Jefferson’s new softball coach is, well, its old softball coach.
Melissa Mullis, who guided the program for three seasons (2004-2006) before Brad Puckett took over, is once again Jefferson’s head coach after Puckett announced his resignation last week to continue his education.
“I’m totally excited,” said Mullis, who led Jefferson to a 70-28 mark in her first stint with the Dragons. “I didn’t know I’d be returning this soon.”
Mullis took Jefferson to the Class A finals in 2005.
Mullis, who played collegiately at LSU and McNeese State, inherits a Jefferson team coming off a 22-win season and returning many of its starters next year. Mullis said Puckett left the program in great shape.
“Brad has done a great job and had the program running smoothly,” Mullis said.
After Puckett stepped down, Jefferson athletic director Tim Corbett moved quickly to fill the vacancy. Having a successful former coach, like Mullis, already in the Jefferson School System was a major plus. If the school sought a replacement outside the system, a teaching slot would also have to be open next year. Given the current economic situation, that’s not always a given.
Corbett said he’s glad to have Mullis back for a second stint.
“It’s nice that we could go ahead and make that decision … She knows the kids, she’s followed the program,” Corbett said.
Mullis has set the bar high for herself. After serving as an assistant at Madison County from 2001-2003, she took over at Jefferson in 2004 and guided the Dragons to a 17-8 record that season (9-3 in region play) as the softball program made the transition from slowpitch to fastpitch.
Over the next two years, Mullis’s teams won two region titles, secured two trips to the state playoffs, made two Elite eight appearances and earned one trip to the state finals.
Mullis went 29-5 in region play.
She resigned at the end of the 2006 season as she was preparing to give birth to her third child in January 2007. She remained employed with the Jefferson School System.
With her youngest child about to turn four, Mullis said she and her family are now in a better position for her to return to coaching. She thinks that her time away from the dugout was valuable.
“I got to be a spectator and see things from a different perspective, and I think I will be a better coach for that,” Mullis said.
Moving forward, she returns to a program that’s well-stocked.
“Our middle school, junior varsity and varsity — we have some really great talent in Jefferson, period,” she said.
Mullis is eager to start her second term at Jefferson, noting the importance of offseason work.
“I hope to meet with the girls early next week and get offseason workouts started as soon as possible,” Mullis said.
