It’s all in the family for coach Rollins
Wife, husband enjoying extra time together while coaching Tars
WINTER PARK — The bar could not have sunk lower if it were in quicksand.
Michelle Frew was ensconced firmly in her 20s, energetic and ready for her next coaching challenge. She interviewed to become the next softball coach at Rollins College.
“When I was hired, our [athletic director] said, ‘You know, we just don’t want to be embarrassed anymore,’ ” Frew said. “I remember sitting there going, ‘That’s crazy.’ I really thought that was dumb, and I just knew we were going to prove him wrong.”
Frew and her husband of 24 years, Steve, have.
First at a community college in Fort Myers, now at Rollins, Michelle has been the head coach while Steve has been as loyal an assistant as he is a husband.
Michelle, who became Rollins’ first full-time softball coach in 1996, recently notched her 800th victory at the Division II school. She is 803-349-1 with the Tars, and 921-432-1 overall, early into their 23rd season at Rollins.
The Tars (5-0) are scheduled to open their Sunshine State Conference schedule against Barry in Miami Shores at 6 Friday night.
“It just gives us more time together,” said Steve, a longtime volunteer coach who now receives a
“We talk softball basically 24-7. That’s a good thing, and it’s a bad thing. The bad thing is, it’s always in the house, and the kids will ask us, ‘Why are you always talking about softball?”’ —Michelle Frew, Rollins College softball coach
stipend. “I enjoy being around her. Hopefully she enjoys being around me.
“She hates losing, and I’m the same way.”
Before the Frews, the Tars existed a few rungs below downtrodden. Rollins won a total of eight games the three previous seasons, and the Tars once got embarrassed — there’s
that word again — 42-0. “We were pulling girls out of the dorms,” Michelle said. “Those girls who played for us in the beginning, they laid the foundation of, ‘Now we’re going to be a program [that’s] a contender.”
The Frews have guided Rollins to four conference championships, 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and one region championship (in 2016). Beyond the program’s success, they raised two children — Erin, 19, and Dylan, 13 — and Steve works full time for a softball company.
“They’re both so passionate with the game,” senior third baseman-catcher Abbie Sexton said. “They’ve spent hours looking at statistics on different teams, different averages of different teams and stuff like that. And a difference? I would say … Different about them? I don’t know. They’re a lot alike.”
Michelle, 50, and Steve, 52, attended Eckerd College in St. Petersburg and met through mutual friends shortly after he graduated.
Michelle grew up in Indianapolis, played two sports in college and, as a 5-foot-8 shooting guard, left as Eckerd’s all-time leading scorer in basketball.
She could not envision a life without coaching. Steve was on-board.
“We talk softball basically 24-7,” he said. “That’s a good thing, and it’s a bad thing. The bad thing is, it’s always in the house, and the kids will ask us, ‘Why are you always talking about softball?”’
Said Michelle: “I couldn’t do it without him.”
Asked for a cherished memory of the Frews’ coaching partnership, Michelle mentioned her “favorite game of all time.”
The Tars trailed 2-1 in the final inning of a 2016 regional matchup against Valdosta State, an established program. Facing a full count with two outs, Jule Kranz homered.
A few batters later, Sexton scored the winning run.
“We’re just a very close team, so in that way, I guess we’re a big family,” junior infielder Amanda Guglietta said. “But really they are family.”
And a successful one at that.
Suzanne Patterson once held the school record for coaching victories (33) — accumulated over four seasons. Under the Frews, the Tars have averaged more than 36 victories a year.
“We just have a really good thing,” Michelle said. “We don’t have that time where we don’t get to see each other, like some marriages do. I just know that I’m blessed.”