Eastern Kentucky University Athletics

Melissa Kolbe is in her sixth year as an assistant for head coach Chrissy Roberts.

Kolbe serves as the program’s recruiting coordinator and works with the post players.

Kolbe has played an integral role in transforming Eastern Kentucky into one of the top programs in the Ohio Valley Conference over the last three years. She helped bring in some of the most decorated Lady Colonels in program history, including all-time leading rebounder Alex Jones and Brittany Coles, who graduated in the spring sixth all-time in three-pointers made (139). Jones and Coles led the 2012-13 Lady Colonels to an 18-12 record and a berth in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI), EKU's first national tournament appearance since 2004-05.

Along with Roberts, Kolbe spent six seasons before coming to Eastern as an assistant at East Carolina University. With Kolbe’s help, the Lady Pirates finished higher than predicted each of her first five seasons on the staff.

In Kolbe’s first season, East Carolina made its first-ever Conference USA tournament appearance. A year later, the Lady Pirates finished 14-14 overall, the program’s first non-losing season since 2000-01 and only the fourth non-losing season in 11 years. ECU returned to the C-USA tournament in 2004 and 2005. During the 2005-06 season, East Carolina went 17-12 and finished with an 8-8 conference mark, its best-ever up to that time. The Lady Pirates capped the season with the first C-USA tournament game victory in program history. 

The rebuilding process at East Carolina culminated in 2007. The Lady Pirates went 19-14 overall and finished third in C-USA with an 11-5 mark. ECU went on to capture its first C-USA tournament championship and earn the program’s first NCAA tournament berth in 25 years. The trip to the Big Dance was only the second in school history.

Prior to joining the ECU staff, Kolbe spent one season as an assistant at Mercer University. Kolbe served on Sharon Baldwin-Tener’s staff at Mercer and joined Baldwin-Tener at East Carolina when she was selected as the Lady Pirates’ head coach in 2002. While at Mercer, she assisted with recruiting and served as the academic coordinator. She was also involved with workouts, scouting and administrative duties. She helped Mercer increase its win total by 10 games from the previous season, one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA Division I that season. The Bears also advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun tournament in 2002.

Kolbe’s collegiate coaching career began at Valdosta State in 1999. She served two seasons at Division II Valdosta State before joining the staff at Mercer.

The Cleveland, Ohio native enjoyed a highly successful playing career at Wittenberg University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Kolbe helped lead her team to three conference championships and two appearances in the NCAA tournament.