Jennifer Herzig begins her fifth season as the head coach of the UNC Greensboro softball program.
"I am very excited for the opportunity to coach at UNC Greensboro and become a member of the Spartan Athletics family," said Herzig when named to the post in July 2005. "First and foremost, my goal is to build a complete program that will know success on the field as well as in the classroom. I am eager to begin working with such a solid core of returning players as well as the incoming recruits."
The Manassas, Va., native owns a 98-145 record after four years at the helm of the program. In her tenure, the Spartans have upset the top-seeded team in the Southern Conference Tournament three times, becoming the first No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in tournament action in consecutive seasons, and have advanced to the winners' bracket of the tournament for the first time in school history. Herzig is the only coach in UNCG history to win two games at the league tournament in multiple years. She has done it in each of the last three.
In 2009, Herzig's squad posted a 26-33 record, bouncing back from an opening-round loss at the SoCon tournament to win two straight. Shortstop Kaitlin Merkt earned a spot on the All-Southern Conference Second Team, while Alex Emeterio took a spot on the inaugural All-Freshman Team. Senior Hannah Angel was a preseason all-conference pick, pitcher Amber Harrell was a two-time SoCon Pitcher of the Week during the season and outfielder Brittany Ausley earned SoCon Player of the Week honors.
Herzig has always placed an emphasis on excellence in the classroom as well as on the field, and the 2009 season was no exception. Six Spartans earned Academic All-Southern Conference distinction, doubling UNCG's previous best effort, while Emily Akiyama, Kayla Hensley, Laura Olenderski and Mary Catherine Vercoe were NFCA Scholar-Athletes. The team posted a 3.190 grade point average for the year, earning NFCA All-Academic Team accolades.
Olenderski also picked up a prestigious league honor, as she was UNCG's female recipient of the Southern Conference's Coleman Lew Leadership Award for the 2008-09 school year.
The award recognizes student-athletes from each of the Southern Conference's 12 member institutions. Coaches, faculty athletic representatives and senior woman administrators nominate prospective candidates based on leadership, academic excellence and athletic achievement in both the college environment and the community. Athletic directors and representatives from Coleman Lew & Associates conducted one-on-one interviews with the finalists before determining the award winners.
The 2008 season saw Herzig's UNCG squad post a fifth-place finish in the SoCon, the Spartans' best showing since 2005. UNCG won its first two games at the league tournament, beating fourth-seeded Elon before knocking off top seed Chattanooga to advance to the winners' bracket for the first time since joining the league for the 1998 season.
Herzig's players took home several honors before, during and after the season, with senior Mary Greenway taking All-Southern Conference First Team honors for the second season in a row. Greenway, Leslie Furness and Ausley all earned spots on the Preseason All-Southern Conference First Team, while pitchers Angel and Harrell took home SoCon awards during the season, with Angel earning a Pitcher of the Week nod on May 5 and Harrell nabbing Pitcher of the Month honors for February. Angel was named to the SoCon All-Tournament Team after UNCG's run.
The Spartans also excelled in the classroom during the 2008 season, with six players earning NFCA Scholar-Athlete status and the team earning All-Academic Team standing for the school year. Three players - Greenway, Whitney Sirois and Lyndsay Mouse - were named Academic All-Southern Conference.
One of the highlights of Herzig's tenure came when the Spartans hosted an exhibition against Team USA during USA Softball's "Bound 4 Beijing" tour in April 2008. Played in the UNCG Softball Stadium, which underwent a $3.5 million reconstruction and re-opened prior to the 2006 season, the Spartans faced Jennie Finch and Team USA prior to their Olympic silver-medal run.
During the 2007 season, the Spartans advanced to the championship game of the Winthrop/adidas Invitational and Harrell was named to the all-tournament team for her efforts throughout the weekend. Greenway earned All-Southern Conference First Team honors while senior shortstop Adriane Audley earned second team honors. The selection of two players marked the first time since the 2000 season that UNCG had placed more than one player on the all-conference team.
The Spartans also hosted the Southern Conference Tournament in 2007, downing the top-seeded Lady Mocs in the first round and winning two games at the tournament for just the second time in school history and first time since 2000.
In her brief tenure in Greensboro, Herzig has coached some of the most accomplished players in school history. Greenway, a junior college transfer that played just two seasons at UNCG, graduated second on the Spartans' career steals list, setting the single-season record of 49 in 2008, her senior season.
Angel and Harrell both appear in UNCG's top 10 in career wins, strikeouts and shutouts. The duo also turned in the second- and third-best single-season strikeout totals, respectively, in school history in 2008. Harrell has cracked the top 10 in the single-season strikeout list in each of her three seasons in a Spartan uniform thus far.
The 2009 squad had three of the top 10 home run hitters in school history on the roster in Ausley, Merkt and Furness.
Herzig was a member of the NCAA Division I Softball Committee from July 2008 to September 2009 and is the representative for the South Region on the NCAA Softball Regional Advisory Committee for the 2009-2010 year.
A 2001 graduate of Charlotte, Herzig served as an assistant coach during the 2004 and 2005 seasons at her alma mater under head coach Aimee DeVos. With the 49ers, Herzig assisted in all aspects of recruiting and other daily operations of the program, with an emphasis on working with the Charlotte hitters, infielders and catchers.
During her playing career, Herzig was honored for her work in the classroom repeatedly, earning two Conference USA Academic Medals (2000-2001) and NFCA Scholar-Athlete honors in each of her four years (1998-2001). She was a four-year letterwinner as a catcher for the 49ers.
Herzig graduated cum laude from Charlotte with a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice and a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. She earned her master's degree in physical education and sport management from East Tennessee State in 2003, where she spent two seasons as an assistant coach. She served as the program's interim head coach during the fall of 2002.
In addition to her work as a player and coach, Herzig has served as a counselor at numerous softball camps at universities up and down the East Coast, including Florida State, Ohio State, Georgia, North Carolina and Furman.
