Bio

Jeana Howald is entering her 36th year as the Head Coach of the Mount Vernon Nazarene University softball team in 2024-25. Howald has compiled a 758-649-1 overall record. She is the all-time winningest coach in Lady Cougar history.

Howald guided the Lady Cougars to a program record 37 wins in 2022 and lead her team to 33 wins in 2023. MVNU started the 2023 season receiving votes in the NAIA National poll and also acheived its first ranking in program history later on in the season at 20th in the country.

Howald, who won 28 games during the 2021 season, was named the Crossroads League Softball Coach of the Year. Howald who sits in the top 10 among all active coaches in the NAIA in wins, picked up her 600th career victory on May 2, 2018 against Spring Arbor University and her 700th career win on March 3, 2023 agaisnt Judson.

Howald has guided MVNU to the National Christian College Athletic Association National Tournament 10 times during her tenure with the program. After finishing as the national runner-up in 1992, the Lady Cougars returned in 1993 to claim their first national title. In the team's most recent appearance, MVNC finished fourth at the NCCAA National Tournament in 2008 out of seven teams.

Howald has earned several Coach of the Year honors throughout her career. She was the Mid-Ohio Conference Coach of the Year in 1992, and she has been named the NCCAA East Region Coach of the Year eight times. She registered her 400th career victory in the Lady Cougars' 2007 season finale as the team swept Case Western Reserve University. Her 500th win came against Spring Arbor on March 21st of 2014.

Howald served as the NCCAA East Region chair from 1994 to 2011, and she also served for eight years as the co-chair of the AMC softball coaches association from 1996 to 2003.

Howald, who graduated from MVNU in 1982, was a three-sport standout in basketball, volleyball, and tennis for the Lady Cougars. She helped the volleyball team to its only NAIA District 22 title in 1980, and she competed at the NAIA National Tournament in tennis in both singles and doubles in 1981. She was inducted into the Cougar Wall of Fame in 1998.

Besides coaching softball, Howald served as the MVNU women's basketball head coach for seven years from 1989-1996. She led the Lady Cougars to their first NCCAA National Tournament appearance in 1994 and was named the NCCAA National Coach of the Year as the team won the national title and finished with a 23-10 overall record.

Howald resides in Mount Vernon with Wilson, her Yorkie.