Bio

Kiera Broehl is in her first season as Head Softball Coach for the Lady Vikings.

Big Bend Community College's Athletic Department has announced that former MidAmerica Nazarene University (MNU) head assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Kiera Broehl has accepted the position as the new head coach of the Lady Vikings softball team.

A member of the MNU coaching staff since 2021, she was also an assistant coach at Langston University in Oklahoma for two years prior. Broehl played her collegiate softball at Bethel College in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference where she was predominately a catcher, but also saw time at first and third base, consistently garnering the team's highest slugging and on-base percentage.

When asked what style of play she wanted to bring to the Big Bend softball diamond, Broehl said she wants her players to enjoy "the climb and the grind" while having fun playing the game they love.

"I am looking for grinders, the ones that want to work hard and get at it," said Broehl about the players she wants to recruit. "I also want good people. I think that if you have a great attitude, and give it your all, the rest can come … I can teach you softball, but I can't teach you to give an effort and to have a great attitude."

Second-year Director of Athletics John Meeks is elated with Broehl's hire. "Kiera comes to Big Bend highly regarded in the national softball landscape," stated Meeks. "She has worked under some tremendous coaches and is, no doubt ready to lead her own program. After a national search, yielding a high level of quality candidates, including several sitting head collegiate coaches, Kiera rose to top candidacy as, at every turn, she demonstrated her care and concern for our ladies outside the sport. Despite the program taking a season-long pause this year, Kiera will be poised to take the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) by storm."

The new coach said her coaching philosophy is similar to the values that she holds in her own life and that coaching is not a job – it's a lifestyle.

"I don't just want to coach my players on the field; my goal is to make sure that these young women are ready for life's curve balls and setbacks," Broehl said. "I want them to understand that who they are is always more important than what they do on the diamond."

"My biggest thing is that you are a STUDENT-athlete ... meaning that student comes first. I was and still am a nerd and education is very important to me and making sure these women graduate and do it with good grades will always be important."

The new coach is already busy recruiting and is ready to lay a program foundation built for success that will continue for many seasons to come.

"I am looking forward to putting Big Bend softball back on the map."