Carnegie Mellon to Start Baseball Program
A month after announcing its move to NCAA Division I, the university adds baseball to its athletic department
by Jayson Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Add another chapter to the ambitious journey of Daniel Corrigan and his Carnegie Mellon athletic department.
A month after shocking the region by declaring the department’s leap from NCAA Division III to Division I competition, Corrigan made his next power move earlier this afternoon by announcing the creation a baseball program at Carnegie Mellon. The team will begin play next February for the 2007 season.
“As part of our plan to build the Carnegie Mellon athletic department to one of the best in the Northeast region, the addition of baseball is a necessary move,” said Corrigan at a Wednesday press conference. “We realize – like most of our programs – that there is a long and grueling build ahead of us, but we’re willing to put forth all the effort and resources to create a longstanding successful program that excels on the diamond and in the classroom.”
Corrigan also explained the Tartans’ 2007 roster will be a mix of their current club team, incoming transfers, and any walk-on student-athletes that advance at a tryout session scheduled for a later date. The program’s conference affiliation and head coach will be announced next week.
“We’ve contacted some conferences before this announcement to get the ball rolling there,” said Corrigan. “We expect to hold another presser about our conference next week, as well as a head coach. I feel we’ve done a good job at keeping this under wraps, and we have a few more interviews this week before figuring out who is going to be the first man to lead this program.”
Corrigan was hired by Carnegie Mellon this past January, and announced the university’s move from NCAA Division III to Division I affiliation in July. Even though the 41-year-old Charlotte, N.C. native has won Athletic Director of the Year awards at previous institutions Mary Hardin-Baylor and Pittsburg State, confusion and backlash surrounded the unprecedented move. The football program will be the first to begin Division I play on Thursday, August 31, 2006 at Youngstown State.
It is unknown if the Tartans have had a varsity baseball program in the past. Five CMU alumni have gone to play professional baseball, highlighted by Hans Lobert, who played for five different MLB teams from 1903-17 and, in 1911, finished 17th in the NL MVP voting for the Philadelphia Phillies. Lobert later managed the Phillies for two games in 1938 and for the entire 1942 season, finishing 42-109 (.278).
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Game: MVP 07 NCAA Baseball
Console: PS2 (played on OG PS3)
Difficulty: Junior
Rules: NCAA
Bat Type: Aluminum
10 Run Rule: Off
House Rules:
Games & Reporting: I will conduct every regular-season game through coach mode and then recap the entire series; once into the conference & national tournaments, I will play those games and report them one-by-one – unless two games are played on the same day
Recruiting: I can only target recruits with a mark of Excellent in academics; I can not target a top-150 recruit until the program reaches two-star quality, and I can not sign multiple top-150 recruits until the program reaches three-star quality; I can not target any junior college recruits
Roster Template: I have taken over the roster of La Salle and edited the players so that no player has a rating above 60, besides two position players and two pitchers with peak ratings of 70; names are generated for every team, as MVP 07 botched the rosters and made them inaccurate and it’s much harder to find the real names of old college baseball players compared to college football ones
Recruiting: I can only target recruits with a mark of Excellent in academics; I can not target a top-150 recruit until the program reaches two-star quality, and I can not sign multiple top-150 recruits until the program reaches three-star quality; I can not target any junior college recruits
Roster Template: I have taken over the roster of La Salle and edited the players so that no player has a rating above 60, besides two position players and two pitchers with peak ratings of 70; names are generated for every team, as MVP 07 botched the rosters and made them inaccurate and it’s much harder to find the real names of old college baseball players compared to college football ones
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Author’s Note: I always wanted to do a college baseball dynasty and figured with the storyline of bringing a Division III school to Division I in my college football report, it would add to the virtual world I’m building by starting a baseball program at the same institution. I probably won’t go in as much detail with this report compared to the college football one, because I want that to be the focus and this being more of a side project. For those that follow the CFB report, this will follow the same gradual build that will hopefully stay within the lines of realism. Pro baseball will be tracked with MVP Baseball 2005, and I will add CMU players to that game that would realistically be pro prospects.
Disclaimer: All material written in this dynasty report is completely fictional. All media from other sites are used for entertainment purposes only and I do not profit from its use.
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