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Now in her eighth season at the helm of the Miami softball program, head coach Angie Jacobs has transformed the RedHawks into a perennial conference contender and spearheaded Miami's rise to Mid-American Conference Tournament Champion. As the winningest coach in Miami softball history with 151 victories, Jacobs has guided the RedHawks to 25 or more wins in each of the past three seasons, including 34 wins in 2005, the second highest season win total in school history.
During the 2005 season, a historic and record-setting campaign for the RedHawks, Jacobs led Miami to the school's first MAC Tournament Championship and first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. After finishing as the conference tournament runner-up in both 2003 and 2004, Jacobs and the RedHawks brought home the hardware with a 5-2 win over top-seeded Marshall in the MAC Tournament Finals, earning a berth in the NCAA Regional in Knoxville, Tenn.
Under Jacobs last season, two athletes notched all-MAC plaudits while four RedHawks garnered MAC All-Tournament honors, including tournament MVP Jackie Poggendorf. In helping Miami to its first conference tournament title, Poggendorf finished the tournament with three wins and a 0.86 ERA after allowing two runs in 15 innings in the circle. Poggendorf's MVP honors were the second of her career as she also was named the tournament's top player in 2003.
In both the 2003 and 2004 seasons, Miami advanced to the MAC Tournament Finals before falling one win short of the NCAA Tournament. Despite finishing as the conference runner-up, Miami's 27 wins in the 2003 season were the RedHawks' highest win total since 1991, while Jacobs' 25 victories in 2004 gave Miami its first back-to-back seasons of 25 or more wins since the 1990-91 seasons. Miami's 15-9 MAC record in 2003 tied the school record for conference wins and gave the school its first winning conference record in 11 seasons.
From 1999-2002, Jacobs led the RedHawks to 80 wins as five Miami athletes were recognized with all-MAC status, including two-time honorees Shawnda Moye (`98-'99), Keri Brisnehan ('99-'00) and Angie Gerber ('01-'02). A total of 11 different players have earned all-MAC status in Jacobs' tenure, with five players honored multiple times. Since she has taken over as head coach, Miami athletes have earned all-conference honors 18 times, while four different athletes have been named to the all-region squad, including two - Becca Garcia and Jamie Carey - in 2003.
Jacobs' athletes also have seen success in the professional ranks as two of her athletes were drafted to play professional softball. After setting the new Miami single-season batting record with a .408 batting average in 2003, Jamie Carey became the first Miami softball player drafted as she was taken in the sixth round by the New England Riptide. Miami standout Jackie Poggendorf followed in Carey's footsteps in 2005 when she was drafted and became the first RedHawk to sign a professional contract with the Akron Racers of the National Professional Fastpitch league.
Poggendorf helped the Racers win the NPF Championship and scored the game-tying run in the Racers 5-4 championship-clinching win over the Chicago Bandits. As one of Jacobs' top pupils, Poggendorf was a three time All-MAC selection, was named MVP of the MAC Tournament twice, and was a NFCA All-Mideast selection as a senior. Poggendorf left Miami as the all-time leader in strikeouts (672), wins (63), appearances (148), games started (106) and innings pitched (793.0), and she also finished in the top five in all nine Miami career pitching categories.
Aside from her head coaching duties, Jacobs has been a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association since 1992 and attained a four-star coaching certification from the National Fastpitch Coaches College, the highest certification possible. In December 2005, Jacobs was part of the first graduating class of the NFCC.
A 1989 graduate of the University of California, Jacobs came to Miami after spending two years as the top assistant at the University of Utah. Jacobs also was an assistant at the University of Oregon (1995-96), San Jose State University (1993-94) and Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. (1991-92).
A first baseman and catcher during her collegiate career at Cal, Jacobs earned all-Pac-10 honors as a senior. She helped the Golden Bears to the Pac-10 title in 1987 and was a member of the third-place team at the NCAA College World Series in 1986. Jacobs garnered all-West Region honors in 1987 and 1988 and was named the NorPac Rookie of the Year after her freshman campaign.
In 1989, Jacobs received the Honda Inspiration Award, which is presented annually at the Broderick Awards Banquet to a female collegiate athlete who competes under extraordinary circumstances. Six months prior to the start of her junior season, Jacobs had her right thumb reattached to her throwing hand following a mill accident. She came back to start the first game of that season and complete the last two years of her playing career.
In addition to coaching, Jacobs has played softball in the professional ranks. She spent the summer of 1998 as a member of the Women's Professional Fastpitch League's Orlando Wahoos, who won the league title, and she also played first base and catcher for the WPF's Georgia Pride during the 1997 season. Jacobs was selected to the first WPF All-Star team in 1997.
A two-time Amateur Softball Association All-American, Jacobs helped lead the ASA's Redding Rebels (Calif.) to three consecutive national titles from 1993-95 and a third-place finish in 1997. She also propelled the Rebels to the Canada World Cup Championship in 1993 by hitting a solo home run to defeat Australia, 1-0.
As a player/coach for the Bologna Queens of the Italian Softball League in 1989, Jacobs directed the team to a second-place finish in the Italian Championships.
The Medford, Ore., native earned a B.A. in psychology at California and completed her course work for her master's in sport psychology from John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Calif. Jacobs is currently working on a second master's in kinesiology with an emphasis in coaching from Texas Women's University.
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