COACHING STAFF COACHING STAFF DAN HARTLEB HEAD COACH // 16TH SEASON AS HEAD COACH // 31ST SEASON AT ILLINOIS Dan Hartleb is in his 16th season as head coach at Illinois and Jay and Sedlock were the first teammates from Big Ten schools 31st season on the Illini coaching staff in 2021. Hartleb ranks to be drafted in the first round of back-to-back drafts since among the winningest coaches in school history, as he enters Purdue’s Sherard Clinkscales and Jermaine Allensworth went in 2021 with a career record of 454-327-1 (.581). The D1Baseball. the 1992 and 1993 supplemental first rounds. com Big Ten Coach of the Decade for the 2010s has won a pair Two years later Ben Spillane became the highest drafted of Big Ten titles (2011, 2015) and owns a conference record of position player in the history of Illinois baseball after one of the 202-153 (.569). greatest offensive seasons in Big Ten history. Spillane slashed Under Hartleb, Illinois has had one of its best eras ever, winning .389/.498/.903 and hit 23 home runs, the second-most in an 62.3% of its games over the last eight years (245-148-1). Illinois single season, while leading the nation in slugging Every Illini that has played four years for Hartleb has left with a percentage. The Reds selected Spillane in the third round, winning percentage of .500 or better. becoming the first Big Ten player off the board. Illinois has made a huge commitment to baseball under Hartleb The 2018 season also featured Illinois’ first ever Gold Glove with the announcement of the Susan and Clint Atkins Baseball Award winner, as Michael Massey took home the prestigious Training Center. The 26,000-square foot, $8 million facility is award as the best defensive second baseman in the nation. HARTLEB FILE scheduled to be completed in January 2022 and will give the Massey made just one error while starting every game at second Fighting Illini one of the top indoor training facilities in all of base and went on a 60-game errorless streak between his BORN college baseball. Illinois Field’s turf was redone in 2020. freshman and sophomore seasons in Champaign. Feb. 15, 1966 Illinois returned to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time During the 2014 season, Illinois posted its then-best Big Ten under Hartleb in 2019. The four NCAA trips in the last nine record at 17-7 during the conference’s 24-game schedule era, HOMETOWN seasons (2011, 2013, 2015, 2019) is the best stretch in finishing in third place and playing in the Big Ten Tournament. program history, as Hartleb set the Illinois program record for The Illini earned their most conference wins under Hartleb, which Hamilton, Ohio tournament appearances. The Illini reached the postseason included a 10-2 mark in Big Ten road games. Six Illini earned All- by winning two season series against ranked teams (Coastal FAMILY Carolina, Indiana) for the third time in the Hartleb era, joining 2009 (LSU, Minnesota) and 2015 (Oklahoma State, Ohio Wife - Gina State). Children - Zak, Haley Illinois was off to a hot start in 2020 with ranked wins over #13 Texas A&M and #23 Oklahoma State before the COVID-19 EDUCATION pandemic shut down the season before the Illini could make a John A. Logan CC, 1986, A.S. run at back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths. Southern Illinois, 1989 Illinois enjoyed its greatest season ever in 2015 under Hartleb, who was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year, ABCA B.S., Advertising Mideast Region Coach of the Year and a National Coach of the Year finalist. The team won 50 games, breaking the Southern Illinois, 1996 previous school record of 49 wins set in 1982, won the NCAA M.S., Higher Educational Champaign Regional, and advanced to the NCAA Champaign Super Regional. Administration Along the way the Illini reeled off a Big Ten-record 27-game COACHING EXPERIENCE winning streak from March 30-May 20, the longest in the nation in 2015. Illinois won its first outright conference title 2006-PRESENT in 10 years, claiming the crown with a 21-1 record. The UI’s Illinois .955 winning percentage was the best by a league champion Head Coach since 1966. The Illini earned the No. 6 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament; 2001-05 becoming just the second Big Ten team to earn a national seed. Illinois went on to win its first-ever NCAA Regional, Illinois advancing to the Super Regional for the first time in school HARTLEB AT A GLANCE Associate Head Coach history. The Orange and Blue hosted both the Regional and AT ILLINOIS Super Regional during a season in which the Illini won a • D1Baseball Big Ten Coach of the Decade (2010s) school-record 25 games at Illinois Field. 