Trinity Lutheran softball head coach Herb Gross shows off a drill during the Cougars’ camp earlier this summer.
Tribune file photo
Herb Gross has been an assistant for the Trinity Lutheran softball team for the past five years, and now as he enters his sixth year with the program, his title will be changing to head coach.
With Bob Tabeling stepping down to watch his daughter, Bailey Tabeling, play basketball at Ohio University, Gross is excited to take over the Cougars’ program.
“I’m excited. I learned a lot from Bob. He was a great mentor to me, and I appreciated everything he taught me,” Gross said. “I coached (my daughter) Kamzi since she was 8 years old, so I’ve been around the game a long time. I love this school, I love this sport and I’m just looking forward to continuing what we got going on here and help make it better.”
Kamzi Gross currently plays volleyball at Franklin College, and when she was a senior at Trinity, she was named The Tribune’s Softball Player of the Year in 2022.
Gross is excited he will still get to see Kamzi play since volleyball is a fall sport. He will also maintain his role at “Voice of the Cougars” as Gross announces at volleyball and basketball games.
“I’m excited about that, too,” he said. “That’s my highlight. I enjoy doing that.”
The only negative is Gross’ son, Kowan, will be a senior on Trinity’s baseball team this spring. So the one thing he will miss is some of his games if it crosses over with the softball schedule.
But all in all, Gross is excited to become the head coach.
Trinity was 15-11 last season, which was a school record for wins in a season. Gross hopes the Cougars can pick up where they left off next year.
“I think we’re going to be decent,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of experienced players coming back. We lost a big heart of our defense in BT (Bailey Tabeling), and Jasmine (McCormick) was our team leader, but we’ve got seven starters coming back. I think with our five incoming freshmen, I’m just excited to see what we can do.”
Gross was on staff in 2022 when Trinity won the first regional title in program history and played in the semistate.
“I was a part of that first regional for our school, so I know what it takes to get there, and hopefully, I can learn what it takes to get a little bit farther,” Gross said.
Gross has been a part of the Trinity family for multiple years in different roles, and he hopes he can do positive things with his newest position as softball head coach.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I hope I’m an ambassador to the school. This is family. I love the school, I love everybody here, so I hope I make them all proud.”