LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The NFCA is pleased to announce six additions to the Association’s Board of Directors. Elected by their peers, each coach on the 17-member board is slated to serve a two-year term.
South Carolina associate head coach Lisa Navas has taken over the first vice president role and Notre Dame associate coach Kris Ganeff is the new third vice president. Recent first vice president, Georgetown head coach Pat Conlan, was appointed by president Rhonda Revelle, to the newly created fifth vice president position.
Wayne State head coach Gary Bryce and Kirkwood Community College head coach Joe Yegge join the board as the representatives for Division II and NJCAA, respectively, while former LSU and Louisiana Lafayette head coach Yvette Girouard fills the Emeriti Group role.
In addition, Memphis head coach Natalie Poole (DI) and Eastern Connecticut head coach Diana Pepin (DIII) were reelected to their positions as division representatives.
Continuing their terms on the NFCA Board of Directors are Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle (President), Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy (Past President), Arkansas assistant coach Boo De Oliveira (Second Vice President), Central Michigan assistant coach Joanna Lane (Fourth Vice President), Faulkner head coach Hal Wynn (NAIA), San Diego City College head coach LeeAnn Taylor (Cal JC), Deer Park HS head coach Carrie Austgen (High School), Texas Glory head coach Kevin Shelton (Travel Ball) and Nebraska assistant coach Diane Miller (assistant coach).
Lisa Navas (First Vice President)
Bringing over 20 years of coaching experience to the table, Navas joined South Carolina’s staff as associate head coach in July of 2012, following a nine-year stint as North Carolina State’s first head coach. In her move to Columbia, Navas oversees the Gamecock infielders and catchers, and during her time 13 offensive team records have already fallen, including three in 2015.
Previously, Navas worked with the since-moved Carolina Diamonds in the National Pro Fastpitch league, coaching the team in its first year of existence. The league's owners honored Navas as part of the NPF Coaching Staff of the Year after the Diamonds had three of the top four home run hitters in the league.
The first Wolfpack softball coach, Navas started the North Carolina State program in 2004, going 296-226 during her nine-year tenure. The Wolfpack won the 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles and made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament (2006-07).
Navas spent two seasons as an assistant at North Carolina (2001-02) with current Gamecock skipper Bev Smith and got into coaching as an assistant in 1991 at Missouri. In between those positions, Navas’ first head coaching run came at NCAA Division II Barry, where she guided the Buccaneers to six regionals, two Sunshine State Conference crowns and a second-place finish in the 1998 NCAA Tournament. In her nine years at the south Florida school, she led Barry to a 335-134-1 (.714) record.
Kris Ganeff (Third Vice President)
Regarded as the best all-around catcher in Irish history, Kris Ganeff is now in her 15th year as an assistant coach with the Notre Dame softball program. Ganeff, elevated to her current title of associate coach in August 2012, spearheads the recruiting efforts for the Irish, which annually attracts the top players from across the nation. In addition to being the program's recruiting coordinator, she also runs and directs Notre Dame's camps and clinics.
A key member of three National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) regional and four BIG EAST Conference coaching staffs of the year, Ganeff works closely with each player on hitting and defense, specializing in the development of the Irish infield and catchers.
Perennially one of the best defensive teams in the nation, Notre Dame again finished in the top 25 of all Division I programs in fielding percentage in 2014, placing 11th in the country with a .974 fielding clip. The 37 errors recorded by the Irish in 2014 were the second-fewest (36, 1993) during a single season in program history. Notre Dame added a .973 percentage with only 39 errors in 2015 to place 21st in the NCAA.
Ganeff has been a pivotal cog in aiding the development of the Irish bats and batteries as Notre Dame has posted numerous school records since her first season on staff. Team records set by the 2014 Notre Dame team included the highest batting average (.357) and most doubles (107, 1.98 doubles per game) in a single season in program history, figures that also led all Division I teams in the NCAA.
Pat Conlan (Fifth Vice President)
Serving as the program's first and only head coach, Pat Conlan enters her 11th year at the helm of the Georgetown softball program. Conlan transformed the club team into a Division I program in 2006 and has guided the Hoyas into through seven seasons of BIG EAST play.
The Hoyas set a program record in 2014 with 26 wins, finishing with a 26-22 overall record and a 12-8 mark in BIG EAST play, earning the No. 3 seed in the BIG EAST Championship. Four student-athletes were named to post-season All-BIG EAST team, led by senior Elyse Graziano's nod to the first team. Junior Megan Hyson was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA)) Division I All-Region Team.
Prior to her time at Georgetown she served on the staff at North Carolina State where she gained experience in all phases of a Division I program in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In her two seasons with the Pack, she was instrumental in the success of a pitching staff that compiled a 1.71 ERA, holding opposition to a .199 batting average, while recording 491 strikeouts in 227.1 innings pitched in 2005.
