Tatjana Matthews couldn’t have scripted it any better.
When you love something as much as Matthews loves softball, she couldn’t have imagined a better way to spend the last eight-plus months than driving throughout the state of Mississippi and the Southeast recruiting players for the Mississippi University for Women’s softball program.
“Compiling a roster ended up being extremely fun,” Matthews said. “Recruiting is probably one of my favorite parts. When you get a chance to make somebody’s dream come true to play college ball, getting to see that is probably one of the most rewarding things of the job.”
Matthews’ work netted a roster of 27 players that will kick off the fall season next month in anticipation of the sport’s return to The W in 2018. Matthews will join Roxanne Hernandez (volleyball), Tim Gould (men’s soccer), Matt Wolfenbarger (baseball), and Morgan Turnipseed (cross country) as the first coaches to lead The W’s sports teams for the 2017-18 school year. Men’s soccer, volleyball, and women’s cross country will start this fall, while men’s cross country will begin in the fall of 2018.
Prior to working at The W, Matthews was head softball coach at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and Appalachian Athletic Conference member. As associate head coach, Matthews helped the team record its first winning season and was a part of three winning seasons after joining the staff in 2012.
Matthews also spent two years as head coach at the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie. She played softball at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina, where she was named to the Peach Belt Academic team and an Academic All-American. After graduating from FMU with a bachelor’s degree of science in sociology, Matthews played at Charleston Southern, where she was named to the Scholar Athlete Team, Who’s Who 2009, and 4.0 Buc Athlete Club.
Matthews earned her master’s degree in criminal justice and also served as softball graduate assistant at Charleston Southern.
“I look at recruiting a lot like I look at the game,” Matthews said. “You can have a plan and an idea of what is going to happen, but you might not be ready for that pitch that gets thrown to you.
“As coaches and as athletes, we have to be ready for change. That was just one of the curveballs that was thrown to me. I had to learn to take the outside pitch to right field.”
Matthews said she had fun recruiting the initial class even though many of the senior softball players already had committed to two- or four-year schools. Still, Matthews said she received a lot of assistance through word of mouth and that there was a lot of awareness in the region about the return of athletics to The W.
Matthews also said she was pleased with the student-athletes she was able to recruit from the junior college programs in the state of Mississippi.
“The young women we have coming have bought into my vision of what I want the program to be,” Matthews said. “They all want to be a part of the community, which is a big thing. They know grades are going to come first, and they’re going to play well together. From what I have see, their personalities are going to mesh very well together and we’re going to be able to play as a team.”
Matthews also recruited in Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas. She said she has been surprised by The W’s reach and that its roots run deeper than you would think for a school its size. Matthews said it didn’t take long for her to figure out The W sells itself. That made it easier for a self-described “people person” to talk student-athletes looking for the right school.
“Even though a lot of players had committed, that means they were coming from good, established teams, so I made junior college contacts with coaches,” Matthews said. “It was amazing. I have some incredible young women. I am looking to bring in more true freshmen in the future, but for a program that I want to be competitive in year one, why not have a lot of girls who have collegiate playing experience?”
Matthews said building a schedule was a little tougher in part because she wasn’t as familiar with the schools in the region. Like with recruiting, though, Matthews said she received help from her peers and built connections with schools The W could play in its first season.
“It was fun and entertaining and a privilege to get to go all over the state of Mississippi to recruit this year,” Mathews said. “I am very thankful I was able to have that experience because I made some new contacts and I met some incredible young ladies. It just turns out I was able to get players from all four corners of the state. We have a really good representation of the state of Mississippi.”
Matthews said a schedule change Wednesday means The W will play host to Millsaps College in a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 11, to open its season. The doubleheader originally was the second date on the schedule, but it was moved up after the original season-opening twin bill against William Carey in Hattiesburg had to be pushed back a couple of weeks.
Matthews said The W plans to play its home games on campus following renovations to the existing softball facility. She said she has “absolutely zero doubt” the facility will be ready to go for the home opener.
The W also will go on a road trip to South Carolina in March for spring break. The games will give the players Matthews recruited from South and North Carolina an opportunity to play closer to their family.
“I am extremely excited for them to get on campus and for us to have our first team practice,” Matthews said. “Everybody has been really friendly and really helpful and supportive and positive. You can’t ask for a better situation for a first-year program.”
Matthews said she plans to do team-bonding exercises when the student-athletes arrive on campus. She said the team will do conditioning and it will have a short fall season to help lay the foundation for January, when she said “the fun really starts.” She said “school is going to be No. 1” and that all of her players are passionate about softball and school, which gives her confidence the Owls can accomplish great things in their first season.
“When November started, I was like, ‘the girls are never going to get here,’ ” Matthews said. “Now they’re right around the corner. Now I am so ready for them to be here and practice, especially since they all have been named.
“There is a phenomenal group of young women that gets to wear Owl blue this year.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.