September 12, 2008

Kendall Rogers
Rivals.com College Baseball Editor

The Wolverines have had a respectable program for years, but everything changed for the better when they defeated top-seeded Vanderbilt in the Nashville Regional two seasons ago.

A week later, the Wolverines fought hard against an Oregon State team that cruised through the College World Series and captured back-to-back national titles.

The Wolverines changed some people's perceptions of northern programs, but the opinion is far from universal. Besides Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State, St. John's and Nebraska, very few northern programs have made an impact on college baseball in recent seasons.

"From the time I arrived at Michigan, we've been committed to bringing in kids that are willing to work hard and that have that dirtbag approach so to speak," coach Rich Maloney told Rivals.com. "With those principles and other usable resources, I knew we could build a consistent winner at Michigan."

While Maloney has guided the Wolverines to four consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, he certainly isn't a stranger to success. Maloney led Ball State to two MAC titles in his six seasons there. He also earned All-America honors as a player at Western Michigan.

Maloney has learned something at each of his stops. As Ball State's coach, Maloney quickly found out that he would have to recruit many "projection" guys. He also faced the same challenges early in his career at Michigan, but recruiting has improved the past few seasons.

"At a northern school like Ball State or Michigan, you have to learn how to find projection guys. More important, you have to develop them," he said. "We have some advantages at Michigan because of our national name, television, success and things like that. But in the end, we're a northern program and must be able to develop players."

Maloney says recruiting in cold-weather climes is challenging. Most high school players don't play year-round and many athletes are two- or even three-sport athletes at their high schools. The lack of focus in baseball, he says, hinders their high school development and forces college coaches in the region into a more developmental role.

"A lot of the time, we're trying to ink players that are playing several sports in high school," he said. "High school players are essentially missing the window of opportunity to play more baseball. It's basically a situation where we have to develop more because these kids aren't getting enough reps."

Even with the obstacles the Wolverines and other cold-weather programs face regularly, Maloney believes you can win big with homegrown talent even if that talent has to be developed.

"Oregon State proved you can win the national title with homegrown talent, so I think we can do that at Michigan," he said. "I've always felt like if we can keep our best players in-state, we can win big at Michigan."

Former Michigan State coach and current LSU assistant David Grewe agrees with Maloney, but has a slightly different perspective on what cold-weather programs must do to take the next step.

The art of scheduling, Grewe says, is vital in the North. With weather often bad early in the season, many northern programs are forced to head South. But Grewe said he thinks improving facilities and increasing guarantees is a good way to improve schedules.

During his time as a Notre Dame assistant, Grewe points to mid-week contests against USC and Miami as a creative way to improve RPI, schedule strength and a program's national perception.

"It's very hard to schedule as a northern team, but it might be beneficial to see which big-time programs would be willing to come up for mid-week contests late in the year," Grewe said. "As a northern coach, the key to success is scheduling well early and getting financial support to play on the road and getting quality mid-week games."

Facilities also are a major issue in the North. Michigan State previously had poor facilities, but will open a new stadium in 2009. Michigan's park recently underwent renovations and now has a beautiful ballpark, while Penn State plays in a college baseball palace. Virginia Tech also has done some renovations at its English Field.

But there are some programs that haven't received the memo. Despite playing in the strong ACC, Boston College has one of the nation's worst facilities. And several Big Ten programs have poor facilities.

Though nicer facilities won't solve all the problems, it certainly would help.

"You must have money and support to succeed in the North," Grewe said. "If you have good facilities, recruits see that. You must have a reason for a recruit not to want to go South."

Maloney agrees with that assessment.

"When I arrived at Michigan, I knew right off the bat that we needed to get a new ballpark to show that we're committed to winning on the national level," Maloney said. "We weren't able to host a regional in the past and now that's different. If you want to compete at a high level, act like it."

While Nebraska's Mike Anderson believes facilities are important, he also notes they're not everything. The Huskers started their climb up the national ladder while playing at 1,500-seat Buck Beltzer Stadium. The Huskers now play at Hawks Field, which seats 8,500 and is one of the nation's finest stadium.

"We got this thing going at Nebraska well before Haymarket Park was built, so there obviously are other things you can do to be successful," Anderson said. "We mainly focus on recruiting Midwest kids that understand what it means to play at a program like Nebraska."

The Huskers have also made a conscious effort to help increase the popularity of youth baseball in the state of Nebraska. That effort, Anderson says, has been key to the Huskers experiencing more success than their opponents in Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana and other Midwest states.

"As compared to other northern programs, one big advantage I think we've had is that we have done a good job helping develop players inside our state," he said. "We're just so fortunate to have successful youth baseball programs in this state, but we're always striving hard to do better."

Still, while facilities, money, resources and youth development certainly help, changing the attitude and culture ultimately will decide the fate of the northern programs. There are some, including Grewe, who think it's a losing proposition.

"I think it will always be the way it is ? that the southern and western programs dominate the college baseball landscape," Grewe said. "There's been no major movement by northern schools to improve baseball in the region. I don't think that will change anytime soon."

Kendall Rogers is the college baseball editor for Rivals.com. He can be reached at rogersk@yahoo-inc.com.