Natalie Coonrod has been ready for quite some time to be a head softball coach.
Although the timing was not the best with her recent marriage, the right opportunity came along and Coonrod couldn’t pass it up.
The former Wylie assistant coach will take over Argyle’s softball program and inherit a young team, with five all-district performers, which missed the playoffs by one game last season with an 8-6 record in District 8-3A.
“My ambition wasn’t to be an assistant forever and an opportunity arose,” Coonrod said. “My ambition wasn’t to stay where I was forever, and I felt it was time to do full-time coaching. I wanted to do that as a head coach.”
Coonrod was at Wylie for seven years. She was an assistant softball coach for the first three years before taking off two years to focus on her role as the special education department head. For the past two years, she’s done both, and now is ready to focus more on the coaching side.
The new Argyle coach will take over for Darren Wilson, who headed up the program for the past two seasons but will focus solely on basketball, his favorite sport, and be an assistant on the varsity girls coaching staff full-time.
Coonrod graduated from Richardson Berkner and was the school’s first softball player to earn a college scholarship. She pitched at Butler County (Kan.) Com-munity College and later at Jacksonville (Ala.) State before graduating from UT-Arlington after her softball career was ended by a shoulder injury.
She said the youth of the team and the hunger to make the school’s second postseason appearance drew her to the job. She also cited the return of players such as all-state catcher Taylor Petrick, who hit .587 with six home runs and 33 RBIs to earn district offensive player of the year honors as well as first-team Denton Record-Chronicle All-Area team honors.
“It’s a young team and it sounds like a lot of raw talent, but it’s just a matter of focusing that raw talent and making a team,” Coonrod said. “They‘ve only made the playoffs one time, and I think they want to do that again. We’re in a tough district now with Prosper and Celina. We want to refocus. One player can’t win ball games. Everyone knows Taylor, but the weakest player has to be able to compete with everyone else.”
Last season, Wylie finished 20-13 (7-7) in District 9-5A to finish fourth, behind the three Plano ISD schools, to make the postseason.
Coonrod knows she’s in a different situation at the 3A level and said she’s aiming high despite being in such a tough district with perennial state contenders like Celina.
“In 3A, only three teams go to playoffs, and honestly I really don’t even want to finish No. 3,” she said. “I don’t want these girls to finish one place out again after fourth place this year.”
Coonrod’s hiring marks the third Argyle hiring filled by a Wylie coach, including two in a matter of weeks, with Mark Koke being hired as Argyle’s first soccer coach earlier this month. The other had unprecedented success this year, as Ricky Griffin led Argyle’s baseball team to its first-ever postseason appearance and a series win after coming from Wylie.
Her relationship with Griffin played a large role in Coonrod’s decision to join the staff at Argyle, as he put in the initial good word to athletic director Todd Rodgers, whose daughter Emily is the Lady Eagles’ pitcher.
“Coach Griffin was the contact that was made,” she said. “I think he’d spoken to [Rodgers] and mentioned my name. There were other people interviewed but it helps to know someone first-hand that’s at a school. I’m able to ask him how stuff works here, so I know ahead of time, so that was definitely a factor. We’ve known each other for a long time.”
ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com.
