7/3/2008 11:25:55 AM
Tacy Duncan will begin her fourth season as head coach of the Cal State San Bernardino softball team in 2008-09 as the first full-time leader of the program since it was established in 1987.
Duncan, the 2008 California Collegiate Athletic Association coach of the year, prevailed over several applicants for the full-time position that was posted by the university this past spring. She is the fifth head coach since softball began at CSUSB.
The former University of Mary and Iowa State University softball all-American has been employed full-time as a physical education instructor for the Alvord Unified School District in Riverside while coaching part-time at CSUSB since 2005-06.
"One thing is for sure," said Duncan, "I will now be able to be with the team for early morning workouts, be in my office for them to meet with me during the day, check their grades and be there for the start of afternoon practices."
In the past three years, she's had to rely on assistant coaches to handle some of those duties while she was teaching off campus.
The full-time position also gives Duncan a chance to expand her recruiting efforts.
Over the past three years Duncan has revived a program that had finished last in the conference prior to her arrival. This past season the Coyotes finished third in the CCAA, advanced to the conference tournament title game and then finished fourth in the NCAA West Regional, the first post-season appearance in the history of the program.
"I've wanted to coach ever since I started playing softball," Duncan said.
"This is an exciting hire," said Athletic Director Kevin Hatcher. "Anytime you take a program from last place to third, it's a tribute to her coaching ability and the reason she was the coach of the year in the conference. With her at the helm, I expect this program to be at or near the top of the conference on a regular basis in the future."
In her three seasons as a part-time coach, Duncan's teams produced an 84-91 record overall and a .500 record in CCAA conference play (47-47). This year's team was 36-32-1, the second most victories in the history of the program and led the conference in five offensive categories and was No. 2 in five others. In the three years before she was hired the program was mired in the CCAA cellar with a record of 38-129 overall and 24-70 in conference play.
"It looks like we'll have 20 girls coming out for softball this coming year, including nine girls I personally recruited so I'm really excited about our prospects for 2009," Duncan said.
Duncan, who served as assistant coach at University of Redlands from 2002 to 2005, earned her master's degree in counseling from Redlands and her bachelor's degree in K-12 education from University of Mary in North Dakota.
The native of Sonora, Calif., lives in Riverside with her husband, Shannon, and her twin daughters, Jordana and Madison.