Crimson and Gold Connection; Ashley Balazs

Welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection, keeping you connected with the people and current events at Pittsburgh State University. I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro, thank you for joining me. It's the first week of the fall 2017 semester at Pittsburgh State University. This week on the Crimson and Gold Connection, I'm joined by Pittsburgh State's new softball coach, Ashley Boulache. Prior to being named head softball coach at PSU, Boulache was an assistant coach at Evansville University in Evansville, Indiana. Ashley Boulache, thank you for joining me on the Crimson and Gold Connection. Right, thank you for having me. I'm very excited for this opportunity. Oh, yeah. You'd sound excited. This is a good opportunity to be in. I mean, Pittsburgh State University over the past handful of years now has really made an impact. And, you know, what made you want to come here to pick and be the head softball coach? Number one, I was ready for my own program.

I wanted to lead a division to program and then to have the facilities and the supports that you have here at Pitt State. You know, I couldn't ask for a better opportunity from that standpoint. And then kind of the icing on the cake is to get a little closer to my family. And this program has been successful. Based upon a couple of the other programs here, you know it can be done. So I'm excited to kind of keep the ball rolling here. You know, what are some of your goals that you're going to set out for your team to accomplish to your first season? Well, I'm not going to give us any goals with wins and losses or anything like that. It's going to be more so of the style of play and working really hard day in, day out. I like to develop my players and my teams. And that's kind of how we're going to approach it from a process standpoint. You've been a coach before at a college in Wisconsin. How would your perspective change the second time around as a head coach? You know, what have you learned as you've gotten older? I think the first time jitters are out of the way, which is really exciting. And now, you know, I've already done that starting lineup, you know, some of the head coaching roles off campus, all that stuff I've already done.

So now I'm excited to really implement my plan full-go and fix some of the mistakes that I did make because obviously as a as a young coach, everything I did wasn't perfect. But now I've seen another program, I had the opportunity to work with Coach Mundell. So I'm really excited to kind of bring some of the stuff that I've learned from him. I'm an implemented here at Pitt State. What are some of the mistakes that a young coach makes that you've seen change? You've felt the change in yourself. What do you see? First and foremost, I'm a better leader. I feel like I can lead these girls to be a better mentor for them. I've matured myself. And I think that's number one that I'm in a better position. Okay. You're still a young woman, though. Yeah. That's what people keep telling me. I don't feel so young anymore, but that's all right. You're younger than 30. Yep. I'm higher than 30. So that's got to feel pretty good to be already division to head coach before your 30. You probably have some lofty career goals here at Pitt State, you know, over the next five or 10 years, seeing yourself some probably pretty successful teams, though.

Absolutely. You know, I came here because I feel I can win in meta-high level. Right out of the gate with my coaching career, I got the opportunity to be at UND where we competed at a high level in this university and UND have a lot of similarities. So that was definitely a draw for me. Great mentors throughout my entire coaching career that have really prepared me. So even though I might be young, you know, with the number next to my age, but I'm very experienced and seeing a lot of programs in and out, programs from the bottom, programs from the top, head coach, assistant coach, all different levels. So I think all that combined has really prepared me for this. And if people aren't familiar with you, you started four years at jewelry in Missouri. Yep. And if they look at your stats from there, they tell that you were a catcher, and you were a starter, and you put up some pretty serious numbers. I did, I did all right. I think the biggest thing out of there is I really got to implement a lot of my knowledge of the game as being a catcher and kind of leading the field. And I think from a knowledge standpoint, that has prepared me really well to kind of

oversee everything as the head coach. I had a lot of really good teammates there that I was able to work with and learn growing up. Were you a baseball fan? Absolutely. We didn't watch Disney movies, we didn't watch Barney, we didn't do any of that stuff. It was ESPN was on all the time and watched, watched baseball on big football family. So words are definitely in my blood. All right. Who are your teams? Oh, hometown Kansas City and the Royals. So when you're out scanning players, you know, from a coach's perspective, that was a four-year starter. What do you see as a coach that's different than me sitting in the stands? I look at their character, I look at them as a student athlete and then I look at them as a player. So obviously, you know, when you go to a field, the athleticism immediately draws you in. But then you start looking at how do they interact with their teammates, how do they interact with their coaches, start making a couple calls, you know, a family friend and get to know them a little bit because it's really important that they are a good person and they put the team first.

So you really do your background in your homework before we bring somebody to here to Pittsburgh state then. Yep, absolutely. In every stop of your coach and career, you've made an impact, you know, which is translated into either increased room production or more wins. You know, what do you think that you have that other coaches don't? What do you see that's different? I'm extremely passionate and the girls will see that right away. I love this game. I love the opportunity that presents these student athletes. So I think that's where I set myself apart from everyone else. I work extremely hard and, you know, that's kind of the makeup of my teams too. They grind it out. They work really hard. And that's what you're going to expect. Yep. I mean, that's what you're looking for players when you're scouting out there, whether they're, you can, I guess if they're trainable, they're going to be coachable in the way and really personable their teammates and just have a family, I guess. Absolutely. I mean, you know, we spend more time with each other than they spend with their family once, you know, the schools and sessions and stuff like that. So all of that's definitely very important. You know, a lot of ways this is a homecoming for you. You went to high school in Overland Park and then you started a jewelry college in Springfield

all four years. And now you're just down the road from both those places. You know, how does that feel as a young coach to be close to your friends and family? Sometimes the college coaching world, it pulls you apart just because, you know, of opportunities farther away. So this gives me an opportunity for my career that I'm definitely very looking forward to, but then it does also get me closer to where those people can experience this with me. And I think that's really important. It was important for me to have my friends and families at the games. And depending upon, you know, where we traveled, they would come when they could. But now, you know, it's a midweek game and my parents can drive down or, you know, my friends from Springfield can make the trip and Kansas City as well. So I think just it's exciting for me to be able to be a little bit closer to my support system. So I was a big draw. I must have been to come here. It was the icing on the cake. You know, I, first and foremost, is, is the program in the university, but yeah, it definitely was the icing on the cake. Ashley Balash.

I want to thank you for joining me for the Crimson and Gold Connection. Thank you for having me. This week on the Crimson and Gold Connection, I was joined by Pittsburgh State Universities, New Sampal Coach, Ashley Balash. You can find out more about PSU athletics, including Sampal by visiting their website, pitstakegerilas.com. If you want to hear this episode of the Crimson and Gold Connection online, all of our shows are archived at krps.org. Next week on the Crimson and Gold Connection, our guest will be the president of Pittsburgh State University, Dr. Stephen A. Scott. For all of us here at 89.9 krps, I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro. Join us for Crimson and Gold Connection Wednesdays at 8.50 and Fridays at 350.