Missouri Southern Softball Camps
Head Coach Bill Gray
In his third season as the head softball coach, Bill Gray was announced as the seventh Lions coach in Southern history on June 16, 2008.
Gray's 2010 team saw a detour in the rebulding of the program as hey Lions went 19-39-1. The lone tie against Pittsburg State (7-7 on Mar. 9) was the first tie in school history. The Lions saw the departure of second team All-MIAA catcher Angie Turner, who holds the career mark at MSSU with 26 homeruns, and honorable mention All-MIAA 2B Kelli Bax (who finsihed with a .304 BA and started in all 59 games). 2011 will see the return of second team All-MIAA OF Megan Roark, who finished with a .322 BA, 56 hits, 10 doubles, and five homeruns.
Gray, a 1993 graduate of Pittsburg State, spent the past six years as an assistant and later associate head coach at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia where he was the chief hitting instructor and recruiting coordinator. While an assistant, Gray helped move the team from Division II to Division I status in 2006.
The 2004 team went 64-6, including a Regional title and a trip to the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament. That team broke single-season records for home runs (48), hits (637), runs scored (393) and runs batted in (377). He saw individuals break records for doubles (22) and home runs (20).
The 2005 Owls went 57-13, won their second straight regional title and were the National Runner Up in their final season of Division II play. That season, the KSU coaching staff was named the South Atlantic Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
In the three years that KSU has been a Division I program, the Owls have went 38-17 (2006), 44-20 (2007) and 36-17 (2008). In 2007, KSU won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season title and had four players named All-Conference including the Pitcher and Player of the Year.
Prior to KSU, Gray spent six years as the head coach at Division II Francis Marion University in Florence, SC. During that span, he led the Patriots to a 195-131 record and defeated three ranked opponents over a two-year span with his 2002 team going 35-20. Gray's teams were outstanding in the classroom, as well, earning a 3.328 GPA in 2000, ranking 10th nationally, and a 3.188 GPA in 1999. He had 14 student-athletes named to the Peach Belt honor roll in 1999 and 11 in 2000.
Gray's first head coaching position came at Independence Community College in Independence, Kansas where he started the softball program in 1994 and amassed a 62-45 record over two seasons. In two years, Gray coached two All-Americans, and six All-Conference players and finished fifth in the Region VI tournament in 1996 with a record of 38-15.
Gray started his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater Pittsburg State from 1990-1994 while he finished his undergraduate degree. He helped turn a team that went 23-27 in his first season to 36-8 in season two, including a trip to the Division II regionals. Gray has a 217-167 overall NCAA coaching mark and a 62-45 mark as a junior college head coach.
Gray currently serves as a board member with the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and has served on numerous different committees within the organization. He earned an Bachelor of Science degree in education from Pittsburg State in 1993 and a Master's Degree in kinesiology from Texas Woman's in 2007.
Gray is married to the former Jennifer Cummings of Arma, Kansas and has three sons; William Preston, Owen Michael, and Nathan Allen.
