UNC-Asheville

Does anyone have any insight on the baseball program at UNC-Asheville and the school itself

 

Academiclly the school has risen in the last few years and is a very good liberal arts school. Princeton Review and U S News World Report/College Addition could help you with more detail. It's also harder to get in than one might think. Average SAT was in the high 12's. As you can imagine, a lot of environmentalists and tree-huggers. Very liberal school. get's good reviews.

As to the baseball, the program continues to improve but I can't give you the details like some others here can. We have had 2 kids from our school go there and they are very happy. J K Whited went there as a catcher and now is coaching there. Great guy and good with kids. I know they play a really good schedule, playing several ACC and SEC teams in the past. Climate is not as cold as Ap State.

 

MVAUGHN would be a good one to contribute to this thread.

 

My son is a freshman there

He has been pleased overall with the school and is happy with the baseball program. It is a very liberal environment which is somewhat opposite of my son's beliefs. In a way this has made him be more attentive in the classroom and stand up for what he thinks as well as consider the thoughts of others. It makes him think! Isn't that what learning is all about?
He has been very pleased with the baseball program. The team is a close knit group that hangs out together off the field. They seem to push each other to improve when working out and are supportive of each other. The upperclassmen are encouraging to the young guys, not "elitist" like I have heard happens at some schools. The coaching staff is young and eager to build the program. The addition of Coach Smith (well, he ain't so young but he acts it!), former Head Coach at TC Roberson HS, brings to the team a vast amount of experience. Head Coach Willie Stewart played at UNC-A and seems to have solid idea of where he wants to take the program. They won the conference tournament a couple of years ago and qualified for the NCAA tournament. The goal is to get back there.
They play a competitive non conference schedule with USC, Fla. St., Wake Forest, UNC-G, Gardner Webb and App St. headlining. In conference, they have perennial powers Coastal Carolina and Winthrop. The rest of the conference is considered to be on the upswing talent wise. They also play the Asheville Tourists in an exhibition game.
Speaking of the Tourists, The Bulldogs play about half their home games at McCormmick Field (part of "Bull Durham" was filmed there), home of the Tourists. UNC-A's on-campus facilities aren't the best from a fans perspective, but there are plans for future improvements.
UNC-A has been a "good fit" so far for my son. They feel he can contribute right away this spring and believe he'll be a big part of the future success for the program.
Don't hesitate to PM me if you have any other questions.

 

Really good academic school, always rated one of the nations best "values"

 

I know quite a few players that attend and their families. I have never heard one person say anything derogatory about the school or the baseball program. Everybody appears to love Coach Stewart....and JK Whited is a great young man. It's nice to hear he is coaching this year as well.

All the guys that I know on the baseball team are quality individuals. I wouldn't hesitate in letting my son attend if he so chose.

 

They recruited my son a couple of years ago and did a really good job. I remember thinking that even though the program had not been a winning one it seemed to be on the upswing. Campus visit was very nice even though it was at a time when the students were not in session. I recall that we saw a drawing of a stadium improvement plan that was absolutely FIRST CLASS. Can anyone tell me whether the renovation got done?

 

I have known Willie most of his life. My daughter was as close as a sister could be. I can tell you, you won't find many harder workers and better people than Willie. Not to bring up an old conversation but he was one of those A- players that if I had 10, I would never lose a game.. I watched him play ball from about 10 years old all the way through high school. He played with a bunch of guys who were all buddies.. (Randy, Paul, Eric, Josh, Harry, uh.. several more guys and about as many girls) There were about 25 kids, boys and girls, that hung out together.. All turned out to be great people. I could tell some REALLY good stories but I won't. Just trust me, he's a good one but you better be prepared to work!

 

The field itself is very nice. When i saw it the parking and areas outside the field were not done. But that has been 12 months or so.

 

Sorry I am so late getting anything in on this but I have been on the go recently and we have been busy at work. Everything posted to date is pretty much spot on but I’ll give my observations and feelings based on my son being a freshman on the baseball team.

