Coaches

Beth Wade

Beth Wade was named the new head softball coach on June 11, 2021. Wade is the second coach in the program's history.


Beth Wade is entering her third season as the head coach of the Falcons and brings a wealth of experience to the Montevallo softball program with a deep background in the sport. Wade comes to Motown by way of the College of Charleston where she served as the assistant coach. At Charleston, her main responsibilities included assisting in coaching the defense and offense, recruiting, developing daily practice plans, setting up and running camps and clinics, submitting practice logs into Jump Forward software per NCAA compliance rules, and assisting with team film for practice and games. During the 2019-20 COVID-shortened season, the Cougars played 20 games. Defensively, the team had a fielding percentage of .967. Offensively, the team's top three hitters improved their batting average from the previous season by 79, 222, and 45 points, respectively. As a team, COFC surpassed the previous year's total of stolen bases in less than one-third of the season (24). The Cougars were also on track to beat the previous year's team in HR's, triples, and runs scored.


Prior to her time at the College of Charleston, Wade served as the head coach for Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Fla., where she posted a record of 167-95 over her five year tenure. In Wade's final season at Gulf Coast in 2019, the Commodores finished 37-17, won the Panhandle Conference playoffs and earned a spot in the state tournament while climbing as high as No. 14 in the country. The previous season the Commodores notched a 33-game winning streak and finished 40-12, rising as high as fourth in the nation, with a victory over the No. 1 ranked Chipola Lady Indians. In all she coached 40 all-conference players and three All-Americans, and her team posted a 3.52 grade point average for the 2016-17 school year, the seventh-highest mark in the country.


Before her stint at GCSC, Wade served as an assistant coach at three schools from 2008-14. She was a civil engineer for two years before entering the coaching ranks on a fulltime basis.


Wade earned her first fulltime coaching position at Appalachian State in 2008 and helped lead the Mountaineers to a significant three-year turnaround. Working with the pitching staff, she was instrumental in the team's ERA dropping from 4.81 in 2008 to 2.46 in 2010 while App State went from 11 wins to 27 over that span. She was also an assistant coach at Lynn (Fla.) University in 2011 and Troy from 2012-14.


Prior to her coaching career, Wade was a standout softball player at Florida State, and was part of teams that won 221 games, captured three ACC championships and twice reached the Women's College World Series. She was a three-year starter and team captain in 2003. Wade was a first-team All-ACC and all-tournament selection in 2004 when she led the Seminoles in doubles and home runs. She was also a three-time Academic All-American.


Wade owns four degrees including a masters in sport administration from FSU in 2004 and a masters in engineering from the University of Florida in 2012. She received a pair of bachelor's degrees from FSU in exercise science in 2003 and civil engineering in 2007.