West Liberty University Athletics

    Veteran West Liberty University softball coach Herb Minch hits a significant milestone this year as he celebrates his silver anniversary in the Hilltopper dugout. This will be Minch’s 25^th season as head coach at West Liberty and he has the Black and Gold clicking on all cylinders after posting their third straight 30-win season during the 2022 campaign.
    Minch’s Hilltoppers shook off a slow start to come rolling down the stretch in 2022, breaking into the regional rankings and clinching their third straight Mountain East Conference North Division title on the final day of the regular season.
    West Liberty fell just short of pulling off an MEC Tournament “three-peat,” falling to eventual NCAA Division II regional qualifier West Virginia Wesleyan in the final elimination game.
    Makenzie Amend and Annie Paterson repeated as All-MEC and All-Region selections with Paterson also earning NCAA Division II Academic All-America honors as the West Liberty women finished the season with a 35-21 overall record, 22-10 in MEC play.
    The 2022 season marked the seventh year of Minch’s second stint in the WLU dugout. After winning nearly 400 games during his initial 17-year run, Minch stepped down following the 2011 season in order to spend more time with his family.
    Minch’s career total has now reached 549 wins, which includes an impressive 330-212 (.609) record in league play. He has coached 32 first-team All-Conference players and numerous All-Region performers.
    From 1995 to 2011, Minch established the West Liberty softball program as perennial WVIAC title contenders with 16 consecutive WVIAC Tournament bids and a trio of 30-win seasons, highlighted by a school-record 42-16 mark in 2004.
    Included in that impressive stretch was a 1999 WVIAC Tournament championship. That year’s title run touched off a remarkable stretch that saw his Hilltoppers battle their way to the WVIAC Tournament championship game six times during an eight-year span (1999-2006).
   A 1989 West Liberty graduate with a degree in Health and Physical Education, Minch also holds a master’s degree in Athletic Training from West Virginia University. He received his Certified Athletic Trainer’s certificate from the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) in 1990 and has been a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) since 1988.
    With his academic background and the experience gained from 20-plus years as Head Athletic Trainer at WLU, Minch played a valuable role in helping develop the university’s Athletic Training program.
    A 2012 inductee into the West Liberty University Hall of Fame, Minch has two daughters, Kailey and Alivia, and a son, Zach.