Felician Names Herb Melendez as its New Head Softball Coach
Courtesy of Felician University Athletics
RUTHERFORD, N.J. (July 26, 2019) – Herb Melendez of Levittown, N.Y., has been named the head softball coach at Felician University, Felician director of athletics Ben DiNallo Jr. announced today. Melendez is the seventh coach in program history.
Though ascending to his first permanent collegiate head coaching position, Melendez is a stranger neither to Felician nor to the greater New York City softball scene. He was a Golden Falcon assistant in 2012 and 2013 and served as Felician's interim head coach in the fall of 2013.
Melendez began his college coaching career with two years as a volunteer assistant at Division I St. John's University. More recently, he was on the staff of New York Institute of Technology from 2016-18 and of New York University last season. NYIT posted a 71-59 won-lost record during his tenure and reached the 2017 NCAA Division II East Regional. The 2019 Violets went 20-13 and claimed three all-region performers.
Melendez founded the LI Pride Organization and Teams in 2011 and coached the Pride's first 16U squad to a third-place finish at the USSSA Nationals. He had previously been on the staffs of the LI Sudden Impact, Queens Nassau Comets and Levittown Athletic Club travel teams.
Melendez became an aircraft mechanic while attending the United States Navy Class A School in Millington, Tenn., in 1991. He then spent seven years at a jet mechanic in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He is pursuing a B.S. in sports management from Southern New Hampshire University.
At Felician, Melendez replaces Alexis Durando, who resigned in May after coaching three seasons.
Felician is a member of NCAA Division II and plays in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. The Golden Falcons will compete in their 24th season of varsity intercollegiate softball in 2020.
ABOUT THE CACC
The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference composed of 14 institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The member institutions are Bloomfield College, Caldwell University, Chestnut Hill College, Concordia (N.Y.) College, Dominican (N.Y.) College, Felician University, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University), Nyack College, Post University of Waterbury, University of the Sciences, and Wilmington University.