INDIANAPOLIS – Former SIUE softball and volleyball head coach Sandy Montgomery has been elected for induction to the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Hall of Fame.
The GLVC Hall of Fame Class of 2026 will be honored at the GLVC Spring Awards Reception at the Drury Plaza in St. Louis, Missouri, on Tuesday, May 19. The 2026 GLVC Hall of Fame Class will be the 23rd class to be inducted since the establishment of the honor in 2002. With the inclusion of the Class of 2026 in May, the GLVC Hall of Fame membership will expand to 103 former administrators, coaches, and student-athletes.
She will be inducted with Drury women's basketball player Hailey Dieselkamp, Bellarmine men's basketball player Braydon Hobbs, and Quincy women's basketball player Jessica Keller.
Montgomery was the leader of one of the most prominent and highly-regarded softball programs in Division II during the late 1990's and 2000's. The longest-tenured softball head coach in SIUE history completed her coaching career with a record of 1,051-540-2 (540-193 in DII) for a winning percentage of .660. Montgomery also started SIUE's volleyball program, serving as the first head coach and amassing a record of 83-54 over four seasons, while leading the volleyball Cougars to their first NCCA tournament appearance in 1998. Montgomery's 2006 softball team set the school standard for victories with 52 and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. One year later, Montgomery led the Cougars to their first and only national championship. The 2007 team would later be inducted into the SIUE Athletics Hall of Fame. Montgomery coached three eventual GLVC Hall of Famers (Jenny Esker, Michelle Gilman-Cox, and Alicia DeShasier), 10 All-Americans, three GLVC Players of the Year, Two GLVC Pitchers of the Year, and won GLVC Coach of the Year four times (1997, 1999, 2001, 2002). Montgomery made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and won five GLVC Championships (2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008). Montgomery has been named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame, the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame as the SIUE Athletics Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
