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Melanie Meuchel Named Head Softball Coach

MissoulaMarinerFan

Well-known member
Per GoGriz.com:

http://gogriz.com/news/2017/10/16/meuchel-named-softball-coach-at-montana.aspx

Image from GoGriz:
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Excerpt from the Article:
"Mel was always a hustler, hard-working and so locked into the team," said Gasso. "She has earned this head coaching opportunity and will be a wonderful female role model to her student-athletes, which is so important in today's world."

The announcement is a dream come true for Meuchel, who was born in Missoula into a softball family and raised in the fastpitch community.

Her grandparents played the sport. Her parents did also, and began coaching it as well, spreading its popularity down to the youth levels of western Montana.

Meuchel and her brother, Matt, the former head coach at Nevada and now an assistant at Arkansas, followed the same path. There was no denying it. It was in their blood.

"Everybody in the family, on both sides, from aunts to uncles to cousins, whether they played or coached, it's kind of been a family tie," said Meuchel, who was not only brought up around softball. She's also been a Grizzly since birth.
 
She was the right choice right now. Obviously she knows how to coach and has learned from a few good mentors on how to manage a team. The question right now is how well she can recruit to keep the train rolling. We've got a lot of mo and some good recruiting classes. I'm not saying she will, but I'm hoping it doesn't begin to slide backwards under her. This years recruiting class which should be announced here pretty soon, should give us some indication of how she does, granted they've had to deal with a change in coaching.
 
alabamagrizzly said:
She was the right choice right now. Obviously she knows how to coach and has learned from a few good mentors on how to manage a team. The question right now is how well she can recruit to keep the train rolling. We've got a lot of mo and some good recruiting classes. I'm not saying she will, but I'm hoping it doesn't begin to slide backwards under her. This years recruiting class which should be announced here pretty soon, should give us some indication of how she does, granted they've had to deal with a change in coaching.

Regarding her ability to recruit, since she was the pitching coach under Coach Pink I would think she had to be instrumental in the signing of Hood and Achenback. That would seem to be a good omen regarding recruiting.
 
84GRIZ said:
alabamagrizzly said:
She was the right choice right now. Obviously she knows how to coach and has learned from a few good mentors on how to manage a team. The question right now is how well she can recruit to keep the train rolling. We've got a lot of mo and some good recruiting classes. I'm not saying she will, but I'm hoping it doesn't begin to slide backwards under her. This years recruiting class which should be announced here pretty soon, should give us some indication of how she does, granted they've had to deal with a change in coaching.

Regarding her ability to recruit, since she was the pitching coach under Coach Pink I would think she had to be instrumental in the signing of Hood and Achenback. That would seem to be a good omen regarding recruiting.

Recruiting and building programs is what Pink is known for. I'm sure Meuchel got some tools from him. As far as developing those pitchers(Stensby and Driscoll included), I give all the credit to her. Achenbach was a no brainer. Just having a program here is what recruited her. Meuchel says she's gonna focus on the state also which is good to an extent. Yes, there's atleast one D1 player in Montana(2 last year) but there is a wealth of talent in other areas that she needs to have ties too. I imagine her coaching in Nevada gave her that connection to Hood.
 
I think Meuchel is an excellent choice and will do a great job. My worry is what impact waiting three months to name her will have on the 2018 class? I agree with AlabamaGrizzly, make no mistake the impact Coach Pinks recruiting abilities had on this program. I heard he was a tireless recruiter and found the talent.
 
logchain20 said:
I think Meuchel is an excellent choice and will do a great job. My worry is what impact waiting three months to name her will have on the 2018 class? I agree with AlabamaGrizzly, make no mistake the impact Coach Pinks recruiting abilities had on this program. I heard he was a tireless recruiter and found the talent.

The previous classes have all been announced early Nov so we should know pretty soon how her 1st class will look. W/ all the Sr's on this team, it should b at least 8-10 players. Gonna be fun to track their high school stats next spring.
 
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