One of the legends in the world of fast-pitch softball, Michele Granger begins her third season at the University of Tennessee. With highly-touted freshman Monica Abbott joining sophomores Christy Anch and Stacey Jennings in the Lady Vol rotation, the pitching coach's guidance will be instrumental toward shaping the Big Orange's fortunes in 2004.

Last year, Granger helped develop a trio of hurlers, rookies Anch and Jennings, as well as senior Stephanie Humphrey, which lowered Tennessee's earned run average from 2.88 the previous year to 2.04, the third-lowest figure in the program's existence. Granger's tutelage was a catalyst for Jennings to join Jackie Beavers as the lone Lady Vols to reach the 20-win plateau in their debut seasons. Beavers had registered 24 triumphs during the school's inaugural campaign on the diamond in 1996.

Jennings (21-15, 1.73 ERA) and Humphrey (18-5, 1.97 ERA) narrowly missed becoming the first UT duo to post 20 victories apiece, and the staff's total of 324 strikeouts was the second-highest effort. Granger also oversaw Humphrey's school-record winning streak of 16 consecutive decisions, which lasted from Feb. 8 (6-1 over Jacksonville at the Triple Crown Invitational in St. Augustine, Fla.) until April 18 (a 2-0 setback to No. 23 Florida in Gainesville). During this stretch, Humphrey tossed UT's first no-hitter against a Southeastern Conference foe with a 2-0, eight-inning gem against No. 13 South Carolina, 2-0. Humphrey was tabbed as the league's Pitcher of the Week on April 7 and May 5, 2003, representing the initial time a Lady Vol hurler had snared the award twice in one year.

Not to be outdone, Jennings fired the first perfect game in school history, a 3-0 masterpiece versus host UNLV in Las Vegas on Feb. 21. Soon after, she was recognized as the USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week, another first for UT's program. The righty from Aurora, Colo., went on to record eight solo shutouts in '03, one shy of the standard shared by Beavers (1996) and Buffy Walker (1997), and she was picked as the Lady Vol Athlete of the Week on three occasions: Feb. 11, Feb. 25 and March 4.

Granger's impact with the Orange and White in 2002 was most pronounced in the development of right-hander Humphrey, who matched the school record of 24 victories on her way to single-season standards for strikeouts (326), appearances (51) and saves (five), in addition to the second-best performance of eight solo shutouts. Granger oversaw a staff that hurled its most shutouts, 18, since the 1997 edition set the standard with 20.

No stranger to international success, Granger was a pitcher on the U.S. Olympic gold medal team in 1996, going 2-0 with a 0.87 earned run average and 25 strikeouts in 16 innings. One of her wins came in the gold medal-clinching victory over China. She was also a member of the USA team that won the gold medal at the 1995 Superball Classic in Columbus, Ga. In addition, she fanned 57 batters in hurling four shutouts and one perfect game to help the USA win the gold medal at the 1995 Pan American Games in Parana, Argentina.

Granger helped the USA team to gold medals at the 1994 ISF Women's World Championship in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada; the 1994 South Pacific Classic in Sydney, Australia; and the 1991 Pan American Games in Santiago, Cuba. She was chosen as the U.S. Olympic Committee Player of the Year for softball in both 1986 and 1987.

She also pitched the USA to the 1987 ISF Junior Girls World Championship while setting records for wins (eight), strikeouts (97) and innings pitched (56 1/3). Granger became the only player in history to compete in the ISF Junior Girls World Championship, the U.S. Olympic Festival, the Pan American Games and an ASA National Championship in the same season (1987). A gold medallist at the 1986 ISF Women's World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand, she registered a 0.00 ERA and was named to the all-tournament team in her international debut.

On the national level, she was a gold medallist at the 1993 and 1994 U.S. Olympic Festivals and received the prestigious Bertha Tickey Award as the Most Valuable Pitcher at the ASA Women's Major National Championship three times (1986, 1987 and 1988). Ironically, her head coach at the '94 Festival was Ralph Weekly. A member of the 1987 ASA Women's Major National Champions, Granger later earned MVP accolades at the 1988 ASA Women's Fast Pitch National Championship. A two-time ASA All-American, she was a nominee for the AAU James E. Sullivan Memorial Award in 1986 and 1987 and was inducted into the Amateur Athletes Hall of Fame in Johnstown, Pa., in 1986. Previously, she was an ASA 18 & Under Fast Pitch National Champion (1984 and 1985).

One of the top pitchers in the history of NCAA softball, Granger was a four-time All-American at the University of California-Berkeley between 1990-93, completing her career with a 119-52 mark and a 0.46 ERA. She owns 20 school records and five NCAA marks and holds the distinction of being a four-time All-Pacific Region selection, a four-time All-Pac 10 choice and a four-time Honda Sports Award finalist. She established what was then an NCAA record with 1,640 strikeouts during her career and had 25 no-hitters and five perfect games as a Golden Bear. She still holds Cal records in a variety of categories, including career victories (119), games (183), games started (162), complete games (155), innings pitched (1,202), strikeouts (1,640) and shutouts (94).

In 1993, she was honored as the March of Dimes College Athlete of the Year and as the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Female College Athlete of the Year. During her tenure at Cal, she was tabbed as the Daily Californian's Female Athlete of the Year on three occasions (1990, 1991 & 1993) and was named as the "Best of Berkeley" Top Female Athlete in '93.

Granger arrived in Knoxville after serving as a volunteer pitching coach at San Jose State University during the 2001 campaign. She also served as the color commentator for ESPN's coverage of the 2001 Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla. Previously, she was a volunteer pitching coaching for the University of California, Davis, from 1997-2000.

Granger earned bachelor's degrees in mass communications and history from Cal in 1993. She and her husband, John Poulos, have four children: Kady (6), John Michael (5), Lindsay (3) and Nicholas (1).