The Western Illinois Leathernecks
are the teams and athletes that represent Western Illinois University, located in Macomb, Illinois, in NCAA Division I sports. The school's primary conference affiliation is with The Summit League; its football team is a member of the Division I FCS (formerly Division I-AA) Missouri Valley Football Conference. Beginning in the Fall of 2009 the men's and women's teams will be unified under the Leathernecks name. [1] Previously, the women's teams and athletes at the school were known as Westerwinds.
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WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS TICKETS
EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
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Western Illinois Leathernecks Women's Basketball vs. Clarke University Pride Women's Basketball Tickets 12/30 | Dec 30, 2024 Mon, 7:00 PM | | Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Cougars Women's Basketball vs. Western Illinois Leathernecks Tickets 1/2 | Jan 02, 2025 Thu, 5:00 PM | | Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Cougars vs. Western Illinois Leathernecks Tickets 1/2 | Jan 02, 2025 Thu, 7:30 PM | | Eastern Illinois Panthers vs. Western Illinois Leathernecks Tickets 1/4 | Jan 04, 2025 Sat, 3:30 PM | | Eastern Illinois Panthers Women's Basketball vs. Western Illinois Leathernecks Tickets 1/4 | Jan 04, 2025 Sat, 1:00 PM | |
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Men's basketball
The Leathernecks basketball team team has never played in the
NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. The Leathernecks were coached by
Derek Thomas before his resignation on
March 11 2008; they are now coached by
Jim Molinari.
From
1954 to
1963 the Leathernecks appeared in the
NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. Although never winning the National Title, the Leathernecks did walk away with national runner-up titles, and third place finishes.
Football
The football program has had several
NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) playoff appearances. They play in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The team is coached by
Don Patterson. Western Illinois has been ranked number one once and ranked number two numerous times. The two best chances for an FCS championship were in 1997, when they lost to runner-up
McNeese State by two points and beat the FCS champion
Youngstown State (coached by
Jim Tressel at the time) during the regular season. In 2002, WIU beat national champions Western Kentucky during the regular season 14-0 and lost to that same team at home 31-28 after a missed 63-yard field goal attempt by
Mike Scifres that fell just short.
Baseball
The baseball program is currently coached by Stan Hyman. They are one of the few mid-major teams to play every team in the
Big 12 Conference. The program's three biggest wins were a 5-4 win over
Oklahoma in 2004 when they were ranked #18 in the country; a 3-0 win over #7
Long Beach State in 2008; and a 5-3 win over #4
Missouri, also in 2008.
Notable/distinguished alumni
- Don Beebe, National Football League
- Lee Calhoun, Olympic gold medal winner
- Bryan Cox, National Football League
- Rodney Harrison, National Football League
- Edgerton Hartwell, National Football League
- Gene Lamont, Major League Baseball
- Rick Reuschel, Major League Baseball
- Paul Reuschel, Major League Baseball
- Mike Scifres, National Football League
- Aaron Stecker, National Football League
- Mike Wagner, National Football League
- J.R. Niklos, National Football League
- Frank Winters, National Football league
- Rob Lazeo, Canadian Football League
- Russ Michna, Arena Football League
- Rich Seubert, National Football League
- Herb Donaldson, National Football League
- Jason Williams, National Football League
References
- University comes to decision on nickname unification