UCF Assistant Coaches Jen Salling and Becca Mueller talk to In The Circle about coaching at UCF, The journey from playing to coaching.
Salling talks about her 2nd season at UCF, Coaching Defense, Coaching Team Canada and more.
Mueller talked about coaching offense, Adjusting To UCF and more.
All right joining us now here’s a special treat we got two one not one but two guests on the show uh we got the two UCF assistant first The two-time Olympian a national champion player at Washington a two-time Olympian for the Canadian national team and of course in
Her second full year an assisted coach at UCF Jen saling who makes uh by the way this will be her first podcast appearance on the in the circle podcast since January 272 17 do you remember what you were doing Jen I actually do I was walking so funny that you say that I
Was walking in Fremont in Seattle yep um walking down the hill um on a really cold day just doing my thing with you on the phone I’ll never forget that that’s so funny I was in a radio Studio around what was like 11 o’clock at night something like that anyway eastern time
Anyway uh so that’s where it’s hard to believe that’s long and of course our second guest she’s the new assistant coach at UCF coming over from Cal she was a standout player uh in her own right from the College of Charleston boy do I have stories on that uh I speak of
Becca Mueller joining us here for the first time on the show how you doing I’m great how are you happy to be here doing good uh I want to get you both on we’re gonna talk about both your respective careers uh because you’re both that certainly have got so many different uh
Unique persp careers there but I want to start obviously you just wrapped up the fall how did the fall would you describe it I’ll start with you coach Jen since you’ve been here their second year how did the fall go uh considering obviously this is a big roster with a lot of new
Faces but a lot of talent coming back and then obviously couple of new faces on the coaching staff yeah I mean the fall was went well to your point we have you know 27 athletes on our roster so there’s a lot of things to manage with you know nine
Pitchers and Becca has 20 something hitters and I have the defender so so um definitely a lot of moving Parts going on but I think overall we felt like it was a really really productive fall um we have 12 seniors um so we have quite the experience team going into the Big
12 um so it’s it’s been really cool to see the growth of the girls that were here last year to this year um and obviously girls that have been here before last year with Jada and Shannon and whatnot but it was kind of interesting as soon as we came in the
Fall like there was something that was different about them um this year than last year and they just seemed to be extremely motivated I feel like they learned a lot from last year and I think they’re just really really ready to like Implement and take action on the things
That we reflected upon last year so we can kind of do things a little bit differently this year and you know to be honest going into Big 12 there’s some things that we you know had to shore up a little bit and it was just cool to see
Um how they took action this fall that was fun of course coach Mueller how have you uh kind of adjusted now you obviously been so used to the last few years on the west coast now you’re on the East Coast learning these new players uh what’s it been like for you
No it’s been great so far honestly um I think kind of to what C Shen is saying the girls came in here and they were just ready to go so anything that I threw at them they just took it and ran with it and I thought it was a really
Really good fall in terms of our process right where we started and where we ended I know you were at our last little series of nice versus knots and I think all the way around we had something to be proud about something that we were working on that we executed by the end
Of the fall and I thought it was great I thought the players are completely bought in and they love being here and we love being with them so overall I thought it was an awesome fall we grew so much as a team you know that’s a lot
To say for a team that was already I’m pretty sure they had over 40 wins right so to have a team coming in the fall and still grow that’s something special in my opinion so I’m excited did you two know each other prior to obviously joining uh obviously coach Mueller
Joining the staff this year did you have known each other either from recruiting or just in passing through mutual people because that’s always the interesting thing and that’s kind of what I want to give the audience kind of a unique perspective is when you join a staff
That you you know your familiarity with each other and obviously you’re both a common thing with Coach ball Malone and things like that so tell me about the familiarity y all had prior to joining uh over the offseason yeah I think think well we didn’t really know each other personally
Our path has crossed so much in just the people that we know so one of my best friends she’s my childhood best friend um Ali agular played at Washington right Jen played at Washington so I knew all about Jen just through her and through like the culture at Washington through
Ally um you know coach ball she recruited Ally there right so we’ve just known each other a lot through that like Washington program and then also like through other people that we worked with we have like same mentors and all those things so there was a lot of our cross
Pathing through other people even though we didn’t really know each other so and I and I think because of that Jen and I have just been able to kind of like run the same direction the whole time which has been really cool Jen how has it been like kind of
Getting to know coach Mueller and obviously maybe showing her the ropes a little bit because you’ve known the players uh and you know how kind of things have work because you were in her shoes a year ago yeah I mean it’s I really I respect Becca a lot um she
Knows what she’s talking about you know and I I really firmly believe that she is going to help the program and evolve the program um immensely um not only just like from a recruiting standpoint but also like more specifically like from an offensive standpoint just having that consistency somebody that um values
And loves their specialty um and that’s her with offense right and that’s me with defense and that’s bear with pitching so I um I’m really excited about what she’s going to be able to bring to our team and then what she already has brought to our coaching
