| Windy Thees |
|
|
Left with the daunting task of starting a softball program from scratch, University of Memphis head coach Windy Thees has stepped up to the challenge. In just three seasons, Thees has built the Tigers into a winning program that has continued to show it can compete with any team in the country.
Now entering her fourth season in 2009, Memphis looks to continue its growth with a squad that returns seven starters, three pitchers and 12 letterwinners.
In the short three-year history of the Memphis softball program, Thees has compiled an 89-81 (.524) overall record and guided the team to the Conference USA Championship Tournament in 2007 and 2008. The Tigers finished ninth in C-USA in 2008 with a 25-30 overall record and 4-18 in league play. For the second-straight season, the U of M earned an opening round victory in the C-USA Championship in 2008.
Last year served as a rebuilding season for the Tigers on the mound as the Tigers brought in a three-person freshman rotation. The newcomers showed glimpses of a promising future with freshman Kimber Bossom throwing a no-hitter and being named to the C-USA All-Freshman team, while freshman southpaw Janelle Valle led the team in ERA. The two pitchers combined to earn 20 of the team's 25 victories in 2008.
The Memphis offense continued to improve in 2008 with the Tigers setting a new home run record with 48. Seven players finished with four or more home runs and the team ended the season with a .406 slugging percentage.
In her three seasons at Memphis, Thees' players have earned 10 All-Conference awards and one NFCA All-South Region selection. This past year, Leila Dolfo earned her third All-Conference USA selection and was named to the second team. Kimber Bossom and Maddie McKinley were both named to the All-Conference USA Freshman team.
Thees' players have also found success in the classroom with all eight of her seniors earning their diploma. In addition, under Thees' tenure the Tigers have earned four CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine All-District selections, 11 NFCA Scholar Athlete selections and three C-USA All-Academic team selections.
The softball program has produced the U of M's nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award in the past two seasons. Former volleyball and softball letterwinner Melissa Nance was the 2008 Memphis nominee, and former pitching standout Jenna Kubesch was nominated in 2007. Kubesch also earned one of 12 C-USA Postgraduate Scholarships.
Thees helped Memphis improve its win total by 29 percent in 2007, while losing one game fewer than its inaugural season totals in 2006. The Tigers' power numbers also saw an increase last season with the team finishing fourth in the league in home runs with 47, 14 more than the previous season and a 33 percent increase.
In the Tigers' first C-USA Championship trip, the team defeated third seeded Tulsa, 2-1, in the opening game. Despite only one hit in the game, Memphis scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning with the game-winning run coming home off a suicide squeeze bunt. The Tigers then lost a 1-0 10-inning battle to East Carolina with the Pirates breaking up a perfect game in the ninth.
Memphis reached the league tournament in dramatic fashion in 2007 needing to win its final six conference games of the season to qualify for the event. With a postseason type mentality, Thees guided her Tigers to sweeps over UAB and UCF with all six games decided by a run and two needing walk-off scores in the 11th inning.
In 2006, Thees brought in a squad of newcomers and finished above .500 with a 28-26 overall record. The Tigers earned a 19-0 victory in its inaugural debut against Grambling State and went on to a 5-1 start. Narrowly missing one of the six spots in the Conference USA Championship, Memphis finished seventh in the nine-team conference with a 10-13 record.
On January 6, 2005, University of Memphis Director of Athletics R.C. Johnson announced Thees as the head coach of the new intercollegiate softball program. Thees and her inaugural squad began competition in the 2006 season in C-USA.
Thees came to Memphis from Georgia College & State University where she had been the head softball coach and SWA since the fall of 1999. She led the Division II school, located in Milledgeville, Ga., to a runner-up finish in the 2003 Division II National Championship. Her teams set nearly every pitching, defensive, and offensive record at GCSU during her five years as head coach, and in doing so, helped Thees compile a record of 163-92 (.639).
During the aforementioned 2003 season, Thees was named the Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year, the South Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, as well as the Georgia Collegiate Coach of the Year.
Thees' student-athletes have also excelled in the classroom as her team posted better than a 3.0 grade point average in each semester during her last four years at GCSU with nearly a 100 percent graduation rate.
Following her team's 2003 season, Thees was selected as a member of the coaching staff of the Russian National Softball team and helped lead the team to a Silver Medal in the European Championships, the highest-ever finish for Russia in an international softball event.
Prior to her tenure at GCSU, Thees served as an assistant softball coach and wellness coordinator at Lake City Community College in Lake City, Fla., from 1998-99. LCCC was ranked No. 1 in the national poll during both the 1998 and 1999 seasons and placed second at the JUCO National Championships in 1999.
Thees was a four-year starter at both catcher and second base at Florida State from 1993-97. She helped lead the Seminoles to three ACC Championships and made the All-ACC Tournament Team twice, including once as a freshman. Thees was voted the team's Most Inspirational Player all four seasons, and served as a team captain her senior year in 1997. She earned her bachelor's degree in marketing and multinational business from FSU in 1997 and also holds her master's degree in business administration from GCSU, which she earned in 2002.
A native of Mesa, Ariz., Thees and her husband Michael have six-year-old twin daughters, Megan Jo and Alexandria.
