Brooke Monroe is beginning her first season as an assistant coach for the Boilermakers after serving two years as a volunteer assistant.
"Brooke Monroe is one of the best young assistant coaches in the country, and we are thrilled to have her continue her coaching career at Purdue," head coach Carol Bruggeman said. "She is energetic, intelligent, hard-working and passionate about Purdue University and the sport of softball. I look forward to continuing to work with her."
Monroe joined the Boilermaker staff in 2003 after a successful career at intrastate rival Indiana. The 2002 graduate was a three-time All-Big Ten player at catcher and as a utility player for the Hoosiers. Monroe earned first-team accolades at catcher as a junior and garnered third-team honors her sophomore and senior years at catcher and utility. The Morton, Ill., native started 201 games, while making a mark in the career record books where she ranks fourth in home runs (24) and doubles (40), fifth in RBI (94) and seventh in at-bats (607). Monroe also is among the IU top 10 in single-season home runs, tied for sixth with eight in 2001 and tied for eighth with seven in 2002, and slugging percentage, eighth with a .582 in 2002 and 10th with a .567 in 2001.
"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue representing Purdue University," Monroe said. "I have the utmost respect for Coach Bruggeman, and it will be great to continue learning from her because she is such a renowned coach."
"There is a great family atmosphere in our program, and I enjoy working with the student-athletes and helping them improve as softball players. I think our team has tremendous potential this coming season."
As a senior, Monroe batted .321 with 43 hits, including a team-leading 12 doubles and one triple. She also recorded 20 RBI and tied for the team lead with seven home runs. In Big Ten play, she led the Hoosiers with a .306 average, registering 15 hits in 49 at-bats with four doubles, three home runs and six RBI. As a freshman, she had at least one RBI in 20 games, with six multiple-RBI contests. She also led the team in hits (53), doubles (11), home runs (5), total bases (81) and RBI (29) as a rookie. The following year, Monroe posted a hit in 26 of the team[apos]s 47 games and led the team in hits (33), doubles (9), RBI (19), multiple RBI games (7) and multiple-hit games (4). As a junior, she started all 52 games while leading the team in batting average (.338), slugging percentage (.567), on-base percentage (.379), hits (53), doubles (8), triples (2), home runs (8) and RBI (26).
As a prepster at Morton High School, Monroe earned all-conference accolades in softball four times, volleyball twice and basketball once. She was a four-time member of the Illinois state tournament team and garnered second team all-state honors as a junior and senior. Monroe also made her mark in the state record books as one of only four players to start 12 Illinois Class AA State Tournament games. Her team was the state runner-up her sophomore and junior years and finished third her freshman and senior seasons. Monroe played summer ball for the Spirit of Chicago, which placed ninth at the 1997 ASA National Tournament and then traveled to Holland and won the Overseas Tournament, where she was named MVP.
Monroe, who graduated from Indiana with a degree in sports management and earned her master's degree in sports pedagogy from Purdue in May of 2004, lives in West Lafayette.