Don Don Williams
Head Coach
Phone: (208) 769-7879
Email: dcwilliams@nic.edu
Office: PST-109
North Idaho College’s softball program has a longstanding tradition of both athletic and academic excellence. In her 14 years as head coach, Don Don Williams has brought the Cardinals softball program from its foundations in 1998 to a nationally competitive program in the toughest league in the nation.
In the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC), Williams has coached 49 All-Region players and led teams to two consecutive Region 18 championships, earning them automatic berths to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) World Series. In 2007, the Cardinals earned the highest team finish in the history of the program, earning runners-up at the NJCAA national tournament and earning the 2007 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Western Region Coaching Staff of the Year Award. The Cardinals are consistently ranked in the NJCAA Top-20 poll as well.
“North Idaho College and the Scenic West Athletic Conference offer athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest level in junior college play,” Williams said. “The competition we face is a great selling point when moving athletes onto their next two years of play.”
Williams has coached a multitude of players who have accrued all-conference, regional, and national honors, including NJCAA Division I First Team All-Americans Angie Boardman and Amanda Krier. Williams currently has athletes competing at the NCAA Division I, II, and III levels as well as at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics level.
Williams is proud to motivate teams both in the classroom and on the field. Her education-first approach has resulted in nine individual NJCAA Academic All-Americans and six Academic All-American teams.
Williams played softball at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore. She received both All-Conference and All-District honors and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology/sociology in 1991. Williams earned a master’s degree in adult organizational learning and leadership in 2009 from the University of Idaho. She was an assistant coach at Linfield in 1992, 1994, and 1995. Williams spends a great deal of time as a student of the game and has enrolled in the NFCA’s Master Coach Program, where she has received a two-star rating.
Williams resides in Coeur d’Alene with her husband Tony and their 12-year-old daughter Reilly and 6-year-old son Rhys.
Melissa Wood
Assistant Coach
Phone: (208) 769-7830
Email: mdwood@nic.edu
Office: PST-108
Melissa Wood enters her first season as assistant coach of the North Idaho College softball team.
Wood holds a master’s degree in education from Berry College in Mount Berry, Ga., where she served as assistant softball coach from 2009-2011. At Berry College, Wood helped lead her team to an 18-win season during their inaugural season and their first winning season in the team’s second season in 2011. Responsible for pitchers, catchers, hitting instruction, and other various duties, Wood improved the Berry College statistics from 2010 to 2011 in batting average, runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBIs, TB, and slugging percentage.
Wood started her college career as a two-year starting catcher for the top-ranked Seminoles of Florida State University in Tallahassee from 2004 to 2006. She earned second team All-Conference and FSU Co-Rookie of the Year. She was the starting catcher for two years for the Top 25-ranked Bulldogs at the University of Georgia, earning honors as the homerun leader and defensive player of the year in addition to becoming a finalist for the University of Georgia’s senior leadership award in 2008. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2009.
Wood served as the assistant coach for the Austrian Junior National Team at the World Sports Festival and the Austrian National Team at the European Championships in 2008-2009. She also played for two seasons for the Dornbirn Sharx in Hard, Austria, earning tournament MVP at the European Cup tournament for the team that placed first in the Austrian League and first at the European Cup tournament.