Central Michigan Chippewas baseball is a college program, not a business, so nobody actually owns it the way a fan might own a jersey or a season ticket.
The team belongs to Central Michigan University, a public university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. It operates under the school’s Board of Trustees and its athletic department.
This is an important distinction. Central Michigan is a separate school from the University of Michigan, home of the Wolverines, and from Michigan State University, home of the Spartans. All three sit in the same state, yet each runs its own athletic program with its own leadership and budget.
Central Michigan competes in the Mid American Conference, often just called the MAC, at the NCAA Division I level. That puts the Chippewas in a very different financial tier than the Wolverines or the Spartans, both of which play in major conferences with far larger budgets.
So who is actually steering this program, who pays for it, and what does new NCAA revenue sharing mean for a school this size? Here is the full picture.
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Quick Facts About Central Michigan Chippewas Baseball
| Field | Detail |
| Program | Central Michigan Chippewas Baseball |
| Governing Institution | Central Michigan University (public) |
| Athletic Director | Amy Folan |
| Head Coach | Jake Sabol |
| Conference | Mid American Conference (MAC) |
| Founded | 1892 (program roots), first fielded team in 1896 |
| Home Stadium | Bill Theunissen Stadium, Mount Pleasant, Michigan |
| Ownership Type | Public University Athletic Department / Board of Trustees |
Who Governs Central Michigan Chippewas Baseball: The Ownership Structure Explained
Since there is no private owner, it helps to picture the program as a chain of command inside a public institution. Every level answers to the one above it.
University President
Director of Athletics
Head Baseball Coach
Recruiting and player development
Academics, medical, operations
The Board of Trustees sits at the very top. Members are appointed by the governor of Michigan and they set broad policy for the entire university, including how much money the athletic department receives each year.
Day to day baseball decisions, like who starts on the mound, are made far below the trustees, but the budget that pays for scholarships, travel, and coaching salaries flows down from that same board.
Central Michigan University: The Public Institution Behind The Chippewas
Central Michigan University was founded in 1892 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and today enrolls tens of thousands of students across undergraduate and graduate programs, according to Wikipedia’s history of the baseball program.
As a public university, Central Michigan receives a mix of state appropriations, tuition revenue, and athletic department earnings, which together fund every varsity sport including baseball.
This funding model is a key reason Central Michigan cannot be compared directly to the University of Michigan or Michigan State University.
Those two schools sit in the Big Ten, a conference with television contracts worth billions of dollars a year, while Central Michigan plays in the MAC, a conference with a far smaller media footprint.
Meet Amy Folan, Central Michigan’s Director of Athletics
Amy Folan serves as Central Michigan’s Vice President and Director of Athletics, overseeing every varsity program at the school including baseball, according to the university’s own staff directory listing.
Her office sets the athletic department’s overall budget priorities, hires and evaluates head coaches across all sports, and reports directly to the university president and, ultimately, the Board of Trustees.
In practical terms, Folan is the closest thing Central Michigan baseball has to an owner, though her role is closer to a chief executive of a public department than a private proprietor.
Jake Sabol And The Current Chippewas Baseball Coaching Staff
Jake Sabol was named Central Michigan’s head baseball coach in June 2023 and is a Central Michigan alumnus, giving him a personal tie to the program he now runs.
Through the 2026 season, Sabol carried a Central Michigan record of 61 wins and 102 losses overall, with the team improving from last place in the MAC standings in 2024 to a tie for seventh in 2026.
Coaching decisions, recruiting strategy, and the daily operation of the roster all fall to Sabol, but his contract, salary, and job security are ultimately controlled by the athletic department that employs him.
A Brief History Of Central Michigan Chippewas Baseball
The program has a long and mostly overlooked history, dating back more than a century, with plenty of milestones along the way.
Central Michigan University opens in Mount Pleasant, laying the foundation for future athletic programs.
Central Michigan puts together its first organized baseball squad.
The Chippewas reach the NCAA tournament for the first time, beginning a string of 14 appearances through 2022.
Central Michigan wins its first conference tournament championship, followed by another in 1995.
Pitcher Jordan Patty throws a perfect game on May 1, 2021, a first for the Chippewas.
Sabol, a Central Michigan alumnus, takes over the program and begins a rebuilding stretch that continues today.
Across program history, roughly 98 Central Michigan players have been selected in the Major League Baseball draft, a number that shows the program has produced real talent despite its modest budget compared to Power conference schools.
Bill Theunissen Stadium: Home Of Chippewas Baseball
Central Michigan plays its home games at Bill Theunissen Stadium in Mount Pleasant, a venue that seats a little over two thousand fans.
