Gonzalez continuing Saluki softball career as coach

This story is the second in a series of weekly features leading up to the start of the 2018 Saluki Softball season on February 9. To read the first story of this series on freshman outfielder Maris Boelens, click here.

In the fall, Saluki softball announced that former player Kelsey Gonzalez would step into the vacant assistant coach role on the team. While Gonzalez is new to the position, she is no stranger to Saluki softball or Southern Illinois University and her life has been largely impacted by the two entites.

Gonzalez has spent five and a half years at SIU. From 2013-16, Gonzalez played shortstop for the Salukis. Following her graduation, she chose to continue to her education at SIU in pursuit of her master of business administration. She was hired as a graduate assistant in Saluki Athletics' business office and Head coach Kerri Blaylock asked Gonzalez to take a role with the team as a student assistant, which she accepted.

Gonzalez helped the team to the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship and its 10^th NCAA Tournament appearance in May. In the summer, former assistant coach Katie Wagner left the team which opened the door to Gonzalez becoming a full-time assistant coach just over a year after her playing days at SIU ended.

"I never imagined that I'd already be a coach here," Gonzalez said. "The whole thing kind of evolved. I never even thought I'd go to grad school, but Kerri [Blaylock] mentioned it to me and talked me through the opportunities and I decided to go. That evolved into a GA spot in the business office then that evolved into a coaching role. Kerri told me last year that I'd make a great coach. I never thought it would come about like this, but I'm grateful that it did."

As a player, Gonzalez was a four-year starter at shortstop for the Salukis. The Bolingbrook, Illinois, native was a team captain her junior and senior years. In her time as a Saluki player, Gonzalez hit .283 with 9 home runs, 65 RBI and 24 steals. Her 113 runs scored had her in a tie for ninth all-time at SIU by the end of her career. She was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference second team in 2016 when she hit .309 with a home run, 11 RBI and 10 steals. She was also a three-time member of the MVC's Scholar-Athlete Teams and was awarded the MVC Commissioner's Excellence Award after the 2015 season for her achievements in the classroom and on the field.

Gonzalez looks back on her playing days fondly and remembers her teammates well.

"The friendships that I made in my playing career are really one of a kind," she said. "I still keep in touch with at least 10 of the girls that I played with, and we're all over the country now. I've made some pretty unique friendships here and those are people that I will stay in touch with forever."

An interesting aspect of Gonzalez's new role has much to do with how recently she played here; five players that she currently coaches were her teammates when she was a senior. Making the jump from player to coach is tricky, but can be even tougher when you were a former teammate of some of your players. Gonzalez said that her relationship with her former teammates actually eased the transition from player to coach.

Since Gonzalez had just finished playing, it made her a liaison between the players and the coaches since she understood the rigors of being a student-athlete and was familiar with the Saluki way of getting things done as a team.

With Gonzalez as the team's student-assistant, the Salukis won the 2017 MVC Tournament, something Gonzalez was never able to achieve as a player.

"I think I was just as excited as the girls were," Gonzalez said. "It's a pretty unique experience. When it's happening, you don't really realize it while its happened, then all of a sudden there's two outs in the seventh inning. It's cool to experience that in some way even though I never did it as a player."

Now last year's achievements are in the rear-view mirror and the Salukis are preparing for another run to the NCAA Tournament. This season, Gonzalez has a whole new set of responsibilities including working with the infield on its fielding, she coaches the team on its hitting, she will be the first base coach during games and plays a critical role in recruiting. Gonzalez is also responsible for scheduling travel and other aspects that come into play while the Salukis are on the road.

Gonzalez accepted all of these extra responsibilities on top of completing her MBA. This is her final semester as a graduate student at SIU. She's not concerned about a balancing act with her coaching and student responsibilities; she balanced being a student-athlete for four years and says that those skills help her still today.

In total, Gonzalez has spent nearly a quarter of her life at SIU as a member of the Saluki softball program in some way. She said that her life has been forever changed by SIU, Blaylock and associate head coach Jen Sewell.

"Kerri and Jen have done a lot for me. I'm excited I get to work alongside them now," she said. "When I was a player Jen always pushed me to be better because she knew what I was capable of. She pushed me to next level pretty quickly and I don't know if I would have ever performed as well as I did. The way that Kerri runs our program is like a business. She has high expectations for everyone. As far as academics, athletics and time management, she expects all of that out of you at the highest level. Those skills will be with me forever. She instilled that in all of us, and you want to make her proud. I don't know if I ever would have gone to grad school without her. She teaches you things that make you better every day."

Gonzalez and the rest of the Salukis start the 2018 season with a doubleheader on Feb. 9 against Abilene Christian and Texas-San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas.

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