Maryland Softball
Director of Athletics Damon Evans officially announced the hiring of Mark Montgomery as the fifth head coach in the history of the University of Maryland’s softball program on September 9, 2019.
Fresh off winning 2019 Conference USA Co-Coach of the Year honors after leading Louisiana Tech to conference regular season and tournament championships, Montgomery came to College Park with 19 years of experience as a head coach at the collegiate level.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Mark, his wife Melanie and three daughters to the University of Maryland Athletics family,” Evans said. “Mark brings nearly two decades of collegiate head coaching success to our softball program, including a tremendous tenure most recently at Louisiana Tech. More importantly, his student-athletes have a proven track record of succeeding in all facets of the collegiate experience and we are confident he will transfer that success to College Park.”
In his first season with Maryland, Montgomery brought the Terps to a winning season record before the year was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his second and most recent season, Montgomery produced the first Big Ten Freshman of the Year in program history in Jeada McFarland.
Montgomery spent the seven years as head coach at Louisiana Tech, guiding the program to two conference tournament championships (2017, 2019), two NCAA Regional appearances (2017, 2019) and five consecutive 30+ win seasons. Prior to his arrival at Tech, the program had recorded just one 30+ win season in the previous 23 years.
In his last regular season, Montgomery led Louisiana Tech to 45 wins, the program’s first regular season conference title and a second C-USA Tournament title and NCAA Regional appearance in the last three years. The 45 victories were the second most in program history while Tech’s 19 C-USA wins were the most ever.
Montgomery owns a mark of 556-483 in 19 seasons as a head coach (17 at the Division I level), including a 226-161 record at Louisiana Tech.
Montgomery moved on to Louisiana Tech after spending two years at NAIA Georgetown (Ky.) College, eight years at Centenary College and two years at Northern Colorado.
The Kentucky native has led his teams to 13 winning seasons during his 19 years, including 12 seasons of 30 or more wins.
While at Centenary, he led the program to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in 2004 and 2005, and won more than 200 games, including upset victories over Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, Minnesota, Syracuse, Boston College and New Mexico.
Montgomery led Centenary to the program’s first winning season in 13 years in 2004 and a program record-tying 36 victories as Centenary captured the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the school’s first ever NCAA Tournament. The following season saw Montgomery and the Ladies win 31 games, capture their second straight Mid-Continent Tournament title and return to the NCAA Tournament.
Following Centenary’s decision to drop down to Division III, Montgomery coached the Ladies in 2009 and then accepted the head coaching position at Northern Colorado where he led the program to back-to-back second place finishes in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Mountain Division (2nd place) each season while being named the PCSC Mountain Division Coach of the Year in 2011. The 2012 team won a school record 25 games and broke 21 school records.
Montgomery’s teams have always been highly successful away from the softball diamond as each one of them has registered a team grade point average above 3.0 for the past 15 years. His 2001 team at Georgetown College posted a cumulative GPA that ranked in the top 10 of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Academic Teams. His Northern Colorado team in 2012 finished ranked No. 2 in the country in team GPA.
Prior to his collegiate coaching experience, Montgomery served as the softball coach at Lafayette (Ky.) High School where he won seven district titles, five regional titles and one state championship title while posting a 170-73 record.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky in 1992 and his master’s degree from Georgetown College in 2000.
Montgomery and his wife Melanie have three daughters: Bailey, Emma and Adrienne.
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Director of Athletics Damon Evans officially announced the hiring of Mark Montgomery as the fifth head coach in the history of the University of Maryland’s softball program on September 9, 2019.
Fresh off winning 2019 Conference USA Co-Coach of the Year honors after leading Louisiana Tech to conference regular season and tournament championships, Montgomery came to College Park with 19 years of experience as a head coach at the collegiate level.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Mark, his wife Melanie and three daughters to the University of Maryland Athletics family,” Evans said. “Mark brings nearly two decades of collegiate head coaching success to our softball program, including a tremendous tenure most recently at Louisiana Tech. More importantly, his student-athletes have a proven track record of succeeding in all facets of the collegiate experience and we are confident he will transfer that success to College Park.”
In his first season with Maryland, Montgomery brought the Terps to a winning season record before the year was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his second and most recent season, Montgomery produced the first Big Ten Freshman of the Year in program history in Jeada McFarland.
Montgomery spent the seven years as head coach at Louisiana Tech, guiding the program to two conference tournament championships (2017, 2019), two NCAA Regional appearances (2017, 2019) and five consecutive 30+ win seasons. Prior to his arrival at Tech, the program had recorded just one 30+ win season in the previous 23 years.
In his last regular season, Montgomery led Louisiana Tech to 45 wins, the program’s first regular season conference title and a second C-USA Tournament title and NCAA Regional appearance in the last three years. The 45 victories were the second most in program history while Tech’s 19 C-USA wins were the most ever.
