Melissa Gentile becomes only the second head coach in JU softball history after serving the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan University in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

Gentile, who also served as recruiting coordinator at Eastern Michigan, helped lead the Eagles to their first MAC Tournament appearance since 1999 after posting an 11-12 conference record in 2004. The Eagles also excelled in the classroom by earning National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Team GPA honors after leading the country with a 3.552 GPA.

In her first season, she improved the Eagles' batting average from last in the conference (.199) to sixth overall (.241) and had two players (Deanna Wisnieski & Nikki Denman) rank among conference leaders in every offensive category.

Prior to coaching at Eastern Michigan, she spent one year as the Director of Softball Operations for the Michigan Sports Academy. A native of O'Fallon, Mo., Gentile recently served as the director and lead instructor for the first softball camps run in conjunction with the Ripken Baseball Academy.

Gentile began her coaching career as an assistant coach at Central Michigan University from 2000-02, where she served as recruiting coordinator, camp director and also handled fundraising. In three years with the Chippewas, she helped lead the squad to a pair of MAC regular season and tournament championships and two NCAA regional appearances. Central Michigan also had 12 all-MAC selections and five players earn NFCA all-Great Lakes region

In her playing career, Gentile was a four-year letterwinner for the University of Michigan and finished her tenure as the career (28) and single-season (13) home run record holder, which was held until 2004. A co-captain in 2000, she earned All-Big Ten, All-Region and All-America honors in 1998 and was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 1997. Gentile participated in two Women's College World Series while at Michigan, placing fifth in both 1997 and 1998 and was named to the Women's College World Series All-Tournament Team in 1997. Along with the Big Ten Freshmen of the Year honor, Gentile earned second-team All-Big Ten accolades in 1997 as well as first-team all-Big Ten and all-region accolades as a sophomore.

Gentile also went on to play with the USA Women's National Team from 1996-2000 and was a member of the USA Pan-American Team in 1997 before graduating from Michigan in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in sports management and communication. She also eared her master's in athletic administartion from Central Michigan in 2005.