Illinois adds former MLB pitching coordinator Mark Allen to coaching staff

Allen expresses optimism for Illinois’ future

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Photo Courtesy of Illini Athletics

Mark Allen, former San Francisco Giants pitching coordinator, joined the Illini baseball team on Tuesday. Allen hopes to apply his past experiences to coaching the Illini. Allen spent the last nine years working in professional baseball, including the San Francisco Giants and, Cleveland Indians, minor league teams.

By Meghan Rest, Sports Editor

The Illinois baseball team named former San Francisco Giants’ pitching coordinator Mark Allen as the program’s pitching coach, head coach Dan Hartleb announced Tuesday. 

Allen joins the Illini following nine seasons in professional baseball and nine seasons working with college programs.  

“I (am) humbled and honored to have this opportunity at the University of Illinois,” Allen said, per fightingillini.com. “I am extremely excited to begin working alongside our baseball coaches, our baseball players, our entire athletic department and the University. I would like to thank Dan Hartleb and the entire Illinois family for giving me this chance to positively contribute in any and every way I can to our Fighting Illini student-athletes and their futures.”

According to fightingillini.com, Allen led the San Francisco Giants’ minor league pitching operations during the 2019 season. The Sacramento River Cats, the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, won a national championship while five of San Francisco’s minor league teams also made postseason appearances. 

Before making the move to San Francisco, Allen worked for the Cleveland Indians organization as a scout since 2010 and pitching coordinator since 2018, among other roles. In addition to working with Cleveland’s pitching staff, Allen coached on the field in the Arizona League for three seasons, beginning his coaching stint in the Indians organization in 2014 with the AZL Indians, according to fightingillini.com. 

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Hartleb said the addition of Allen complements the program’s mission.

“I am extremely excited about the opportunity we have with the hiring of Mark Allen,” Hartleb said, per fightingillini.com. “Mark’s knowledge, experience and people skills are off the charts. His past experiences as a collegiate coach, minor league instructor and his most recent position as a pitching coordinator show his great abilities with development and also evaluation in the recruiting process. Mark fits in our Illini family in so many ways, starting with the type of person that he is. He will be a great asset to our program moving forward, and I’m extremely excited to get to work with him.” 

@meghan_rest

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