During her three years at Alabama, Brynne Dordel’s name seemed to pop up anytime a Power Five pitching coach position opened. With several years of coaching experience already under her belt, Dordel presented an attractive candidacy for jobs but each time, she remained on staff in Tuscaloosa.
Officially the Tide’s volunteer assistant coach, Dordel took on a general coaching role during her tenure. Though a pitching coach by trade, she primarily worked with the team’s catchers, assisted with the Tide’s infield work, and also helped with the offensive approach. The role gave her a unique view of the full spectrum of the coaching profession.
“It was a very different role, but one that I enjoyed,” Dordel said in a recent phone interview. “I think that also helps you become a better pitching coach because, after working with hitters for however many years, you get to see how they develop their plans and how they identify weaknesses and things like that. It makes you better and more well-rounded as a pitching coach.”
In November, Dordel returned to a full-time coaching role when she joined the staff at Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights’ pitching coach. After head coach Kristen Butler reached out to gauge Dordel’s interest in the vacant position, talks escalated from there. “When [Butler] called to talk to me about it, that’s where I first started thinking about it,” Dordel said. “And then we continued to have conversations and I decided it was something that I was interested in.”
“When you’re looking at job positions, sometimes it’s a matter of being the right fit at the right time,” Dordel added. “I think that’s the biggest consideration, and for me, [Rutgers] just felt like the right fit.”
Though she’s held positions at several top-level schools during her coaching career, Dordel didn’t always feel destined to be a coach. An accounting and finance double major in college, her initial career plan was to join a big-city accounting firm and build her career in the business sector. During a summer internship at such a firm between her junior and senior years of college, though, Dordel says her mindset shifted. “During that summer, I asked myself ‘is this really what I want to do?'” Dordel recalled.
Spurred by a family member who passed away from a brain tumor around that same time, Dordel’s motto became, “Life is too short to do something you hate.”
When she returned to school for her senior season, Dordel had decided that she was going to go into coaching. After recognizing her own passion for that career path, she even turned down a full-time job offer at the accounting firm. “I decided that, if I was going to truly pursue a career in coaching, then I was going to remove the safety net and force myself to just go for it,” she said as she recently reflected on her career’s beginnings.
Before she joined the coaching staff at Alabama, Dordel spent two years at Ball State; three years at North Dakota State; and a single season at Iowa State. As she readies for her new role at Rutgers, the job offers some unique pieces and firsts for her career.
“The investment in the program and support of the administration is great,” Dordel noted. “But [Rutgers has] just had some great renovations on facilities, an indoor facility that baseball and softball share, and a brand new locker room. There’s also a blue-collar feel to [the program], and for me, that’s a good fit because I’m a blue-collar person.”
As she begins to settle in at Rutgers, Dordel has some work ahead of her. The Scarlet Knights notched a 5.19 team ERA a season ago, and return just two pitchers from the 6-member staff that saw action in 2020. “I think it’s important to be able to adapt to [different mentalities]and to find ways to bring out a person’s strengths,” Dordel said as she readies to lead the staff into the 2021 campaign.