Montgomery owns a mark of 556-483 in 19 seasons as a head coach (17 at the Division I level), including a 226-161 record at Louisiana Tech.
Montgomery moved on to Louisiana Tech after spending two years at NAIA Georgetown (Ky.) College, eight years at Centenary College and two years at Northern Colorado.
The Kentucky native has led his teams to 13 winning seasons during his 19 years, including 12 seasons of 30 or more wins.
While at Centenary, he led the program to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in 2004 and 2005, and won more than 200 games, including upset victories over Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, Minnesota, Syracuse, Boston College and New Mexico.
Montgomery led Centenary to the program’s first winning season in 13 years in 2004 and a program record-tying 36 victories as Centenary captured the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the school’s first ever NCAA Tournament. The following season saw Montgomery and the Ladies win 31 games, capture their second straight Mid-Continent Tournament title and return to the NCAA Tournament.
Following Centenary’s decision to drop down to Division III, Montgomery coached the Ladies in 2009 and then accepted the head coaching position at Northern Colorado where he led the program to back-to-back second place finishes in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Mountain Division (2nd place) each season while being named the PCSC Mountain Division Coach of the Year in 2011. The 2012 team won a school record 25 games and broke 21 school records.
Montgomery’s teams have always been highly successful away from the softball diamond as each one of them has registered a team grade point average above 3.0 for the past 15 years. His 2001 team at Georgetown College posted a cumulative GPA that ranked in the top 10 of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Academic Teams. His Northern Colorado team in 2012 finished ranked No. 2 in the country in team GPA.
Prior to his collegiate coaching experience, Montgomery served as the softball coach at Lafayette (Ky.) High School where he won seven district titles, five regional titles and one state championship title while posting a 170-73 record.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky in 1992 and his master’s degree from Georgetown College in 2000.
Montgomery and his wife Melanie have three daughters: Bailey, Emma and Adrienne.
Doria reunites with Montgomery for the 2021-22 season after serving as associate head coach at Louisiana Tech beginning in 2014. Doria played for Montgomery in addition during her collegiate days at Centenary College in Shreveport, and was also instrumental in helping Louisiana Tech record five straight 30-plus win seasons – a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by the program since the 1990s – and three conference titles (2019 regular season, 2017 & 2019 tournament) over the last three seasons.
The San Antonio, TX native joins the Terrapins from Southwestern University, where she has served as head coach since July of 2019. “I am looking forward to being in the Big Ten coaching alongside Coach Montgomery once more,” Doria said. “I’m ready to get to work and am excited to be part of the Maryland community!”
Heberling comes to Maryland having served as the associate head coach at Utah State for the past two years, spending four on staff primarily working with the pitchers. As a team in 2022, the Aggies’ pitching staff posted a 4.38 ERA, with senior Kapri Toone leading the way with a 2.89 ERA and 14 victories with two shutouts. Toone was earned Second Team All-Mountain West Honors, and the Aggies finished with its second highest conference record in program history.
Prior to Utah State, Heberling spent five seasons as the head coach of USC Beaufort after spending two seasons as an assistant coach, bringing the Sand Sharks to a 177-92 record including 55-38 in conference play.
During her tenure, Heberling coached 27 all-Sun Conference performers, two NAIA All-Americans, 14 Sun Conference All-Academic performers, eight CoSIDA Academic All-District players and one CoSIDA Academic All-American. Heberling was named the Sun Conference Coach of the Year in 2015 after posting 42-14 record en route to a Sun Conference Tournament title and an NAIA Opening Round appearance.
“I am excited for the opportunity to coach at Maryland and take the next step in my coaching career,” Heberling said. “I am looking forward to working with a great coaching staff, and the Maryland Softball Team. I want to thank Coach Montgomery, the coaching staff and search committee for this great opportunity. I can’t wait to get to Maryland and meet the team and get to work. Go Terps!”
A Ft. Lauderdale, Florida native, Heberling graduated from UNC Pembroke with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science, and a master’s in Athletics/Activities Administration from William Woods. She and her husband Ed have two sons, Hollis and Hayes.
Garris joins Maryland for the 2021-22 season previously serving as head coach for six years at Southern University after being named interim coach in 2014. Garris’s 2021 and 2017 SU squad went the farthest a Southern team has gone in eight years at the SWAC Tournament, finishing third. Every one of his teams have made the SWAC tournament since he has been on the Bluff. Garris was named the 2015 SWAC Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Jaguars to the school’s first winning season in eight years. That team ranked eighth in the nation in double plays and led the SWAC in virtually every defensive category.
“There is absolutely no doubt that Coach Montgomery is going to lead Maryland Softball to a level that is yet to be seen,” Garris said. “The opportunity to join his staff and work toward that end at a top tier academic institution in one of the nation’s best conferences is one that was very easy to say yes to. He has assembled an incredible staff and I am honored beyond measure that he would ask me to be a part of it. An elite institution in a premier conference with one of rhe nation’s top coaches is something that I am very excited about.”
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