CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Mark Allen has been named Illinois’ pitching coach, head coach Dan Hartleb announced Tuesday. Allen joins the Fighting Illini after nine seasons in professional baseball, including last season as the San Francisco Giants’ pitching coordinator.
Allen oversaw all of San Francisco’s minor league teams and pitching development during the 2019 season. Five of the Giants’ eight minor league clubs reached the postseason and the Sacramento River Cats won the Triple-A national championship.
“I humbled and honored to have this opportunity at the University of Illinois,” said Allen. “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.”
“I am extremely excited about the opportunity we have with the hiring of Mark Allen,” said Hartleb. “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.”
Prior to joining the Giants, Allen spent eight seasons with the Cleveland Indians organization as a scout, cross checker, national pitching cross checker, and pitching coordinator. He started as an area scout in 2010, before becoming a cross checker from 2014-16, then moving to the assistant pitching coordinator role through 2018. During his years with the Indians, Allen also coached on the field in the Arizona League for three seasons. He began coaching in the Indians organization in 2014 with the AZL Indians, helping the team to the Arizona League championship.
Allen played college baseball at Vernon Junior College (1994-96), Texas-San Antonio (1996-97) and Phillips University (1997-98) before going into coaching. He made coaching stops at St. Gregory’s University (1998-99), Northlake Junior College (1999), Frank Phillips College (2003-04), North Central Texas College (2004-08), the Northwoods’ Wisconsin Woodchucks (2007), and Seminole State College (2008-10). Allen helped lead Seminole State, one of the top junior college programs in the country, to the 2009 JUCO World Series.
Allen and his wife Angela have two daughters, Skylar and Avery. Skylar is on the beach volleyball team at South Carolina.
QUOTABLE
Former Illini Kyle Hudson
“I had the pleasure of working alongside Mark for two years. He is a phenomenal leader and an even better person. His ability to connect with and develop high quality competitors on the mound is second to none. Mark works as hard as anyone and will impact each student-athlete on and off the field in positive way. The Fighting Illini family just gained a great one.”