Staff because how she goes about her business I would say is very much like it’s very aligned with kind of how bear and I rooll you know like just having a lot of experience we’re very um detail oriented um see things at a very high
Level so I think she she’s come in quite seamlessly in my opinion but um that’s good um take me through what’s it like coaching in the fall because in the fall it’s so unique because obviously you have all these the players you there’s a lot of bonding uh
Activities which Coach B Malone’s big big big really you know that’s important to her as far as the team bonding standpoint but there’s also the aspect of on the field uh you know trying different combinations because you have so many different players so much talent they can play a lot of different
Positions so take me through the fall in that process each day of making sure getting this right team to get them ready when they come back in the spring and before you know what the season going start with you coach Jen oh that’s kind of a that’s a bar Lan
But um I think she’s you know we explore different fields as a staff right but it’s she’s such a mastermind when it comes to lineups um and creating just different situations and scenarios so I feel as though we did best to put different fields together so we could
See what we needed to see um but I think to your point it is a lot to manage but the best way to do it you know what you’re getting yourself into and I think that’s one of the things that beay is really really good at is just like being
Extremely creative and seeing people play in different spots um so like I said we can kind of figure out like what what is the vision going to be and what are things going to look like come the season of course Becca you’re learning yeah you want follow up on
That yeah I was just say from an offensive perspective too it’s like because it’s my first year for me it’s like back to the basics right you really got to know the player right and I have to like come in and really want to know them and have a curiosity about how they
Operate and how they work and what’s going to work best for their swing because of the way that they operate and what they like and what they don’t like and you know where I’m going to have to push and where where I have to go back
And who I have to talk to you know like this who wants me to love on them who wants to just be about their business and so I think for me the fall especially the the first fall right is just getting to know them and know who
They are it’s like back to the basics almost like okay how are we gonna know each other you know you got to know me I gotta know you and we both got to want to do those things so um just encouraging an environment where you
Know they want to be around it they want to be in the cage they want to be a cage rat um for me that’s what this B was about was just getting to know I want to talk to you ask you coach Mueller about your offensive philosophy
Obviously come from Cal you just set records program records there the pre- last year and doubles uh runs scored home runs which is saying a lot considering the history that Cal softball’s had there you’ve had success everywhere you’ve been off as a a coach Ball State Georgia you were there as a
Volunteer what is your philosophy when it comes to the offensive side of the ball yeah I just think in terms of the philosophy we like to use all that we got we like to have a team that is obviously stacked with the power but we
Like to use the speed you know and we like to be well-rounded right and in my opinion the offense that we have here at UCF is well grounded and so when I jumped in here I was like oh this is right up my alley right because we can
Use a short game we can slap we can hit doubles we can hit home runs and for me and my philosophy of being well-rounded and not you know thinking that we’re above anything we’re not above a sack bump we’re not above a hit and run we’re
Not above any of these things and um I think for My Philosophy this offense works perfectly and we just want to be well-rounded and that’s what we got and that’s what we’re going to recruit to and that’s what bear likes and so we’re doubly gonna recruit to that which is
Which is awesome and EXC really exciting and um you know those records those power record like the doubles and the home runs and things like that in my previous jobs those have all just come from you know the hard work right we’re not trying to hit it over the wall they
Just put all the work that they could in in the caves they put all the work in in the wait room and those things kind of came so um I foresee something similar in this situation too which is really exciting Jen what’s your philosophy now coaching defense in particular in the
Infield because I remember you know when you were brought into the program the messages I got like you just got like the best shortstop best infielder in the history of college softball to be coaching these players oh by the way who’s also a two-time Olympian uh uh so
Just talk about your philosophy and coaching of course you’re you’ve done the you’ve done it all basically through your time you’ve coached offense you coached defense just take me through your philosophy in coaching yeah I would say the intangibles um people that are passionate about defense people that love
To Defenders um that play the game with a lot of passion like how like a how a Sarah Willis plays you know like I love those kind of kids who are like really love what they do out there I would say that’s an intangible but you know more specifically from a
Um like a technical standpoint we talk a lot about like feet and hands right and your ability to read speed and direction of the ball um I was taught that at Washington and ever since I was taught it there it’s it’s really stuck with me and it’s kind
Of how I go about like my teaching of Concepts nowadays um getting good angles on the ball um your feet set up your eyes so just different stuff like that what is the key when you communicate with the players you only have so much time with them how much is
Communication and that trust a factor in successful coaching from both from both your point point of views well I think from an offense perspective especially coming in and being new right and yeah you know Jen moved to defense so I when I took over the offense it’s like the trust factor
Of like all right we’re going to make this little tweak you’re already so good you know what I’m saying like a lot of these players they’re so good like they don’t need to you know it’s not like a whole groundwork situation where we’re building swings from the bottom up it’s
