2012 marks year number 10 for Pam Knox as the leader of the Western Oreogn softball program.
She led the Wolves to their only NCAA west region tournament in 2008, after the team earned a share of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title with an 18-6 record. Western Oregon advanced to the finals of the NCAA Division II west region championship and finished the season with a 33-18 record, after ranking as high as No. 8 in the national rankings (Mar. 5).
In 2010, the Wolves finished second in the GNAC with a 26-14 mark in conference and a 32-21 record overall. This marked first time in the 26 years of the program the Wolves have recorded four straight season with a .500 or better winning percentage.
Knox also recruited some of the most decorated student-athletes in school history. Tyler Sutherland earned the GNAC Player of the Year and All-American honors in 2009 under Knox's tutelage. Five student-athletes earned All-GNAC honors in 2010 under the leadership of Knox, including three being voted to the first team.
Knox now has a 16-year overall collegiate coaching mark of 402-385, after also directing teams at Northwest Missouri State and Park College. She arrived at WOU in 2003, and her first Wolves team went 27-17 overall and tied for second in the GNAC with a 14-7 record, just missing a playoff berth.
Prior to her arrival in Monmouth, Knox coached at another NCAA Division II school for six seasons. At Northwest Missouri State, Knox posted a 146-117 record, leading the Bearcats to a Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Championship in 1999. Her squad was 29-16 in 2002, the school’s best mark since the 1986 season. The Bearcats had winning seasons in five of the six campaigns with Knox as its leader.
Prior to her time at Northwest Missouri State, Knox created the softball program at Park College (Missouri), guiding the Pirates to a 53-38 record in two seasons (1995-96). She has also served as an assistant at Central Missouri State (1990-92) and Santa Ana College (1981-85) was the head softball and volleyball coach at Brown Mackie College in Kansas (1993-94).
A 1976 graduate of Newport Harbor High School in Southern California, Knox started at shortstop for two seasons at Golden West College, helping lead her squad to two national junior college championships. She then went on to captain teams at the University of Arizona and Cal State Fullerton, leading both clubs into the AIAW College World Series.
Knox holds a bachelor’s degree from Cal State Fullerton and has a master’s degree in physical education from Central Missouri State.