1991-2000 • 2015 Big Ten Coach of the Year Illinois Illinois swept the Big Ten individual awards for the first time • 2015 Mideast Coach of the Year in school history with first baseman David Kerian being Assistant Coach named Player of the Year, left hander Tyler Jay selected as • 87 professional players while at Illinois Pitcher of the Year and Dan Hartleb garnering Coach of the • 40 MLB Draft picks in the last ten years 1989-90 Year. Jay went on to earn first-team All-America honors while Kerian and pitcher Kevin Duchene were chosen as second- • 25 All-Americans Southern Illinois team All-Americans. The 2015 Illini pitching staff set a pair of • 12 Freshman All-Americans Graduate Assistant school records with a 2.55 ERA and 449 strikeouts. • 1 Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Year Immediately following the season a school-record nine players • 7 Big Ten Players of the Year were selected in the MLB Draft, highlighted by Jay’s selection at No. 6 overall by the Minnesota Twins to become the highest • 5 Big Ten Pitchers of the Year draft pick in Illini history. Illinois was tied for the third-most • 2 Big Ten Medal of Honor winners draft picks in the country in 2015. • 45 first-team All-Big Ten selections The following year, right-hander Cody Sedlock was taken • 137 All-Big Ten honorees with the No. 27 overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft. Sedlock set Fighting Illini single-season records for strikeouts (116), • 234 Academic All-Big Ten performers innings pitched against Big Ten opponents (64.2) and strikeouts against Big Ten opponents (75) on his way to the CAREER 2016 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year award and first team All- • 99 professional players American honors by Baseball America. • 141 All-Conference selections 2021 ILLINOIS BASEBALL RECORD BOOK // 65 COACHING STAFF Big Ten honors, while Adam Walton was named a Freshman All-American. Illinois’ Mazurek played for the high class-A Lynchburg Hillcats, a Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff shined on the mound, setting the then-school record with a 3.25 affiliate, in 2005, and Olson played for the Minnesota Twins’ Double-A affiliate in team ERA. Tyler Jay garnered All-Region recognition and shined on the Team USA 2006. Conroy was drafted in the 19th round by the New York Yankees in 2005 and Collegiate National Team roster during the summer, going 2-0 with a save and no won a New York-Penn League title with the class-A Staten Island Yankees that fall. earned runs allowed in 16.2 innings of relief. Hartleb also served on the coaching staff for the 2014 USA Baseball 14U National Team Development Program. Other pros who have pitched under Hartleb at Illinois include 1999 Chicago Cubs draft pick Tim Lavery, 1998 Anaheim Angels signee Cody Salter, 1997 Houston During the 2013 season, Illinois advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second Astros pick Brian Hecht, 1993 St. Louis Cardinals draftee Matt Arrandale, Mark time in three years and finished 35-20, marking the most wins under Hartleb and Dressen and Jake Toohey. since 2000 by an Illini squad. The Illini earned an at-large bid into the Nashville Regional, where they won their opening game before falling in their final two Hartleb, a former catcher himself, also has been instrumental in creating a catcher contests. Hartleb coached a pair of players to top national and conference honors, tradition at Illinois. In addition to the high selections of Robinson and Lars Davis, as Justin Parr was named an All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year and Kevin catchers Jason Goldstein, Adam Davis, Patrick Arlis and Aaron Nieckula had their Duchene was picked as a Freshman All-American and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. names called during the draft. Goldstein went in the ninth round to Seattle in 2016, Adam Davis was an 11th-round pick by Baltimore in 2011, Arlis was selected in the Hartleb guided the Illini to Big Ten regular-season and tournament championships 11th round in 2002 by Florida and the A’s took Nieckula in the 22nd round in 1998. in 2011, and the squad advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Fullerton Regional. After a rocky start to the season, Illinois reversed course by winning 18 Following a five-year minor league career, Nieckula became the manager of the of their final 24 games to clinch a share of the regular season Big Ten title, sweep Kane County Cougars in 2006 and led the A’s Class-A affiliate to the Midwest through the Big Ten Tournament with a 3-0 record and go 2-2 at the NCAA Fullerton League championship series. He guided the Stockton Ports, Oakland’s advanced-A Regional as the No.