Former U of I coach to lead RU softball team

Roosevelt Athletics Director Michael Cassidy announced Sept. 16 that former University of Illinois at Chicago assistant softball coach Amanda Scott will lead Roosevelt's upstart softball team.

The team will begin practicing and playing exhibition games in fall 2012, and the season will open the following spring. This will be Scott's first head coach position and her first time launching a new program.

"The tough part is there are a lot of factors set in motion right now and it's a whole new avenue of unknowns," she said. "It's an ongoing work in progress every day."

Scott's collegiate coaching career began in 2002 at Michigan State University, followed by positions at the University of Iowa and UIC, where she helped lead the Flames to compete in the NCAA Division I Regional Championship.

Scott was a four-time All-American and voted one of the top eight student athletes in NCAA sports when she played at Fresno State University. She played on the U.S. National Team and the gold medal-winning 2000 U.S. Olympic Team.

"I'm excited to have Amanda on board," Cassidy said. "She's one of the best players to ever play at the collegiate level and it's good to have someone with her coaching pedigree bring her expertise here."

Scott said she had kept an eye on Roosevelt's athletics program, and when the coaching position was announced she contacted Cassidy immediately. She said coming to a smaller university like Roosevelt would be an adjustment comparable to her move from a Big Ten school like UIC.

"But what I like about smaller campuses is the camaraderie," Scott said. "Everybody knows everybody. You have all these different components, but there's a lot of interaction."

Softball is one of four new sports, along with men's and women's soccer and men's golf, that are being added so that Roosevelt can remain a part of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

"So many of the other colleges in the area sponsor softball that we won't have to travel far and wide," Cassidy said. "There's also a huge base of prospective student athletes to draw from around the state and in the Midwest in general."

The department is currently focusing on recruitment, purchasing equipment and finding adequate facilities for practice and competition.