Softball | 5/17/2016 7:56:00 PM

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – West Liberty University Director of Athletics Dr. Aaron Huffman announced today that WLU Hall of Famer Herb Minch has agreed to return to the helm of the Lady Hilltopper softball program.
"I'm very pleased that Coach Minch will be leading our softball program again," Huffman said. "He's a Hall of Fame coach with a proven track record who has been a valued member of our Hilltopper family for many years. With Coach Minch's years of experience, he'll be able to hit the ground running and provide the smoothest transition possible for our student-athletes."
Minch, who led the Lady Hilltoppers to nearly 400 victories during his previous 17-year run while serving double duty as the school's head Athletic Trainer for all intercollegiate sports replaces Jim Bacca, who resigned as head coach following the 2016 season.
"I was pretty excited when Aaron asked me if I'd be interested in coaching again," Minch said. "I missed working with the girls on the field in practices and games and watching them grow and develop as players and individuals. I think there's a good nucleus in place and I can't wait to get started."
Minch speaks with the voice of experience.
As head coach at West Liberty from 1995 to 2011, he established the WLU softball program as perennial WVIAC title contenders with 16 consecutive conference tournament bids and three 30-win seasons, highlighted by a school-record 42-16 mark in 2004. 
A 1999 WVIAC Tournament championship ignited 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). Along with his school-record 396 career wins, Minch's teams went 240-142 (.628) in conference play and produced 25 first-team All-WVIAC honorees and 21 WVIAC All-Tournament selections. 
Minch stepped down following the 2011 season in order to spend more time with his family and focus on his duties as head Athletic Trainer while playing a key role in helping develop West Liberty's emerging Athletic Training education program, which recently achieved full CAATE accreditation. 
"That was a pretty hectic time," Minch said. "We were building an Athletic Training major basically from scratch and covering all 16 sports with a much smaller training staff. Things are a little different now. We have more trainers and the major is up and running. We were fully accredited in March and just graduated our first class so it looks like we're well on our way."
Minch's first priority as head coach will be boosting the number of players in the program.
"The numbers are a little down right now due to a variety of factors," Minch said. "We need to add more pitching depth and we've already received some commitments in that area. We have some capable hitters and good team speed but we need to bring in some more players and build on that.
"My goal is to get up to around 20 players for the first year and we're pretty close to that already. Ultimately, I'd like to have as many as 30 players competing for playing time. That competition – that push – is what we had with our teams in the past and it proved to be a winning formula."
A 1989 West Liberty graduate with a degree in Health and Physical Education, Minch 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.
Minch, a 2014 inductee into the WLU Hall of Fame, resides in Valley Grove, W.Va. with his wife, fellow WLU Hall of Famer Ashlea Bland-Minch. He has three children, Kailey, Zachary and Alivia.