Mike Hampton
Head Coach - 17th Year
Athletics Director - 15th Year
Mike Hampton enters his 17th season as head softball coach at Iowa Wesleyan College. He also is in his 15th year as Director of Athletics at IWC. Hampton has posted a 458-373 mark in 16 seasons at IWC and owns a 1,133-975 career record in 45 seasons coaching softball at the college and high school levels. At the collegiate level, he was named Midwest Classic Conference Coach of the Year in 1997, guided Iowa Wesleyan to four consecutive conference championships from 1996-99, and earned NAIA regional tournament berths in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2007.
Hampton achieved a rare milestone in the spring of 2005 when he notched his 1,000th career softball coaching victory, including the high school and collegiate levels. In August of 2006, he was inducted into the Iowa Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame in honor of his high school softball coaching career. Among his other coaching honors include being named Southeast Iowa Class AA Softball Coach of the Year in 1988 and being selected by the Iowa Softball Coaches Association to coach the Iowa State High School All-Star team in 1997. Hampton also celebrated his 600th high school softball victory in 2002, and last year was recognized by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association for his 400 career college coaching wins.
Hampton, a 1972 graduate of IWC, also brings a wealth of experience to his role as Director of Athletics. Hampton was named NAIA Region VII Athletic Director of the Year for the 2001-02 school year. During 23 years of teaching in Mount Pleasant Community Schools, he took over the varsity girls track program in its second year of existence in 1973 and coached the team for 20 years. He also helped start the varsity girls basketball program as an assistant in 1974, and started the Panther softball program during the 1976-77 season. Hampton also was a teacher at MPCHS for a number of years and finally stepped down from his Mount Pleasant softball post after the 2006 season, compiling a 665-602 record in 29 seasons with the Panthers.
Hampton has been a registered girls and boys high school basketball official for 29 years and has worked a number postseason tournament games. He has also taught basketball officiating at IWC for 11 years. His officiating capabilities have led to his selection into the Iowa Girls High School Coaches Association Basketball Officials Hall of Fame in 2005. In April 2007 he was also a member of the first induction class into the Southeast Iowa Officials Hall of Fame.
Hampton and his wife Anita (also an IWC graduate) reside in Mount Pleasant. They have three children, sons Lance and Beau and daughter Michal.
Kari Hudson - 1st year
Kari Hudson is in her first year as an assistant coach for the Tiger softball team and joined the IWC staff in July 2010.Hudson comes to IWC from NW Missouri State University in Maryville, where she was a graduate assistant the past two years while completing her master’s degree in Health and Physical Education with an emphasis in Athletic Administration. Hudson was involved in all areas of the program as the lead assistant to Head Coach Ryan Anderson, with administrative and recruiting duties in addition to on-field coaching duties with the Bearcats.
Hudson came to NW Missouri State after graduating from Minnesota State University in Mankato in Dec. 2007 with a degree in sports management and with minors in both marketing and coaching. Hudson was a four-year starting shortstop for the NCAA Division II Mavericks and is the program’s all-time leader in hits, home runs, RBIs and runs scored. In 227 career games for the Mavericks, Hudson hit .333 with 26 home runs, 157 RBIs and 140 runs scored.
Hudson was a two-time all-conference selection and earned all-region honors as a senior in 2007 when she hit .369 with 10 home runs and set program records for RBIs (54) and runs scored (45). She was also honored by her University after being named the 2007 Georgene Brock Award Winner, given to the school’s most outstanding female student-athlete. Upon graduation from Minnesota State, Hudson spent the spring as a public relations assistant for the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks.
A native of Batavia, Ill., Hudson will reside in Mount Pleasant with her dog Boo and her cat Bessie.
Amber Pence - 3rd year
Amber Pence returns for her third year on the Tiger coaching staff as a softball assistant.Pence joined the coaching staff after playing two years of both softball and basketball at IWC. In two years as the starting shortstop on the Tiger softball team she hit .349 with 91 hits, nine home runs and 68 RBIs. In 2006 she hit .378 with six homers and 44 RBIs and was named First Team All-Midwest Classic Conference and also to the NAIA Region VII first team.
Pence also played two years of basketball at Wesleyan and both years was a key player on teams that qualified for the NAIA Division II National Tournament. She started 60 of 64 games and averaged 10.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.8 steals over two years. In 2005-06 she was named First Team All-MCC, helping lead the Tigers to a school-record 25 wins and their first national tourney berth since 1970.
Pence received her degree from IWC in Sport Management. Prior to attending Wesleyan she spent two years at John Wood Community College in Quincy, Ill.
A native of La Harpe, Ill., Pence now resides in Mount Pleasant.
