Grand Valley State head coach Dana Callihan has announced the addition of Ryan Schalk to the Laker coaching staff for the upcoming 2017 season. The head coach at Muskegon Community College the past three years, Schalk joins GVSU after the Lakers made their third trip to the College World Series last season.
 
Schalk, who served on the Muskegon Community College coaching staff as an assistant or head coach since 2009, has an impressive resume during his time with the Jayhawks. Last season, MCC finished the year with a 40-14 record, won the state championship, and finished the year ranked #20 in the country. In three seasons as Jayhawk head coach, Schalk led MCC to a 93-49 record; including his five years as an assistant, the Jayhawks have gone 306-126 since the 2009 campaign.
 
"We are very excited to add Ryan to our staff," Callihan noted. "He is very knowledgeable in the game of softball and he is a tremendous teacher. He comes from a program that has been very successful over the years and he will enhance our program in many ways."
 
Callihan said that Schalk's primary role would be to assist with the development of the Laker defense and work with the hitters.
 
Named the 2016 MCCAA Coach of the Year - as well as a two-time winner of the MCCAA Western Conference Coach of the Year - Schalk and his Jayhawk teams increased their winning percentage in each of his three seasons as head coach. In 2015, the team led the MCCAA in runs, hits, triples, RBI, and stolen bases, while notching program records in batting average and home runs the same year.
 
"I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to join an already excellent staff," said Schalk. "I am excited to have the chance to work with a top-notch program and I am ready to help continue the great tradition of Grand Valley State softball."
 
Schalk has coached a number of NJCAA and NFCA All-Americans during his MCC tenure, with over 40 of his players continuing to play at the Division I, II, and III levels in NCAA, as well as eventual NAIA athletes. In 2010, Muskegon Community College won the NJCAA National Championship with Schalk on the staff.
 
Callihan will enter her third season as Laker head coach in 2017, along with assistant coach Jen Rivera in her third year as top assistant. Part-time assistant coach Briauna Taylor was also on staff last year, when GVSU won the Midwest Region championship and advanced to the College World Series in Denver, Colo. After the season, Callihan, Rivera, and Taylor were voted the NFCA Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year, the second time in six seasons (2011) that Grand Valley State has earned the award.

With a 43-13 overall record, GVSU finished 2016 ranked #7 in the final NFCA Division II Top-25 poll.