Aug. 8, 2013
The new Montana softball program is getting closer to having a face and a voice. The search for the Grizzlies' first coach has been narrowed down to three finalists. All three candidates will be in Missoula early next week to interview and meet with the public.
Making the cut from an initial applicant pool nearly 100 deep were Tom Gray, an assistant coach at Oklahoma State, Mike Smith, the head coach at McNeese State, and Jamie Pinkerton, an assistant coach at Iowa State. Gray will be in Missoula on Monday, Smith on Tuesday and Pinkerton on Wednesday.
As part of the day-long interview process, each candidate will have an opportunity to address questions at a public forum. Those assemblies will be held from 4-5 p.m. in room 330 of the University Center on campus each day.
"We expected there to be a lot of excitement about the Montana softball program and the opportunity to become the Grizzlies' first head coach, and that proved to be the case. We had an incredibly deep pool of qualified applicants," said UM's Jean Gee, who is chairing the search committee.
"To have the search process come down to candidates as strong as these three is indicative of the pool of applicants we reviewed."
Gray recently completed his fifth season (2009-13) as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State. During Gray's tenure at Stillwater, the Cowgirls have gone 177-110 and advanced to three NCAA tournaments.
In 2011, Oklahoma State advanced to the Women's College World Series, its first appearance at the WCWS since 1998, and finished the season with a No. 8 national ranking.
Prior to arriving at Oklahoma State, Gray was the co-head coach at Illinois-Chicago for seven seasons (2002-08). The Flames won four Horizon League regular-season titles under Gray and made the NCAA tournament in 2002 and 2004.
Before getting into the college game, Gray was a high school softball coach and teacher in California.
Smith, who has a career record of 708-209, just finished his second season as head coach at McNeese State. Prior to that, Smith had an impressive eight-year run (2004-11) at California Baptist that was highlighted by the Lancers' 2009 NAIA national championship.
Cal Baptist went 467-56 in eight seasons under Smith, who was a pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals' organization from 1991-94 and rose as high as the Class AA ranks.
Smith coached the Lancers to eight conference championships and eight appearances at the NAIA World Series. In addition to winning the 2009 national championship, Cal Baptist finished runner-up in 2005, '06 and '11 and placed third in 2007 and '10.
That success followed Smith to Louisiana. In just his third game at McNeese State, he coached the Cowgirls to a 3-1 upset of defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Arizona State.
McNeese went 34-21 in 2012, then improved to 38-15 last spring, which matched a program record for single-season wins. Smith was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Cowgirls to a 19-5 league record and the program's first outright conference title since 1983.
Pinkerton, who was the head coach at Arkansas when the Razorbacks made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2008 and '09, recently completed his fourth season (2010-13) as an assistant coach at Iowa State.
In 2013 the Cyclones broke team offensive records for batting average, slugging percentage, RBIs, runs scored, home runs and walks. The ISU defense also set records for fielding percentage and double plays. Those 29 double plays ranked as a tie for fifth in the nation.
Pinkerton capped his five-year (2005-09) run at Arkansas by leading the Razorbacks to the NCAA tournament in both 2008 and '09, at the time two of only four NCAA tournament appearances for the program.
Prior to coaching at Arkansas, Pinkerton was the head coach at Tulsa from 2001-04, earning Western Athletic Conference coach of the year honors in 2002 and '04. Pinkerton previously had assistant coaching stints at Tulsa, Louisiana-Monroe and Virginia.
Montana will begin playing softball in the 2014-15 school year.
The new Montana softball program is getting closer to having a face and a voice. The search for the Grizzlies' first coach has been narrowed down to three finalists. All three candidates will be in Missoula early next week to interview and meet with the public.
Making the cut from an initial applicant pool nearly 100 deep were Tom Gray, an assistant coach at Oklahoma State, Mike Smith, the head coach at McNeese State, and Jamie Pinkerton, an assistant coach at Iowa State. Gray will be in Missoula on Monday, Smith on Tuesday and Pinkerton on Wednesday.
As part of the day-long interview process, each candidate will have an opportunity to address questions at a public forum. Those assemblies will be held from 4-5 p.m. in room 330 of the University Center on campus each day.
"We expected there to be a lot of excitement about the Montana softball program and the opportunity to become the Grizzlies' first head coach, and that proved to be the case. We had an incredibly deep pool of qualified applicants," said UM's Jean Gee, who is chairing the search committee.
"To have the search process come down to candidates as strong as these three is indicative of the pool of applicants we reviewed."
Gray recently completed his fifth season (2009-13) as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State. During Gray's tenure at Stillwater, the Cowgirls have gone 177-110 and advanced to three NCAA tournaments.
In 2011, Oklahoma State advanced to the Women's College World Series, its first appearance at the WCWS since 1998, and finished the season with a No. 8 national ranking.
Prior to arriving at Oklahoma State, Gray was the co-head coach at Illinois-Chicago for seven seasons (2002-08). The Flames won four Horizon League regular-season titles under Gray and made the NCAA tournament in 2002 and 2004.
Before getting into the college game, Gray was a high school softball coach and teacher in California.
Smith, who has a career record of 708-209, just finished his second season as head coach at McNeese State. Prior to that, Smith had an impressive eight-year run (2004-11) at California Baptist that was highlighted by the Lancers' 2009 NAIA national championship.
Cal Baptist went 467-56 in eight seasons under Smith, who was a pitcher in the St. Louis Cardinals' organization from 1991-94 and rose as high as the Class AA ranks.
Smith coached the Lancers to eight conference championships and eight appearances at the NAIA World Series. In addition to winning the 2009 national championship, Cal Baptist finished runner-up in 2005, '06 and '11 and placed third in 2007 and '10.
That success followed Smith to Louisiana. In just his third game at McNeese State, he coached the Cowgirls to a 3-1 upset of defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Arizona State.
McNeese went 34-21 in 2012, then improved to 38-15 last spring, which matched a program record for single-season wins. Smith was named the Southland Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Cowgirls to a 19-5 league record and the program's first outright conference title since 1983.
Pinkerton, who was the head coach at Arkansas when the Razorbacks made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2008 and '09, recently completed his fourth season (2010-13) as an assistant coach at Iowa State.
In 2013 the Cyclones broke team offensive records for batting average, slugging percentage, RBIs, runs scored, home runs and walks. The ISU defense also set records for fielding percentage and double plays. Those 29 double plays ranked as a tie for fifth in the nation.
Pinkerton capped his five-year (2005-09) run at Arkansas by leading the Razorbacks to the NCAA tournament in both 2008 and '09, at the time two of only four NCAA tournament appearances for the program.
Prior to coaching at Arkansas, Pinkerton was the head coach at Tulsa from 2001-04, earning Western Athletic Conference coach of the year honors in 2002 and '04. Pinkerton previously had assistant coaching stints at Tulsa, Louisiana-Monroe and Virginia.
Montana will begin playing softball in the 2014-15 school year.
No comments:
Post a Comment