Conlan spent six seasons prior to her tenure at N.C. State at her alma mater, the University of Connecticut, where she helped the Huskies finish in second and third place in the BIG EAST Conference during the 2000 and 2001 seasons, respectively. In 2001 she was a member of the NFCA Northeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year, after helping direct the team to the BIG EAST title.
During her career, Conlan also served, for three seasons, as the head softball coach at Fairfield University, a position she gained after one campaign as an assistant. As the head coach at Fairfield, Conlan helped the Stags to a runner-up finish in the 1997 MAAC tournament and the program's first winning season since 1988.
Gary Bryce (Division II)
NFCA Hall of Famer Gary Bryce (’08) concluded his 34th season as head coach of the Wayne State softball program in the spring of 2015. After leading the Warriors to the fourth-most single-season wins (42) in school history in 2015, Bryce will enter 2016 14th on the NCAA All-Time wins list (all three Divisions combined) with 1,159 victories. He is third on the all-time Division II chart trailing only Bloomsburg's Jan Hutchinson (1978-2010) and Florida Southern's Chris Bellotto (1985-2015).
Entering the 2016 season, Bryce has coached 29 All-Americans on the field and nine CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in his career. His Warrior teams have reached the NCAA Division II College World Series (Elite Eight) on three occasions in 2003, 2010 and 2014 and been to the nine NCAA tournaments in the last 10 seasons. Bryce's squads have won the last four GLIAC Tournament titles compiling an 18-2 record over those four tournaments.
During his tenure, he has built one of the most successful collegiate programs among Michigan universities and colleges, compiling an 1159-691-8 (.626) overall record in 34 seasons. Under Bryce's guidance, Wayne State's softball program has been nationally ranked 26 times in his 34 seasons. WSU has made 20 appearances (1983-84-86-88-90-92-93-94-96-02-03-06-07-08-09-10-12-13-14-15) in the NCAA Division II National Championship tournament since 1982, seventh most in NCAA Division II. The 2009 senior class was the first in school history to make four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, while the class of 2010 became the first with three 40-plus win seasons. Meanwhile, the class of 2015 also made four NCAA Tournament appearances and became the first WSU class to win four straight GLIAC Tournament titles.
Joe Yegge (NJCAA)
Joe Yegge enters his ninth season at the helm of Kirkwood Community College and has accumulated a record of 375-87 during his tenure. His squads have claimed 12 total championships- six ICCAC regular season, three region and three district titles, while placing at the NJCAA Division II national tournament three times.
Yegge and his staff have garnered NFCA Midwest Coaching Staff of Year accolades twice. He has had honor of coaching 29 NFCA All-Americans, 17 NJCAA All-Americans and four NJCAA All-Star team members. In addition, Yegge coached on the 2014 NJCAA All-Star team, which competed against Team USA, Team Japan and Team Canada at the Canadian Open International Division.
Prior to Kirkwood, Yegge spent five seasons as the top assistant coach at Indiana State where he guided an offense that leaped in the all-time record books for home runs, doubles and walks.
He got his first opportunity as a head coach at North Iowa Area Community College from 1998-02 after serving as the program’s assistant for two seasons. While at NIACC, he guided the program to its first 30-win season in eight years and was instrumental in helping seven players advance onto four-year institutions.
Yvette Girouard (Emeriti)
A pioneer of the game and one of the most successful coaches in NCAA Division I college softball history, Yvette Girouard retired from Louisiana State University at the end of the 2011 season with a 1,285-421-1 career record.
The 2005 NFCA Hall of Fame inductee left coaching with 30 consecutive winning seasons, nine conference championships and 10 national top 10 finishes, while leading teams to NCAA regionals 20 times and the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) five times. She became just the third coach in NCAA history to steer two programs to the WCWS when she guided LSU during the 2001 and 2004 seasons and the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) to a trio of WCWS appearances in the 1990's. Her highest finishes were third place in the 1993, 2001 and 2004 national championships.
In her two decades as the UL-Lafayette head coach (1981 to 2000), Girouard built the team from the ground floor with no scholarships and a $3,000 budget to one of the nation's perennial powers. The Cajuns totaled 10 NCAA regional berths and three WCWS trips. With a .815 winning percentage, her teams posted the third-best winning percentage nationally in the 1990's behind only Arizona and UCLA.
At LSU, Girouard's legacy continued to grow as she compiled a 526-171-1 record from 2001 through 2011 for a .754 winning percentage in the ever-improving SEC.
Since her retirement, she has received numerous accolades, including a 2015 induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Girouard was presented resolution by the Louisiana State legislature for her “extraordinary coaching career” and an award from the Allstate Sugar Bowl and the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame as Louisiana’s Most Outstanding College Coach.
