Jamie Pinkerton, the former head coach at Tulsa and Arkansas and most recently an assistant coach at Iowa State, has been named the first head coach of the nascent Montana softball program. The Grizzlies will play their inaugural season in 2014-15.
Pinkerton rose to the top of an applicant pool of nearly 100. He interviewed on campus last week and was offered the job on Friday. On Monday he accepted. He’ll be in Missoula before Labor Day to start laying the program’s foundation.
“I was hopeful from the moment I left campus that I might be given the opportunity to start this program,” Pinkerton said. “To be the program’s architect is really thrilling.”
The Griz softball program got its start more than two years ago, when the Montana Board of Regents, in May 2011, approved an increased student athletic fee aimed at helping UM remain in compliance with Title IX gender equity metrics.
The increase was not written specifically for the addition of a women's softball program, but because of the rise in popularity of the sport at the prep level in the state and in the region, it was the logical choice to become Montana’s 15th intercollegiate sport and ninth women’s program.
No comments:
Post a Comment