Can a major D-1 softball program be nationally competitive WHILE building equally impressive achievement in the classroom and in the player's personal lives?
Missouri Head Coach Ty Singleton thinks so and his success in returning the Mizzou program to national prominence has proven him right. His challenge to his players and staff is to commit to excellence on a daily basis in each of these key areas and now in his fourth year at Missouri, the challenge is being met with outstanding results at all levels.
Taking over a program in 2002 that had fallen to the bottom of the Big 12 Conference, Singleton has returned the Tigers to the top of the standings, finishing third in both 2003 and 2004. MU was the only team in the top three both years and was one game away from the conference title in 2004 and 2005. Mizzou battled to the championship game of the Big 12 tournament the past two seasons and has returned to NCAA Regional postseason play in all three of "Coach Ty's" years in Columbia.
The Tigers' academic success under Singleton's leadership has been equally as impressive. Mizzou's team grade-point average promptly climbed from 2.30 in 2002, to 3.33 in Fall 2005 and now Mizzou stands above 3.0 as a team for the third time in the last 10 years. In 2004, eight Tigers earned GPA's above 3.0 and five were named to the Dean's List. In Singleton's three years at Missouri, four Tigers earned National academic honors by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Singleton's coaching approach builds social integrity, leadership and teamwork to better prepare the team for success in their lives and careers after college. A focus on team-building, players' personal and career development and community services helps the Tigers learn to value service to others and team success above personal achievement, both on and off the field. Singleton and his approach to balanced success has Missouri softball moving ahead on all cylinders as the Tigers continue to build something special in Columbia.
Singleton made his debut as Missouri head coach Feb. 7, 2003, at the Auburn Invitational. Taking the Tigers to their first NCAA Regional tournament appearance in four years, Singleton can look back on year one proudly.
Singleton led his team to a 31-20 record, finishing third in the Big 12 Conference (12-5), while earning the title of Big 12 Coach of the Year.
Among the teams' 31 wins were victories over top-20 teams and Big 12 powers Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska and a shutout sweep of rival Kansas. Under his guidance, Mizzou defeated Auburn in its season-opener, later knocking off Texas Tech in its Big 12 Conference opener and finally returning Missouri to the NCAA Regional Tournament after a four-year absence. Singleton was named Big 12 Coach of the Year by his peers in acknowledgment of Mizzou's remarkable turnaround.
Building on the success of his first season, Singleton's 2004 squad finished the campaign with a 29-26 record including a 13-4 Big 12 Conference mark. A very challenging pre-conference schedule paired the youthful Tigers with Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State and Stanford and Mizzou went on to finish with 10 wins over ranked teams including Oklahoma, Nebraska, Baylor, Oregon, Texas A&M, Arizona State and Texas. The tough schedule paid off as the Tigers rolled to three clutch wins in the Big 12 tournament and advanced to the title game, losing 1-0 to regular-season and Big 12 Champion Nebraska on May 15. The appearance was Missouri's first championship-game showing since 1997. One week later, the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Regional Tournament in Los Angeles for only the ninth time in school history.
In 2005 the Tigers collected four tournament titles before heading into Big 12 Conference action. Battling against nine of the nation's top-25 teams, the Tigers finished the campaign with a 44-15 record and made their second straight Big 12 Tournament title game appearance. The feat was no easy task. In fact, Missouri became the first school in league history to drop the tournament's opening game, only to play their way into the championship game.
Strong athletically and academically, several Missouri players were recognized for their efforts in the field and in the classroom. Six Tigers earned Big 12 honors; Heather Kunkel, Janessa Roening, Leanne Bowers, Kathy Masterson, Micaela Minner and Amanda Renth, with four Mizzou players, Kunkel, Roening, Jen Bruck and Erin Kalka named to the Big 12 All-Tournament team. In a program first, Roening became Missouri's first USA Softball Player of the Week with, Minner later becoming the first Tiger since 2002 named to the NCAA Midwest All-Region team.
Academically, the Tigers had four individuals named to the Academic All-Big 12 team, with Masterson earning a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.
Missouri's proven record provided the team with their third straight NCAA Regional Tournament appearance and also allowed the Tigers the opportunity to host the event for only the second time in the 30-year history of the program. Singleton's squad showed strength and character after suffering a 3-0 loss to Southern Illinois in the opening round, before shutting out Robert Morris (9-0) and Southern Illinois (9-0) in back-to-back no-hitters. Missouri's two wins kept them alive in the NCAA Midwest Region Bracket and they took on fourth-ranked Stanford in the title game for the chance to advance to the first-ever NCAA Super Regionals. A 3-2 loss to the Cardinal brought the record-setting season to a close and now Singleton's 2006 squad is back with higher goals. Singleton and the Tigers have set a course for a Big 12 Conference ring and NCAA Women's College World Series appearance. Such a trip would be only the fourth in Missouri softball history, the last coming in 1994.
Several long-standing school records have been broken since Singleton made his coaching debut four years ago. Last season the Tigers tallied a school record 82 home runs, shattering the previous season high of 36 set during the 1997 season. Individually, Minner set a new home run season record with 17 shots over the fence, followed by Bruck and Kunkel's 16 bombs, which both tied the previous record.
Singleton took the helm of the Missouri softball program June 11, 2002, after spending the previous two seasons (2001, 2002) as the head coach at Northwestern State (La.)
Singleton, a 1992 graduate of the University of Portland, led the Demons of Northwestern State to a 75-46 mark in his two seasons as head coach. In 2002, Northwestern State made its third NCAA Tournament appearance in five years. Winning the 2002 Southland Conference Tournament Championships, the Demons advanced to the NCAA Regionals after finishing second in the regular season standings, Singleton's 2002 team was 45-25 overall and had a 2-5 league mark, to set a school record for wins in a year. The Demons led the league in nine offensive categories, eight defensive categories and broke 12 school records. They had the Southland Conference Player of the Year, Hitter of the Year, Freshman of the Year and conference tournament MVP. NSU also finished second nationally in stolen bases on the season with 185.
Alongside the Demons' rise to national prominence on the field came a drastic improvement in the classroom. The women raised the teams's GPA from 2.20 upon Singleton's arrival, to above a 3.0 mark following the spring semester. Fourteen Demons were named to the University Honor Roll in 2002, with two named to the All-Region Academic Team and one player received academic all-America honors.
Prior to taking over the NSU program, Singleton was an assistant coach at the University of Texas under Head Coach Connie Clark. While at Texas, Singleton worked primarily with the infielders and hitters, where he helped produce seven All-Americans, three Verizon Academic All-Americans and a dozen All-Big 12 Conference selections.
Among Singleton's other coaching accomplishments, he was an assistant coach at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, Calif., where APU won two Golden State Athletic Conference Championships and twice finished fifth in the NAIA National Championships (1996 and 1997).
Singleton and his wife Kristin have two sons, Riley Scott Singleton (three) and Zachary Tyler Singleton, born Sept. 19, 2004.
At 34, Singleton is a native of the Pacific Northwest and grew up in Vancouver, Wash., receiving a Master's Degree in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, Calif., ) in 1996.
