Calling all baseball players at Northern Illinois University. Joe
”Spanky” McFarland wants you.
McFarland has been selected to head the revival of Northern`s baseball program, which was eliminated for budgetary reasons in 1982 but is starting back up as a requirement of the school`s affiliation last year with the Association of Mid-Continent Universities. McFarland`s Huskies begin play in the spring of 1991, but they aren`t eligible for the Mid-Continent crown until 1992.
”Starting over really enables me to put my earmark on the program and build it the way I`d like,” said McFarland.
The 36-year-old McFarland has coached baseball for 13 years, including a 33-13 head coaching mark at Kellogg Community College (Battle Creek, Mich.) in 1979-80. He has been an assistant coach for 10 years on the Division I level, the last five at South Florida. Three of those five teams at South Florida made NCAA postseason appearances.
McFarland`s expertise is pitching. He has written two books on the subject and has coached Boston Red Sox reliever Jeff Gray (Florida State) and the Texas Rangers` Kevin Brown (Georgia Tech).
”I feel Northern Illinois is very serious about baseball,” said McFarland. ”We`re not just filling a requirement, the goal is to build an eventual NCAA contender.”
