Vicky Rios promoted to Sacramento State associate head coach
After a single season on the Sacramento State coaching staff, Vicky Rios has been promoted to the title of Associate Head Coach with the Hornets. The Hornets reached the NCAA tournament via their first-ever Big Sky Conference title and finished the year with a 31-20 overall record. The program’s hitting and infield coach, Rios led the squad to a .280 team batting average and ranked in the top three in conference in nearly every statistical category, including slugging percentage; on-base percentage; home runs; and total bases. Seven Hornets were named all-conference honorees, while junior Suzy Brookshire was named the conference’s Most Valuable Player.
North Carolina promotes Chelsey Barclay
North Carolina changed Chelsey Barclay’s title, promoting the third-year assistant to the title of Associate Head Coach. The Tar Heels’ pitching and baserunning coach, Barclay led a resurgence in the program’s pitching staff, leading Kendra Lynch and Brittany Pickett to all-conference honors. Under her guidance, the Tar Heels have set a new single-season record for stolen bases in each of her seasons in Chapel Hill, including 116 steals during the 2018 season.
Melissa Chmielewski returns to North Dakota State
A North Dakota State alum has returned to her alma mater, this time on the coaching side, as Melissa Chmielewski has been named the Bison’s newest assistant coach. Chmielewski spent the last three seasons as head coach at Missouri Southern State, compiling a 73-91 overall record. Her coaching resume includes a single season as a high school head coach and a stint as a graduate assistant at Minnesota State Moorhead. During her playing career, Chmielewski earned a pair of Summit League Player of the Year honors and ended her career with a pair of program records to her credit. Chmielewski replaces Beth Spoehr on the Bison coaching staff.
D’Amour adds Gillis to Virginia Tech staff
After coaching with and under Pete D’Amour, first at Missouri, then Kennesaw State, Doug Gillis has joined D’Amour’s inaugural coaching staff at Virginia Tech. Gillis will serve as the Hokies’ pitching coach and will lend his expertise to tutoring the program’s hurlers. Prior to spending the last two years as an assistant at Kennesaw State under D’Amour, Gillis spent eight years on staff at Missouri in a variety of roles, all tutoring the Tigers’ pitching staff. He was a part of the three Women’s College World Series berths during his time at Missouri. Gillis’ coaching resume also includes a tenure on the coaching staff at Saginaw Valley State; an accomplished fastpitch player himself, Gillis is a previous longtime member of Team USA’s men’s fastpitch roster.
Heather Gelbard returns home to FIU
After a two-year stint as the head coach at Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC), Heather Gelbard is returning to the Sunshine State after being hired as an assistant coach at Florida International. Prior to her stint at UMBC, Gelbard had spent the entirety of her collegiate coaching career in the state of Florida, previously serving on staff at Florida Atlantic and Barry University. Gelbard played under FIU head coach Gator Rebhan in high school and travel ball before later serving on the same coaching staff with him with the same travel ball organization, the Miami Stingrays. Gelbard is an North Carolina State alum and sits in the top ten in more than a dozen offensive categories in Wolfpack history.
Northern Kentucky adds Valerie Kaff as pitching coach
Michigan State alum Valerie Kaff has been hired at Northern Kentucky as the Norse’s pitching coach. Kaff finished her career with the Spartans in 2017 and served as a student coach on the program’s coaching staff during the 2018 season. After seeing limited action in her final two seasons in the circle for the Spartans, Kaff ended her playing career with sixty-nine career appearances and more than one hundred strikeouts.
Winthrop hires Ole Miss alum Morgan as assistant
Windy Thees chose a familiar face to join her coaching staff for her inaugural season at Winthrop. Jamie Morgan, who played for Thees at Ole Miss, will join the Eagles’ staff as Thees’ first assistant. Morgan began her career at Phoenix College where she helped the program capture a junior college national title before finishing her career at Ole Miss. The position at Winthrop will be her first coaching position at the collegiate level, following a stint in private instruction and coaching at the high school level.
Tellez, Nadler join North Dakota coaching staff
North Dakota head coach Jordan Stevens made a pair of additions to his staff late last week, adding Naomi Tellez as a full-time assistant coach and program alum Taylor Nadler as a volunteer assistant coach. Tellez spent her playing career at New Mexico and DePaul and served as a graduate assistant at Concordia University. She earned all-Big East conference honors during her senior campaign. Nadler began her career at Valparaiso before finishing it at North Dakota with the 2018 season. She led the program in hits (53); batting average (.365); and slugging percentage (.534) during her own senior season.
Vicky Galasso joins Maryland as assistant coach
After spending her collegiate playing career under Julie Wright at Idaho State, Vicky Galasso will now coach under her former tutor at Maryland. Galasso fills the vacant assistant’s position on the Terrapin staff that was left open by the departure of Victoria Hayward, and will serve as the program’s hitting coach. During her playing career, Galasso earned a pair of Big Sky Player of the Year trophies and was three times named an all-region honoree. Her coaching resume consists of a single season as an assistant at Weber State and a stint at the travel ball level.
Castillo promoted to Long Beach State pitching coach
Long Beach State head coach Kim Sowder has filled out her own coaching staff for 2019, promoting Kevin Castillo from the volunteer assistant position to full-time assistant coach. Castillo will serve as the 49ers’ pitching coach, replacing the departed Danielle Spaulding. Castillo is a member of Team USA’s men’s fastpitch roster and is a former junior college and NAIA collegiate baseball player. Utah alum Mariah Ramirez has been named the 49ers’ new volunteer assistant coach.
Former OVC standout Liberatore joins SIU-Edwardsville staff
Former Tennessee Tech standout Danielle Liberatore has returned to the Ohio Valley Conference after being hired as an assistant at SIU-Edwardsville. Liberatore fills out the coaching staff of interim head coach Jessica Jones, who holds the program’s reins after the retirement of Sandy Montgomery. It is the first coaching role of Liberatore’s career, following a stint as a graduate manager at Tennessee. She led Tennessee Tech to a conference title and NCAA tournament appearance in 2015 and finished her playing career with seventy career wins; 926 strikeouts; and a 2.73 career earned run average.