It’s nothing like that so it’s them having the success and then still trusting me enough to be like all right we’re going to do this what this this way or we’re gonna tweak this a little bit so um and I think it’s especially hard when you’ve had success right to
Want to make those changes because you’re kind of like I’m good already like you know what I mean just like a little bit edgy but I think what’s been cool about our players they’ve been so open to that and they’ve trusted me from the beginning and I think that’s huge
And that doesn’t happen everywhere right some people you got to work on for a really long time but our girls have been open since day one I I couldn’t be more thankful for that yeah I’ll I’ll definitely emphasize the trust piece um that’s the number one
Thing I think to get the Buy in from the girls is the ability to you know build that really strong bond with them and the relationship with them so they want to and they’re motivated to do the things that you’re asking them to do um so I think that’s the biggest thing and
Also just helping them along when when they fail right like defense is a little bit more black and white so I feel like on defense you can kind of be a little bit more direct but like you also um you never want to undermine or demean them
Right after they make a mistake we’re very process oriented and we’re like hey that happened now why do we think that happen and how can we you know maybe eliminate that from happening and if it does like let’s eliminate how often it’s happening so it’s very much a
Conversation so they know how to troubleshoot when the adjustment needs to be made because our game is so much about repetition over and over and over again so giving them the tools and the skills to be able to make adjustments and troubleshoot through the game on
Their own and that stems from like the ability to have like a really you know a good conversation with them it’s so much about relationships and they’re going to play for you if they trust you and they respect you how much Jen do you lean on also
Like the veteran leaders to help you kind of with the mess for example uh someone like a jazz Williams who’s coming off a year at shortstop where she made she set the program record for most being involved in the most double play defensively breaking Stephanie best’s record which I need to mention because
Steph always knocks herself for how what kind of defensive player was she had a defensive record that was broken she had right there the be fewest airs since 2017 with Britney s how much do you lean on somebody like her to show some of the younger players that could play the
Similar Precision the infield and how to lead the way how key is that oh yeah I mean we have I think it’s 11 or 12 Becca seniors yeah 11 so I mean we are we are very fortunate as a coaching staff right now to just um let them kind of do their
Thing right so I think the biggest thing that we’re doing right now is like encouraging them to have conversations with the newcomers and the girls that are going to be Juniors and seniors next year to just continue to show them the way right because like you have the
Shannon of the world you have the jadas of the world who have been here for five four or five years right who who know the system who know the expectation who know the standard so just encouraging them to have the conversations so once they leave things there’s not this huge
Like learning curve right we can kind of just roll into the next season fairly seamlessly so of course Becca you’ve got veteran offensive players you’ve got players that have had a lot of success how do you balance out the adapting to hey what what’s been working for them but at the
Same time you probably have some ideas to tweak some things to make it even better yeah I think a lot of that comes to like meeting in the middle right and you know as a hitting coach it’s like you don’t want to just shove everything down their throat so to speak you know
You don’t want to come in here like all big and bad and blah blah blah like no and that’s not my personality anyway so I think a lot of it comes to a coach gening it’s like the communication and something in our end of the year meetings or end of the Fall meetings
Rather that I’ve talked to them about is thank you guys for being so open with the communication and that really really helps me especially with the veterans because I’ll have conversations with Jada the conversation with Jada helps me with the conversation with the Freshman like knowing what to say knowing what
They need because Jada will be so open with me and say if if I just swung at this like I had nothing to lose I’d be fine I was like man you’re right about that all right so then I can go tell the Freshman hey swing like you got nothing
To lose and now they’re out there hacking and we’re in a good spot I’m like wow that came from a veteran that came from a a fifth year that knows what she’s doing right she just needs me to listen a lot of the time she doesn’t
Need me to go up there and change everything like and why would I do that stay of Cody so um again it just came down to the communication with his older kids and they’ve been so great communicating with me and so open and so Fearless right and I think that with
Someone that you don’t know it’s hard to be Fearless it’s hard to be vulnerable but because of the culture that bears set they’ve been able to be that with me and I think I’m really Blown Away by it and I think it’s really awesome I think
It’s one of the reasons that will be able to be successful because of their vulnerableness because of their communication and and the people to come will definitely benefit from those conversations I’m having with them you both have ties coaching and or playing in a major conference in the Pack 12
Obviously Becca from your time at Cal Jen from your playing days and coaching being a part of the Washington staff how much do you know obviously a lot of hoopa about you this year going to the big 12 first year which is going to be a super strong conference similar to what
The Pack 12 has been how much of do you relate your experiences that to the players is that overblown how do you you know because it’s a different you know the level is definitely very high at the what we’re going to get into in the Big
12 how much do you talk to your players about that or is that overblown I mean I feel they know what they know what we’re up against right they follow the sport so um we don’t I don’t feel we make it bigger than what it is if anything it’s like okay UCF
Softball is ready to compete against these programs and I think that we all feel that players and coaching staff support staff included um so I don’t feel that we make the step bigger than what what the step needs to be because I think we feel that we’re ready
