Western Illinois Leathernecks

Infobox college athletics
name = Western Illinois Leathernecks

university = Western Illinois University
conference = The Summit League
division = Division I
director =
city = Macomb
state = Illinois
stateabb = IL
teams =
stadium = Hanson Field
arena = Western Hall
mascot =
nickname = Leathernecks
color1 = Purple
color2 = Gold
hex1 = 5B027A
hex2 = FFDB00
pageurl = http://www.wiuathletics.com/
pagename = Official Athletics Website

The Western Illinois Leathernecks are the teams and athletes that represent Western Illinois University, located in Macomb, Illinois, in NCAA Division I men's sports. Women's teams and athletes at the school are known as Westerwinds. 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.

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.

Football

The football program has had several NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) playoff appearances. They play in the Gateway 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
*Frank Winters, National Football league
*Rob Lazeo, Canadian Football League
*Russ Michna, Arena Football League
*Rich Seubert, National Football League

External links

* [http://www.wiuathletics.com Official WIU Athletics web site]
* [http://www.basketball-reference.com Basketball Reference]