Georgia has announced that All-American Danielle Gibson has joined their coaching staff. She will serve in the volunteer assistant position for the Bulldogs. Gibson competed at Arkansas where she was selected as an All-American in 2021 and 2022. She was also a finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and the Honda Sport Award as a senior. Gibson had also been competing on the professional level during this past summer.
Berry Names Strong Head Coach
Berry College has named Jessica Strong their new head coach. Strong joins the Vikings after four successful seasons at Seton Hill College. While leading the Griffins she compiled a 110-54 record. In 2022 she guided her squad to an at-large NCAA berth ending at the DII World Series where SHC finished fifth nationally. Strong takes over a nationally ranked DIII program at Berry that finished 36-13 last season.
Gasso Names Assistant GM Of Spark
The Oklahoma City Spark of Women’s Professional Fastpitch (WPF) has announced the hiring of Jim Gasso as assistant general manager. Gasso brings more than three decades of experience in athletics administration, coaching, and sports business development. He is the owner of a multi-sport training facility in the OKC metro area, and also the husband of Oklahoma Head Coach Patty Gasso. He will work directly alongside Spark Team Owner/General Manager Tina Floyd. The Oklahoma City Spark’s inaugural season will launch in June 2023.
Bellarmine Goes With De La Haba As Head Coach
Having known their head coaching position was most likely opening after the suspension of their former head coach since last season, it seems Bellarmine has now found their caretaker.
Caitlyn de la Haba was named the program’s new head coach on Tuesday. De la Haba spent the past five seasons at Lafayette before resigning last spring after compiling a 27-151-1 record in her first head coaching assignment.
Sources involved in the coaching search indicated a Bellarmine Administrator informed them they were interested in “A fun environment that the kids would be happy in.” The same source indicated that the application had a specific question on if an applicant had ever “been investigated or had any player complaints.” Which could potentially have narrowed the pool of qualified applicants by about 99.9%.
Hayes Lands At UCSB
Former Bradley Coach Amy Hayes has joined the coaching staff at UC Santa Barbara. Hayes spent 14 seasons leading the Braves before resigning in May. She will be the top assistant to new Gauchos Head Coach and Hall of Famer Jo Evans.
Fischer Retires From Illinois State
After 37 seasons Illinois State Head Coach Melinda Fischer is calling it a career. She retired as head coach of the Redbirds on Sunday clearing the way for assistant coach Tina Kramos to take direction of the program. Kramos has been with the Illinois State Staff for the past 22 seasons. Fischer went 1,118-842-4 leading ISU. In 39 total seasons including two as head coach at Eastern Illinois, she finished with 1,159 total wins ranking her as the 18th-winningest coach in NCAA Division I softball history.
Alumna Hallman Named Savannah State Head Coach
Savannah State has named alum Amber Hallman head coach. Hallman has been head coach at Talladega College since 2020. Her 2022 Tornado squad went 13-27 and 7-19 in conference play. She takes over for Megan Griffith who resigned after just six months on the job with the Tigers to accept the head coaching position at Morehead State.
Arkansas Extends Deifel
After back-to-back SEC Championships and a 2022 SEC Tournament title, Arkansas has signed head coach Courtney Deifel to a five-year contract extension through 2027. The new agreement features annual salary increases along with the opportunity of the contract being extended up to two years based on appearances in the NCAA Postseason.
Milligan Resigns At Army
West Point has announced that head coach Cheryl Milligan has resigned. Milligan spent the last three seasons leading Army compiling a 50-60 record. Associate coach Jen Consaul will serve as interim head coach moving forward.
Sorden Tasked To Revamp SIUE Program
After a halfhearted search over a year ago, a throwaway year under an interim coach, and the departure of the Athletic Director that botched it all, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville has landed what seems to be a solid leader.
SIUE has named veteran coach Ben Sorden to guide their program. He comes to the Cougars after guiding pitching staffs at both Michigan State and Indiana the last decade. This will be Sorden’s first head coaching opportunity on the collegiate level.