Melanie Rouggly is stepping down – and moving up.
The veteran softball coach, who developed championship teams at Hillsboro and more recently at Jefferson R-7, has resigned to take an assistant principal’s job at Kingston K-14 Junior High and Senior High.
Rouggly’s hiring was approved by the Kingston Board of Education at its meeting May 22. She served as a PE teacher and head softball coach at Jefferson High for three school years (2015-2018), after a 10-year stint in those roles at Hillsboro.
Her first day at Kingston, in Cadet, will be Aug. 1 and she’ll earn an annual salary of $69,000.
With softball a fall sport, the R-7 Board of Education acted quickly to replace Rouggly, hiring Robert Kuehnle at its regular meeting on June 27. Kuehnle was the Blue Jays’ original softball coach, serving six years (2009-2014) before Rouggly replaced him. He’s also the school’s head baseball coach.
“To lose Melanie this late in the year and have Robert take over was a really good hire for us,” Jefferson athletic director Jason Dreyer said.
Rouggly’s husband, Alex, is the head coach of the Jefferson football and track and field teams. Their two children attend Jefferson schools. That won’t change, Melanie said.
“It’s important for Alex and I not to disrupt that,” Melanie said. “They have had a great experience (at Jefferson).”
In her three years at Jefferson, Rouggly guided the Blue Jay softball team to a record of 43-36, two district championships and the school’s first trip to a state tournament in 2016 when they finished third in Class 2. That team was led by the outstanding play of hard-throwing pitcher Sarah Handrahan and speedy leadoff hitter Abi Chipps.
Handrahan graduated in 2017 and just completed her first year on scholarship at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Chipps will be a junior this fall and has swiped 68 bases in her first two seasons.
“I’ll miss the girls especially,” Rouggly said. “No matter what your situation is, leaving kids is very difficult. I felt like I was abandoning them. With that said, I will love and adore the kids at Kingston just as much. I’ve loved all three years at Jefferson.”
Alex Rouggly has led the Jefferson girls track and field team to two straight second-places finishes in the state (Class 2). Melanie said she’ll miss the competitive aspect of coaching, but will stay tuned in through her husband during the football and track seasons. They met while both were at Hillsboro.
“I am a competitive person, but I often compete with myself,” she said. “I have huge respect for what my new job takes. I am going to focus on my growth and take on a new challenge. I will still be supporting Alex and live vicariously through him.
“My transition to Jefferson was so much more than I thought it would be and I am thankful for that experience. I feel very thankful for those experiences and lessons.”
Kuehnle guided the Blue Jays to softball district titles in 2012 and 2013. Two weeks before he took over the baseball program two years ago, his son was born. He’s getting ready to repeat the experience; he and his wife are expecting a daughter in early August, right when the softball team starts preseason practice.
“Whenever you have a transition like this, there’s always quirks to work out with the players,” Kuehnle said. “For the first time, there isn’t anyone left from the (softball) teams I coached. I’m pretty exited about it.
“I had to convince the boss (Kuehnle’s wife) about it, but she wouldn’t stop me from doing something I love and I’m super-excited to coach the girls again.”
Dreyer said Melanie Rouggly helped the school gain notoriety by reaching the state final four in Springfield in 2016.
“She took our softball program to the next level,” he said. “I’m excited for her to get that role and I have no doubt she will do a great job.”
Kingston superintendent Alex McCaul said he knew he’d made the right choice out of more than 30 applicants when people kept calling him and telling him that Rouggly was an outstanding educator.
“The amount of applicants we had is a good sign for us because it means people want to work here,” said McCaul, who has also been a teacher, baseball coach and principal in his 16 years at the school district in northern Washington County. “I’m very impressed with her ideas and felt she brought a level of excitement here. We feel we’re stepping forward with her. She will do a great job. We’re going to learn from each other.”
McCaul said administrators at Kingston don’t coach.
“We make sure we know that coaching is out of their system when we interview them,” McCaul said. He added that he believes Rouggly will be a source of knowledge for the school’s softball coaches and a positive influence on the school’s students.