LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kennesaw State Head Coach and National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Hall of Famer Scott Whitlock has announced that after 27 years in charge of the Owls’ program, he will retire effective at the end of the 2013 campaign.

One of the winningest coaches in NCAA softball history, Whitlock has guided KSU to a pair of national titles and 13 regional crowns, produced 18 straight 35-victory seasons, 15 40-win efforts and registered four campaigns with 50 or more triumphs.  He also led the Owls to nine consecutive seasons (1992-2000) in which his teams never lost more than a single-digit number of contests and saw Kennesaw State finish rated in the final top 10 nationally in each year from 1991-2002.

"I know the time is right,” Whitlock said. “I have had a great ride and a lot of fun. But after weighing things over the past three months, I just feel that it's now a good time to start the process of having someone with fresher eyes and new ideas step in to lead our program. The past 28 years wasn't a dream come true, because I could have never dreamed that I would have had such a rewarding career. 

"My entire career has been a wonderful accident.  I didn't leave home to become a coach, I was going to be a business major and then conquer the world.  'Coaching' kind of found me while I was in college.  It was while in college that I accidentally discovered the commitment and dedication of the female athlete, and it was while in college (and while competing against Kennesaw College) that I bumped into and met Spec Landrum, Kennesaw State's first athletics director, the father of my career. It was on a bus ride home from Florida, during a conversation, that I found Don McKinlay, my assistant coach for 13 years. He was the program's backbone in the early days.  I mean, I have been really, really lucky."

For the 2013 season, assistant coach Wes Holly Jr. will take on the role of co-head coach and head coach-in waiting, taking over the program at the end of the season.

“It has been an honor to have worked with coach Whitlock at Kennesaw State,” Holly Jr. said.  “It is a bittersweet moment for me as he has been a mentor, peer, co-worker and friend, and he has done so much for Kennesaw State and for the game that he will always have a place here and at my table, and retirement, in this case, is well deserved and has been earned. I want to say thank you to his family that has made the ultimate sacrifice for a coach, which is the time missed and being away throughout the years.”

Whitlock has reaped Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year honors three times (2006, 2007, 2012) since Kennesaw State joined the A-Sun conference in 2006. For his lifetime of hard work, dedication and success, Whitlock was granted the highest honor of his profession when he was inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame in Orlando, Fla. He also was part of the 2010 class inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club Hall of Fame.

"I am so excited about the 2013 season and am going to give it all that I've got,” Whitlock said. “We've had a great fall and have the potential to have a special season.  I couldn't ask for a better group of players and coaches with which to work during my last season."

**Quotes and Info Courtesy of Kennesaw State Athletics