Margo Jonker earns four-year extension as softball coach
Softball head coach Margo Jonker has agreed to a new four-year contract Wednesday that runs through the 2016 season.
Jonker has been the head coach at Central Michigan since 1980 and has compiled a career record of 1067-647-5.
“It is great to know the administration has confidence in the direction the program is going, and to know they want me to be the gatekeeper of the awesome Central Michigan softball program for the next four years and hopefully beyond,” Jonker said to CMU Athletics. “I am very excited because I believe our program is going in the right direction. We have quality players on our team, who are also quality people. We play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, we take academics seriously and we make sure that everyone earns a degree.”
She is ranked 15th in NCAA history in wins, and is seventh among active Division I coaches.
During her reign as head coach, the Chippewas have had 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, nine regular-season Mid-American Conference Championships and nine MAC Tournament titles.
CMU's nine tournament titles are the most in conference history by six.
“I’m very pleased that we’re able to extend Margo’s contract, and I’m very pleased that she’ll be leading our program well into the future,” CMU Director of Athletics Dave Heeke said to CMU Athletics. “She is certainly an icon in the softball world, and the opportunity to have her here is just tremendous. Continuity and consistency are important components to building championship-caliber programs, and this extension of Margo’s contract allows us to keep on that track.”
Jonker was named the NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year in 1987, the Mideast Region Coach of the Year in 1987 and the Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year in 1994 and 2000.
She has also been named MAC Coach of the Year a conference-record nine times.
Last season, Jonker led CMU to a 30-27 record (12-12 MAC), losing to Miami in the MAC Championship game.
Jonker was not made available by CMU Athletic Communications Assistant Kyle Terwillegar for comment.