Like the rest of the program, the stadium is owned and maintained by the university itself, not by any outside company or private investor. Upkeep and any future renovations are funded through the athletic department’s budget, which again traces back to the Board of Trustees.
Is Central Michigan Doing A Good Job Running The Chippewas Baseball Program: Is The Investment Really Worth It
This is a fair question for any mid major program, and the honest answer is mixed.
On the positive side, the program has real history behind it. Fourteen NCAA tournament trips, four conference tournament titles, and 19 regular season championships are not small accomplishments for a school of Central Michigan’s size and budget.
The 2021 perfect game and a track record of MLB draft picks show the coaching staff can develop talent on a limited budget.
Under Jake Sabol, the team has also shown measurable improvement, moving up in the MAC standings and increasing its win total by more than 40 percent between 2024 and 2026, according to the university’s own athletics site.
On the negative side, the numbers are still rough in raw terms. A 61 and 102 overall record over Sabol’s first three seasons is far from a winning percentage most fans would call successful, and attendance at Bill Theunissen Stadium remains modest compared to Power conference programs.
The larger issue is budget reality. Central Michigan is a Group of Five program with a media rights deal worth a fraction of what Power conference schools receive.
Every dollar spent on baseball is a dollar not available for football or basketball, the sports that typically drive the most revenue at a school this size.
Whether the investment is worth it depends on what the university values more: competitive success in a smaller sport or the historical continuity a program like this offers a mid sized public school.
How Revenue Sharing And NIL Are Changing Funding For Central Michigan Baseball
College sports changed dramatically after the House v NCAA settlement was approved in 2025, opening the door for schools to pay athletes directly through revenue sharing for the first time.
The settlement allows programs to share up to roughly 20.5 million dollars a year with athletes, but that figure was built around Power conference budgets.
For a MAC school like Central Michigan, reaching anywhere near that number is simply not realistic given current television and sponsorship revenue.
According to reporting from Hustle Belt’s breakdown of the settlement’s effect on the MAC, the conference’s media deal generates only about one million dollars per school annually through the 2026 and 2027 seasons, a tiny fraction of what SEC or Big Ten programs collect.
Many MAC athletic departments already run at a deficit, which makes fully funding revenue sharing across every sport extremely difficult.
Unlike some conferences that set a required minimum payout to athletes, the MAC has not published a firm salary floor, leaving individual schools including Central Michigan to decide for themselves how much of any new revenue sharing pool reaches baseball players specifically, as opposed to football or basketball.
For now, the realistic expectation is that Central Michigan baseball will rely mostly on scholarships, modest NIL activity, and traditional athletic department support rather than large revenue sharing checks that bigger programs can offer recruits.
Could The Central Michigan Chippewas Baseball Program Leave The MAC In 2026
Conference realignment has reshaped college sports at every level in recent years, so it is a natural question to ask whether Central Michigan might eventually leave the MAC.
As of the 2026 season, there is no credible reporting suggesting Central Michigan is exploring a conference change, and the MAC remains a stable home for the school’s full athletic department, including baseball.
The more pressing story is not realignment but funding pressure. The new revenue sharing landscape created by the House settlement is forcing every MAC school, Central Michigan included, to rethink how it budgets across sports.
Baseball, which does not generate significant ticket or media revenue on its own, is likely to remain dependent on the athletic department’s broader budget rather than becoming a major beneficiary of new player payments anytime soon.
In short, geography and conference membership look settled for now. Money, not realignment, is the bigger question mark hanging over the program’s near term future.
For comparison, readers curious about how other college programs handle similar governance and funding questions can look at how the Illinois Fighting Illini baseball program is structured, or how a fellow Group of Five school runs things in our breakdown of Cincinnati Bearcats baseball ownership.
Frequently Asked Questions About Central Michigan Chippewas Baseball Ownership
Who owns the Central Michigan Chippewas baseball program?
Nobody owns it privately. Central Michigan University, a public school governed by its Board of Trustees, operates the program through its athletic department.
Is Central Michigan baseball the same as Michigan or Michigan State baseball?
No. Central Michigan, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University are three separate schools with three separate athletic departments, budgets, and conferences.
Who is the current Central Michigan baseball head coach?
Jake Sabol has served as head coach since June 2023 and is a Central Michigan alumnus.
How is Central Michigan Chippewas baseball funded?
Funding comes from the university’s athletic department budget, which is supported by state appropriations, ticket and sponsorship revenue, and MAC media payments, all overseen by the Board of Trustees and Director of Athletics Amy Folan.
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