The New Mean Green Standard

DENTON - It is a brisk afternoon at Lovelace Stadium. As the late-afternoon sun begins to paint the horizon with the colors of a Texas winter, the Mean Green softball team is hard at work.

The drill is easy. Two teams of five face off against one another and play a couple innings. You get three outs, you get to go to bat. The problem is, however, you need quite few more people than five to properly play softball. There's nobody playing shortstop in this instance.

But when you have a head coach who can naturally slot into the middle of the infield, he can cover some ground. After giving his team instructions, head coach Rodney DeLong grabs his glove and trots out to the middle of the infield as he did plenty of times throughout his baseball career.

"I always loved baseball," DeLong said. "I grew up watching the Braves. Chipper Jones, Smoltz, Tom Glavine. All those great Braves teams."

When the time came to make a decision about his playing future, DeLong saw a future in coaching – much like his father. DeLong's father still coaches to this day. After two years as a shortstop for Cameron University and a year at Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa, and shaped by the great Braves teams of the '90s, he decided to end his playing career.

That was when DeLong began coaching softball at the high school level in Oklahoma.

"I coach it the exact same way [as baseball]," DeLong said. "It's faster paced. I really fell in love with the game of softball because of its pace. Coaching the female athlete is a little bit different. I feel there's less ego. Their easier to coach. Easier to deal with."

Quickly during his time as a softball coach at Cache High School and Lawton McArthur High School, DeLong became considered one of the top high school coaches in the state. DeLong amassed a 211-64 (.767) record at Cache (2008-10; 2012-13) and MacArthur (2011). While at Cache, he led the Bulldogs to the 2013 state championship, as well as four regional championships and five district championships. DeLong picked up three state-wide Coach of the Year awards as well.

It was during this time that he met a future assistant in Dillon Bryant. Bryant played baseball at Cache under DeLong's supervision, hitting .461 with 11 triples as a senior second basemen. After a junior college career, Bryant served as a student assistant for DeLong at Cameron in 2013. He was promoted to graduate assistant coach in 2015 before following DeLong to Austin Peay for the 2018 season.

His path brought him right to North Texas under DeLong.

"There is no doubt that we have been able to improve between the lines," Bryant said. "[He showed] me how to instill a culture, a good working culture, and I think I have been able to really take that from coach DeLong. It's been a blessing to join North Texas, and serve our girls every day on the field and off to make sure they leave our program as better people."

When athletic director Wren Baker approached DeLong about the North Texas job, it was an interesting opportunity. It was closer to home in a growing athletic department. There was a rich pool of softball talent between Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana for DeLong and his staff to recruit from.

DeLong needed to recruit a coaching staff first however, but he had a few in mind. He brought assistant Jamie Allred along with Bryant. Allred also served on DeLong's Austin Peay staff. Add volunteer assistant and long-time friend Mike Viramontez to the mix and DeLong was ready to get to work.

"They all bring so much," DeLong said. "It is important to me to have people who understand me and what is important to me. That is big in the hiring process. Jamie has a lot of strengths that I would consider my weaknesses. She was a good balance in what I was looking for. Mike is very knowledgeable. He knows a lot about the game and brings a lot of skill and fundamentals to the front for our players. We all balance each other out really well."

For any team, a transition into an entirely new coaching staff could be tough. With the season beginning at the end of the week, the time for being uncomfortable has come and gone.

"I think we know who we are with them," junior Lacy Gregory said. "It's certainly been different. We're developing a winning attitude and a winning culture. We're confident. We're ready to win. It's a culture of working hard, but it's a family around here. That's what they want."

DeLong always knew he would get into coaching. After getting his bachelor's degree he knew he had an interest in leading a program. A major focus of his program is developing his student-athletes as young adults. As with any successful coach, DeLong understands his players should grow off the field as well during their time at North Texas.

While he has found great amounts of success on the field, everywhere he has been, it goes so far beyond the wins and losses in the kind of program he is trying to make. DeLong is a believer that with a good program and good culture, comes good student-athletes. With good student-athletes, comes winning softball games.

"Regardless of our win and loss record in the first year I want this team to understand our standard," DeLong said. "That is the ideal first year. We understand our culture and meet the standard to prepare every day. Even if that means we lose more games than we expect. If we prepare at a high level, put in the time and energy, and put the program above itself – the program will move in the direction it needs to. If all that aligns, sure, we could win a lot of ballgames. More than anything its completing through the grind of a season and growing as people."

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