Rothbauer Named Texas A&M-Kingsville Softball Coach

KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – Texas A&M-Kingsville Director of Athletics Kenneth Oliver announced that Ricki Rothbauer will be the new head softball coach on Monday.
      
“Ricki is an excellent teacher, recruiter and coach with a combination of experiences as a player and coach at the NCAA Division II level that we were looking for in a coach to lead the softball program,” said Oliver.
      
Rothbauer becomes the sixth head coach of the Javelina softball program.  She takes over a program that has made the Lone Star Conference Playoffs in three of the last four years and finished 22-23 in 2010.  For the past three years, she was an assistant coach at the University of North Alabama.
      
Rothbauer has been a highly successful Club Coach of the Louisville Lady Slugger 18 and under team from 2004-08.  She helped lead the team to an ASA-A national tournament fifth place finish.  In 2006, she was a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Coaching Staff of the Year.
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I am grateful and very excited for the opportunity to lead the Javelina softball program,” said Rothbauer.  “With the resources and energy of the athletic department and the support on campus and within the Kingsville community, I feel this program can make big strides in the near future and I am honored to be a part of it.”
      
In addition to her coaching credentials, Rothbauer was a highly decorated collegiate player at Northern Kentucky University.  She played on two College World Series teams with a top finish of third place.  She was part of a team that won an NCAA record 55 consecutive games.  She was a four-time NFCA Academic All-American and two-time NCAA Division II All-American.  She was the conference Student-Athlete of the Year and a three-time member of the all-conference team.  She won the NKU Margery Rouse Female Athlete of Distiinction Award and was an NCAA Post Graduate Scholarship recipient.  She holds the NKU career record for batting average.  She was the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Women’s Sports Association/Anthony Munoz Foundation College Sportswoman of the Year Softball Award winner.
      
Rothbauer will officially begin her duties on January 3.