UT Legend Chiles Excels in Coaching Role

By Rhiannon Potkey, special to UTsports.com

India Chiles wouldn't have considered the offer from anyone else.

Chiles was happy working as a pharmaceutical rep in her hometown of Louisville and giving private softball instruction on the side.

She wasn't looking for any major changes in her life.

But Tennessee co-head coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly are persuasive recruiters. They lured Chiles from the state of Kentucky 15 years ago and were determined to do it again.

They had an opening on their staff and wanted Chiles back in the UT dugout.

"I have two passions and two loves and those are healthcare and softball. I never desired to coach a team and to take on that much responsibility outside of my job in healthcare," Chiles said. "But this offer changed that for me."

Chiles has returned to Rocky Top this season as a volunteer assistant coach, replacing Madison Shipman. The former All-American is primarily working with the slap hitters, outfielders and base runners.

"She is one of the best players to ever play here no question, and we knew we wanted her back as a coach," Ralph Weekly said. "She is a very active coach and is coaching every play. Some coaches just sit back and watch. She is someone who is correcting and doing it in an intelligent and positive way."

Chiles, 32, was working for Johnson & Johnson when she got the call from the Weeklys asking her to return to Tennessee. If there was any doubt about leaving her former job, her colleagues quickly put her mind at ease.

"Everyone was very excited for me in my company. They were very encouraging and in the most polite way," Chiles said. "They were pushing me out the door because they thought it was the coolest gig ever."

Chiles didn't know any of the current Tennessee players personally before she arrived. She had spoken to senior Meghan Gregg by phone over the years when Gregg called asking Chiles for leadership advice.

"It has been a very warm welcome from all of them. They all respect me and take my authority very well. Where I have really implanted myself is in a unique role as a former player," Chiles said. "The coaches know what it takes to get a team to the World Series from a coaching perspective, but I have been on the other side of that as a player. If these girls have goals to make All-SEC or reach the World Series, I have been there."

Chiles is surrounded by reminders of her playing career at Tennessee on a daily basis. Her pictures adorn the walls in the softball facility, and her name is plastered across the record books.

She arrived at Tennessee in 2003-04 as a right-handed second baseman, and departed as a left-handed, slap-hitting outfielder that set a high standard of success.

Chiles was a three-time Women's College World Series participant and the first Tennessee softball player to be named SEC Player of the Year when she earned the honor as a senior in 2007.

During her senior season, Chiles suffered a labrum tear in her left shoulder and an ACL and meniscus tear in her right knee.

She never stopped playing and never used it as an excuse.

Chiles still managed to run 2.7 seconds to first base and help the Lady Vols to a runner-up finish at the World Series.

In one game at the World Series, Chiles stole second base after teammate Lillian Hammond missed a hit-and-run sign.

"How do you steal second base at the World Series with no protection and a torn ACL and a torn labrum?" Ralph Weekly asked. "I have never known an athlete to do that."

Chiles excelled in softball while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a Bachelor of Sciences degree in nursing.

After one year of playing professionally, she began working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in her hometown.

Chiles spent the next few years as a traveling nurse working in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units across the country before returning to Louisville in 2014 to join Johnson & Johnson.
Throughout her work in healthcare, Chiles never strayed far from softball. She continued providing private instruction and was an analyst for the SEC Network.

She developed SlapperNation, LLC to spread her slapping expertise to a wider audience with instructional DVDs and camps and clinics held across the country.

"Before I came back to coach here, I always stayed in close contact with Karen about slap hitters and approaches to slap hitting," Chiles said. "We just kind of feed of each other as far as what is new and what we are teaching and training."

The strategy sessions between Chiles and Karen Weekly are now much more frequent and their goals are equally aligned.

"With the volume of slap hitters they have recruited on the team, we want this Lady Vol team to be known for speed again," Chiles said. "We want that to be a major strength of this program."
Tennessee's slappers have already seen improvements from working with Chiles the last few months.

"I love the way she coaches. She really breaks things down a lot with us with technique and footwork and is very motivating and positive," sophomore Jenna Holcomb said. "She can relate to us because she's been here as a player and she can show us because she has that experience as a slapper."

Senior Sheridan Allen appreciates Chiles wanting every player to reach her potential no matter her role.

"She has a high expectation for you and she makes sure you understand what she expects and how to do it," Allen said. "She always tries to individualize her coaching and is very knowledgeable. You can mess up one small mechanic in a slap and she will understand exactly how to fix it."

Chiles still has fond memories of playing for the Lady Vols during a program-establishing stretch in Tennessee softball history.

Although the World Series teams had talented players, their chemistry is what set them apart for Chiles.

"No matter what grade level we were, everyone got along. We were one team, and I still keep in touch with all of them," Chiles said. "Most of them reached out to say congratulations when I took this job. But that is my family, so if someone is having a baby or getting an award or anything we always make sure everyone is aware. We are our own little sorority."

Chiles is trying to foster the same sense of camaraderie among the Tennessee players this season, and connect the present with the past.

She wants to become an alumni coordinator of sorts and have more former players return to games. She wants to honor them for their contributions and have this generation of Lady Vols learn more about what they did to pave the way.

"The big thing we hit on with this year's team is you have to be relatable to your teammates because when things get tough that is when someone is going to stand up and try to be a leader, whether it's getting in someone's face in a good or bad way," Chiles said. "It's not going to be received if they can't relate to you or you are coming to them from a stranger's approach. Everyone has to have each other's back and play for each other when you get in those tough SEC games or postseason games."

Chiles shared a hometown with legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, and got a chance to meet him during her childhood.

Chiles' mother, Yvette, was a nurse and became acquainted with Ali when he visited the hospital for charitable purposes. Yvette Chiles was part of Ali's funeral procession when he died in 2016.

"The biggest message I took from him was speaking your confidence into existence," said Chiles, one of seven children. "Ali wasn't always the most confident going into battle, but nobody would ever know it. He was a lot more vocal than I would be, but he always believed that he was the greatest and had that mindset."

Chiles carries her own bat around the Tennessee facility, ready to demonstrate instruction at a moment's notice. She jokes that many of the players "think I played like two years ago or something. I don't even think they know how old I am."

About the only hard part of the job for Chiles is having to watch from the dugout once the games begin.

"I wish I was on the field with them," she said with a nostalgic smile. "Being back makes me want to play again. It is really special."

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Sheridan Allen

Meghan Gregg

Jenna Holcomb

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