And you know we’re we’re good enough to like compete with these teams and beat them you know our expectations is to get to the world serious um so we’re ready and I think if we are consistent as a staff and they feel that from us um they’re G to it’s not going to
Feel overwhelming to them yeah and on that note too I think that that experience that you know we have in the Pack 12 is only helping us and the girls understand that right it’s like hey you know every single weekend is going to be the gauntlet now every
Single weekend you can’t take a break there’s no breaks there’s no breaths right you just got to go out there and play your best every single day and US echoing that on the daily basis is helping right like us as a coaching staff we have that experience of okay we
Have all American a on Saturday we’ve all American B on Sunday like and the next weekend is the same thing so that experience I think that the girls like that right it shows that we’re okay we’ve been there we’ve been successful at that level we you’re we’re right in
The right direction right we know what we’re doing we’re all headed in the same direction we’re all doing what we need to do and we’ve got the experience to go out there and be successful in all L which I think is really cool I think as a staff too we’ve been very um
Intentional about creating environments that are very mentally taxing for them because at the end of the day to coach Becca’s point every weekend you’re going to be mentally gassed so the more that we can put them in those environments you know throughout the whole fall and then through January um
Things aren’t going to feel as hard well and Coach B Mone is scheduled tough in the non-conference what you know every year she’s been here paid off in 2022 that’s how they hosted with winning those games and of course even this year obviously being at mared Nutter and playing in the ESPN
Tournament in Clearwater the two most Marquee tournaments in the sport and UCF is involved in both because obviously the growth of the brand and the respect it has but that’s also to get him ready I would imagine as well for conference that’s always been her philosophy and
That still applies even if you’re in the Big 12 is that right there you go we got nodding I like that the coaches are nodding I want to ask about all right let me let’s talk about both of you individually uh because you both have unique stories
Let’s start with you Jen cuz as I mentioned you’re now a two time Olympian first of all you you have a unique problem because do you do you is the headliner is do you like The two-time Olympian headline or the fact you’re a national champion headline as a player
Because not many could say you have both of those titles that you can use you do so uh that’s speaks for itself from a resume standpoint uh just describe the you now you’re kind of transitioning to coaching you’re coaching here you also been part of the Canadian coaching staff
Just talk about where that coaching came from as far as your interest in getting involve in coaching well ELO you always make me feel really good inside so thank you for that um I’ve always loved sports like I’ve always been around Athletics and then I think um as soon as
I came down to United States of America and pursued a softball scholarship and got to be in the environments that I was in I was like dang I think I want to like do this because this looks really fun it looks extremely empowering it looks extremely inspiring and it’s really
Challenging um so once I got down to the United States and I got to see um you know I was around Kathy arenson at Oregon who was at at the program for over 20 years and then I was around um Lonnie Alam from Florida State who was a
Part of our national team system and then I was around coach tar at Washington so being around these folks that were really strong role models and women that like made this unreal living doing what they loved I was like dang I think I want to do
That so then rest was his history before I learn that you could you know make a living being college coach I wanted to be a PE teacher because I loved all my coaches in high school um and then I was like whoa get down to the US and my
Whole world opened up big time wow I did not know about the PE teaching part that’s pretty good you obviously come in you’re part of a long uh deal there you mentioned lot of former huskies have gone on to coaching Coach B Malone coached at Washington
That’s how you knew coach Bal Malone uh L lots of them Whitney joness obviously uh you know Victoria Haywood who’s back now at Washington coaching there just talk about that pipeline there because a lot of your former teammates are in coaching you’re in coaching uh in that pipeline but then you’ve gotten the
Extra mile because you’ve stayed involved with the Canadian national team past your playing days to be involved in the coaching which is could be significant as we’ll get into but just talk about that really kind of that I don’t know maybe there was something in the water in Seattle there where all you
All decided get into coaching yeah I mean when you get to be around coach tar like she’s she’s really good at what she does and um I got to be around that for two years and bear was there for one of those one of those years and when you’re
Just in environments around really strong powerful women who are really good at what they do it it’s take it for what it’s worth but it for some of us it was really really contagious and we wanted to kind of like walk in those footsteps and to be honest the people
That you’ve named are been a part of they’ve been a part of the game for a really really long time and are extremely passionate about the sport of softball itself um so I think we’ve we’ve all been very inspired and empowered by um the people the coaches
That have walked in our lives and we you know we want to do our best to follow in their footsteps not in that exact same way you know we’re going to do things a little bit differently but I think that’s what you do take things that you
Love that you might not love but you’re kind of building your own path and um those people helped us do that and want to do that of course the Olympics softball will be back in the Olympics in 28 in Los Angeles what is the impact of
That to the game we know the impact obviously softball in you know the United States but that’s going to have a big impact in softball in Canada from a funding standpoint from an interest building it up to 28 and hopefully beyond that just talking about the impact now that now we know officially
