North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Wolfpack Softball Seeing Green
3/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 2, 2006
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - Michelle Green didn't expect to have a full-time job just yet. She had planned on spending this spring working as a student assistant at her alma mater, the University of Georgia.
Green was a Bulldog legend, rewriting the pitching record book and helping to turn a one-time also-ran program into a Top-10 team by her senior year. She compiled a 27-4 record last year and was a two-time All-America selection.
But when her playing career ended last spring, with a loss to UCLA in an NCAA Super Regional, Green set out to finish her degree by December, start graduate school in the spring and start looking for a full-time job by the fall.
Instead, NC State coach Lisa Navas found herself short an assistant coach last September and went looking for someone to help in building her three-year-old Wolfpack program. Who better than a former All-America pitcher who is a household name to current and future members of the NC State roster?
"We were in a little bit of a difficult situation, being down a coach in September," Navas said. "We were fortunate that Michelle was graduating in December. We were fortunate that we had good chemistry and were able to make it happen. It's not normal that someone coming out of college would step into a position of a second assistant.
"But the simple fact that she is a smart pitcher, who understands the game very well, I think she can help us out."
Green has been impressed with the Wolfpack pitching staff. She's worked with junior first-team All-ACC right-hander Abbie Sims to improve her consistency. "Abbie has definitely come in and done a tremendous job," Green said. "She grew up a lot in her freshman year, when there were few options to pitch. She grew up a lot right then. She understands the different aspects of pitching.
"Right now, however, it's just a matter of getting her consistent. We have been working on the mental game with her."
Green has also helped the staff's other three pitchers -- junior Shaina Ervin, sophomore Megan Dalthorp and sophomore Brooke Isley - improve in every area.
"They are all good in their own way, though they sometimes get overshadowed by all that Abbie has done," Green said. "My big thing with them is to be themselves and don't try to be Abbie. She has carried the load for the program so far, but she can't pitch every game, and the other three are going to be a big part of our success."
She's also helped raise the visibility of NC State's program. Two of the three players Navas has signed for next year are from the state of Georgia, though they committed long before Green was hired.
"But it was kind of funny because we had been recruiting them for a while, then one day we had dinner with them and they both said `Oh my God, Michelle Green called us,'" Navas said. "She's pretty well known as one of the top pitchers in the country."
Green is still on a major learning curve herself. She never called her own pitches in college, and now she has to call pitches for the Wolfpack. That's a big leap. But she also knows what it takes to be a successful college softball pitcher, the kind of experience no one in the Wolfpack's fledgling program been through yet.
"She has been able to toughen up are pitchers a little bit, with the mental part of the game," Navas said. "She's done a good job in a tough situation.
"I think that she has a great personality and is able to balance well with our pitchers. Michelle knows what it takes to get to that championship level and that is where we want to go."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
