By Nicky Wolcott and Sam Jane
Maryland softball coach Mark Montgomery has resigned from his position as head coach of the program on Thursday, according to a release from the school’s athletic department.
Assistant coach Laura Heberling will serve as interim head coach while the athletic department conducts its search for a new head coach. Montgomery is stepping down for personal reasons, the release said.
The Terps have gone 98-78 since Montgomery joined the program ahead of the 2020 season. He led Maryland to its first postseason appearance in the National Invitational Softball Championship this year.
“My four years at Maryland have been very rewarding and it was exciting to be a part of the resurgence of a proud program competing in one of the best conferences in the country,” Montgomery said in the release. “The past two years our family has dealt with some challenges. I have decided to step down from my position in order to have more time to focus on what’s most important to me.”
[Maryland softball’s promising start to the year fizzled out. Now comes change.]
Montgomery previously served as the head coach for Louisiana Tech, where he led the Bulldogs to two NCAA tournament appearances. He helped engineer a program turnaround in College Park — the Terps had failed to record a winning season in the six years prior to his arrival.
That quickly changed, as Montgomery helped lead Maryland to three winning seasons in his four years as coach. The Terps notched their best record since 2011 last season, going 38-19.
But stars Amelia Lech and Trinity Schlotterbeck transferred out of the program this offseason, along with Kamryn Davis. The Terps roster lost a lot of production from the 2022-23 campaign, as multiple seniors also graduated.
Now, the biggest replacement Maryland needs will no longer be on the diamond. Instead, it will be up to athletic director Damon Evans to replace the head coach in the dugout.