Softball back in the Olympics as somebody who’s been a part of two of those yeah I think um the reality is it’s it’s if you play any sport at a high level um you want to be an Olympian um you want to get to that that Peak and
When we have when we were removed after 2008 I I feel that our sport took a really big hit you know the reality is his dreams were crushed um so you’re kind of like building that back you know and trying to just like stay the course
Stay the course St the course but you know now that it’s back in 2028 I think not just for Canada in general I think for our sport as a whole um it’s the energy is back the passion’s back the drive is back like you can feel it um because everyone wants to
Experience an Olympic games um and it keeps people playing the sport so um it’s it’s going to be cool it’s going to be uh hopefully I uh get to coaching it but who know which the future holds but it would um be pretty full circle if played in a couple and
Then maybe coached in one or two so of course uh you mentioned coach tar she’s the US national head coach Coach B Malone has been the assistant the last few years under coach tars they VI were United you have a unique perspective because you’ve coached both both of them
So you’ve got stories just give me one give me a comparison of the two of them because you you you’re the one that probably one of few people that can qualified to answer that question comparison of kachar and yeah Personality yeah just give me the personality types what is that like when
They’re hanging out in like Dublin Ireland for example uh like they were this past summer uh because they’re so unique I’ve talked to both of them I know they both have a passion for the game and things like that but there it’s it’s fascinating to see their parallels of the success they’ve both
Had I’ll say this let’s just say their personalities and their their strengths and their weaknesses compliment each other very very nicely oh it’s good piece I love that answer it’s good coach bumo has got the edge on Tik Tok though right Bear’s also pretty witty and she’s very
Sarcastic um it’s actually really funny like when she opens up like C like introductions and stuff she’ll say like I’m glad to see youall are having fun out here because she’ll see they’re just like really quiet not speaking to each other they’re very like stoic because they’re nervous but they won’t
Understand sense of humor but anyways very good that’s E I like that answer it’s good all right coach Mueller now you’ve got an interesting perspective I I don’t I got a little trivia here I don’t know if you’re aware of this are you aware do you remember the fact that
You’ve never lost a game as a player as a visiting player at the Plex are you aware of that really okay good I guess the answer is no she was not aware of that very not I know that we I remember playing here as a player I remember
Playing FX and I remember having a really good weekend as a team I do remember that I didn’t know I’ve never lost though I like that yes 2014 that was your sophomore year I believe uh you were involved in one of the most infamous games ever played at the Plex
You played you do you remember what happened in the UCF game no tell me more I love this okay there you go back at it well you face first of all McKenzie atis who’s now UCF Hall of Famer I forget her name but it was your best power hitter
Hit a home run in the fifth that was the only run in the ball game uh yeah Kelsey Hawkins or something like that is that right okay all right I figured there you go so you get to the bottom of the seventh UCF gets a rally going uh they
Get to load to Bases they pinch hit a couple times during the inning that’s important to me remember Kaylee Singleton one they get a base hit it looks like it’s a walk-off hit I’m calling the game everybody’s going berserk it’s exciting next thing we know the umpires are like nope everybody goes
Back they take away the runs it turns out and I learned this for the the first time ever UCF batted out of order batted out of order wait a minute I I think I remember what you’re talking about now you remember now you’re starting to remember yeah and then you ended up your
Your ace pitcher flicker something okay she gets the last out you win the game one to nothing I was very confused see because at that time I didn’t know the rules so I was confused everybody’s looking at me I’m looking at the Sid we’re all looking at each other
What is going on so we had to go down on the field and you know talking to the Coes they realiz they said okay B it out of order and uh that’s the first that’s how I’ve learned that rule so you’re a
Part of that so I I was not I was I was not happy with you at that time but you know I’ve gotten over it no that’s so funny but now that you say that I remember being in left field because my sophomore year my first two years I
Played left field I remember being in left field being like when they got the pinch in I was just like devastated so upset and then my coaches were always on that type of stuff watching that and they got it I remember just being elated I was like heck yes let’s go but I
Remember that now that’s so crazy it feels like forever ago it’s why yeah you went like five and0 in that tournament it was a big tournament you beat Stetson in a bizarre game you had a sack bunt in the seventh inning where Stetson turned that into like three airs on a play
Which was kind of insane go that is wild yeah you won that game three to two so here go you guys we just had the juju that weekend or something we had a good yeah you had a good team that year and you had a good staff correct me if I’m
Wrong you had Ashley chesting was an assistant and Sam martyr was an assistant right she was your hitting coach yeah she was which was you know it’s so funny crazy full circle like me last year being at Cal’s a hitting coach and her at Oregon yes right and being
Able to see her all the time and you know just hang out with her or you know they came to Cal last year it was it’s just fun you know you can believe that little College of Charleston out there you got all these like coaches and it’s
Fun really cool full circle so you had a great career there what got you into coaching yourself well I think like one you know you just mentioned Ashley Chastain and Sam martyr and I thought they they were really young when they were there right they were like mid 20s
I believe that’s what I remember them being anyways but they were younger coaches at the time and I remember being like inspired by their professionalism and the way that they coach the game and their passion for the game they really really wanted to win all the time and
That was right up my alley like as a player I was all out all the time so when they came in and they were about their business I was like oh I like this right they want to win they want to do it the right way um they were always trying something new
