Rounding Third Softball

Florida State has welcomed back a familiar face. The Seminoles announced that program alum Ellie Cooper is joining the staff as Player Performance Director. Cooper was a standout for FSU from 2014-2017. She previously served on staff as a student assistant in the National Championship year of 2018.

Memphis has finally made the move to fill their head coaching position naming Stephanie VanBrakle Prothro their new leader. VanBrakle Prothro spent 11 seasons as the pitching coach at national powerhouse Alabama. This will be the third head coaching venture for the Crimson Tide Alum having previously led programs at both Birmingham-Southern and Samford.

Sources have confirmed to RTS that longtime coaching veteran Lonny Sargent will join the coaching staff at Arizona State. Sargent’s career has spanned over 34 years at various levels of the sport. He spent the past 10 seasons as head coach at Western Oregon before announcing his retirement at the conclusion of the 2022 season. That retirement was short-lived as he now joins the Sun Devils in their volunteer assistant role.

Professional Softball’s new franchise the Oklahoma City Spark have found their first leader. Seminole State College Head Coach Amber Flores was named the Spark Skipper on Wednesday. Flores has spent the past nine seasons leading the Trojans and will continue that role for her 10th in 2023. During her run with SSC she has been named NJCAA Region 2 Coach of the Year five times in 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. The former Oklahoma Sooner standout is no stranger to the pro-level having played with the USSSA Pride after her time in Norman. The Spark begin their first season of competition in Women’s Professional Softball (WPF) next summer.

Howard University has announced that Odicci Alexander has joined their coaching staff. One of the top stories in the 2021 season, Alexander pitched her James Madison team through a historic run to the Women’s College World Series. Alexander has played on the professional level since finishing her collegiate career and also served as a volunteer assistant coach at North Carolina. She joins a Bison squad that won the MEAC Championship and advance to the NCAA Postseason in 2022.

RTS has confirmed through multiple sources that Texas A&M-Kingsville will name Doug Eastman their new head coach. Eastman spent the past eight seasons running the powerhouse JUCO program at Yavapai College. While coaching the Roughriders he earned 343 wins. The 2022 YC squad finished 57-6 with a fifth-place finish at the NJCAA DI National Championship. Eastman replaces Craig Nicholson who departed TAMUK for the head coaching position at Akron.

The National Junior College Athletic Association has announced a multi-year media rights agreement with ESPN to begin with the 2022-2023 sports season. Under the agreement multiple NJCAA National Championships and regular-season contests will be broadcast on the ESPN+ platform. This will include 20 regular-season softball games and the NJCAA DI National Championship Finals.

UCLA announced that Lisa Fernandez has been promoted to Associate Head Coach. Fernandez, a Bruin and World Softball Legend, has been part of the UCLA Coaching Staff the past 24 years. Heading up the Bruin Pitching Staff, she has been named to three National Coaching Staffs of the Year, and seven times been named as part of the Regional CSOY. UCLA last won a National Championship in 2019.

Southern Miss has announced Natalie Poole as their new head coach. Poole joins the Golden Eagles after stepping down at Memphis in June after 11 seasons.

RTS reported last month Poole had been engaged by Southern Miss. She also interviewed on July 25 and was a finalist for the head coaching job at Tennessee Tech, but ultimately was runner-up for that position. Sources also have confirmed that Jones College Coach Chris Robinson had orginally accepted the position to lead USM, but reversed course and stayed with the JUCO.

Poole, a well-connected political cog in the sport, compiled a 241-340 record while leading Memphis. The Tigers last season were 16-38.

Southern Miss is coming off a 29-23 season in 2022 under former head coach Brian Levin who departed the program in July. Levin has since joined the coaching staff at Iowa.

Goshen College has named Luke Wagner their new head coach. Wagner spent the last 11 seasons leading the program at DIII Rhodes College. He compiled a record of 217-172-2 with the Lynx. Wagner takes over an NAIA program at Goshen that finished the 2022 season 24-28.