LOUISVILLE, Ky. – One of the marquee events everyone looks forward to is the Hall of Fame banquet. Each year at the NFCA Convention, members are recognized for their accomplishments both on and off the field and contributions to the sport of softball with inductions into the prestigious Hall of Fame. This year’s event features three long-time head coaches, Texas A&M’s Jo Evans, Montclair State’s Anita Kubicka and Auburn’s Clint Myers.
Preceded by a 30-minute reception, the Hall of Fame banquet is held on Friday, Dec. 4 at 7:00 p.m.in the Atlanta Marriott Marquis’ Atrium Ballroom. The Marriott Marquis is the host of the 2015 NFCA National Convention, Dec. 2-5 in Atlanta, Ga.
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Evans (right), Kubicka (center) and Myers (left) have generated over 2,800 victories and guided their respective programs to 44 NCAA tournaments and 17 Women’s College World Series / National Championship appearances. Inducting members into its Hall of Fame since 1991, the NFCA class of 2015 will bring the grand total to 68.
Jo Evans has made her mark on Texas A&M softball, taking it from a team with a lot of history into a formidable contender on the national stage. One of the winningest active Division I coaches in softball today, Evans has guided the Aggies to a program-best No. 2 national ranking and a school-record 14 straight NCAA tournament appearances since 2002.
Entering her 20th season, Evans has led the Aggies to a pair of Women’s College World Series (WCWS) appearances, three Big 12 titles (2005 regular season and 2008 regular season and tournament), 16 NCAA Regional appearances and five NCAA Super Regionals. Posting a 709-344-2 (.672) mark under Evans, the Aggies have recorded 18 straight, 30-win seasons, including eight 40-win seasons and a program-best 57 victories in 2008.
In her tenure, Texas A&M has advanced to the NCAA postseason 16 times, including two consecutive trips to the WCWS in 2007 & 2008 (runner-up). The three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year claimed her 1,000th career coaching victory on March 1, 2014 against Wisconsin.
Evans began her head coaching career at Colorado State University in 1986, following two seasons as an assistant coach at Florida State. She led CSU to a 91-67 mark during her four-year stint, collected back-to-back High Country Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors her final two seasons and was chosen as the Central Region Coach of the Year in 1989.
Evans returned home, to Utah, in 1991 to take over at her alma mater. The two-time WAC Coach of the Year as well as the West Region Coach of the Year directed the Utes to the WCWS in just her second year, back-to-back WAC regular season and tournament titles and two WCWS appearances.
As a player at Utah, Evans earned High Country All-Conference Honors in 1982 as she led the team to a World Series appearance. She also was named as an ASA All-American in Women’s Class-A Nationals.
Entering her 26th season at the Red Hawk helm in 2016, Anita Kubicka has fashioned quite a coaching resume – 809 victories, a .730 winning percentage – both which rank in the Top 10 among active coaches in Division III.
Kubicka’s teams have won 30-plus games 16 times, including 12 of the last 16 campaigns, and she has led the Red Hawks to 14 NCAA tournament appearances over that span. That includes five trips to the Division III Softball Championship, where Montclair State was the 1997 runner-up and earned third-place finishes in 1992 and 2012. In addition, the Red Hawks have won seven Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championships and Kubicka has collected several New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) and Regional Coach of the Year honors.
From 2011 through 2014, few teams enjoyed the success that Kubicka’s teams achieved. During that span the Red Hawks captured 82 percent of their games, posting a 159-34 record that includes three straight 40-win campaigns. Montclair won the NJAC championship in 2013 and reached the NCAA Division III Softball Championship in 2012, 2013 and 2014 becoming the first Montclair State program to reach the national finals three straight years since baseball had a run of five consecutive World Series appearances in the 1980s. Montclair set the single-season mark for wins twice (44 in 2012 and 46 in 2013) and were ranked in the Top 10 of the NFCA national poll, including several weeks at No. 1 during the 2013 campaign
Kubicka also played a major role in the construction of a softball stadium that gave her team a first-class facility to match its success on the field. In October, Kubicka was inducted into the Montclair State Athletic Hall of Fame for her service not only as softball coach, but also assistant athletic director.
A 1984 graduate of Trenton State (now The College of New Jersey), Kubicka played on the Lions’ 1983 national championship squad and earned her master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts, where she was an assistant softball coach for three seasons.
Clint Myers has enjoyed a very successful 19 years as a collegiate softball coach. He has won two NCAA Division I National Championships and six more at the Junior College level, while amassing 1,006 wins.
In just his second season as the head Tiger, Myers guided the Auburn program to a record 56 wins and its first Women’s College World Series appearance, reaching the national semifinals. It was a season of firsts for the Tigers as the team won its first SEC Tournament title, first NCAA Regional, first NCAA Super Regional and two games in its first WCWS.
Myers made an immediate impact upon his arrival. He led the team to 42 wins, the second-most in one year in Auburn softball history, and the NCAA regional final. The program made vast improvements as the offense skyrocketed to some of its highest totals in program history and the defense tied for the second-best percentage in the NCAA.
At Arizona State, Myers captained the Sun Devils to national titles in 2008 and 2011, and made the trip to WCWS in Oklahoma City seven times in eight years. Under his guidance, ASU averaged 53 wins per season and won 60-plus games twice. He became the third coach in Sun Devil softball history to amass 400 victories (427-102).
The Bismarck, N.D. native spent 19 highly successful years coaching Central Arizona College’s baseball and softball teams. From 1987-95, Myers built a record of 481-43 (.917 winning pct.) as the skipper of the softball program, winning six national titles, including a string of five straight from 1988-1992. A six-time NJCAA national coach of the year, Myers was also selected as the National Softball Coaches Association (NSCA) regional and National Coach of the Year in 1990, 1991 and 1992. In addition, he collected 406 victories (1996-2005) and guided Central Arizona’s baseball team to a 2002 NJCAA national championship.
Myers was inducted into the NJCAA Softball Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Arizona Softball Foundation Hall of Fame in 2001.
A 1976 graduate of Arizona State, Myers was a member of the Sun Devil baseball team from 1970-73 and played on the College World Series runner-up squads in 1972 and 1973. In addition, he was a third–round MLB draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1973.