Young Hired as New ECC Softball Coach

A local coach with a state championship to his name is new head coach of the East Central College Falcons Softball team. Grant Young will be replacing Brad Wallach, who led the ECC Softball program for 15 seasons.

Young has served as the head softball coach at Washington High School for the past two years, a role he will continue while coaching the ECC Softball Falcons. This past season, the Blue Jays finished with a remarkable 37-1-1 record, capturing the Missouri Class 4 state title without a single loss to a Missouri school.

The team was ranked third in the nation in the final National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) poll and was recognized as the top program in Missouri by MaxPreps.com.

Young, a 1996 graduate of Union High School, holds a B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Missouri State University (2000) and an M.S. in Athletic Administration from William Woods University (2007). He and his wife, Julia, have two sons, Kaner and Ryker. Kaner will be attending ECC and playing baseball this year.

Coaching Career

In his three years as a head softball coach, including a year at Neosho High School in Missouri, Young’s teams have achieved an impressive 89-15-1 record. Over the past eight years with the Blue Jay program, serving as both varsity assistant and head coach, his teams have won six Gateway Athletic Conference titles, five district titles, four Final Four finishes, and two state championships (2021 and 2023).

Young was honored as the 2023 MHSFCA Class 4 Coach of the Year and was part of the NFCA Region 1 Zone Coaching Staff of the Year.

Young has also been a varsity basketball coach for the past 23 years, coaching both boys’ and girls’ teams. He has amassed 385 career wins, including seven MSHSAA district titles, two Final Four appearances, and a state championship in 2011 at Purdy. He was recognized as the Girls Basketball MBCA/Sportswriters 2011 Class 2 Coach of the Year.