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Raising program from its birth

Softball

Raising program from its birth

When thinking about North Idaho College softball, one has to first think of its only head coach Don Don Williams, the face of the program.

Williams, who will enter her 17th season at the helm when the spring season starts, started the program when she was hired in June of 1997. She coached at Linfield College as an assistant and also played for the school in McMinnville, Ore.

Softball was added as an NIC sport because of Title IX. Essentially, NIC’s student body consisted of more females than males, so a female sport needed to be added.

Williams had connections to NIC athletics before she became NIC’s softball coach. Her husband’s dad is the legendary Rolly Williams, who coached basketball, baseball, track and served as athletic director. Williams served at least one of these positions in a 36-year span. He had retired prior to Don Don moving to Coeur d’Alene.

In addition, Don Don’s brother-in-law is Greg Crimp, another NIC Athletics Hall of Famer. He was the women’s basketball coach for 21 seasons.

“We had come to women’s basketball games, we were involved with the athletic department and there was talk that women’s softball would be added,” Don Don said. “So when it was, I applied.”

In her career at NIC, Williams has appeared in two national tournaments (2006 and 2007). In 2007, she led her team to a second-place finish, losing to Chipola College of Florida.

Williams said a large returning class of sophomores and talented freshmen recruits, like current NIC softball assistant coach, Shay Craig, fueled the return trip to nationals that year. In 2006 and 2007, NIC went into the regional tournament as the four seed.

“Words can’t even describe my respect for Don Don,” Craig said. “Not only was she my coach, but she’s my family.”

Before making it to nationals those two years, Williams faced many challenges in the first few years, especially her first season.

“The first year was tough because I was hired in June and we started school in August,” Williams said. “I didn’t really have a recruiting budget, so it was basically just gathering as many players as I could in six weeks to get them enrolled in school and get them here…It wasn’t the ideal situation.”

Once Williams was hired, she had to order uniforms, equipment and make a schedule. She only had a part-time assistant to help her.

As you could imagine, Williams has learned a lot during her tenure as NIC’s softball coach.

Williams said she “could write a book about what I’ve learned.”

“I think that if you show kids that you care about them and are committed yourself, I think that they’ll go out and fight for you,” Williams said.

Williams has also seen a change in the student-athletes that play softball. She said the talent has improved in every part of the game-pitching, defense and offense.

“Rarely, do you get a kid that’s a three-sport athlete out of high school,” she said. “They don’t make it at this level if you do that.”

After 16 years, Williams doesn’t plan on going anywhere soon.

“I think I have some unfinished business at NIC,” Williams said. “We definitely want to win a championship, a couple more would be nice. I got kids that are about ready to go into high school, so I don’t think I’m going anywhere right now. I teach some classes as well. So this is definitely a great place to work. That’s why you don’t see a lot of turnover on our coaching staff.”

If the old Yankee Stadium is referred to as the “House that Ruth Built,” then I guess Memorial Field is the “House that Williams Built.”

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