Bill McFarland can now place all his concentration on his last season as an Edwardsville Tiger after signing a letter of intent to continue his college baseball career at the University of Illinois-Springfield.
As for picking UIS, a program in its infancy, it was something intriguing to McFarland. The Prairie Stars will jump start their baseball program in the Spring of 2011 as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, taking SIUE’s slot after its move to Division I.
“What attracted me was obviously the coach and obviously the education,” McFarland said. “To get a degree from the University of Illinois is a heavy thing you can carry deep into your career and to get a chance to start traditions at a new school with everything new, it’s a good feeling.”
UIS head coach Brian Grunzke has a creditable resume, spending the 2009 season as the assistant coach at Northern Iowa, following two years as an assistant at Arkansas-Little Rock.
McFarland's choice was featured in a March 22, 2010, article in the Edwardsville Intelligencer.
Download a PDF of the article:
20100322-EINT-McFarland-signs-with-UIS.pdf
