A familiar face will be sitting in the Trenton High School Lady Bulldogs’ dugout this fall; Steve Richman.
Richman becomes Trenton’s third head softball coach in as many years, and takes over a program that went 8-14 last season under first-year head coach Lyle Best.
“Steve is a known and respected coach in our community,” THS Athletic Director Kris Ockenfels said. “Most people know him as the North Central Missouri College men’s basketball coach, but before coming here he was a head softball coach at Macon High School, Blue Eye High School and Cainsville High School.”
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Richman is planning to continue as a physcial education teacher at NCMC and will also remain as the Pirates’ men’s head basketball coach.
Trenton’s softball program began in 2000. During the program’s first seven years, the Lady Bulldogs have had five coaches and posted just two winning seasons. Ockenfels led THS to a 12-10 record in 2002 and Greg Buescher led THS to a 12-11 record in 2005.
Ockenfels believes this hire will add some stability to Trenton’s softball program and with limited interest in the position (three applications) – Richman is the man to lead Trenton.
“Steve has a real interest in our community and the success of this program,” Ockenfels said. “He also has a proven record of success – at Macon he took over a young team and led them into the state playoffs – that is what we are looking for.”
Richman began his softball coaching career at Cainsville, where he coached boys and girls softball, basketball and track. Next Richman went to Blue Eye, where he coached boys basketball and started a girls softball program. Richman did not coach softball at his next two high schools (Marionville and Leeton).
Richman spent three years in Macon where he coached girls softball and boys basketball. While at Macon, Richman led the Lady Tigers to the district championship game twice – winning a title once.
“The thing I like best about coaching girls is the fact that (girls) have a strong desire to get better,” Richman said. “It is a lot of fun going to work when your team wants to work and get better.”
Next year Richman will have seven returners and a solid group of incoming freshmen, who enjoyed a lot of success at the middle school level. Assistant coach Susie Vandevender will also return.
“The one thing I will say about our programs is that it is moving in the right direction. That is a credit to the coaches before me, including our assistant coach, middle school coaches and our summer coaches,” Richman said. “We also have some pretty good players coming and I think they will complement the players that are already established.”
TMS assistant coach John Cowling has been offered the head TMS position Shannon Mason will be the middle school assistant and rounds out the 2007 coaching staff.
“I feel very good about our softball program,” Ockenfels said.
The Lady Bulldogs will be holding a high school and middle school camp, but the date are not finalized yet.
“I am looking to hold a couple camps this summer but I have to check with our other coaches before I set them in stone,” Richman added. “Right now we are looking at the last couple of weeks in July as possible dates.
“My goal now is to build on what had already been started,” Richman said. “Our goal is to win all the games we can – this means, wining all the games we should win and possibily stealing a couple of games we shouldn’t. If we do that, it is going to be a great season.”
