In his years spent around college baseball, Jim Brownlee has watched the landscape of the sport transform in front of his eyes. Players have gone on to bigger and better things, coaches have come and gone and new stadiums and traditions have been built all around him. However, one thing that has remained constant about Brownlee is his love of the game, which has given him a 28-year career as a college head coach.

Throughout that time, he has amassed 811 victories, which ranks him in the top-40 for wins among all active NCAA Division I coaches. He has won seven conference coach of the year awards, produced more than 40 players who have gone on to play professionally and mentored 10 academic all-Americans.

Not only has Brownlee given back to his players in his time as a coach, but he has also been an active leader in promoting baseball both at the collegiate level and within the communities where he has coached. Since returning to Illinois State in 2003 as head coach, Brownlee has sponsored a variety of hitting and pitching clinics for local youth; revitalized "The Dugout Club," a group of Redbird baseball friends and supporters that now numbers more than 450; and has helped to raise money for future renovations to Duffy Bass Field.

He has also enlisted several of his players to help assist in the NCAA Men's College World Series Youth Education through Sports (YES) Clinic, held each year in conjunction with the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

When he returned to his alma mater and became the head coach of the Illinois State baseball program prior to the 2003 season, it was an understatement to say he was happy to be home. Brownlee had previously spent time as a Redbird, playing on the 1969 NCAA College Division National Championship team, and as an assistant coach in the 1970's.

Now, Brownlee enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Redbirds, looking to instill the same passion for the game of baseball that he has, in a talented group of players in 2008. With 17 letterwinners returning and a promising mixture of 14 newcomers, Brownlee has a team which he believes embodies the way baseball should be played and one that he hopes can lead ISU to the postseason.

Prior to returning to ISU, Brownlee spent 23 seasons at the helm of the Evansville baseball program. Although the Aces went 7-37-1 in his first season in 1980, the next season, Evansville won 26 games, more wins than the Aces had in their previous three seasons combined. From 1983 to 1985, Brownlee was a three-time Heartland Conference Coach of the Year and led the Aces to league titles all three seasons.

In 1988, Brownlee had one of the best seasons of his career as a head coach. He was named the Mid-East Coach of the Year by his peers and the District Coach of the Year by the Diamond Sports Company, after he led the Aces to a 44-20 record and an NCAA Tournament win over No. 1-ranked Arizona State. That year, Brownlee saw Evansville pitcher Andy Benes named the NCAA Player of the Year and selected No. 1 in Major League Baseball's Amateur Draft by the San Diego Padres.

Brownlee then brought Evansville to national prominence in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League). In 1991, Evansville won the MCC regular-season with a mark of 40-18-1 and in 1993, he led the Aces to a 43-18 record, the second-most victories in Evansville history. Brownlee also coached Aaron Gries, the Academic All-America Player of the Year at shortstop in 1993.

In 1995, Evansville joined The Valley, and Brownlee continued to succeed, as he posted winning records in five of his eight seasons with the Aces in The Valley. The 2000 season saw Brownlee lead the Aces to a 41-22 record, which earned him Valley Coach of the Year honors, while he also led his team to an NCAA Tournament appearance.

In his 13 seasons in The Valley spent between Illinois State and Evansville, Brownlee has produced 15 first-team all-conference players and 22 Valley Scholar-Athlete first-team members. Until the 2002 season, Brownlee had never coached a team in The Valley that failed to qualify for the league tournament, a luxury given to only the top-six regular-season finishers. His style of coaching displays not only a dedication to success and hard work on the baseball field, but also a commitment to those qualities in the classroom.

After his playing career ended and having served a stint in the military, Brownlee became an assistant baseball coach at Illinois State from 1975-76 and served as head coach for the Galesburg team in the Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL), before he took the job at Evansville in 1980. He is a member of the Illinois State Athletics Hall of Fame, being inducted as a member of the 1969 team, and was also inducted into the Evansville Athletics Hall of Fame in February, 2005, after he earned more wins than any other coach in Aces history.

Jim and his wife, Candy (a former Illinois State student), are the parents of two sons - Tim, 37, and Ryan, 33, both of whom played for their father while at Evansville. Ryan is currently an assistant coach at Iowa, after he worked two years with his father at Evansville, followed by a four-year stint at James Madison.