LOUISVILLE, KY – University of Rochester assistant softball coach Mary Karen Wheat has been named the NFCA/Easton NCAA Division III Assistant Coach of the Year by the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association. She will be honored at the NFCA's Awards Brunch in Las Vegas, Nevada at the organization's national convention.
 
Wheat joined the Yellowjacket coaching staff in 2020. In 2021, she helped Rochester to a glorious season. Rochester reached the NCAA Championship Round in Salem, VA in May, the second time the Yellowjackets have advanced that far. UR finished with a record of 35-10 and set a number of single-season offensive records.
 
Rochester won the Liberty League regular season title (22-3), then won the league's post-season tournament by sweeping Skidmore College and Ithaca College to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Yellowjackets were seeded third in a six-team regional and were unblemished in the regional, beating Penn St.-Behrend and SUNY Geneseo in the first two games. They secured the NCAA bid with consecutive victories over St. John Fisher College, the regional's top seed.
 
In addition to her work with recruiting (12 players plus a Division I transfer), Wheat supported all on-field training, which included throwing batting practice. "Having two live arms every day in practice helped our hitters excel at the plate," said head coach Margaret Yerdon-Grange. "It produced our program's best offensive year."
 
Away from the field, Wheat handles the team's social media accounts which played a major role in recruiting, alumni, and fan engagement.

Rochester's staff of Yerdon-Grange, Wheat, and assistant coach Brittany Grange '15, was named the NFCA Northeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year as well as the Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year.
 
Before coming to the River Campus, Wheat was an assistant coach at RIT for a four-year period. She was the head coach at Brockport High School in 2015 and 2016 and at Red Jacket High School.
 
Wheat pitched at Binghamton University (1998-2003) for two years at the Division II level and two years at the Division I level. She accumulated a career 1.81 ERA for 416 innings. She earned a BA in Human Development from Binghamton. She has a BS in History and is certified in Adolescent Education from SUNY Brockport.