Western Illinois University Athletics

Matt Igara begins his fourth season on Ryan Brownlee's coaching staff serving as an assistant coach. Igara spent 2013 as a student assistant, 2014 as a volunteer assistant and last season as an assistant coach. Prior to being a student assistant, Igara appeared in 112 games during his two-year, standout career with Western Illinois baseball.

During his senior year he was a 2012 Winter/Spring Academic All-Summit League selection, playing in all 53 games. He went on an eight game hitting streak and 11 straight games getting on-base early on in the season, then later put together a nine game hitting streak.

As a junior he was the March 2011 Summit League 'Male Athlete of the Month'. He hit .317 that season and was fifth in the league in hits (76, fourth all-time in program history). He recorded 109 total bases on the year (sixth all-time in program history), had a 10-game hitting streak and also tallied 19 doubles (tied for third in the league and tied for third all-time in program history). His 28 multi-hit games and eight multiple-RBI games was second on the team.

Igara transferred to Western after playing two years at Heartland Community College. He was named First Team All-Conference and First Team All-Region in 2010 and helped Heartland win its first-ever conference championship.

Igara earned his bachelor's degree from Western Illinois in History in 2012 and is pursuing his master's degree in Sport Management from WIU with an anticipated graduation date of Spring 2016.