Melissa Frost enters her 21st year as the UIndy head softball coach in 2025. The all-time winningest coach in UIndy Athletics history
—regardless of sport, Frost took over the the reins in 2004 and has built the Greyhound softball program into one of the best in the country.
An eight-time GLVC Coach of the Year, Frost has amassed a 820-287-1 (.741) at UIndy, part of an overall NCAA coaching mark of 894-343-1 (.723). Her Greyhounds have racked up a Midwest-best 16 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, including six Super Regional appearances and trips to the 2009, '15 and '24 NCAA DII Championship. Since 2006, Frost has produced a total of 18 student-athletes that have been named either the Player, Pitcher or Freshman of the Year by the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
All told, Frost has mentored 13 different players to a combined 39 All-America nods (CSC and NFCA), including two Division II Pitchers of the Year in
Morgan Foley (2014) and
Kenzee Smith (2024).
UIndy has five 50-win seasons under Frost's tutelage, with 2024 making it back-to-back 50-win campaigns. In '24, the Hounds earned the GLVC regular season crown and a Midwest Region title before finishing with a program-best 60 victories. That squad tacked on a pair of wins at the World Series
—also a program record. The postseason run included Smith tossing an amazing 58 2/3 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
Frost's 2015 club also advanced to the NCAA DII Championship. That squad sprinted to the World Series after sweeping through its half of the Midwest Regional and coming back from a 0-1 deficit in the best-of-three Super Regional. UIndy delivered back-to-back wins versus No. 1-ranked Missouri-St. Louis and their All-America pitcher Hannah Perryman to punch its championship ticket. The Hounds went on to take the opening game of the World Series behind a no-hit performance by Foley, besting eventual-national-champ North Georgia, 1-0. They later dropped the next two decisions and finished 48-15 on the year.
From 2012-13, UIndy’s win percentage of .860 was the best in Division II, with its 104 wins over that span tied for first. Both seasons ended with Frost and her assistants garnering NFCA Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year laurels, an honor the UIndy coaches have captured twice more since, including in '21.
Frost’s 2013 team earned the program’s first-ever No. 1 ranking from the NFCA, holding the top spot for the final six weeks of the regular season. On the way to a Super Regional appearance, the team broke program records for wins in a season (54), runs scored (401), team ERA (1.14) and longest winning streak (38), with the latter matching the third-longest total in Division II history. Overall, Frost-led teams have been ranked No. 1 in nine separate weeks, receiving first-place votes on 12 other occasions.
On the final day of the ‘13 regular season, the Greyhounds defeated Wisconsin-Parkside in game one of a doubleheader, giving Frost win No. 328 at the school to surpass UIndy Athletics Hall of Famer and former UIndy V.P. for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Sue Willey as the softball program’s all-time winningest coach.
Frost’s 2012 Greyhounds won 50 games, including 33 in a row during one lengthy stretch. UIndy hosted the program’s first-ever NCAA Regional in May of that year, after winning the program’s first-ever GLVC Tournament Championship.
Prior to picking up her first GLVC Coach of the Year nod in 2010, Frost guided the Hounds to the program’s first-ever regional championship in 2009. After running off three straight postseason wins to advance to the Midwest Super Regional, UIndy rallied from a one-game deficit to beat host Saginaw Valley State in the best-of-three series to advance to the NCAA DII Championships in Salem, Va. The Greyhounds went 1-2 in the finals and earned a No. 10 ranking in the final NFCA poll.
Before coming to the Circle City in 2004, Frost was the head coach at NCAA Division II Wheeling Jesuit (W.Va.) from 2002-04, compiling a 74-56 record with the Cardinals. During her first season at WJU, Frost was charged with rebuilding a softball program that had been discontinued for 10 years.
Frost earned a bachelor’s degree in athletic training/health education from Marshall in May of 1998, and a master's degree in athletic administration (3.98 GPA) from MU in December of 1999. She began her collegiate coaching career as an assistant at her alma mater from 1997-99.
As a student-athlete at Marshall, Frost earned ASA All-America and Academic All-America recognition, while receiving the Buck Harless “Student-Athlete of the Year” award. A finalist for Marshall’s “Female Athlete of the Year” award, Frost earned Southern Conference “Player of the Week” honors and she was named to all-tournament teams at Florida State, North Carolina and the Southern Conference Tournament.
The Circleville, Ohio native went on to pitch professionally for the Akron Racers in the Women’s Professional Softball League in 1999.
FROST'S CAREER RECORD
| YEAR |
SCHOOL |
W |
L |
T |
PCT. |
OTHER |
| 2002 |
Wheeling |
17 |
16 |
|
.515 |
|
| 2003 |
Wheeling |
28 |
18 |
|
.609 |
|
| 2004 |
Wheeling |
29 |
22 |
|
.569 |
|
| 2005 |
UIndy |
27 |
18 |
|
.600 |
|
| 2006 |
UIndy |
31 |
19 |
|
.620 |
|
| 2007 |
UIndy |
25 |
22 |
|
.532 |
|
| 2008 |
UIndy |
39 |
28 |
|
.582 |
NCAA Regional appearance |
| 2009 |
UIndy |
37 |
21 |
|
.638 |
Midwest Region champs |
| 2010 |
UIndy |
36 |
17 |
|
.679 |
GLVC Coach of the Year, NCAA Regional appearance |
| 2011 |
UIndy |
36 |
14 |
1 |
.716 |
NCAA appearance |
| 2012 |
UIndy |
50 |
9 |
|
.847 |
GLVC Coach of the Year, Midwest Coaching Staff of the Year, GLVC Tournament champs, NCAA appearance |
| 2013 |
UIndy |
54 |
8 |
|
.871 |
GLVC Coach of the Year, Midwest Coaching Staff of the Year, GLVC East Division champ, NCAA Super Regional appearance |
| 2014 |
UIndy |
44 |
13 |
|
.772 |
GLVC Coach of the Year, GLVC East Division champ, NCAA Regional app. |
| 2015 |
UIndy |
48 |
15 |
|
.762 |
Midwest Coaching Staff of the Year, Midwest Region champs |
| 2016 |
UIndy |
51 |
5 |
|
.911 |
GLVC Coach of the Year, GLVC Tournament champs,
NCAA Regional appearance |
| 2017 |
UIndy |
33 |
21 |
|
.611 |
NCAA Regional appearance,
NFCA Donna Newberry "Perseverance" Award winner |
| 2018 |
UIndy |
39 |
20 |
|
.608 |
NCAA Regional appearance |
| 2019 |
UIndy |
49 |
17 |
|
.742 |
GLVC regular season co-champ, NCAA Super Regional app. |
| 2020 |
UIndy |
14 |
5 |
|
.737 |
season shortened due to pandemic |
| 2021 |
UIndy |
46 |
8 |
|
.852 |
GLVC Coach of the Year, GLVC regular season champ, GLVC Tournament champs, Midwest Coaching Staff of the Year, NCAA Regional app. |
| 2022 |
UIndy |
48 |
10 |
|
.828 |
GLVC runner-up, NCAA Regional appearance |
| 2023 |
UIndy |
53 |
10 |
|
.841 |
GLVC Coach of the Year, GLVC regular season champ, Midwest Coaching Staff of the Year, NCAA Super Regional app. |
| 2024 |
UIndy |
60 |
7 |
|
.921 |
GLVC Coach of the Year, GLVC regular season champ, Midwest Coaching Staff of the Year, Midwest Region champs |
| TOTAL |
23 years |
894 |
343 |
1 |
.723 |
|
