This pair of sisters are teaching everyone new tricks since taking over at Northwestern. In 2007 the Wildcats became the first private school ever to make back-to-back Women’s College World Series appearances. They finished third last season.
   Kate, the head coach, and her twin sister, Caryl Drohan, who serves as her associate head coach, have Northwestern rated among the best programs in the country. In 2006, Northwestern won its first Big Ten title since 1987 and qualified for the Women’s College World Series for the first time in 20 years. In Oklahoma City this year they won a pair of games. They completed the season with a 52-13 record, making Kate 238-103-1 through six seasons.
   It was the second straight season the Wildcats won 50 or more games, a mark they had never reached before the Drohan sisters arrived on the scene.
   Kate has cemented her status as one of the best coaches in Big Ten history, joining former Northwestern coach Sharon Drysdale, Carol Hutchins (Michigan) and Gayle Blevins (Indiana/Iowa) as the only coaches to ever take Big Ten schools to the WCWS. Drohan and Hutchins are the only two to make the final pairing. After spending her first three years at NU as an assistant, Caryl was promoted to Associate Head Coach prior to the 2005 season. She came from Hofstra University after spending five years on the coaching staff there—four as an assistant coach and the 2001 season as the Associate Head Coach.
   So, how do you go about building a program on the National level? What kind of drills do you use to reinforce the things you teach? The sisters give their secrets of building mental preparation in a full session. Kate tells how to build a contender in a Thursday Night Thunder session while Caryl explains how to teach fundamentals the same night. During the Ultimate Rap sessions they will teach you how to teach everything from the cutoff plays to defending the first-and-third.
   Obviously their methods work. In the last three years (2005-07), seven different Wildcats have earned All-America honors — including a pair of freshmen. Kate coached NU to its third straight NCAA appearance in 2005, advancing to Super Regional play after winning the Ninth Region championship. The Wildcats won 42 games, one shy of the school record, and rose to a ranking of 15th in both national polls - the highest rankings NU had reached at the time. After the record-setting season, Drohan and her staff were named the NFCA’s Mideast Region Co-Coaching Staff of the Year.
   Drohan guided the `Cats to an at-large bid in the 2003 NCAA Tournament and a No. 2 seed in the Regional hosted in Austin, Texas. Northwestern won its first game of the tournament against Tennessee Tech, but bowed out of the tourney following its initial victory. NU finished the season with the 14th-ranked RPI in the country.
   The 2004 season saw even more impressive play from Northwestern. For the second consecutive season, Drohan led the ‘Cats into the NCAA Tournament with a 34-20 record and a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten.

Patty Gasso
University Of Oklahoma

Ralph Weekly
University of Tennessee

Karen Weekly
University of Tennessee

    Ralph and Karen Weekly, a married couple, are currently employed as co-head coaches for Tennessee— an unconventional coaching situation in the world of sports. Luckily, softball games aren’t decided by conventional standards.
   In just six seasons as co-head coaches, the Weeklys have completely transformed the program, taking it from just 24 wins in the season prior to their arrival, to a school record 63 wins during the 2006-07 season.
   Indeed, the Weeklys have enjoyed a fair amount of success in their tenure at Tennessee, and they attribute a lot of that success to the family atmosphere that their marriage creates for their players.
   The Lady Vols continue to improve on a year-to-year basis under the Weekly’s tutelage.
   Last season’s runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships followed a third-place finish the year before and a sixth-place finish in 2004.
   According to Karen, the duo forms a great coaching tandem due to their respective strengths and weaknesses as coaches.
   “Our strengths and weaknesses are kind of opposite,” she said. “The things that he does well are the things that I’m not necessarily fond of, and vice versa. And I think that’s what makes this work.”
   Ralph started his coaching career in 1986 at Pacific Lutheran University. Karen had been a top assistant for Ralph there since she graduated from the university in 1987. The two had been coaching together since then at Chattanooga (1995-2001) and Tennessee (2002-present).
   With so much experience together as coaches, the Weeklys have learned what it takes to balance their work life with their marriage.
   The Weeklys, as is the case with all good coaches, have a method to their success, and it is a method that has been developed through years of experience together. That method is working quite well at the moment, as the Weeklys and their team pursue the national championship, which has barely eluded their grasp in recent years.
   How they teach hitting mechanics, and how they go about correcting hitting problems are just part of the subject matter they will take on during two main sessions Saturday. Karen will also explain teaching the speed game during Thursday Thunder and offers a number of offensive teaching hints at the Ultimate Rap Sessions.
   Ralph, who is nationally and internationally recognized for his skills as a hitting clinician, was responsible for a variety of national team duties, including the general management of USA Softball’s elite level international programs. He also served as a liaison to the ASA National Team Selection Committee that is responsible for the elite level selection process for Olympic and other USA Softball National Teams.
   He worked closely with the U.S. Olympic Committee to ensure that USA Softball received adequate funding for its programs and was fully equipped with the technical assistance it needed. He was also instrumental in securing the funding for the development of a state-of-the-art practice facility at the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. This facility has been used by all of the USA Softball National Teams and will continue to be an integral part of USA Softball’s success.

