to most of the other state schools.

A nice perk of NIU - coach allows players to have majors such as nursing, teaching and engineering.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by Umm on January 29, 2025, 8:52 am, in reply to "Re: Illinois Schools"

All of those schools are mid majors. I love the excuse that starters did not play when they lost to those teams. To say NIU has a tougher schedule is laughable.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by CollegeSoftball dad on January 26, 2025, 9:29 pm, in reply to "Re: Illinois Schools"

Most of the Illinois schools that are in the Missouri Valley Conference play a schedule at least as good, if not better, than NIU.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by @Parent on January 22, 2025, 3:23 pm, in reply to "Illinois Schools"

I think Illinois State is probably the better program competitively, and they have a couple of younger "Chicago" assistants who may understand the competitive landscape of softball locally.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by Parent on January 22, 2025, 1:37 pm, in reply to "Illinois Schools"

I went to WIU, I would not recommend anyone to go to that school, athletics or not. It used to be a great school for education and law enforcement, but it is no longer the same place it used to be.

Re: Illinois Schools

Posted by WIU on January 22, 2025, 3:12 pm, in reply to "Re: Illinois Schools"

I AGREE WE VISITED WIU A FEW YEARS AGO NOT SURE THEY WILL BE AROUND FOR ANOTHER 4 YEARS.

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