Aug. 25, 2006

Associate Athletic Director Tim Hickman:
"I'd like to welcome you all to today's press conference. Before I introduce our Director of Athletics, I'd like to speak a little on what our search committee was looking for in the next University of Missouri softball head coach. We wanted first and foremost, someone with integrity, someone who would run the program the right way. We wanted someone who would focus on academics and the whole program, not just wins and losses. We wanted someone with a passion for the game that really embodied what they wanted to do in softball, be very active in that community. We wanted someone that wanted to be at Missouri; not only as a coaching stop, but as a place they wanted to live, a place they felt had the makings to make our softball program great. Last, we wanted someone that was a proven winner, and I think we found all those things in Ehren Earleywine. Ehren is a graduate of Jefferson City High School. He attended one year at Missouri State University and then transferred to Westminster College where he played baseball. He coached baseball under former Missouri player Bill Bradley and then took over the reigns of head coach at Westminster. He went from there to Texas (A&M)-Corpus Christi and got into the softball side of things at Georgia Tech. He has a very impressive coaching career. He was named 2005 ACC Coach of the Year. He has been to five straight NCAA Regional (tournaments), including two title games in those appearances. His team was the 2005 ACC regular season and tournament champions. Ehren is currently ranked 11th in active NCAA softball coaches with a .722 win percentage. That's Ehren Earleywine. I think we found the things we were looking for."

Athletic Director Mike Alden:
"I applaud the process (of finding a new coach). Those people that helped did a terrific job, but I really applaud Tim Hickman and his oversight of this process. It was one that was well done. It was a national process and had us look at a national pool of candidates. We attracted a terrific pool of candidates that had an interest in the University of Missouri, and of course the University of Missouri had an interest in them. Tim talked a lot about the qualities we were looking for in our softball coach at the University of Missouri, and I'll expand just briefly on that. I'll talk about our first core value that our kids, the softball team, and everybody else here knows, is academic integrity. The fact of the matter is that Ehren Earleywine, understands the commitment to academic integrity, and what means to get a degree, and to be an athlete, and to get a degree while competing at a very high level. The second area, and Tim touched on this as well, is that we wanted to take a look at responsible people. We want people that are involved in the community, that have solid core values, not only in their professional (lives), but hopefully in their personal lives as well. They show those (core values) by example. Ehren introduced those the first time we met. The final value that we wanted to make sure that we looked for is on field success. It's clear that coach Earleywine is a winner at a very high level. It's phenomenal for us to go out and have a chance to have those values, those qualities, those characteristics in our head softball coach. I think that the value that is important, and Lisa (Earleywine) talked about this just briefly, and Ehren and I talked about it over the phone yesterday, is the opportunity to come home. It has to do with an opportunity to come to a place where you grew up, a place where you have roots and a place where you understand what is expected of the people in Missouri and the qualities of the people in Missouri. So for somebody from Jefferson City, Missouri, I know it is very fulfilling for them, and I can tell you that it is very fulfilling for us to have him at the University of Missouri. Very few and far between do you have the chance to do exactly what you want to do, where you want to do it."

Head Coach Ehren Earleywine:
"It's good to be home. That's the first thing that comes to my mind. It's amazing to me, that when I was in my late teens and early twenties, you spent most of your time trying to figure out what it is you want to do with your life. You want to travel, see if the world is round and ultimately you come to the realization that the most important thing is family. Certainly, that is the case with me. That was my major attraction to the University of Missouri, as well as many other things. You're talking about a tremendous university as a whole. Mike talked about the academic integrity, as well as the social responsibility, which I know the student-athletes try to live up to as much as they can. I came here three years ago to campus one day and the facilities were nice, but when I came back last week, it was amazing to me the transformation that had taken place here in regards to the athletic facilities. So in that regard, none of us coaches have an excuse not to win here. To what degree, that remains to be seen. I will obviously need to evaluate the team that I have for a couple of weeks, or maybe even a little longer than that to see where we stand talent wise. I know I'm walking into a situation where we already have some very talented players. I think there are definite things that could be done immediately. I'm looking forward to working hard right away to make sure that those things happen. Ultimately, I think the goal for our program right now is to make sure that we're in a position to make sure that we're competing for Big 12 titles right now. That's not to say that we're predicting to win the Big 12, because that's a big task. But we're at least in a position to know that we have the personnel and the resources to compete for those titles, and I think that's ultimately what we're looking for. My biggest excitement is having a relationship with the players. I think that's really the foundation and where it starts with good programs, and I'm looking forward to having those relationships. The first thing I'm going to do when I get here is meet with each player individually and find out what they liked and didn't like about the former program and see what we can do to try and make it right. Obviously, as a coach, there are going to be things that are going to be set in place. Those things are final. Then there are also things that can be tweaked, depending on the personality of the team and the direction they want to go. It's important that your team shares your visions and your goals, so I want to make sure that we're on the same page there. Nobody has been more thankful to coach here than myself. This has been a quest of mine and my family. There were a lot of answered prayers from friends and family. This is a great opportunity and echoing the words of Mike Alden yesterday on the phone, 'Don't screw it up.'"

Earleywine on Missouri's pitching:
"It's hard to say what the plan is going to be until I've seen the freshmen. We have two freshmen pitchers coming in who are both highly touted kids. I know Jen (Bruck) and Megan (Dennis) did all of the pitching last year. You're talking about Jen and Megan, and they're going to develop from last year, so you hope that that happens. But to give a true evaluation of the pitching staff would be premature right now. I haven't seen enough of them in a practice environment. I will say that at Georgia Tech last year we really struggled pitching. We were one of the lower ERA teams in the conference and still managed to win 48 games. So even if we don't get Cat Osterman-type pitching, I still expect us to make Regionals and be competitive in the Big 12. Everybody knows that pitching and defense win championships. It's all about defense. It's that way in pretty much every sport. So if we can pitch and play defense we have a chance at a championship. But you can also win quite a few games by hitting. We proved that last year at Georgia Tech. We put up some pretty big numbers, won 48 games, made it to a Regional final and were able to compete for an ACC championship in the end. That would be the worst case scenario. The best case scenario would be to get some good pitching and do some very special things that haven't been done here in a while."

On coming home so early in his career:
"You pray about it, but you don't know if it's going to happen. I told Emily (Gatewood) last night at the airport that I feel so fortunate that I'm in a position to where this is the job that I would like to retire in. And to be 35 years old and already be in that position, I feel so blessed. How many people get that opportunity? I feel fortunate to be in that position and I plan on making good on it."