 

Ken Eriksen
University Of South Florida

   Ken Eriksen has built a reputation with his success on the softball field because of his all around knowledge of the game and his ability to teach all aspects. He will use that versatility at the “Be the Best You Are” clinic where he will teach how to develop catchers at Thursday Night Thunder, work on pitch recognition for both the offense and defense in a Friday main session and mix in “How To’’ sessions on throwing mechanics, defending the speed game and tie-breaking strategies during the Ultimate Rap sessions.
   Now entering his 12th season as USF head coach and his 23rd overall with the softball program, Eriksen has shown an uncanny ability to build winners.
   Since Eriksen has been head coach at USF, only one of his teams has ever ended a season with a losing record. He has led five teams to the NCAA Tournament and has won two conference titles. In all, Eriksen has amassed a record of 509-261-1, the winningest coach in the history of the program and the most among any active coach at USF.
   Eriksen has guided USF to 10 winning seasons. He has coached four All Americans, five 50- plus-win seasons and four 40-plus-win seasons. Last year, The Bulls pitching staff was dominant and ended the 2007 campaign ranked fifth in the country with an ERA of 1.33.   
   Allowing only 86 earned runs in 452.2 innings pitched, USF led the Big East in pitching as well. The Bulls had the 43rd-best winning percentage in Division I of .667, compiling a record of 44-22.
   He has served as assistant coach for the USA softball team and helped them win their third straight Olympic Gold Medal. Since joining the staff in 2001 the squad has gone 28-0 in international competition.
   Eriksen served as head coach for Team USA in the 2001 Pan American qualifiers and led the team to a gold medal. As a softball player, he was named to the All-World team as a catcher in 1992.

Scott Whitlock
Kennesaw State

   Scott Whitlock is the winningest coach in NCAA softball. He has two national titles, 13 regional crowns and more personal accolades than you can mention. He is the driving force that has made Kennesaw State softball one of the most admired and respected programs in the country.
   And for his lifetime of hard work, dedication and success, Whitlock was granted the highest honor of his profession. In December of 2004, he received the highest accolade of his career when he was voted into the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. He was inducted in December of 2005 in Orlando, Florida.
   After successful runs at the NAIA and NCAA Division II levels, Whitlock has carried his success into Division I. Last season, in the Owls’ second year in college softball’s premier level of competition, he led Kennesaw State to its first Atlantic Sun Conference regular season title with a 44-20, 15-5 record. In just two seasons, Whitlock has compiled an 82-37 overall record within D-I, is a two-time A-Sun Coach of the Year and has produced a conference Player of the Year in Keri McKee (2007), a Pitcher of the Year in Brittany Matthews (2007) and has had 10 all-conference performers.
   He will share the wisdom of his years at a main session Saturday where building a team and developing the interaction dynamics that spell success will be explained in detail. Friday, during the Ultimate Rap sessions, Whitlock explains how to deal with problem players … and parents; how to keep practice fun, and how to plan and implement a two-hour practice.
   Whitlock began the softball program at Kennesaw State when he coached the slow pitch team in 1989 and 1990. Beginning in 1991, when the Owls played in the NAIA, he initiated the fast pitch program. After moving Kennesaw State to NCAA Division II status in 1995, Whitlock and his Owls won back-to- back national championships and he now stands as the NCAA’s winningest coach. In his first 1,000 games, fast pitch and slow pitch included, Whitlock has compiled an 873-127 record for a .873 winning percentage.
   USA Softball selected Whitlock as one of 16 coaches for the Women’s National Team during 2005 season. He worked in 2006 helping select the National team. It wasn’t an uncommon experience for the Owls coach. He also served on the support staff of the 2004 Olympic Gold Medal squad.

