Woodley joins softball coaching staff

Montana softball coach Melanie Meuchel announced recently that Sam Woodley, most recently at Abilene Christian, has joined the Grizzlies as an assistant coach.

Woodley replaces Delene Colburn, who played at Montana, began her teaching career in Washington, joined the Grizzlies last season as an assistant, then followed her heart back to the students.

"Her love and passion are in the classroom setting and she will remain in Missoula," Meuchel said of Colburn. "Any kid who gets her as a teacher in our community will be very fortunate."

Woodley arrives after playing at Corban (2017-20), an NAIA school in Salem, Ore., then coaching the last three seasons at Abilene Christian in Texas. She is originally from Toutle, Wash.

"We're very excited to add another great coach to our staff in Sam Woodley," said Meuchel, who also has Alison Mitchell and Dennis Meuchel as assistant coaches.

"We were looking to fill that spot with a defensive coach, and that is her passion, to teach that aspect of the game. I'm looking forward to working with her and watching our players learn and grow their games."

Woodley was raised in a basketball family, a sport she played herself at Toutle Lake High, where she and the Ducks defeated current Lady Griz Carmen Gfeller and the Colfax Bulldogs in the fourth-place game at the 2015 and '16 Washington Class 2B state tournaments.

But it was softball that won her over. "I loved the mental aspect of it. Softball was something I always had my eye set on," Woodley says.

Toutle Lake won three Class 2B state titles with Woodley at catcher, and she was named the Central 2B League MVP as a junior.

She joined Abigail Farler's program at Corban and had immediate success, batting .376 as a freshman as the Warriors went 46-13 and finished NAIA runner-up.

Corban won 74 games the next two seasons and twice more advanced to the NAIA national playoffs, which led to Farler getting the head job at Abilene Christian.

"She offered for me to go play my senior year for her in Abilene. I decided not to take it. I wanted to be able to play my senior year in front of my family and with friends I had grown up playing with throughout college, so I decided to stay," Woodley said.

COVID would end her senior year after 20 games. She ended her career at Corban with a .370 batting average, 207 hits – 73 going for extra bases – and 137 RBIs. The Warriors went 135-49, with Woodley earning second-team all-league honors as a freshman, first-team as a junior when she batted .395.

Then she reached career crossroads No. 1. Does she take the COVID exception and play one more year at Corban, or does she take Farler up on her offer to join the Wildcats as a graduate assistant coach?

"I had shoulder surgery, so going to practice and getting through games was starting to be a little bit of a drag, so I decided to hang it up," she says. "Coaching was something I wanted to do long-term, so it was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

She packed her bags and headed to central Texas. She was hooked immediately. "I'm big on relationships. Immediately my girls and I clicked and the coaching staff and I clicked. It was a good spot."

In Woodley's second year on staff, in 2022, Abilene Christian made a 11-win improvement from the previous season, including going 15-9 in the tough Western Athletic Conference.

She coached last spring in a volunteer position before home – parents, three siblings, four nephews –beckoned. She narrowed her list to schools in Colorado, Montana, Washington and Oregon, and accepted an assistant position at Division II UC Colorado Springs.

She was less than two weeks into the job and sitting in head coach Dwight Sanders's office when a text arrived from Meuchel, letting her know she had an opening and that she had been given Woodley's name by multiple coaches in the profession.

She held up the text to her new boss, not knowing how he would react. "He said, you have to take that phone call. You're 25, you're young. If coaching is what you want to do, you have to set yourself up for the future. If this is going to set you up better, take the phone call," Woodley recalls.

She expected the call with Meuchel to last maybe 30 minutes. They talked for more than an hour. The vibes in both directions: immaculate.

She was at career crossroads No. 2. That Sanders pushed her to look out for her future at the expense of his own program made the idea of leaving him even more difficult. "The response he gave me was such a hopeful thing. Man, you're such a good guy," she says.

"At the same time, Montana sets me up for the future so much more. I'm young, up and coming, still trying to establish myself as something in this industry. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

Montana, with Woodley on staff, will open its fall exhibition season on Sunday with a doubleheader against North Idaho at Grizzly Softball Field.

"There is a lot of work to be done on the softball front that I'm excited for and I have so much to learn," she said. "The wealth of experience of the coaches around me, what a good place to learn and grow."

University of Montana Athletics

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