Going to the SEC
Late on Monday night, Rounding Third Softball reported that Arizona State softball head coach Trisha Ford will be leaving ASU and be named the head coach for Texas A&M. The reported move comes just a week after Arizona State lost to Northwestern in the super regional round of the Women’s College World Series.
BREAKING NEWS: RTS has confirmed that @ASUSoftball Coach Trisha Ford will be named the new head coach at @AggieSoftball. Ford spent the last six seasons coaching the Sun Devils. During that time she won 212 games and made five NCAA Postseason appearances. #Rounding3rdSB #WCWS pic.twitter.com/hDnlZ4CyCC
— Rounding Third Softball (@Rounding3rdSB) June 7, 2022
Ford is coming off of a season where the Sun Devils finished with the No. 8 national seed and had a 20-game winning streak. ASU was also among the top offenses in the country and broke the single season school record for home runs (104).
In six years in the maroon and gold, Ford went 212-84 and led ASU to five postseason appearances, including a trip to Oklahoma City in 2018. She was a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2018 and 2022).
She will be heading to a Texas A&M program that has not won a national championship since 1987 and has made the NCAA tournament 20-straight seasons. Its last WCWS appearance was in 2017.
In terms of potential hires, expect assistant coach Jeff Harger’s name to be thrown around. He has been credited with a lot of the hitting success and has a great relationship with the players.
We will also monitor who goes into the portal from the team. Redshirt freshman Kristiana Watson entered prior to the Ford news coming out.