Marlee Wilson

Title

Head Coach
Email

marlee.l.wilson@wmich.edu
Recruiting Email

@marleewilson

In July of 2022, Marlee Wilson returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach for the Western Michigan softball team. The following year, Wilson was named the head coach of the WMU softball program on August 28, 2023, and served her first season at the helm in 2024.

2024:

Wilson made an instant impact in her return to Western Michigan with her offensive approach as the Brown and Gold scored 27 runs in their first four games of the 2024 season, marking the most runs scored in a season-opening four-game span in almost a decade and a half: During the 2010 season, the Brown and Gold scored a total of 23 runs in their first four games.

Later, Wilson propelled WMU to its first Power 5 victory since February 8, 2020, with a 5-0 shutout victory over Pittsburgh on March 8, 2024, at the "FGCU Spring Break Classic".

From March 24 - April 6, Wilson led WMU to a seven-game win streak, the program's longest winning streak since the 2018 season where the Broncos saw eight straight wins from March 4, 2018 - March 11, 2018. One week later, from April 13 - April 20, the Brown and Gold rattled off six wins, marking the softball team's second win streak with at least six consecutive victories in a single season since 2006.

Wilson helped guide senior pitcher Rissa Bajusz to a career year as Bajusz was named WMU's first-ever MAC Pitcher of the Year and concluded her tenure with the Brown and Gold totaling 516 strikeouts with the help of 218 in 2024 alone. Bajusz's 218 strikeouts rank fifth for the most K's accumulated in WMU single-season history, while her 516 career strikeouts rank third all-time in program history.

Under Wilson's leadership, WMU saw a total of six NFCA Top Performer nods, and three MAC Pitcher of the Week selections.

To conclude her first season at the helm, Wilson took WMU to the 27-win mark for only the sixth time since 1998 and led the Brown and Gold back to the MAC Softball Championship for the first time since 2019 as a 2 seed. Wilson's 27 wins set the record for the most wins by a first year WMU softball head coach.

Previous Coaching Experience:

Before her return to Kalamazoo, Wilson spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Dayton. In 2022, she helped the Flyers to a .298 team batting average, which led the Atlantic 10 Conference, and had five players selected to the A-10 All-Conference Team. During her first campaign at UD, the Flyers were the runner-up in the A-10 conference tournament and sported a .972 fielding percentage, which ranked 37th nationally.

Prior to her time at Dayton, Wilson spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at UT Martin. During her first season, the Skyhawks posted a 29-27 record and led the Ohio Valley Conference in stolen bases (130) and fielding percentage (.967), and ranked seventh in the country at 2.32 stolen bases per game. The 2020 team was off to a 12-10 start before the remainder of the season was canceled due to COVID-19.

Wilson played for Western Michigan from 2014-18. In 2017, Wilson was a Second Team All-MAC selection after hitting .308 and belting 15 doubles, which tied for the second-most in a single season in program history. During her career as a Bronco, Wilson was a three-time Academic All-MAC honoree, a 2017 MAC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete and a four-time NFCA All-American Scholar.

A native of South Haven, Mich., Wilson graduated from Western Michigan in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in University Studies, with concentrations in Human Performance and Health Education, Art and Business. The following year, she took master’s classes in Sport Management at WMU while finishing out her playing her career with the Broncos. In the spring of 2020, Wilson earned a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin in Family and Consumer Sciences.

Season	Record (MAC Record)	Notes
2025	TBD	TBD
2024	27-22 (16-8)	Set the program record for the most wins by a WMU first year head coach. Led WMU to the 27 win mark for only the sixth time since 1998 & took WMU to its first MAC Championship berth since 2019. Guided senior Rissa Bajusz to become WMU's first MAC Pitcher of the Year.