Knox College Prairie Fire

Jami Isaacson was named the Knox head baseball coach prior to the 2000 season, and he went on to become the winningest coach in program history. He earned his 300th career victory in 2018 after defeating Robert Morris University-Peoria. And in his final campaign in 2025, he led the team to its most victories (15) in eight years.

Isaacson guided Knox to its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III baseball tournament in 2008 after winning the Midwest Conference title, earning him the MWC South Division Coach of the Year award. The Prairie Fire also won the South Division in 2013 under his guidance and posted school-record totals of 22 wins overall and 13 in conference play. Isaacson received the MWC South Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.

Knox advanced to the MWC Tournmaent five times during Isaacson's tenure, highlighted by back-to-back trips in 2002 and 2003, and again in 2012 and 2013. The Prairie Fire have placed third or higher in four of those five tournament appearances.

Isaacson has coached several individual standouts at Knox, including 70 All-Midwest Conference performers and seven all-region selections: Scott Rans (2002), Matt Briggs (2006), Paul Bennett (2008), Caleb Weaver (2013), and Drake Sykes (2015, 2016, 2017). In addition, five players have been named the Midwest Conference South Division Player or Co-Player of the Year: Briggs in 2006, Paul Bennett in 2008, Kevin Malone in 2009, Weaver in 2013, and Sykes in 2016. Sykes was also a two-time All-American. In 2013, Paul Mills became the first Knox hurler chosen as the Midwest Conference South Division Pitcher of the Year, and six years later, E.J. Roncone was selected as the program’s first South Division Newcomer of the Year. The program is also proud of its over 200 Academic All-Midwest Conference honorees.

Isaacson had more than three decades of head coaching experience in the Midwest Conference. He began his career at Illinois College in 1994 when he was hired as the youngest head coach in the NCAA at age of 24. Isaacson led the Blueboys to the 1995 Midwest Conference Championship and four trips to the conference tournament in his five seasons as head coach through 1998.

As the head baseball coach at Knox, Isaacson is the all-time leader in career wins (278) and Midwest Conference victories (123). His 357 career wins over the course of 31 seasons rank seventh in Midwest Conference history. He was also named one of the inaugural recipients of the Midwest Conference Silver Service Award for more than 25 years of dedicated service to the league.

Isaacson also assisted the Galesburg American Legion Post #285 baseball team, a role he held for several years (1989-92, 2001-03, 2006-2014). He helped the squad advance to the state tournament five times. Isaacson was also the head coach of the Galesburg Pioneers of the former Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL). The CICL was a NCAA/MLB affiliated summer league where the nation’s top players competed against each other on a summer circuit.

In 17 years as an assistant football coach, Isaacson coached over 25 All-Midwest Conference performers and three All-Americans. The whole defensive backfield was named All-MWC in 2002.

As a player at Knox, Isaacson was a two-time All-Midwest Conference catcher, a two-time team Most Valuable Player, and the 1991 Midwest Conference Player of the Year.
 

Isaacson’s Collegiate Head Coaching Record Overall Conference Year School W L Pct W L Pct Finish 1994 Illinois College 13 17 .433 9 6 .600 2nd South 1995 Illinois College 22 8 .733 15 4 .789 1st South Tourney Champ 1996 Illinois College 11 15 .423 9 5 .643 1997 Illinois College 15 15 .500 9 6 .600 3rd South 1998 Illinois College 18 16 .529 7 5 .583 2nd South 2000 Knox 8 24 .250 4 8 .333 3rd South 2001 Knox 6 20 .231 4 8 .333 3rd South 2002 Knox 9 25 .265 5 7 .417 2nd South 2003 Knox 13 17 .433 6 6 .500 2nd South 2004 Knox 12 20 .375 5 7 .417 T-3rd South 2005 Knox 6 24 .200 1 11 .083 4th South 2006 Knox 13 19 .406 6 6 .500 T-2nd South 2007 Knox 14 18 .438 6 6 .500 T-2nd South 2008 Knox 15 25 .367 6 6 .500 T-1st South; Tourney Champ 2009 Knox 8 19 .296 6 6 .500 3rd South 2010 Knox 8 25 .242 0 12 .000 4th South 2011 Knox 8 24 .250 3 9 .250 4th South 2012 Knox 16 19 .457 7 5 .583 2nd South 2013 Knox 22 13 .629 13 3 .813 1st South 2014 Knox 16 20 .444 4 12 .250 5th South 2015 Knox 9 27 .250 3 13 .188 5th South 2016 Knox 12 22 .353 5 11 .313 4th South 2017 Knox 17 17 .500 9 10 .474 T-3rd South 2018 Knox 11 24 .314 3 16 .158 5th South 2019 Knox 9 31 .225 6 10 .375 5th South 2020 Knox 1 3 .250 0 0 — COVID-19 2021 Knox 4 30 .118 2 22 .083 5th South 2022 Knox 8 27 .229 6 17 .261 9th 2023 Knox 7 32 .179 1 23 .042 9th 2024 Knox 11 27 .289 5 19 .208 9th 2025 Knox 15 23 .395 7 14 .333 7th Totals 357 646 .356 172 293 .370 2000-25 Knox 278 575 .326 123 267 .315 1994-98 Illinois College 79 71 .527 49 26 .653