Hello Carolinas
My friend has a son who will be a h.s. senior
pitcher at one of the bigger baseball programs
in texas and i am encouraging him to look at
some out of state colleges.

The Carolina's have a lot of good baseball schools; Clemson, UNC, USC but I'd like to hear
from you folks. Which ones are the best baseball schools/coaches? Lemme hear your
thoughts and recommendations. thanx.

Moon

All of the programs you mentioned are great. I am most familiar with Carolina and Coach Fox. I played for him in the mid-80's. Good Christian man, great teacher of the game. Has won at every level he has coached. Good luck!

Sorry Larry, but the "Carolina" coach is Ray Tanner!!

Moon - Many of the state supported schools in North Carolina have a "quota" on out of state students - meaning that they will only take a small percentage. If you check the rosters of these schools, you will see that they are leaning more towards in-state students. Your student may have a better chance staying in his home state - and I would encourage you to ask questions if he still is interested in going to Carolina (I don't know if SOuth Carolina is restricting out of state enrollments).

Callaway...you been striking the little white ball too much. Carolina means UNC, and the coach is Mike Fox! I know Ray is the coach at USC (East). I remember him from his days at N.C. State. For future reference, when someone says CAROLINA, they ain't talking no GAMECOCKS!!!

Tell it Larry!! "little carolina" has had our number the last few games, but I hope we're gaining on them. Callaway, you've got to teach Boomer who the real Carolina is. Good luck to him in Cooperstown. I know two boys who have been, and absolutely loved it.

oops- didn't mean to wake up the hatfields
and mc coys and i shoulda figgered on the
carolina rivalry. thanx to all for such
thoughts as came thru. will have to do
some homework on 'quotas' and such.

just seemed to me that the carolinas would
be a good place to go to school and maybe
chunk a little baseball.

moon

Don't forget Clemson and Coach Leggett. I got to see the Clemson facilities this past week and they were great. I met the coach for the first time and he was personable and knows his baseball. Plus Clemson has a tremendous baseball history.

The've done a nice job of representing the big boys, but baseball in the Carolina's is a lot more than UNC-Chapel Hill vs USC (East).

North Carolina:

• East Carolina was ranked all season in the top-10. (C-USA)
  
• Academically you can't do much better than Duke (ACC)
  
• Wake Forest is another great academic school (ACC)
  
• The Southern Conference had an RPI ranking of 12 in the nation
  
• Western Carolina, Davidson, Elon, UNC-G and App State all play in the Southern Conference
  
• The Big South conference can be pretty challenging also: UNC-A, High Point
  
• Gardner-Webb plays in the tough Atlantic-Sun conference
  
• UNC-Charlotte is moving from C-USA to the Atlantic-10.
  
• UNC-Wilmington always has a strong program in the Colonial Conf.
  

South Carolina:

• Coastal Carolina and Winthrop are consistent challengers in the Big South
  
• The Citadel and College of Charleston always rank near the top of the Southern Conference
  
• Furman and Wofford play in the Southern Conference
  
• Even though USC gets all the press in SC, Clemson has an outstanding program (ACC)
  

Depending on the size of institution you want to attend, there are a lot of good baseball programs in the state(s).

HHH

What you spell out in terms of programs is why we will be at Western Carolin University this weekend for the Catamount Classsic

HHH

WOW! Now that was some good info. I knew
that there were some schools that I was not
familiar with - but this should give the
young feller something to study about...

Y'all really do play some beisbol in the
Carolinas.

Thanx..........MooN

My son chose Clemson over our state schools. It seems that in our state (FL), programs are well run but lacking traditions that we found to be more abundant in the Carolinas...along with many state rivalries that make for great games.
I can't speak for any other school, but Clemson recruits many (mostly) from out of state as I do believe Duke does also.

Due to the number of programs in the Carolinas, a lot of the schools end up with out-of-state players, usually comprising about half (or more) of the roster. This list is just the baseball playing colleges and Universities.

North Carolina D1 Schools:
Appalachian State, Southern Conference
Campbell, Atlantic Sun
Charlotte, C-USA, moving to Atlantic-10
Davidson, Southern Conference
Duke, ACC
East Carolina, C-USA
Elon, Southern Conference
Gardner-Webb, Atlantic Sun
High Point, Big South
NC A&T,
NC State, ACC
North Carolina, ACC
UNC-Asheville, Big South
UNC-Greensboro, Southern Conference
UNC-Wilmington, Colonial
Wake Forest, ACC
Western Carolina, Southern Conference