They were always growing and I thought that was really cool to see as a young like person and seeing that as in the profession um so I think that definitely played a role and inspired me and I I kind of like didn’t know I was supposed
To go into law school when I graduated um but kind of just happened to be where I was helping my dad’s college or helping my dad’s like travel ball team and um I got my first job because the recruiter was like Hey this lady needs
An assistant coach do you want to be her assistant I’m like yeah sure so that’s kind of how I got the job at at Colgate and that was my first ever job so um yeah that’s what kind of got me into coaching I didn’t know if I was ever
Going to be a coach but um ever since that day I’ve loved it and it’s definitely where I’m supposed to be so a little bit of a you know weird turnaround a random story there but it’s right where I was supposed to be the whole time you uh were a volunteer I
Believe at Georgia 2019 right for Tony Baldwin was the hitting coach at the time Lou Harris champer head coach at the time how did that experience uh help you move forward cuz that after that you to Ball State you were under Megan Bartlett and then eventually to Cal uh
With the six but how big was that cuz Tony is regarded as one of the best hitting Minds in the sport obviously he’s talked about it learned from Jerry Glasco and things how what did you learn there that’s helped you to the now get to where you’re at oh my gosh I learned
So much there it was crazy under Lou and under Tony man I mean as a hitting coach can you get better mentors right there you know can you get more inspired by those two her just going after the hitting all the time and you know I
Learned a lot there of just like you know how to manage offense how to manage certain players how to manage the game and what they were doing and I think one of the coolest things about Tony was obviously right he’s one of the best hitting Minds in the game but his work
Ethic and how blue collar he was for being at Georgia Georgia and being so well regarded man that man is a freaking worker and I loved it and he’s so humble about what he does and how he goes about his business and I thought you know there’s really cool hitting things I
Learned but the blue Caller work ethic that he brought every single day is one of the things I have has always stuck with me and has always you know just I had so much respect for him you know so I thought there was a lot of hitting
Things that I learned from them and it was really really cool as a young coach and and just all around how to be a pro right and how to be humble and how to be blue collar and you know this is how you set things up and this is the way you
Lead and this is the way you do things and um I learned a lot of that at Georgia that time there was awesome I loved it and of course Jen uh Tony baldwi he became head coach his first big hire was a coach out of Washington who coaches defense that I’m sure has
Had an influence on you as well yeah I mean JT was my guy when I was at udub so um anything that I are we Implement from a defensive standpoint um it stemed from he and Coach tar so um we were we are and were were and are still very close
And every time I see him out recruiting I me he and I could just talk for hours but uh definitely credit to him for um just my passion for defense um because what they taught it really resonated with me and made a whole ton of sense and I felt
Like it was like I want to just spread this to the whole defensive world because it was it was gamechanging how are you both different now as coaches than you were when you were both both players cuz I’m sure you know there’s now things that you do as
Coaches where you’re like man I wish I would have realized that when I was a player how different are you personality wise or whatever as a coach now versus when you were a player starting with you coach Jim oh gosh this is a really good question
Um I’ve learned a lot in the last year and a half because I’m kind of new out of plane so I would say the conversations that we have or I have with the players after they make a mistake is a way different conversation than I had with myself after I made a
Mistake so I think kind of reflecting upon like I was just hard on myself right I kind of expected myself to be perfect which is so so unrealistic like it’s very unrealistic expectations to have in our sport um so when I see them trying to be
Perfect in place scared I want to help and I want them to feel like it’s okay to like go for it and fall on your face and mess up because that’s what it’s about and we’re going to figure it out um so I think to answer your question maybe patience and
Grace um and things are just really really process oriented and if you expect to have it figured out right now that’s a really tough mentality to sustain yeah I would say for me I’m a whole lot more tactful I will tell you that right now my goodness I am intense
Right and I am intense as a coach too right and I have a standard that I want to operate at and I want things to look a certain way or be a certain way but man I I was one of those people that just went right at you when it was in
College like if it wasn’t what you know was gonna help the team win I was gonna let you know um and I think there is a way that you have to operate as a coach that is way more tactful than the right like we’re always gonna want to win
We’re always gonna want to hold the standard but you got to make sure that you are saying it in the way that the person can hear you and you’re just saying it in the way that you want to say it then there’s probably going to be
A little bit of an issue um so I think over my years and just my maturity and you know overall growing as a person it’s just the tactfulness and the way I approach people and correction and things like that and the way you know
You got to be not afraid to love on them sometimes and you can’t really put a lot of things on them you got to be able to meet them where they’re and as a coach I do that a whole lot better than I did as a player and that’s okay I think there’s
There’s things to that right you need that player that’s going to just hold people accountable and and as a coach Your Role changes right so the way in which you approach as people changes I I’d like to add to that because it brings me to um one of the
Things that I feel like bear has really really helped me with is that things aren’t going to look how we did it as players like how I prepared as a player for the last six years for the Olympics where you 18 to 22 year olds aren’t necessarily going to know how to
