There won't be much time off this summer for Hillsdale College softball head coach Kyle Gross.
Fresh off his fourth season at the helm for the Chargers, Gross is heading down south in June to coach in the Florida Gulf Coast League, a summer league for college softball players looking to improve in the offseason. While Gross is taking advantage of this new opportunity, it won't change anything about his status as head coach at Hillsdale -- he will remain in charge of the Charger softball program and will return to Hillsdale in the fall once the summer FGCL season is complete.
Based out of Bradenton, Florida, the FGCL is the pioneer of summer college softball, attracting NCAA Division I and Division II talent from across the country for a 25-game schedule that includes an all-star event and playoff.
Gross will be the head coach of the Lakewood Ranch Rodeo, a new team joining the FGCL this year to compete for the title. He comes to Florida with an impressive resume, having made two NCAA Tournaments and winning a G-MAC Tournament and regular season title in four years with the Chargers, to add to success in multiple stints as an assistant at Presbyterian College and Kent State, as well as serving as the interim head coach at Toledo in 2014.
Under Gross' leadership, Hillsdale won an outright regular-season conference championship for the first time since 1991, and posted back-to-back 30-plus win seasons for the first time since 1991 as well. Gross is one of just three Charger coaches to be named conference coach of the year after receiving the honor this past season.
The veteran coach will be joined by a familiar face on the coaching staff, as 2022 Hillsdale College graduate and five-year letterwinner Madison Stoner will be an assistant on Gross' staff this summer. Stoner adds five years of collegiate experience, four as a starter at catcher for the Chargers, to the coaching mix.
You can find out more about the FGCL here.
Photo by Anthony Lupi