Currently they are in the process transferring over to a new website http://www.uncabulldogs.com/,

They have 4 coaches. Willie Stewart is the head coach. Tim Perry is the associate head coach and chief recruiter and pitching coach. Bob Fenn is the assistant coach. Tom Smith, formerly of T.C. Roberson HS, is the volunteer assistant and has coached several players drafted out of HS including CF Cameron Maybin of the Detroit Tigers. He is an excellent hitting coach. My son says that he likes all the coaches and they are, in general, easy to talk to and are hard workers and appear to genuinely care about their players but there are no free passes. They expect everyone to work to improve and are very straight forward when you are not meeting their expectations. UNCA won the Big South Conference (Coastal Carolina, Winthrop, Liberty, VMI, Charleston Southern, Radford, High Point, Presbyterian, & UNCA) Baseball Tournament in 2006. In general it is a good to very good baseball conference.

UNCA is and has been a partially funded D1 program. They recently made an increased commitment to the Baseball program but until then, I believe they offered only 3 of the 11.7 max D1 grants. Within the last 2 years they have upped that to 7 or 8 and I was told by one of the coaches they are getting ready to up it again next season, this time I believe it will go to 10. There are supposedly other commitments in place, with regard to funds and facilities, to make them more competitive but I don't know all the specifics. At present they have 33 on the spring roster – including walkons. I believe there are 6 seniors. They generally like to carry between 32 to 35 on the Spring Roster. The players seem to be a fairly tight group and get along well. The upper classmen have been real good about accepting the younger players.

They have a nice home field, Greenwood, but it doesn’t have lights so they play a lot, about 14 this season, of their games at recently renovated and historic McCormick Field (home of the Asheville Tourists and a place where Babe Ruth played and they filmed a portion of Bull Durham). McCormick is an excellent facility about 1 mile from campus and there is probably not a better minor league park around. We have heard rumors that they may be getting ready to upgrade parts of Greenwood Field & the baseball facilities, with some help from Ty Wiggington of the Astros (and formerly UNCA), but there hasn’t been a formal announcement about it.

Generally, UNCA plays a very strong schedule. This coming year they play their conference games and South Carolina, a series at Florida State, a mid week game at Wake Forest, plus Appalachian State, Western Carolina, and UNC-G and some others. Last year they played the Big South teams plus Tennessee, FSU, NC State, Tulane, New Orleans, Elon, UAB, and Appalachian State among others.

Currently I believe they have contracts with New Balance and with Wilson. They use Demarini bats.

Freshmen have to stay on campus unless there are special circumstances. If they are on an athletic team, they can have cars but they have to park in a gated remote lot just off campus. The campus police will give them rides to and from the lot. UNCA is serious about their players keeping their grades up. The Freshmen have 8 hrs of mandatory Study Hall each week. I’m not sure about the upper classmen. The Administration of the school, at least the ones that I have talked to, seem to be supportive of their athletes. My son says his professors are supportive. The school, of less than 5,000 students, is a liberal arts school and has an excellent academic reputation. They are selective in who they admit. The website http://www.unca.edu/ has a lot of information about the school. I am told by other parents that the crime rate at the school and in Asheville is low. The campus Police are visible and appear to be helpful. The campus is relatively compact and easy to get around on. It is roughly 60% female. It is about a mile walk from downtown Asheville. The schools ONE CARD, gets you rides on the city bus line as well as acting as student ID, providing as access to meal plans, snack machines, book store, library and other student activities.

Asheville is a pretty town and the area has a fair amount to do, particularly if you like outdoor activities. The temperature runs about 3 degrees, on average, cooler than Charlotte, NC and about 6 degrees warmer, on average, than Boone, NC. They don’t have a lot of snow but January can get nasty. Asheville is an artistic, maybe even liberal, type town so there is a wide variety of people there. The Biltmore Estate is there and they are just minutes from the Pisgah National Forest with great fly fishing for trout as well as other recreational activities. UNCA has an Outdoors Department that sponsors rock climbing, kayaking, and various other trips during the year. Asheville is pretty easy to get around in as I-40 goes just south, I-26 starts there and I-240 loops around. There is a great variety of restaurants and shopping.

Hope this helps, if you want to discuss anything specific, just drop me a private note.