Do that so expect to expect them to know how to do that that’s not fair right so I think we can help them along to get to that process but again just kind of like they’re not they’re not Olympians yet they’re 18 to 22 year old women right
And how they get to where we need them to get is not it’s going to look different and everybody’s path to success is going to look extremely different and I would say she’s really kind of like opened my eyes up to that piece because you know I kind of have a
Tendency to oh it should be this way and it should look this way or things can be a little bit too black and white and you know in coaching you got to live in the gray a little bit to get to like the end result so that’s been really helpful for
Me well that’s a great point right back like you can’t expect players to do it your way every player’s different some have a different levels of skill and i’ I’ve noticed that I’ve had a lot of great players that have gone into coaching said the biggest adjustment is
Reminding themselves they can’t you know just because it’s easy to them it’s not easy for the player they’re coaching that’s a big learning curve in coaching yeah 100% And we all go through it I think and you know if you can learn the lesson the quicker the better so you
Know coach Jen’s over here on your what one and a half you’re done one and a half year year two and she’s already learned it I’m like good job good job Jen dude yeah no I will say like when you your initial question Ela when you’re like how have you helped you know
Like Becca kind of you know get into the system and understand the system a little bit I I want to say too like she’s been in college coaching far longer than I have and um she’s somebody that I lean on to talk through things with because you know she has a lot of
Experience with coaching up in this world right and then just coaching kids up so she’s also been very helpful for me um as I kind of continue to move through my coaching career too so you mentioned the two of you coach Paul Malone I’d be remiss he’s a
Two-time All-American at her own right as a two-way player got inducted to a conference Hall of Fame last year pretty competitive person uh have either of you faced her yet in the Box because I I’ve heard stories of her throwing pitches she’s got a quote I’m air quoting here a ma
Magic trick pitch coach tar has mentioned this to me that he has a magic pitch Gina carbonado has mentioned this I don’t know if she’s exposed that pitch yet to any of you but I’m fascinated to see have you all CU you’re all your three of you are competitive I could
Tell even being around the three of you you’re very competitive and Coach Brewer I’ve not mentioned we have an expanded staff she was a former player in her own right have you all competed in something behind the scenes in practice or some I feel like you’ve competed at something
At some point might be running something honestly we probably try to stay away from the competition from the four of us we try to be on the same team because man we are competitive and we are all fiery so the way we’ve kind of managed that is by being all together we
Always want to be on the same team you know um but in terms of facing uh bear in the circle we haven’t gotten that I have seen the magic trick pitch and I was blown away I’m gonna let you know I was like there is no way she just did
That it was absolutely insane so I have seen it now do I want her to get out there on the out and I’ll get in the Box 100% um she said she’s going to make a debut this spring so maybe saying this on here is going to hold her to that so
Fingers crossed um but I would love to face her in the Box let’s go right at it I’m in I actually think ELO now that you ask I want to say and she’s got a really good memory when it comes to this stuff but I feel like when she was playing for
A team in the Canada Cup one year I think they played our national team and I want to say had a couple bats against don’t ask me what I did what the outcome was but I do believe I did hit off her in the cada cut oh this is good I think
I think okay I’ll ask her I got I’m writing this down I’ll ask her when I get her on the show in the spring here couple times because we every time I talk to her we always bring up Mendo always gets brought up and you know it’s
Is a tough subject because she it’s her best friend but she hadit a you know home run in the regional final back in the day but you know meno is one of the greats all time so I’m like that’s not a bad consolation price right there uh
From that standpoint you both can you both I mean because Jen you obviously you were the best hitter in the Olympics this most recent Olympics you were arguably the best hitter in that tournament it was you and Haley mclenny I would argue were the two best hitters
In that tournament and you helped that Canada the offense to get their first ever medal uh there how much do you still work yourself in the cage I know you’re retired but do you still work on your mechanics in the game absolutely not no if anything what
I need to work on is hitting popups to our catchers for our pregame in that’s what that’s what I need to work on these days but no there’s um the softball training days are over the chapter is officially closed it’s time to give it all back wow all right so we’re any
Rumors of a comeback you know for 2028 out done closed I mean never say never but it’s it’s it’s not looking very good very good like that all right that’s good uh a couple last things before we let you go um just give me your overall
For the audience and we I’m me I’m going to talk more about the team when we get coach be on in the in the spring but obviously it’s important time for them the holidays they’ll come back in January and then they’ll get really going to a different level and there’s
Look there’s going to be a lot of interesting tough decisions um it was interesting being at fall ball and some of the fan B uh the fan base coming over to coach barar and saying coach you got a tough tough lineup to figure out decisions to make which is funny but
Just talk about this group and obviously a very important off season coming up here the holidays but then in January and just describe this group and what the expectations going into the the season coming in January in February coach Becca take us home yeah I I would just say with this group like
Man they’re talented you know there’s no lack of Talent on this team for every single position for every single spot in the lineup for even a pinch hitter a DP man we have no lack of Talent on this team and I think our expectations are really really high right so our
