MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Awards continue to filter in for Stillman College softball following a historic season. Head Coach
Joel Penfield was named the Southern States Athletic Conference Coach of Character by the conference office June 4 at the SSAC summer meetings. The honor follows Penfield being named the SSAC Softball Coach of the Year in May and Stillman College's Head Coach of the Year in April.
"I try to recruit good kids. That's my main thing. A lot of them come to me, and I'm like a father figure to them, I guess," Penfield told a room of SSAC administrators and coaches at the annual banquet. "It's been a great opportunity to come to Stillman College. All of the awards that I've gotten, it all comes back to our team. I've thoroughly enjoyed it, and I really appreciate everything."
Penfield's nomination was supported by Stillman College Athletics Director Terrance Whittle and former student-athlete turned assistant coach
Katie Clifton.
"I aspire to be half of the coach that Coach P is and has been to me. He's never given up hope in our team or me personally whether it has been on the field, in the classroom, or now as an assistant coach. He's given so many of our players a place where they can be themselves and actually enjoy coming to softball everyday and that is so hard to find. He's a great coach and an even better man," Clifton wrote in her nomination letter.
Penfield is coming off a season in which Stillman College flipped a 13-35 season a year ago into a 36-17 record and third-place finish in the SSAC Tournament. The team set the regular season and overall single-season wins records in addition to several NAIA era team and individual records. He did so while also helping restart the Stillman women's volleyball in the fall semester before stepping aside to focus on softball, and while maintaining high academic standards on his team.
"On and off the field, he has demonstrated responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership in how he leads his team. More than two-thirds of his 23-player roster was named SSAC All-Academic, while also excelling on the field. In the midst of producing one of the greatest season-to-season turnarounds in recent history, Mr. Penfield led by example through his compassion, stern coaching when necessary, and his willingness to do any task he asked his student-athletes to do," wrote Terrance Whittle, athletics director.
Penfield is the first Stillman College coach to receive the honor from the SSAC.
