Per GoBearcats:
Women’s basketball associate head coach Melissa Kolbe has officially been named Wittenberg University’s 11th women’s basketball head coach in program history and will start May 1, 2022.
Kolbe joined head coach Michelle Clark-Heard in April of 2018 when Coach Heard was named the head coach of the Bearcats’ program.
“I am so excited for Melissa to be named the head coach of her Alma Mater,” said Coach Heard. “She has been such an invaluable coach and person to me and the players here at UC. We came here together four years ago and words can’t express how grateful I am for her loyalty and all of her hard work. So happy that her first head coaching job is at Wittenberg. We wish her all the best as she embarks on her new journey.”
During her four year tenure at UC, she helped coach the 2020-21 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year IImar’I Thomas, who received all 50 voting points from the league’s coaches to be the only conference player to earn unanimous first-team All-AAC honors for the second consecutive season. She helped guide the 2019-20 team to a second place finish, UC’s best league finish in its seven-year membership in the AAC. Seeded third in the tournament, the Bearcats reached the final for the first time in the AAC as well as their first final appearance since the 2003 Conference USA Championship game. Additionally, the Bearcats finished the year 14-3 at home with a 12-game winning streak at Fifth Third Arena as well.
In her first season under Coach Heard 2018-19, the team finished with 24 wins — the most victories in a new coaching regime’s first season in program history, and the most triumphs in 17 years (27 in 2001-02). The Red & Black’s historic accomplishments also included the first time with consecutive postseason wins in program history (WNIT quarterfinals), its first 20-win season since 2003, first time with 12 conference wins since 1999, (at the time) highest-ever finish in the American (third place), and first time with three or more regular-season conference honorees since 2003 (Thomas – First Team All-AAC, Miller – Second Team All-AAC, Florence Sifa – Newcomer of the Year).
With nearly two decades of NCAA Division I coaching experience, Kolbe came to UC after spending three seasons on Clark-Heard’s staff at WKU. Previously, her coaching stints included stops at Mount Saint Mary’s (2014-15), Eastern Kentucky (2008-14), ECU (2002-08), Mercer (2001-02), and Valdosta State (1999-2001).
Kolbe, who was named a Wittenberg team captain during her senior season, remains fifth on the program’s career field goal percentage list after knocking down 271-of-530 (.511) shot attempts during her four-year playing career in Springfield. She was also voted the team’s Most Outstanding Player during the 1998-99 season and capped her senior campaign by receiving a first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) nod. During her four-year career, she helped lead the Tigers to three NCAC Championships (96, 98 & 99), two NCAC Tournament Championships (96 & 98) and two appearances in the NCAA Tournament (96 & 98).