Expectations which is no surprise to the girls is we want to go to the World Series this year and we want to compete in that last game and we definitely have the talent to do that and I think it’s going to be a really really fun team to
Watch um I couldn’t be more excited going into January I’m ready for them to come back now we have they haven’t even all left yet but I’m ready to get going just because I’m so excited I think it’s gonna just be really really fun right it’s not just going to be fun because
We’re going to be winning which I that is my expectation but it’s going to be fun because it’s a fun group of kids right it’s a talented group that works their butt off every single day it’s a fun coaching staff that wants to win that’s competitive that you know has the
Knowledge to do so we have the support and our support staff you know everyone’s showing up every single day so it this team is just it’s a really really special team and I’m really thankful to be a part of it and I think we can expect really really big things
Come the spring and it’s going to be a fun fun uh Team to watch and I’m sure that the Plex is going to be sold out multiple times and I can’t wait for that environment I think it’s gonna be awesome yeah that that’s an understatement the atmosphere Jen you’ve
Uh you’ve now seen it up close the atmosphere and that’s going to be no different uh once we get to the February and beyond when conference plays uh that’ll be fun there and I want to ask you about Coach Brewer Jen because it’s an expanded staff we spent a lot of time
Talking about you and uh coach but it’s a deeper staff so how does that affect all your roles from that standpoint yeah Cass um as you said I believe you said this um played for bear for a year Y and then so she deals kind of with all
Of our catching development and then really like assist bear or each of us with any and all things that that we need but um it’s it’s cool to have somebody back who played for bear who know knows bear system um and can kind of continue to
Carry on the culture that um bear has established and wants to keep sustaining um so you know a lot of her role too is just kind of sharing um about some of her experience as a player and where she grew and how she grew under bear and how
Much the program is evolved and like the direction we’re going in but um it’s been cool to have her back because when I was on staff when bear first got here um as a volunteer bear or sorry Cass was a student athlete so it’s it’s cool it’s
Cool oh that’s right good memory I forgot that aspect of the little switch do there every once in a while you know I mean I I mean I’ve known Cass she won’t she hates when I bring this up but I’ve known her since she was like 11 or
12 year old because her sister played there so she would usually hang out in the Press Box helping out and I would usually come to her and say so what do you know about this team there you go she usually did she was pretty smart her dad obviously smart uh
As well uh well this has been fun uh I’ve really have enjoyed this uh getting to do the both of you here uh because I wanted to tell both your each of your stories my last question of both 10 20 years from now because you’re both young
You’re both young where do you see yourself going do you still see yourself coaching do you see yourself going a head coach I know it’s a longterm but what do you have long what’s your long-term personal uh goals that you have moving longterm wow deep it’s really deep that’s a heavy one
ELO oh gosh Bea you go first well I would say 100% coaching for sure I got some I have some big goals I have some lofty goals for my career in terms of national championships so I would say 100% coaching and you know head coaching
Eventually I’m in no rush I’m in no rush I want to win at the highest level and I think in order to do that you need a staff like this you need a staff that’s really good at every single area so um I would say no rush to be a head coach if
I’m still an assistant in 20 years and I’m racking up those natties I’m just fine but uh we’ll see for that we’ll see yeah I would say I’m similar I um I’ll be honest I’ve never really like wanted to be a head coach you know I’ve
Always kind of seen myself as a really loyal assistant to somebody that you know there’s a lot of alignment philosophically and that I really love respect trust um so I think I’m absolutely in zero hurry to be a head coach if ever but you just never know where where life
Takes you and what opportunities arise so I’m not I’m not going to be someone that says no never be a head coach but I think to Becca’s point I feel very happy and fulfilled in the role um of being an assistant for Bear hopefully for a
Really really really long time um if I wasn’t in college coaching um say God forbid something happen I think an area that I would probably want to explore and maybe have had a couple opportunities to try but I’ve been like uh I want to try the college coaching route for a while is
The MLB so oh Major League Baseball yeah but that was if that’s if this if College coaching didn’t pan out but I don’t really foresee that happening right you both are doing good don’t worry you got time you got plenty of time plenty of PL patience there all
Right that is uh Jen Sally two-time Olympian national champion what are you what are you bringing out you usually bringing out the olymp the medals are you bringing out a medal the go the bronze medal or you bringing out the national championship ring what’s the first thing you’re gonna bring out would
Somebody ask he has it on her desk show them show them I actually brought it home I brought it I brought it home oh okay very good ELO you can say whatever you want to say it’s totally up to you I mean it’s you’re you’re the one that earned it I
Haven’t earned any of that I mean that’s pretty good I do we the most conference recent Conference Championship rings but I don’t know if that helps you at all yeah my actually my national championship ring has been in my grandparents safe until the I got home
And it was able to get in the safe which is kind of crazy smart keep it safe that’s smart hav took it out since now at least you know where it is that’s that’s a big plus all right uh Jen Sally Becca Mueller joining us here on the
Show thank you both for doing this uh this just some fun uh hope to get the most of the audience get to know both of your respective careers because I think it’s obviously it’s not going to be the last time people are going to hear from you but thanks for doing this happy
Holidays and uh we’ll see you soon here before you know at uh at the Plex there when it gets going thanks El thanks ELO great to see you
