Monica Taylor enters her first season at Harvard after joining the program in Aug. 2021 as an assistant coach.
Taylor arrived in Cambridge from NC State where she spent three seasons, the first two as the Wolfpack's Director of Operations (2019-20) and her final campaign as an assistant coach (2021).
In her initial role, Taylor implemented and managed NC State's analytics equipment and data, coordinated team travel logistics, oversaw the program's manager staff, assisted with community service activities and played an integral role in recruiting efforts. In her first season, Taylor was part of a Wolfpack program that increased its win total from the year before, going from 23 in 2018 to 31 in 2019. The momentum was carried over 12 months later when NC State opened 2020 with a 19-6 record and had won six straight before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the season.
As an assistant coach in '21, Taylor helped the Wolfpack become a team that was feared at the plate and on the base paths. Under Taylor's guidance, NC State ranked 17th in the nation and first in the ACC in home runs per game (1.35), and 23rd nationally (2nd in ACC) in stolen bases per outing (1.78). The Wolfpack also ranked third in the league in on-base percentage (.369; highest in program history) and fourth in slugging percentage (.470) en route to a 26-25 record. The 2021 effort secured the team's first back-to-back winning seasons since 2014-15.
Taylor, who also instructs and coaches at camps throughout the country for the Softball Factory, played two seasons at UNC Wilmington before finishing her career at Catawba College. As a catcher, Taylor saw action in 105 career games over her four years (33 games at UNCW, 72 at Catawba) and graduated from Catawba in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in sport management. She later earned a Master of Arts in liberal studies from NC State in 2020.