   Born in New Zealand, Mike White’s softball career has provided him with the opportunity to travel the world, meet many friends, and start a career in coaching at Oregon. But it also left hitters hapless against his rise ball or his drop. His playing credentials are impeccable. In 2006, he finished fourth with the USA Softball Men’s National Team at the Pan American Championships in Hermosillo, Mexico and he led the USA Softball Men’s National Team to the AAU International Fast pitch Championship in Orlando.
   In 2004 he led the USA Softball Men’s National Team to a fourth place finish at the ISF World Championship in New Zealand and in 2003 to the silver medal at the Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo as well as to the National Men’s Masters 40-over championships in which he tossed back-to-back shutouts in the finals. He was a gold medal winner for the USA at the Pan Am Qualifier in 2002 and won a silver medal in the Pan Am games in 1999 when he had an ERA of 0.86.
   White began building his reputation as a member of the New Zealand national team in 1996 when he led his home-country’s National Team to a gold medal at the World Championships. He threw a perfect game against Canada in the title game and had a 4-0 record, with a 0.00 ERA and 58 strikeouts. He won his first gold medal with New Zealand in 1984.
   White brings his unique perspective to pitching in two different ways.
   He will share a main session with Cheri Kempf, another pitching guru, where they will share their thoughts on how to teach pitching drills and progressions both in season and out of season.
   White will be part of Thursday Night Thunder where he will show how to teach basic mechanics to young pitchers.
   Then, during the Ultimate Rap sessions, he will give his views on how to best teach the drop, the change-up and the rise.

Mike Lumley has been a top-notch teacher at Baylor University where he serves as the team’s hitting instructor. In Lumley’s six years at Baylor, the Lady Bears have tallied five of the six highest single-season home run totals in the program’s history as Baylor has continually established new and individual single-season hitting records under his guidance.
   Last year the Baylor coaching staff was recognized as a regional coaching staff of the year by the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association. The coaching staff, comprised of head coach Glenn Moore, associate head coach Lumley, assistant coach Britni Newman, assistant coach Jimmy Hubble and speed and conditioning coach Brandon Marcello were selected for the honor after leading the Lady Bears to the Women’s College World Series and the Big 12 Conference regular season title for the first time in school history.
   Baylor finished the season with a record of 51-16, tying the 2005 squad for the most wins in school history as the Lady Bears claimed the Big 12 Conference title with a 14-13 league mark.
   In 2005 USA Softball recognized Lumley as he was one of 16 coaches, and the only collegiate assistant coach, chosen for coaching consideration for events during the 2005 Women’s National Team season.
   Hitting has always been his area of expertise and the quick improvements to the offense at Baylor began from the time he joined the staff in 2002.
   He will begin his first visit to the “Be the Best You Are Clinic” with a Thursday Night Thunder session on how to implement Physical Conditioning and Weight Training into your program, In three Ultimate Rap sessions Lumley explains how to teach hitting to the opposite field, hit the inside pitch and hit the outside pitch. Lumley, a native of Tucson, Ariz., first joined Moore at LSU after a 12-year stint at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson where he led the team to a No. 5 final national ranking by USA Today.
   A 1985 graduate of the University of Arizona, Lumley is a member of the National Fast pitch Coaches Association and the American Baseball Coaches Association.