LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The NFCA has announced that seven new members were voted to its Board of Directors for 2018. Additionally, with the passing of the restructured bylaws, new positions were created and the Vice President titles were redefined.
The new positions are a second Assistant Coach representative and a Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) representative. Elected to those positions were Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Robin Baker and Southwestern Oregon CC’s Megan Corriea, respectively.
Saginaw Valley State University head coach Todd Buckingham is the new Vice President for Membership. In 2018 and 2019, he will serve alongside current VP for Membership Boo De Oliveira of Purdue in the vitally-important membership area.
The revised Vice President titles offer more clarity for the areas with which they work. They are as follows with the previous designation in parentheses: Vice President, Awards (1st), Vice President, Membership (2nd), Vice President, Education (3rd), Vice President, Publications (4th) and Vice President, Playing Rules (5th).
Georgetown head coach Pat Conlan returns to the executive board as the Vice President for Awards, a role she held in 2014 and 2015. Joining the board as their respective division representative are Southern Illinois head coach Kerri Blaylock (Division I), Luther College head coach Renae Hartl (DIII) and retired Ashland head coach and 2017 Hall of Fame inductee Sheilah Gulas (Emeriti).
Notre Dame associate coach Kris Ganeff, Wayne State University head coach Gary Bryce and Kirkwood Community College head coach Joe Yegge will continue as the Vice President of Publications, Division II representative and NJCAA representative, respectively.
Continuing their terms on the NFCA Board of Directors are President Karen Weekly (Tennessee), Past President Rhonda Revelle (Nebraska), Vice President for Education Larissa Anderson (Hofstra), Vice President for Playing Rules Mickey Dean (Auburn), Assistant Coach representative Diane Miller (Nebraska), Cal JC representative LeAnne Taylor (San Diego City), High School representative Kevin Halley (St. Pius X) and Travel Ball representative Shelli Nolte (Premier Fastpitch).
Pat Conlan (Head Coach, Georgetown) – Vice President, Awards
Pat Conlan enters her 13th season as the Georgetown softball head coach and her 23rd year overall of coaching the collegiate level. Conlan transformed the club team into a Division I program in 2006, serving as the program's first and only head coach. She will guide the Hoyas into their 10th season of BIG EAST play in 2018.
Throughout her past three seasons on the Hilltop, Conlan has led the Hoyas to 35 victories and oversaw 18 BIG EAST weekly recognitions. She also oversaw 32 BIG EAST All-Academic players.
Todd Buckingham (Head Coach, Saginaw Valley State) – Vice President, Membership
Todd Buckingham enters his sixth season at the helm of the Cardinals. He has guided Saginaw Valley State to five consecutive winning seasons, collecting 32 or more wins the last four. Buckingham’s Cardinals have posted a 144-85 overall and 77-43 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference marks during his tenure and reached the Midwest Regional final in 2017.
Prior to SVSU, Buckingham was the first ever head coach at IU Southeast. In six seasons, he guided the Grenadiers to a 186-111 record, six straight Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) titles and three National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) postseason appearances, including a trip to the national championship finals in 2012.
Kerri Blaylock (Head Coach, Southern Illinois) – Division I Representative
Kerri Blaylock has won 628 games in 18 seasons as the head coach of the Saluki Softball program. She has the best winning percentage of all 500-win coaches in Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) history, and she is the only coach in conference history to lead a program to five-consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
As a head coach, Blaylock has led SIU to four MVC titles with six NCAA Tournament appearances while producing 87 All-Conference selections. She holds a .677 winning percentage in MVC games (292-139) and has been a member of five MVC Coaching Staffs of the Year. She is the fastest coach in MVC history to reach 500 wins overall and 250 MVC wins. On February 18, 2017, Blaylock won her 600th game as a head coach in a 4-2 win over Michigan State.
Renae Hartl (Head Coach, Luther) – Division III Representative
Renae Hartl is entering her 17th season as Luther’s head coach in 2018. She collected her 500th career victory during the 2017 campaign and has posted a 514-171 (.750) record over her career. Hartl has guided the Norse to 10 NCAA Division III Tournament appearances in the last 11 years, including four straight National Championship Finals from 2010 to 2013, posting fifth place finishes in 2010, 2012 and 2013 and seven in 2011.
The five-time Iowa Conference Coach of the Year has led the Norse to six regular season league titles and five Iowa Conference tournament crowns. Collectively, she has coached 20 NFCA All-Americans, 69 NFCA Midwest Region selections, 77 all-conference honorees, four Iowa Conference MVPs and three league pitchers of the year.
Megan Corriea (Head Coach, Southwestern Oregon CC) – NWAC Representative
Megan Corriea serves as Southwestern Oregon’s head coach and Recreation Center Specialist. Prior to her stint with the Lakers, Corriea was an assistant coach at Humboldt State University. She also spent time as the athletic director and commissioner for the Albuquerque Parochial and Independent Sports Athletic League as well as the assistant softball coach for St. Pius High School.
During her collegiate playing career, Corriea was a All-Bay Valley Conference outfielder at Sacramento City College and was a two-year starter and 2001 All-West Region tournament team selection at Humboldt State, helping it to a third place finish at the NCAA Division II National Tournament in 2001.
Robin Baker (Assistant Coach, Wisconsin-Eau Claire) – Assistant Coach Representative
Robin Baker has served as an assistant coach with the Wisconsin-Eau Claire program since August of 2001. Baker played an important role in the Blugolds first NCAA Division III national title in 2008 and a third-place finish in 2007. Before arriving in Eau-Claire, Baker was the head coach for both the softball 1990-99) and volleyball (1990-98) programs at Wartburg College. Under her guidance, both programs earned at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament in 1994 (softball) and 1997 (volleyball).
Sheilah Gulas (Head Coach, Ashland- retired) – Emeriti Representative
Sheilah Gulas, who retired after the 2017 season, enjoyed a 31-year career as a collegiate head coach, the last 21 at Ashland University. Compiling 30 wins in her final season, Gulas surpass 900 career victories and won nearly 66 percent of her games with a 929-487-1 record. The 2017 NFCA Hall of Fame inductee collected 723 of those wins with the Eagles. Additionally, she served as Ashland’ Assistant Athletic Director and Senior Woman administrator in her final two years in the Eagles’ athletic department.
She compiled a winning record in all 21 of her seasons at Ashland, leading the Eagles to 12 NCAA Division II tournaments and collecting five Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) titles and three conference Coach of the Year awards. In 1998, Gulas guided Ashland to a school-record 53 wins and a No. 3 national ranking. The Eagles collected 40 wins five times during her tenure.