Former National Player of the Year Lacey Waldrop has been named an assistant coach at Houston.
Waldrop spent the last two years as a coach for Softball Rebellion, following a 2-year stint as an assistant coach on the inaugural coaching staff at Duke. She spent the 2017 season as a graduate manager on staff at Oklahoma, earning a championship ring following the Sooners’ second-consecutive national title.
During her playing career at Florida State, Waldrop was a 3-time All-American and was named the ACC Pitcher of the Year in both 2014 and 2015. After helping lead the Seminoles to the 2014 Women’s College World Series, Waldrop was named the USA Softball National Player of the Year. She finished her career as the program’s all-time leader in wins with 109, and third in program history in both appearances and strikeouts.
In a school statement, Houston head coach Kristin Vesely said, “”Being able to bring in a coach with Lacey’s caliber of knowledge and success is going to continue to move the needle for our program. She has WCWS experience, she has years of pitching coach experience, and the work she has done this past year with video and technology in the private sector is nothing short of impressive. She is exactly what we were looking for with her value of culture, pitching philosophies and her passion. We are excited to have her with us and cannot wait to see where she takes the pitching staff.”
Houston finished the abbreviated 2020 season with a 16-7 overall record; the Cougars’ pitching staff recorded a 3.95 cumulative ERA and an opponent’s batting average of .237 during the shortened year. Waldrop replaces former pitching coach Megan Gibson Loftin on the Cougars’ coaching staff.