North Carolina DII, DIII, NAIA and Juco schools
Barber-Scotia, EIAC conf of NAIA
Barton, CVAC (D2)
Belmont Abbey, CVAC (D2)
Blue Ridge, JUCO
Brevard, NAIA moving to D2
Catawba, SAC (D2)
Chowan, USA South (D3)
Elizabeth City ST,
Greensboro, USA South (D3)
Guilford, Old Dominion Athletic Conf (D3)
Lenoir, Juco
Lenoir-Rhyne, SAC (D2)
Louisburg, JUCO
Mars Hill, SAC (D2)
Methodist, USA South (D3)
Montreat, NAIA
Mount Olive, CVAC (D2)
NC Wesleyan, USA South (D3)
Pfeiffer, CVAC (D2)
Pitt, JUCO
Rockingham, JUCO
Saint Augustine’s
St Andrews Pres, CVAC (D2)
Shaw, CIAA
Southeastern, JUCO
Surry, JUCO
UNC-Pembroke, Peach Belt Conference (D2)
Wilkes, JUCO
Wingate, SAC (D2)

South Carolina D1's:
Charleston Southern, Big South
The Citadel, Southern
Clemson, ACC
Coastal Carolina, Big South
College of CHarleston, Southern
Furman, Southern
South Carolina, SEC
Winthrop, Big South
Wofford, Southern

South Carolina D2's/D3's & NAIA
Anderson, CVAC (D2)
Benedict, SIAC (D2)
Coker, CVAC (D2)
Claflin,
Erskine, CVAC (D2)
Francis Marion
Lander, Peach Belt (D2)
Limestone, CVAC (D2)
Morris, EIAC conf of NAIA
Newberry, SAC (D2)
North Greenville
Presbyterian, SAC (D2)
USC-Aiken, Peach Belt (D2)
USC-Salkehatchie
USC-Upstate, Peach Belt (D2)
S. Wesleyan, NAIA
Spartanburg Meth, JUCO
Voorhees

JUCO list (Region X mostly)
Blue Ridge CC
Lenoir CC
Louisburg College
Pitt CC
Rockingham CC
South Carolina-Salkehatchie
Southeastern CC
Spartanburg Methodist College
Surry CC
Wilkes CC

Moon

I can tell you as a Yankee boy who came down South to play baseball the Carolina's are about as good as it gets. The people are awesome, and the baseball is fantastic! I played D2 ball in the Peachbelt Conference and had a blast. Most Yankee's look down on D2 ball, but I guarantee my college team could have whooped up on a good chunk (not all) of D1 schools up North. I played at USC-Upstate (Spartanburg, SC) while currently my little brother plays at Francis Marion University (Florence, SC).

Being so far away from home is tough, but it is all worth it when you are playing ball in late January early February.

rifles,

Nice post. Did you find yourself having to adjust to the heat during fall workouts? Did players who grew up in the south initially have an advantage over you? or is it not that big of deal. I know it is very hot down there right now (e.g., heat index 117 yesterday).

Adjusting to the heat was not that big of a deal for me. In fact I loved the weather. Our first game when I was Junior was on January 29th, back home they had 2 feet of snow on the ground!!

To answer your other question, I do think some of the "local" kids had an advantage over me. Not because they were better athletes or smarter ball players. But they had more experience. Due to the climate in the southern region, you can play ball all year long. Where I grew up, you played Highschool ball and that was it. I probably played 36 games a year. Down south they have got legion ball during the summer, fall ball during the winter and then the regular season. They just flat out had more experience ... why do you think the SEC is such a powerhouse in College Baseball. Flordia, South Carolina, Tennesse, Georgia, LSU, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Miss. State. Not one team in that conference had a losing record last year. Not to mention the great ACC schools in the South East, Clemson, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech. There is a reason these teams are so good. They can play year round. Just food for thought.

Any thoughts on Mars Hill? Are they turning it around after a few tough years? How are the facilities, and the academics?

SAC looks like a really competitive conference.

Thanks in advance.

quote:

Even though USC gets all the press in SC, Clemson has an outstanding program (ACC)

hold on a second there TIger Mom you have apparently never read an issue of the State (the Columbia paper) or the Post and Courier (the Charleston Paper) the only time USC gets coverage in either of those is when we lose or one of our players screws up.

other than that Ray Tanner is the man when it comes to college coaches in the south east...or the country even.

I can also say that Coach Smotzer (I know that isnt even how you spell his name but of well) at Coker College in SC is a pretty good coach as well, and there will never be a dull moment with him around...it is just difficult to recruit players to come to that school.

also you can add Florence-Darlington Tech to the list of JUCOs as they just started a baseball program I believe

As point of reference teammate on sons American Legion team playing for Florence-Darlington Tech
and seem satisfied with program so far.

Moon,he can stay in state and do just fine! There isn't a facility in the Carolina's that rivals U of Texas, Texas AM or Baylor.