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East Carolina University

East Carolina University Athletics
 Ward Sports Medicine Bldg., First Floor Greenville, NC 27858
Division 1 North Carolina Southeast
Public Very Large National competitor
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Shane Winkler

Shane Winkler was named head softball coach at East Carolina University in May 2021 following a successful three-year stint as head coach at George Washington University.


Winkler is the program's first male head coach and its fifth coach overall.


During his three years at GW, Winkler compiled a 91-43 record and captured the school’s first two Atlantic 10 championships, sharing the title in 2019 before claiming the first outright championship this past season. The Colonials won both the regular season and tournament titles in 2021 to advance to the NCAA Championship for the first time and made their second overall postseason appearance.


GW participated in the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) Liberty Regional after claiming a share of the 2019 league title.


Winkler became the first Atlantic 10 Coach-of-the-Year in program history this past year after leading the Colonials to a 23-1 conference record in addition to a sweep of championship banners. GW was 38-8 in A-10 play during his tenure.


Under his tutelage, 12 student-athletes earned all-conference accolades highlighted by Jenna Cone, who earned A-10 Player-of-the-Year honors in 2019 and 2021, and Sierra Lange, who made history as the first Colonial to be named the conference’s Pitcher-of-the-Year in 2021.


In addition, 11 players received all-region accolades, including a school-record seven this past year.


Winkler’s teams set program records for runs per game (7.0), home runs (64), ERA (1.97) and fielding percentage (.977) in 2021, leading the A-10 in eight offensive and five pitching categories.


During his initial campaign at GW in 2019, the Colonials won a team-record 44 games and ranked third in the country with a .341 batting average, piling up 582 hits over 64 games, 89 more than the previous mark. GW ended the season among the national leaders in doubles per game (1.68, eighth), triples per game (0.31, 21st), on-base percentage (.405, 15th), scoring (6.02, 20th) and slugging percentage (.502, 22nd).


Before taking over the program at GW, Winkler spent a decade (2009-18) leading the softball program at Charleston Southern University. He totaled a program-record 261 wins with the Buccaneers and guided them to their first NCAA Tournament berth in 2014. Winkler made his mark at Charleston Southern with three 30-win seasons and two Big South Championship final appearances highlighted by their breakthrough victory in 2014.


CSU ranked in the top 10 nationally in home runs in 2017 and was one of just two teams in the country, along with national champion Florida State, to rank in the top 30 in both home runs and steals in 2018.


Winkler’s Buccaneers produced 35 All-Big South Conference honorees and 10 all-academic selections. The program also produced its first Big South Scholar Athlete-of-the-Year and had a recipient of the Christenberry Award for top academic student-athletes in the conference each of his final two seasons.


He has amassed 352 career victories during his 13 seasons as a head coach.


Prior to his tenure at Charleston Southern, Winkler served three seasons (2006-08) as an assistant coach at Marshall where he was responsible for the outfielders and the offense. The Thundering Herd broke the program home run record twice on his watch and consistently ranked among the top offenses in Conference USA led by a four-time All-American catcher. During his three seasons, the Thundering Herd had a combined record of 91-78.


Winkler's first collegiate job came as co-head coach at Danville Area Community College (Ill.) for the 2005 season in which the Jaguars produced their first winning campaign in 12 years. He got his start coaching softball while in college working with a summer program in his hometown of Kentland, Ind.


Winkler has also been active with National Pro Fastpitch, where he served a summer season as the head coach of the Chicago Bandits in 2014. He tutored numerous Olympians and NCAA champions, including former All-America pitcher Jennie Finch, during his time on the pro circuit, which also encompassed stints as an assistant coach with the Bandits (2009) and the Akron Racers (2007).


On the baseball field, Winkler was an outfielder who played collegiately at Illinois Central College, Purdue and Butler. He earned his associate's degree in general education from Illinois Central in 2002 before earning a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Butler in 2004.


Winkler moved on to play professionally with the Florence Freedom (2004) and Washington Wild Things (2006) of the Frontier League, and the Amarillo Dillas (2006) of the United Baseball League.

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Kiana Quolas

Kiana Quolas joined the East Carolina softball team as an assistant coach in June 2021.


Quolas spent the previous three seasons on East Carolina head coach Shane Winkler’s staff at George Washington, working primarily with the team’s pitchers. She helped the Colonials reach new heights as the team captured a program-record 44 wins in 2019, earned a share of the first regular season Atlantic 10 softball title in GW history as well as making an appearance in the National Invitational Softball Championship Liberty Regional. The Colonials’ rapid ascent with Quolas’ assistance continued in 2021 with their initial outright A-10 trophy and first appearance in the NCAA Championships.


Under Quolas’ tutelage, Sierra Lange became the first GW hurler to be named the A-10 Pitcher of the Year in 2021. Lange spearheaded a pitching staff that set a George Washington record and finished 18th nationally with an team earned run average of just 1.97. The staff also finished third in the NCAA in strikeout-to-walk ratio, punching out 5.60 batters for every free pass awarded.


“Kiana was instrumental in building a championship pitching staff at George Washington,” Winkler explained. “Her ability to develop pitchers and improve their fundamental and mental game is going to be important for our staff moving forward. She's quickly becoming one of the best young pitching coaches in the country and I'm looking forward to her working with our pitching staff.”


Before her hire at GW, Quolas served as an assistant coach at George Mason (2017-18) and Youngstown State (2015-17).


Quolas played at Coastal Carolina from 2011 to 2015 and was a two-time Big South Conference Pitcher of the Year selection. She graduated cum laude from CCU in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science before earning a master’s degree in gerontology from Youngstown State in 2017.

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Jenna Cone

Jenna Cone joined the East Carolina softball team as an assistant coach in June 2021.


Cone will transition to her first coaching assignment after closing out an historic playing career for the Colonials, which included becoming the first repeat A-10 Player of the Year in more than two decades after winning the award in both 2019 and 2021. She also earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Second-Team All-America honors in 2021 after finishing in the Top 50 nationally in doubles (15), home runs (17), home runs per game (0.35), on-base percentage (0.523), RBIs per game (1.06), slugging percentage (.880), total bases (125) and toughest to strike out (23.7).


“Jenna just finished up one of the best offensive careers in NCAA history while playing at George Washington,” Winkler added. “She's going to be a great addition to our staff while working with our hitters, catchers and infield. She has a bright future in this game, and I couldn't be more excited for her to begin this next chapter in Purple and Gold,”


Cone graduated from George Washington in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in communication and is currently nearing completion of a master’s in media and strategic communications, also from GW.

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