Brian Kirsch begins his second season as an assistant coach with the Behrend Lions softball program.

Kirsch has a lengthy softball background that includes 18 years of playing the game. Most recently he was an assistant varsity coach at Villa Maria Academy. The Victors posted an impressive 20-0 regular season mark last spring and won the District 10 Championship. Prior to that stop, Kirsch was an assistant at Fairview High School for a season after completing four years as the head coach at Mercyhurst Prep. As the leader of the Lakers program from 2000 to 2004, he guided them to a pair of District 10 titles in 2003 and 2004, and all the way to the Western Semi-Finals in 2003.

Kirsch is currently a special education Job Coach at McDowell Intermediate High School.

Julie Koman begins her first season as a member of the Behrend Lions volleyball staff.

Koman is no stranger to Behrend athletics, as she wrapped up a stellar playing career for the softball team in 2009.  Koman was an all-region pitcher for the blue and white and was named as the AMCC pitcher of the year four straight seasons.  She finished as the career record holder at Behrend in wins, strikeouts, ERA, and complete games.  Behind her outstanding play the Behrend Lions won three AMCC titles in four seasons, advancing to three NCAA Tournaments.  Koman was also named as the Behrend Female Athlete of the Year for 2008-09.
 
Koman graduated in May of 2009 with a degree in marketing and is now working toward her MBA at Behrend.

Stacy Pondo is set to start her seventh season as the head coach of the Behrend Lions softball program.  Coach Pondo has accumulated a 151-99 over her six year career with three AMCC Championships and a coach of the year award in 2006 and 2009.

2009 was another stellar year for Coach Pondo and the Behrend Lions.  The 2009 squad went 33-8 and won its third AMCC championship in four years.  The Behrend Lions entered the conference tournament as the number one seed with an impressive conference regular season record of 18-0.  The blue and white would storm throught the conference tournament with wins against Pitt-Greensburg, Mt. Aloysius, and Frostburg State to close it out.  The blue and white would earn the leagues automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.  Five players were named to the AMCC All-Conference First Team while ten total players were tabbed All-Conference.

The 2008 campaign was an excellent season that featured a 33-14 overall record and a conference mark of 13-5 that was good enough for the third seed in the tournament.  Behrend advanced all the way to the AMCC championship game in which they defeated Frostburg State twice to take the crown. The blue and white then went on to the NCAA tournament where they would lose the first two games. Five players were named to the AMCC All-Conference First-Team.   

 In 2006 Pondo led the Behrend Lions to an AMCC Championship with a 34-10 record, and the softball program's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.  The blue and white went 16-2 in conference competition and had five players named to the all-conference team.  Pondo was also honored as AMCC Coach of the Year.

In 2005, Pondo's second season in charge of the Behrend Lions, she guided the squad into the AMCC semifinals on her way to being named AMCC Co-Coach of the Year.

Pondo played two seasons at Mercyhurst North East Junior College and starred as a pitcher and shortstop. She carries a .419 career average and in 1997-98 served as an assistant to the 15-5 team because of an injury. She bounced back to play first base for the Mercyhurst Lakers a year later and earned the Mercyhurst Athletic Award.

Pondo earned a dual major in sports management and marketing from Mercyhurst in 1999.  In addition to her coaching duties, Pondo is also the assistant to the director of athletics.