Former Husky standout Trachsel hired as head softball coach at Ole Miss
4/24/2020 1:32:00 PM | Softball
Ole Miss release
OXFORD, MISS. - Former St. Cloud State University standout Jamie Trachsel has made headlines in the college softball community. After leading the Minnesota Golden Gophers to a Women's College World Series appearance in 2019 and the No. 8 ranking in the final National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) poll, Traschel was named the head softball coach at Ole Miss, the university announced Friday afternoon.
"We are excited to see Jamie take on her next coaching challenge at Ole Miss," said head softball coach Paula U'Ren in a recent statement. "We are Husky proud of Jamie and the impact she has had as a NCAA Division I coach. She has been a proven winner wherever she goes, and I look forward to her future achievements in Rebel Athletics."
As U'Ren eluded, Trachsel has an impressive coaching resume, with stints at Minnesota, Iowa State and North Dakota State after a four-year playing career at St. Cloud State. In three seasons with the Gophers, Trachsel compiled an overall record of 102-40-1 with two 40+ win seasons in 2018 and 2019. Under her guidance in 2019, Minnesota posted a 46-14 record and made its first ever trip to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, finishing the year as the No. 8 ranked team in the NFCA Division I Coaches Poll. The Gophers defeated two Southern Eastern Conference (SEC) powerhouses along the way, taking down Georgia in the regional round before besting LSU in a best-of-three Super Regional one week later.
Minnesota entered the 2020 season as one of the top programs in the nation, with reigning Big10 Pitcher of the Year Amber Fiser returning for her final season in a Gopher uniform. Unfortunately, the season was cut short due to COVID-19, though Trachsel was seemingly leading Minnesota to another impressive season thanks to its 15-9-1 record, including wins over No. 5 Florida State and No. 19 Missouri.
Trachsel made stops at both Iowa State and North Dakota State before taking the head coaching job at Minnesota, leading both teams to unprecedented heights. She led the Cyclones to their best record since 1994 in her one-year stint with the program and helped the Bison reach the NCAA tournament in five of her six seasons as a co-head coach at NDSU.
A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Traschel played softball at St. Cloud State from 1998-2001, leading the team to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. As a freshman, Traschel helped the Huskies win the North Central Conference (NCC) title, their first in program history, and was named to the NCAA North Regional All-Tournament team as a sophomore in 1999. Additionally, Traschel was a two-time recipient of the NFCA Academic Award and helped St. Cloud State win 164 total games during her career.Â
Trachsel will take over an Ole Miss program that struggled to start 2020 but has historically been a competitive team in the always rugged SEC. In the past six seasons, the Rebels have won 30+ games five times and qualified for the NCAA tournament in four consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019. In both 2017 and 2019, Ole Miss advanced to the Super Regional round of the NCAA tournament before falling to UCLA (2017) and Arizona (2019).Â
