CHAMPAIGN  Forget about trying to contact Terri Sullivan next week. Illinois'' first softball coach will be far too busy to handle many phone calls. Unless you happen to be a recently graduated high school softball player.

   "We''ll be in Colorado on Tuesday and the whole summer we''ll be running around from tournament to tournament, just spreading the word about Illinois," said Sullivan, announced Wednesday as the leader of the UI''s newest program. "You can''t win without good recruits. That''s the prime agenda."

   Between now and Sept. 1, Sullivan''s hectic schedule will preclude much of anything non-softball related. Thursday is the first day high school juniors can be contacted by college coaches, and Sullivan plans to get nice and comfy with the business end of a telephone.

   She has a couple of other priorities, too.

   "Recruiting and recruiting," she said.

   Illinois will play a modified, non-Big Ten schedule next spring, although it won''t have a permanent field. Athletic director Ron Guenther indicated that a softball stadium should be ready for competition in spring 2001 when the Illini begin Big Ten play.

   For the time being, there is plenty for Sullivan to do.

   She will field a team comprised of the current student body and incoming freshmen for spring 2000. Tryouts are Sept. 1.

   Sullivan said the school has already received a horde of messages from prospective players, and she recently attended a camp in Chicago that included the top 60 high school seniors from Illinois. Four of those 60 players, Sullivan said, are planning to enroll at Illinois this year.

   Sullivan said she will pinpoint the top players in the state, but she won''t be limited. As an assistant coach and associate head coach at Illinois-Chicago since 1994, Sullivan worked largely on recruiting. The 1999 team was two-thirds Illinois natives, one-third California. The team finished with 67 wins, tying the NCAA single-season mark.

   For a northern school to be able to snap up some of California''s talent can be considered a coup.

   "That''s just how it worked out," Sullivan said. "That''s maybe the most kids we''ve had from there. We recruited the top players in the state here and sometimes got them and sometimes didn''t. Sometimes a lot of them wanted to compete in the Big Ten.

   "We want the best players in the country. That''s what we''ll go after."

   Guenther said the school''s location and climate was one of the aspects in his search.

   "Terri not only played in this climate (at Loyola) but has coached in it," he said.

   "I have a great deal of respect for the softball that is played in the state of Illinois. Midwest ties were important for us in this search."

   It''s clear that starting a program requires high energy. And that aptly describes Sullivan.

   She walks fast and talks even faster. She claims a workaholic tendency that trickled down from her father, former Loyola basketball coach Gene Sullivan.

   It''s a needed trait, Guenther figures.

   "I not only learned a lot from (women''s soccer coach) Jill Ellis, and watching that unfold, but also the importance of enthusiasm, high energy. ... This person had to have that for these early years."

   "My dad had enthusiasm, optimism and lots of energy," Sullivan said. "I don''t know if that''s ingrained in me or what. I know he loved his jobs in coaching. My mom and dad''s theme song is the national anthem. That''d be their wedding song if they were married again. (Coaching) is a career where you find great people around you who love their jobs, and that''s something I wanted to do  love what I do."

   Sullivan will direct some of that energy into other areas. She will have one assistant, as yet unhired, for the upcoming season. And she will have input on the new stadium, which will include lights and seat about 1,000 fans.