Lady Cougar Softball Coach

Jeana Howald is entering her seventeenth season as the head coach of the Mount Vernon Nazarene University fastpitch softball team. Over the past sixteen years, Howald has compiled a 362-269 overall record for a .574 winning percentage. She is the all-time winningest coach in the Lady Cougars' 21-year history.

Howald has guided MVNU to the National Christian College Athletic Association National Tournament eight times during her tenure with the program. After finishing as the national runner-up in 1992, the Lady Cougars returned in 1993 to claim their first national title. In the team's most recent appearance, MVNC finished fifth at the NCCAA National Tournament in 2004 despite entering the 10-team event as the ninth seed.

Howald has earned several Coach of the Year honors throughout her career. She was the Mid-Ohio Conference Coach of the Year in 1992, and she has been named the NCCAA East Region Coach of the Year six times. She registered her 300th career victory during the Lady Cougars' annual spring trip to Florida on March 26, 2003, against the University of Chicago (Ill.).

Howald has served as the NCCAA East Region chair since 1994, and she also served for eight years as the co-chair of the AMC softball coaches association from 1996 to 2003.

Howald, who graduated from MVNU in 1982, was a three-sport standout in basketball, volleyball, and tennis for the Lady Cougars. She helped the volleyball team to its only NAIA District 22 title in 1980, and she competed at the NAIA National Tournament in tennis in both singles and doubles in 1981. She was inducted into the Cougar Wall of Fame in 1998.

Besides coaching softball, Howald served as the MVNU women's basketball head coach for seven years from 1989-1996. She led the Lady Cougars to their first NCCAA National Tournament appearance in 1994 and was named the NCCAA National Coach of the Year as the team won the national title and finished with a school-best 23-10 overall record.

In addition to her coaching duties, Howald teaches several classes in the Physical Education Department. She is single and resides in Mount Vernon with her three dogs, Chance, Jaicee, and Zoey.

To contact Coach Howald, you can e-mail her at jhowald@mvnu.edu.