Nebraska, with its resources and big potential, no longer the outlier in Big Ten
By Jon Nyatawa / World-Herald Bureau
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s baseball team will open its Big Ten season at a lavish 3-year-old stadium, complete with locker rooms, indoor batting cages and a flawlessly manicured playing surface.
There may not be a road trip that better encapsulates the evolution of this league — which previously seemed destined to be a footnote on the college baseball landscape but has raised its profile considerably since NU joined the conference in 2012.
The Huskers were the de facto standard setter back then, lush with resources, tradition and fan support. Nebraska is still positioned well to claim an annual place atop the Big Ten standings.
But more programs have leveled the playing field. NU will experience that firsthand this weekend when it faces Purdue at Alexander Field — a gorgeous facility housing a team that’s won just six league games during each of the last three seasons.
It’s why Nebraska coach Darin Erstad chuckles a bit when you ask him to project what will happen in the Big Ten over the next two months. The last four years haven’t exactly gone as planned.
“You have a national seed, a team go to the College World Series, another national seed, another team that went to super regionals,” Erstad said. “It’s not like there have been bad teams. And it’s the same thing (in 2016). Who knows what the heck is going to happen this year?”
Four years ago, Erstad cautioned over-confident Husker fans expecting Big Ten dominance upon entering this league — because the conference was underrated and its prideful programs would place a target on NU’s back.
But Erstad wasn’t expecting this type of league-wide rise, either.
There were a record five Big Ten teams in the 2015 NCAA tournament. Illinois was a national top-eight seed, becoming the third Big Ten program to host a regional in the last four years. Seven teams from this conference have reached a regional since 2012.
The league saw 53 of its players selected in the 2015 MLB draft — nearly doubling the per-team average output over the past decade. The Big Ten ranked seventh nationally in conference RPI, and eight of its members were in the RPI top 55.
“The bar has definitely been raised,” said first-year Northwestern coach Spencer Allen, who’s been an assistant at Purdue and Illinois. “(In years past), you’d see a drastic drop-off. But I could see us getting four teams in (a regional) this year. I know that there’s talented guys in the league.”
Spending has increased — with the Big Ten Network as the bountiful benefactor — and many league coaches point to it as the biggest factor for the league’s improvement.
Conference teams averaged $1.24 million worth of expenses in 2010, according to data filed with the U.S. Department of Education. That increased to $1.81 million per team in 2014 (a 46 percent jump).
It meant improved facilities, additional recruiting trips, an increased likelihood of coach retention and better equipment. Purdue coach Doug Schreiber certainly saw the benefits of updated amenities in West Lafayette, Indiana.
“Even though it doesn’t set us apart,” Schreiber said, “you (as a recruit) don’t walk away going, ‘I don’t know if I can play there because I don’t know if the emphasis toward baseball is there.’ ”
When Schreiber took over the Purdue program in 1999, he recalled that only two Big Ten venues had lights installed. The Boilermakers’ home stadium through 2012 was essentially a glorified high school field — yet Purdue still managed to finish third in the league twice and second three times before winning it outright in 2012.
Now everyone’s investing. And all of the expectations are rising.
The full impact may not have been felt yet. When you recruit two to three years in advance, Schreiber said, the shockwaves of success aren’t always immediate. The Boilermakers are just now adding the recruits they lured following a 2012 run to regionals and a new stadium reveal a few months later.
Now that Big Ten teams have proven they can compete, they see no reason why they can’t continue at the pace established one year ago. A league-wide upswing.
“I think that’s been a big hole for Midwestern kids — they’ve always felt they’ve got to go to the SEC, ACC or to other schools in warmer weather to get to the College World Series,” Schreiber said. “Now kids are starting to realize that we can get to the CWS here in the Big Ten.”
Go Hoosiers!
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/nebras...cle_5fe7446e-d3e4-55d9-ae38-303a8852f7e1.html
By Jon Nyatawa / World-Herald Bureau
LINCOLN — Nebraska’s baseball team will open its Big Ten season at a lavish 3-year-old stadium, complete with locker rooms, indoor batting cages and a flawlessly manicured playing surface.
There may not be a road trip that better encapsulates the evolution of this league — which previously seemed destined to be a footnote on the college baseball landscape but has raised its profile considerably since NU joined the conference in 2012.
The Huskers were the de facto standard setter back then, lush with resources, tradition and fan support. Nebraska is still positioned well to claim an annual place atop the Big Ten standings.
But more programs have leveled the playing field. NU will experience that firsthand this weekend when it faces Purdue at Alexander Field — a gorgeous facility housing a team that’s won just six league games during each of the last three seasons.
It’s why Nebraska coach Darin Erstad chuckles a bit when you ask him to project what will happen in the Big Ten over the next two months. The last four years haven’t exactly gone as planned.
“You have a national seed, a team go to the College World Series, another national seed, another team that went to super regionals,” Erstad said. “It’s not like there have been bad teams. And it’s the same thing (in 2016). Who knows what the heck is going to happen this year?”
Four years ago, Erstad cautioned over-confident Husker fans expecting Big Ten dominance upon entering this league — because the conference was underrated and its prideful programs would place a target on NU’s back.
But Erstad wasn’t expecting this type of league-wide rise, either.
There were a record five Big Ten teams in the 2015 NCAA tournament. Illinois was a national top-eight seed, becoming the third Big Ten program to host a regional in the last four years. Seven teams from this conference have reached a regional since 2012.
The league saw 53 of its players selected in the 2015 MLB draft — nearly doubling the per-team average output over the past decade. The Big Ten ranked seventh nationally in conference RPI, and eight of its members were in the RPI top 55.
“The bar has definitely been raised,” said first-year Northwestern coach Spencer Allen, who’s been an assistant at Purdue and Illinois. “(In years past), you’d see a drastic drop-off. But I could see us getting four teams in (a regional) this year. I know that there’s talented guys in the league.”
Spending has increased — with the Big Ten Network as the bountiful benefactor — and many league coaches point to it as the biggest factor for the league’s improvement.
Conference teams averaged $1.24 million worth of expenses in 2010, according to data filed with the U.S. Department of Education. That increased to $1.81 million per team in 2014 (a 46 percent jump).
It meant improved facilities, additional recruiting trips, an increased likelihood of coach retention and better equipment. Purdue coach Doug Schreiber certainly saw the benefits of updated amenities in West Lafayette, Indiana.
“Even though it doesn’t set us apart,” Schreiber said, “you (as a recruit) don’t walk away going, ‘I don’t know if I can play there because I don’t know if the emphasis toward baseball is there.’ ”
When Schreiber took over the Purdue program in 1999, he recalled that only two Big Ten venues had lights installed. The Boilermakers’ home stadium through 2012 was essentially a glorified high school field — yet Purdue still managed to finish third in the league twice and second three times before winning it outright in 2012.
Now everyone’s investing. And all of the expectations are rising.
The full impact may not have been felt yet. When you recruit two to three years in advance, Schreiber said, the shockwaves of success aren’t always immediate. The Boilermakers are just now adding the recruits they lured following a 2012 run to regionals and a new stadium reveal a few months later.
Now that Big Ten teams have proven they can compete, they see no reason why they can’t continue at the pace established one year ago. A league-wide upswing.
“I think that’s been a big hole for Midwestern kids — they’ve always felt they’ve got to go to the SEC, ACC or to other schools in warmer weather to get to the College World Series,” Schreiber said. “Now kids are starting to realize that we can get to the CWS here in the Big Ten.”
Go Hoosiers!
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/nebras...cle_5fe7446e-d3e4-55d9-ae38-303a8852f7e1.html
