Michele Hawkins, a former assistant coach at Penn State and Michigan State and previously the head coach at the University of Chicago, begins her second season on the University of Delaware coaching staff in 2012.
Hawkins has primary responsibilities working with the Blue Hen pitchers and catchers.
During her first season at Delaware, Hawkins helped the Blue Hens to a 21-34 overall record and a spot in the CAA Tournament after UD finished fourth with a 10-11 league mark. Amanda Stacevicz earned second team All-CAA honors for the second consecutive season after winning 11 games and posting a 3.27 earned run average in the circle.
Prior to arriving in Newark, Hawkins coached at Penn State University where she served as an assistant coach under head coach Robin Petrini working to recruit and develop pitchers and catchers.
Under the direction of Hawkins, Jackie Hill finished the season with 211 strikeouts in 2010, ranking her third in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions went 29-22 during the 2010 campaign after posting marks of 19-27 in 2008 and 34-22 in 2009.
Hawkins earned All-Mideast Region twice and was also an All-Big Ten selection when she played at Northwestern from 1990-94. After graduating in 1994 with a degree in education and social policy, Hawkins joined the Michigan State staff as the pitching coach from 1994-97. In addition to her coaching responsibilities, she was also responsible for coordinating plans for the academic progress of her student-athletes and also monitored the life-skills development program for student-athletes.
From there, Hawkins went back to Chicago, this time as the head coach at the University of Chicago where she led the squad to an impressive three-year mark of 62-32-3. Including her duties as head coach, she also taught physical education courses such as weight training, strength and conditioning and racquetball. Hawkins also worked with the University of Chicago's athletic teams and individual athletes as requested as a specialist in group dynamics, performance enhancement, and team building, as well as providing individual counseling.
Hawkins, who earned a master's degree in community and agency counseling from Michigan State in 1999, temporarily left college coaching and worked in a variety of professional positions in Illinois, Florida, and Georgia. Throughout that time, Hawkins continued to be active with softball, speaking and instructing at youth and coaching camps and clinics throughout the United States, Slovakia, Puerto Rico, Denmark, Holland, Italy, and Canada.
In 2000, Hawkins served as the Puerto Rican National Softball Team's pitching coach for the Men's, Women's, and Junior National Teams. In 2006-07, she resumed coaching, this time at Emory University. Charged with the physical and mental development of the catching staff and assisting with the pitching staff's development, she also ran the team's agility training sessions.
Updated 8/15/11
Head Coach Jaime Wohlbach
Assistant Coach Michele Hawkins
Assistant Coach Tenaya Tucker
