Title: Head coach, San Diego State
Sport: Fastpitch Softball
Career Record:
One doesn’t have to look hard to see what head coach Kathy Van Wyk has accomplished in her 12-year tenure with the San Diego State softball program. Consider her accolades: * Three-time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year (2002, 2006, 2008) * Four NCAA tournament appearances (2001, 2003, 2006, 2008) * Four MWC regular season championships (2002, 2003, 2006, 2008)
- Two All-America selections
- 17 NFCA all-West Region selections
- 38 all-conference honorees (36 in MWC)
- Six MWC Pitcher of the Year awards
- Three Freshman of the Year awards
- 68 Player of the Week winners (61 in MWC)
Van Wyk, the school’s all-time winningest coach, has guided SDSU to four MWC titles and four NCAA appearances, including the magical 2001 season when it came within a hair’s-length of its first-ever Women’s College World Series berth.
Since Van Wyk’s arrival, the Aztecs have compiled a .600 or higher winning percentage in six of the last eight campaigns. In addition, SDSU has improved its winning percentage in seven of the last 10 seasons and has been .500 or better in 10 of Van Wyk’s 12 years. Van Wyk is also the first Aztec softball coach to achieve a top-25 ranking, three 40-win seasons and is the fastest to both 100 and 200 career wins in the history of the program.
In 2008, Van Wyk was rewarded for the team’s accomplishments when she was named the 2008 MWC Coach of the Year for the third time in her career. She also earned the 2006 and 2002 award.
In her 12 seasons on The Mesa, Van Wyk has coached 17 NFCA all-West Region selections, including Ross in 2008, 38 all-conference members (36 MWC), 16 (15 MWC) all-conference tournament performers (discontinued) and 43 (36 MWC) academic all-league selections. In addition, she has had players earn pitcher or player of the week honors on 68 occasions (61 MWC).
Van Wyk’s players have been tabbed MWC Pitcher-of-the-Year four consecutive years (2001-04) and again in 2006 and 2008. Aztecs were named MWC Freshman of the Year.
Prior to San Diego State, Van Wyk spent 10 seasons as a player and an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton. She was an assistant coach from 1983-87, helping the Titans to the 1986 NCAA national title.
After leaving Fullerton, she became a pitching instructor at the Rod Carew Baseball School in Anaheim, Calif., from 1987-89. In 1989, she moved to Azzano Decimo, Italy, where she was the head coach and pitcher for the Azzanase club. She guided a team that had recorded just one win the previous season to its first playoff berth. From January to March 1990, she was the pitching coach for the Walkerville Softball Club in Adelaide, Australia. She then returned to CS Fullerton as an assistant for the 1991 season. In addition to coaching the Aztec softball team, she was the pitching coach for the Dutch national team leading up to and during the 1998 World Championships in Japan.
As a player, Van Wyk established herself as one of the top pitchers in the history of collegiate softball, enjoying a phenomenal 1982 season with a 35-1 mark and a 0.18 ERA. The victories remain a school single-season record and her .972 winning percentage was an NCAA Division I record (30 or more decisions) until 2001 when Jennie Finch of Arizona went 32-0. Her ERA is still eighth-best in Division I history and her 33-game winning streak remains a record for consecutive victories.
Throughout her career, she won numerous awards, including All-America honors and the Broderick Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top collegiate player. Van Wyk was a member of the U.S. softball team in 1985 and 1989 and is a five-time Amateur Softball Association All-American.
Van Wyk began her collegiate playing career at Texas Women’s University, where she garnered 1979 Texas AIAW Player of the Year accolades and was inducted into the TWU Hall of Fame. She transferred to CS Fullerton in 1981 after TWU dropped its softball program.
